Description
Physical description
Livens projector tube
History note
The Livens Projector was primarily a mortar designed for delivering gas bombs, and gas was first used operationally in the capture of Thiepval in September 1916.
Original caption:
5749.
LIVENS' PROJECTOR. MARK IV.
Devised by Capt. W. H. Livens, M.C., R.E. First used at Beaumont Hamel during the Battle of the Somme, October, 1916.
The projector consisted originally of a gas cylinder cut down in the form of a mortar ; a hole was dug in the ground and the projector placed in it at an angle of 45 degrees ; the breech of the cylinder being backed by a strong base-plate.
The propelling charge is contained in a tin box placed at the bottom of the projector and divided into compartments, the propellant explosive is placed in the compartments in bags, the number of bags being varied according to the range required.
The projectile is 21 inches in length and 8 inches in diameter, and through the centre is a tube about 1 inch in diameter which contains the bursting charge.
The projectors, connected up in series of twenty, are fired electrically. In this way it was possible to place very large numbers behind the front trenches and fire them simultaneously. Range (1,200-1,500 yards) was not very accurate, but sufficiently so to obtain the desired effect, which was a high concentration of gas over a small area.
These projectors were operated by Special Companies, Royal Engineers, on the Western Front and gave the Allies a definite ascendancy in gas warfare in 1917. They proved to be so effective that the enemy feared them more than any of the other chemical warfare methods of offence.
Deposited by Ministry of Munitions, 17 September, 1919.
Extract from Western Front Association -Notable Individuals Of The Great War
Major William Howard Livens (1889 - 1964). Royal Engineers.
Major Livens was a civil engineer who volunteered for the army in late 1914. Subsequently he had the distinction of inventing the weapon of war - the Livens Projector - that went fastest from idea to production, just one week. It was also the cheapest to make and deploy. Literally the biggest bang for the tax-payer's buck
This invention came about due to Livens' interest in the early poison gas battles of April 1915 on the Western Front, which in turn led to his transfer to one of the newly formed Royal Engineers' Special Gas Companies. He was quickly put in command of what came to be Z (or Flammenwerfer = Flamethrower) Company which was given the responsibility of developing a British version of the German flamethrower recently introduced on the Western Front. The development did not go well as the effective range was too short. But nothing dismayed, Livens turned the efforts of Z company to developing projectors to throw incendiaries. The first of these was a simplified version of the ancient siege mortar, and was made from a cut down 12 gallon oil drum. Instead of hurling explosive projectiles, the Livens Projector would hurl over some distance, if somewhat inaccurately, a standard War Department 3 gallon drum of lubricating oil. The detonator rigged drum would explode on impact spreading burning oil in all directions over the target.
On the 25th July 1916, at La Boiselle on the Somme, Z Coy got its chance to deploy the new weapon when the Australians were due to attack Posieres. Under hostile fire, three sets of the projectors, totalling 80, were dug in 200 yards out in No Mans land at the requisite angle of inclination. The barrage of the projectiles was highly successful in neutralising the German machine-gun posts with fire.
Z Coy quickly developed the Mark 2 version which had a longer range - 350 yards - but the BEF commanders wanted an even longer range projector. An electrical fired version was developed which travelled up to 1.300 yards. This third version was successfully used at Messines Ridge in June 1917.
The Livens Projector was further modified to take gas canisters and these were first trialed, in secret, at Thiepval in September 1916 and Beaumont Hamel in November. The higher air concentration of poisonous gas produced by the projector (as compared from that obtained from the serried ranks of high pressure gas cylinders) was highly effective on the enemy.
The Livens Projector then was given high priority in the Munitions Factories and a fully operational Livens Projector system evolved.
Newer versions continued to be produced with the maximum range finally attaining 2,800 yards and by 1917 the Livens Projector became a standard item of weaponry for the British and Empire battalions on the Western Front.
Total production of the Livens Projector for the Allies in the Great War exceeded 150,000 units.