The content details the historical evolution and devastating effectiveness of flamethrowers, from ancient Greek fire to World War II flame tanks, highlighting their crucial role in overcoming heavily fortified enemy positions, particularly in the Pacific theater.
Key Points
It was the fifth wave of US Marines
hitting the beach on Iuima. Sherman
tanks rolled off their landing craft,
but eight of them, though identical from
the outside, were not ordinary tanks.
These eight would account for about a
third of all Japanese casualties, and
they achieved that in the most
horrifying way. These were flame tanks.
Their crews would be a huge part of
winning the battle. However, some of
them paid a terrible price for using
that weapon. From the moment people
learned how to control fire, they kept
finding new ways to use it against each
other, and usually in the most
horrifying ways imaginable. One of the
best early examples was Greek fire,
which you could say was the first real
flamethrower. It was a pressurized
burning mixture the Bzantines used in
naval battles to spray enemy ships with
fire, and it was so effective that water
couldn't put it out. To this day, no one
really knows the exact formula, and its
legend as one of the most feared weapons
of the ancient world remains intact.
Through the centuries, fire kept finding
its way onto the battlefield. Sometimes
in ways that sound completely insane
today, like pigs and other animals being
set on fire and sent running toward
enemy lines just to cause chaos. But the
real flamethrower, the kind we're
talking about here, didn't appear until
the first world war. It was the Germans
who brought it to the battlefield first
in one of many desperate attempts to
break the deadlock of trench warfare.
When the Flaminger first spewed fire
across no man's land, Allied soldiers
were more shocked by how terrifying it
looked and sounded than by how deadly it
was. It was more of a psychological
weapon at first. Although the effect on
the human body soon cemented its
terrifying reputation, they were
notoriously dangerous to their
operators, and there were several
incidents of German squads being killed
by their own flamethrowers because of
sudden wind changes. There were even
early experiments with mounting those
weapons on tanks in World War I, but
they didn't get far. And after the war,
most nations paid little attention to
flamethrowers. That would all change
once the Americans found themselves
fighting in the Pacific. And you're
about to see why. Before we get to the
tanks, we need to set the stage with the
handheld flamethrowers so it all makes
sense. On the eve of the Second World
War, the Allies had a few of these
things, but there wasn't much enthusiasm
for them. There were no dedicated
flamethrower units. They showed up here
and there in a couple of rare cases and
that was about it. Then reports started
coming in that German troops were using
flamethrowers in assault and that pushed
American planners back to the drawing
board. They hurried a new round of
handheld designs into development and
those would arrive first long before any
flame tanks rolled off a landing craft.
Handheld flamethrowers were a strange
best and worst kind of weapon at the
same time. On the one hand, they could
do what rifles and grenades couldn't,
and that's effectively clear an enemy
position to put it lightly, by burning
the people inside. Grenades could do the
job, too. But once you understand how
the fortifications on Euima looked, you
see why the flamethrower was often the
only effective solution. So, the
American military developed the M1
flamethrower in a backpack configuration
with a nozzle for the operator to aim at
whatever he needed to burn. It had two
tanks holding about five gallons of
flammable mixture and between them a
smaller tank with compressed nitrogen
gas to propel the mixture in a jet some
20 to 40 yards at best. That was the
maximum range. It weighed about 70 lb
when full and that gave you roughly 7 to
10 seconds of continuous firing time.
The fuel went through the nozzle and was
ignited in early models electrically by
batteries. that proved unreliable and
was later changed to a pyrochnic
ignition system where a couple of white
phosphorus flares could be activated and
they'd burn long enough to ignite the
mixture. Operators shot a mixture of
diesel, gasoline, and napalm compound
that created a sticky substance burning
at about 1500° Fahrenheit and clinging
to everything it touched. Operators also
developed a tactic where they first
sprayed the target without igniting it.
that soaked the fortification and let
the mixture drip deep inside. And then
an ignited burst would set everything
and everyone on fire inside. You see,
the effectiveness of flamethrowers in
pillbox clearing compared to
conventional weapons was because the
flames didn't need to reach the soldiers
directly. An explosion or fragmentation
from a grenade can only kill someone who
is directly hit. And fortifications were
deliberately built to blunt grenade
effects. They were deliberately dug in a
zigzag pattern with grenade channels and
holes arranged so a soldier could kick a
grenade in at the last second before it
exploded. When a flamethrower hit a
pillbox, the effect was completely
different from an explosion. Besides the
flames and extreme temperatures, there
was also the effect of burning most of
the oxygen inside. So, even those who
weren't directly reached by the flames
would be severely affected by heat and
lack of breathable air. Perhaps we
shouldn't go too deep into the
physiological effects of flamethrower
injuries because this video could easily
get taken down. There were studies
asking whether the flamethrower was a
quote unquote too inhumane way to kill
someone. And results ranged from
descriptions of it as the worst way to
die to arguments that sensory faculties
are so overwhelmed that there isn't time
to feel pain. I don't quite buy the
painless theory, especially when you
take into consideration the screams that
came from caves. I should probably stop
there. If you really want to creep
yourself out, you can dive into that
rabbit hole later on the internet. So,
you see why the flamethrower became the
one weapon that could truly clear those
stubborn pillboxes. As we said, you have
70 lb on your back, and you need to be
within hand grenade range to be
effective. Your odd-looking backpack is
unmistakable on the battlefield. And
since the enemy knows exactly what will
happen if you get close, every weapon
they have will be turned on you. When
empty, you still have about 45 lb on
your back. And now you have to find your
way back to safety after the whole front
saw and heard your long stream of fire,
followed by the screams of the soldiers
in the fortification you just took out.
