pinocchio:

Does this mean that it also removes the flow of gradients down it’s path? i.e. removes an edge from the graph and thus a path for backprop to flow through?


Yes, compare printed graphs:
# http://www.bnikolic.co.uk/blog/pytorch-detach.html

import torch
from torchviz import make_dot

x=torch.ones(10, requires_grad=True)
weights = {'x':x}

y=((x**2)**3)
y=((x**2).detach()**3)
y=((x**2)**3).detach()

z=(x+3)+4
r=(y+z).sum()

make_dot(r,params=weights)