ABSTRACT
Repeated reports of blast injuries during the Balkan Wars led Rusca to perform a number of experiments on the effects of air blast on rabbits and underwater blast on fish. After World War II considerable research was done in the USA on the effects of blast, primarily owing to interest in the effects of nuclear weapons. Some weapons consist of small explosive charges which explode in contact with the body and cause local blast injuries, for example explosive bullets and some anti-personnel mines. Blast weapons frequently start secondary fires by igniting fuel in vehicles or buildings. In general, fuel–air explosive bombs differ from conventional munitions in that they are pure blast weapons. The very high mortality resulting from area blast weapons makes their use as anti-personnel weapons dubious from the point of view of humanitarian law.
