Science fiction/speculative fiction story about a device that destroys all weapons?

Question

I read a short story in school (2000/2001) about a device that disintegrates or destroys weapons. Having trouble remembering too many details, but I do remember the following: -it had something to do with the military, perhaps in a sort of post-apocalyptic or wartime situation. I think it may have even taken place on a military base. -one character has the device, and is discussing it with someone high-ranking figure in the military -at the end of the story, the device is activated, and all the weapons on the base or in the vicinity are destroyed. The high-ranking official shouts out something like "Grab anything- sticks, stones...!" (I can't remember the exact quote)

I have searched high and low on the internet and am beginning to feel a little crazy. It wasn't The Gun by Philip K Dick or Gun Without a Bang by Robert Sheckley, but is definitely in that same vein.

Answer 1

A Piece of Wood by Ray Bradbury.

In the story, a certain "Official" calls a sergeant to his office to suggest transfering him to "some other War Area" as he seems to be unsatisfied with desk job. The sergeant reveals that he has developed a device which can destroy the kinds of steel used in weapons and armor:

"It came to me, there's a Rust factor in the air all the time. Water vapor. I had to find a way to give steel a 'nervous breakdown'. Then the water vapor everywhere in the world would take over. Not on all metal, of course. Our civilization is built on steel, I wouldn´t want to destroy most buildings. I'd just eliminate guns and shells, tanks, planes, battleships. I can set the machine to work on copper and brass and aluminium, too, if necessary. I'd just walk by all of those weapons and just being near them I'd make them fall away."

The Official dismisses him as crazy, but then he realizes that his ballpen cap made out of a rifle shell has turned into rust, as well as his gun. He calls to the guard station to stop the sergeant:

"Listen, listen!" screamed the Official. "Go after him, get him, with your hands, choke him, with your fists, beat him, use your feet, kick his ribs in, kick him to death, do anything, but get that man. I'll be right out!"

Answer 2

It's not a precise match, but I wonder if this is Cease Fire by Frank Herbert.

It's set in a battleground in the Arctic somewhere and follows a guy called Lawrence Hulser who is stationed in an observation post. While passing the time thinking he suddenly realises he knows how to build a device that will remotely detonate explosives.

The device is tested on an ammo dump where it does indeed set off all the ammo in a huge explosion.

The last part of the story is after the successful test when Hulser is talking to a general, General Savage. Hulser can't understand why Savage is cynical about his discovery until Savage says:

“So the next war will be fought with horse cavalry, swords, crossbows and lances,” said Savage. “And there’ll be other little improvements!” He slammed the red book onto his desk, surged to his feet. “Elimination of explosives only makes espionage, poisons, poison gas, germ warfare—all of these—a necessity!”

The story ends with a quote from a (fictional) book:

Many people labor under the misapprenhension that the discovery of the Hulser Detonator was made in a secret government laboratory. In actuality, the genius of Dr. Lawrence Hulser was first seen on the Arctic battlefields of 1972 where he conceived his idea and where that idea was immediately recognized.
- Beecher Carson, The Coming of the Sword—A History of Ancient and Modern Wars—Vol. 6, p. 112