A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World War II as a tactical weapon against fortifications.
A frog is a member of a diverse group of amphibians composing the order Anura.
A wasp is a type of flying insect.
A flame tank is a type of tank equipped with a flamethrower, most commonly used to supplement combined arms attacks against fortifications, confined spaces, or other obstacles. The type only reached significant use in the Second World War, during which the United States, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom all produced flamethrower-equipped tanks.
The M2 flamethrower was an American, man-portable, backpack flamethrower that was used in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M2 was the successor to the M1 and M1A1 flamethrowers. Although its burn time was around 7 seconds long, and the flames were effective around 20–40 meters, it was still a useful weapon. With the arrival of flamethrower tanks, the need for flamethrower-carrying infantrymen to expose themselves to enemy fire had been greatly reduced.
The Type 93 and Type 100 flamethrowers were flamethrowers used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy's SNLF during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
The Flamethrower, Portable, No 2, also known as the Ack Pack, was a British design of flamethrower for infantry use in the Second World War.
Named after a famous lighter company, the "Ronson" flamethrower was developed for mechanized applications during World War II and used by the Canadian Army and the United States Marine Corps.
The Lagonda company produced a number of flamethrowers during the Second World War.
The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle.
The Fierce-fire Oil Cabinet was a double-piston pump naphtha flamethrower first recorded to have been used in 919 AD in China, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
The first series of German man-portable flamethrower was called the Kleinflammenwerfer or "Kleif". Fuel oil was stored in a large vertical, cylindrical backpack container. High-pressure propellant was typically stored in another, smaller container within the fuel tank or attached externally depending on model. Most iterations of the Kleif used a long hose which was covered in linen and corrugated by steel wire to prevent kinks and punctures. The hose connected to the fuel tank and fed into a lance tube with an igniting device at the nozzle. With the turn of a valve at the tank, the propellant forced the fuel through the hose and towards the lance. When the lance operator was ready, a second "firing" valve was opened, sending the fuel oil to the igniting device at the nozzle and propelling the burning fuel oil outward. The flamethrower was operated by two soldiers, one carrying the fuel and propellant tanks, another wielding the lance. Contrary to popular culture, the Kleif was too unwieldy to be used effectively by a single operator. The Wechselapparat, a smaller and more refined replacement for the Kleif, was introduced in May 1917.
The M1 and M1A1 were portable flamethrowers developed by the United States during World War II. The M1 weighed 72 lb, had a range of 15 meters, and had a fuel tank capacity of five gallons. The improved M1A1 weighed less, at 65 lb, had a much longer range of 45 meters, had the same fuel tank capacity, and fired thickened fuel (napalm).
The Petroleum Warfare Department (PWD) was a government department established in Britain in 1940 in response to the invasion crisis during World War II, when Germany apparently would invade the country. The department was initially tasked with developing the uses of petroleum as a weapon of war, and it oversaw the introduction of a wide range of flame warfare weapons. Later in the war, the department was instrumental in the creation of the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation that cleared runways of fog allowing the landing of aircraft returning from bombing raids over Germany in poor visibility, and Operation Pluto, which installed prefabricated fuel pipelines between England and France soon after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.
The Flammenwerfer 41, or FmW 41 was the standard German flamethrower beginning in 1941 and an upgraded version of the earlier Flammenwerfer 35, whose main issue was its excessive weight of 36kg, with the Flammenwerfer 41 being only 18. It performed a similar role of other flamethrowers of the time, namely clearing enemy trenches and buildings in highly fortified areas. From 1942 to April 1945, 64,284 examples were produced. After 1945, flamethrowers steadily decreased in usage globally, with the Bundeswehr not using any.
During WWII United States Naval Construction Battalions ("Seabees") modified/created all of the main armament flame throwing tanks that were used in the Pacific War: by USMC in the Battle of Saipan, Battle of Tinian, Battle of Iwo Jima, and by the U.S. Army in the Battle of Okinawa.
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, the United States had no mechanized flamethrowing capability. It is believed that an officer in the U.S. Army's 754th Tank Battalion came up with the idea of mounting a flame thrower on a M3 Light tank on the island of New Caledonia. The Army used the idea on New Georgia and the Marines during the Battle of Bougainville, after which further development passed to the Army Chemical Warfare Service at Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaii. There the Army reached out to the United States Naval Construction Force for assistance. The Seabees accepted the offer and converted or modified nearly 400 tanks for the Army. These weapons set the standard for the U.S. through the Korean War. It was not until 1955 that a superior flame throwing tank replaced the Shermans the Seabees created.
