How Finish soldiers came up with the name “Molotov cocktail” for their petrol bombs during the Winter War:

4 comments

1. Cocktail for Molotov!

2. There’s also [Molotov’s bread basket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_bread_basket).

3. The nickname was specifically made up by Alvar Wilska, one of the scientists working on a mass produced version of the molotov cocktail.

   https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Wilska

4. Gas filled bottles were not new idea for Finns, but Finns perfected it. Sealed bottle with alcohol and tar made the liquid burn at high temperature, was harder to put out and it was fluid and sticky at the same time. Two storm matches were attached to the bottle as a fuse, and this way you were safe when using a Molotov. You could ignite the match far away in a safe place and wait for 2-3 minutes to get into position to use it. And if that never happened, you can just let the match burn out and try again later, or light the other match. Match also did not give away your position in darkness, compared to an open flame from a burning rag. Throwing the bottle was also safer since there was no burning fuel nowhere.