From the battlefronts last week came new praise for the versatile 4.2 rifled mortar (TIME, Nov. 15). Developed by the Chemical Warfare Service to throw smoke and gas shells, it also lobs 24-lb. shells which carry more than 8 lb. of high explosives. But it owes its new and fearsome fame among Germans and Japs to its white phosphorus smoke shells. Originally used to cloak troops or positions with harmless white clouds, WP (white phosphorus) has become one of the great anti-personnel weapons of the war.
When a WP shell bursts in a spectacular flower of smoke (see cut),...
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