Smokescreen - Enmaku

Artificial smoke is fired and spread on the battlefield to block the enemy's view and make it difficult for them to attack, to conceal friendly actions from the enemy's eyes and gain an offensive advantage, or to make it easier to retreat. There are various ways to lay a smoke screen, such as firing a shell or grenade filled with smoke flares, ejecting smoke tubes or smoke canisters, laying it on the ground by tanks or automobiles, in the air by aircraft, or at sea by ships. Smoke screens are made using yellow phosphorus, sulfuric anhydride, titanium tetrachloride, tin tetrachloride, oleum, ammonium hydrochloride, etc., and are called chemical smoke screens. They can be in the form of a solid, liquid, or mud. They are usually white in color. At sea, ships also use heavy oil canisters to incompletely burn heavy oil and spread black smoke at high speed. This is called a soot screen. It first appeared as a chemical weapon in World War I, and the smoke screens created by artillery shells and tanks were highly effective and it was also used for air defense. However, as observation capabilities by aircraft improved, its use gradually became restricted to localized use, and in naval warfare it became almost ineffective due to the development of radar.

[Terada Chikao]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

戦場で敵の視界を遮って敵の攻撃を困難にし、味方の行動を敵の目から隠して攻撃利点を得、あるいは退避を容易にするために発射、拡散させる人工煙。煙幕の張り方には、砲弾・手榴弾(しゅりゅうだん)に発煙剤を詰めて発射する方法、発煙筒・発煙缶を噴出させる方法や、戦車・自動車により地上に、航空機により空中に、艦船により海上に張るなど種々の方法がある。発煙剤として黄リン、無水硫酸、四塩化チタン、四塩化スズ、発煙硫酸、塩酸アンモニウムなどを使用するが、これを薬煙幕という。形は固体、液体、泥状など。色は白色が普通。また海上では、艦船が重油専焼缶で重油を不完全燃焼させ高速で黒色の煤煙(ばいえん)を展張する。これを煤煙幕という。第一次世界大戦に初めて化学兵器として登場し、砲弾や戦車による煙幕の展張は大いに効果があり、防空用にも使用されたが、航空機による観測能力の向上からしだいに局所利用にとどまり、海上戦ではレーダーの発達によりほとんど効力がなくなった。

［寺田近雄］

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