flame-throwers

flame-throwers. Flame, a weapon of antiquity, was re-introduced in the First World War and was kept in use afterwards. In 1940 it was adopted by the UK as an antiinvasion measure, largely in the form of the ‘flame fougasse’, a drum of inflammable oil which could be launched by an explosive charge to land on a road so as to form a block. The much-talked-of ‘burning sea’, in which oil was floated on the sea and ignited, had been tried in pre-war days and proved to be less successful than anticipated, though it was a useful propaganda device.

The man-carried flame-thrower was used by all armies, though perhaps the greatest use was by the Americans and Japanese in the Pacific war, where flame was the ultimate weapon to flush opponents out of foxholes and bunkers. These devices were simple canisters of flame-throwing fluid (thickened gasoline) with a tank of pressurized nitrogen to propel the liquid some 45 m. (50 yds.). It was ignited as it left the launcher. The fear of fire was such that any man seen carrying a flame-thrower was an immediate target and was generally protected by a party of riflemen.

The British pioneered the use of flame-throwers on vehicles, developing the ‘Wasp’, mounted on a Bren gun carrier, and the ‘Crocodile’ mounted on a Churchill tank. Similar devices were then developed by the American and Canadian armies. With larger capacity fuel and nitrogen tanks, these weapons could project the flame further and for a longer duration. They were particularly valuable during the Normandy Landings (see OVERLORD), using flame to neutralize pillboxes and similar obstacles, and they continued to be used throughout the campaign in north-west Europe.

Ian Hogg