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| The Molotov cocktail was a development of the petrol bomb that had been used in the Spanish Civil War. Its primary use was against tanks. The Home Guard was informed that it would take five or six Molotov cocktails to disable a German tank.
To make a Molotov cocktail, the Home Guard needed equal parts of tar, kerosene and petrol. The tar and kerosene were mixed together and added to a bottle. The petrol was then added. A piece of cloth was placed in the neck as a wick but did not come into contact with the liquid. When the weapon was required, the wick was dipped into the liquid and allowed to absorb the fluid. The wick was lit and then thrown at the target. In theory, the liquid was meant to seep into a tank once the bottle broke and ignite the inside of the tank. Once one bottle had ignited on a tank, the other bottles simply needed to be thrown at the tank so that the glass bottle broke on its hull. The Home Guard manual of 1941 stated clearly that the addition of sulphur into a Molotov cocktail would be against the spirit of the Hague Convention and the Geneva Gas Protocol.
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