Thomas Wictor
Vitriol
Hand-painted postcard showing a German soldier with a flamethrower used as an acid or "vitriol" sprayer.
The official Russian inquiry into the mass German flamethrower attack at Skrobowa on November 9, 1916, claims that flamethrowers sprayed acid.
"The jet of caustic liquid sprayed from the apparatuses of the second kind did not burn but fell to the earth, creating abundant bluish smoke; the color of the jet itself could not be determined. Falling on overcoats and other pieces of equipment, this liquid burnt them where it fell but did not spread further. The skin was blackened, but noticeably there was no blood on the faces; the length of the jets of caustic liquid also did not exceed 15-20 paces."
Sulfuric acid in a concentration between 70 percent and 99.5 percent will not corrode unprotected steel at ambient temperature, as it forms a protective iron sulfate film on the metal. It would therefore be technically possible for the Germans to have used flamethrowers as acid sprayers.
Vitriol
Hand-painted postcard showing a German soldier with a flamethrower used as an acid or "vitriol" sprayer.
The official Russian inquiry into the mass German flamethrower attack at Skrobowa on November 9, 1916, claims that flamethrowers sprayed acid.
"The jet of caustic liquid sprayed from the apparatuses of the second kind did not burn but fell to the earth, creating abundant bluish smoke; the color of the jet itself could not be determined. Falling on overcoats and other pieces of equipment, this liquid burnt them where it fell but did not spread further. The skin was blackened, but noticeably there was no blood on the faces; the length of the jets of caustic liquid also did not exceed 15-20 paces."
Sulfuric acid in a concentration between 70 percent and 99.5 percent will not corrode unprotected steel at ambient temperature, as it forms a protective iron sulfate film on the metal. It would therefore be technically possible for the Germans to have used flamethrowers as acid sprayers.