Can anyone explain how to set up and use a 'FIRE POT', the incendiary device used by saboteurs to attack fuel dumps and the like. Any photographs? Thank you
From the MO1 Descriptive Catalogue of Special Devices & Supplies. (Three or four more incendiaries in there, but have only nabbed the actual Fire Pot.)
In SOE training, the Firepot was introduced during Period 21 (Incendiaries II) of the Demolition Syllabus. Other means covered in the same lecture were: the 2 1/2 lb thermite, the pocket time incendiary, the No 77 Phosphorous grenade and an overview of attacking petrol and oil. One hour was allocated for that lesson. Period 22 (also given one hour) was a practical, one component of which involved students practising fitting CTI to the Firepots, or linking 10 Firepots with 20 feet of orange line. This included a demonstration of the use of a No 77 with a slow burning Bickford and detonator, which could be included in and fired by a link system, as a form of secondary attack “to catch anyone trying to put out” the fire. Considering the number of technical things covered in both periods, these must have been ‘full on.’ Students would have had a short introduction to preparing a firing system and cutting and lighting safety fuse (fusee, CTI and match) in Periods 2 and 3, but a variation of a certain epitaph comes to mind: “Here lie the remains of Walter White, Whose demolition preparation technique was 99% right.” No Smoke-Breaks! The instructors must have been real subject matter experts - no time at all to refer to notes.