That was the problem. Flamethrower
operators weren't living long, as would
be proven on Euima, where 94% of them
died. The first time American troops
used a flamethrower against the Japanese
was during the battles in the Solomon
Islands, where they were used on a
larger scale for the first time. There
the vulnerability of the operators was
quickly recognized and someone had the
idea of combining a flamethrower with a
tank to solve its mobility and
protection problems leading to the first
not so successful flame tanks. These
were experimental conversions of M3
Stuart light tanks fitted with a
modified handheld flamethrower system
that got the nickname Satan tanks. They
now had about double the range of the
foot carried version and around 40
seconds of continuous fire. However,
they were notoriously unreliable,
failing in combat about 40% of the time.
Even worse, the Stewart's light armor
offered no protection against anything
heavier than machine gun fire, and the
turret traverse was limited because of
the added system inside. Still, when
they worked and managed to reach the
enemy without breaking down or
exploding, their effectiveness against
fortifications was undeniable, enough to
convince the American military to make
the concept truly work. Just five months
before the invasion of Iuima, a team was
assembled to learn from those earlier
failures and create a reliable battle
ready flame tank. This time, the M4 A3
Sherman was chosen as the base. After a
complete redesign of the conventional
tank, requiring about 1,200 man-h hours
per unit, 150 lb of welding rod, over
1,000 electrical connections, and 150
specialized parts, it was finally
completed. In place of the main gun was
a flame projector fed by roughly 300 g
of fuel mixture stored inside the tank.
It could project a stream of fire up to
150 yards, lasting about 80 seconds.
Refueling, however, took roughly 2 hours
before the tank could fire again. And
the fuel mixture had to be used within
72 hours of preparation, or it would
clog the system. The turret could
traverse about 270°
with elevation and depression angles
similar to a standard Sherman. The rest
of the tank functioned the same, and
most importantly, from the outside, it
looked just like any other Sherman tank.
That last detail would soon become the
Japanese defender's biggest problem when
these new machines landed on their
islands. Converting a Sherman into a
flame tank cost the equivalent of about $350,000
$350,000
today, and eight of them were ready for
the assault on Euima. The Japanese knew
the strategic importance of Euima and
had an entire year to turn it into a
fortress. The island's volcanic rock was
easy to dig by hand, and they carved 11
mi of tunnels, dug 5,000 caves and
underground chambers, and built 1,500
fortified concrete positions across its
eight square miles. About 21,000 men
were prepared to make a last stand in
defense of their homeland. Determined to
make the Marines job as difficult as
humanly possible, General Tadamichi
Kuribayashi knew his men would not
survive this battle. Orders were clear.
There would be no evacuation or resupply
once fighting began. Instead of the
hopeless banzai charges seen in previous
battles, he created a detailed plan to
make the Americans pay so dearly for
capturing that they might reconsider
invading the Japanese home island. Every
man was told not to die before killing
at least 10 Americans. The American Navy
slowly approached the island and for 74
consecutive days, warships and bombers
dropped over 6,800 tons of bombs and
fired more than 22,000 shells. Allied
intelligence naively underestimated the
Japanese force, believing the island was
defended by about 4,000 troops instead
of 21,000. Then they made an even
greater mistake by assuming the island
had been bombed into submission and
stopping the bombardment earlier than
planned. In reality, the Marines
approaching the beaches in their landing
craft had no idea that only about 200 of
the 1500 Japanese fortifications had
been destroyed. The main Japanese force
was still waiting underground in its
virtually intact tunnel network, ready
to show them a kind of combat never seen
before. The Marines hit the beaches on
February 19th, 1945. Although things
seemed quiet at first, soon all hell
broke loose. By nightfall, the Marines
had gained less than 700 yd of ground at
the cost of 2,400 casualties. But the
real battle had only just begun.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese, among the
Shermans that landed on the island were
eight new flame Shermans. They were kept
in reserve for the first 24 hours
because they were precious,
irreplaceable assets, and on the morning
of the next day, they went into battle.
The first was deployed to assist pinned
down Marines near Myama airfield. Flame
Sherman 431 advanced to within about 100
yards of a pillbox and opened fire. A
Japanese 47mm anti-tank gun fired and
hit the Sherman, but the shell bounced
off while the tank sprayed a 15-second
burst over its position until it was
completely engulfed in flames, allowing
the Marines to continue their assault.
Within 6 hours, all eight flame Shermans
were in action, spraying one pillbox
after another with fire and horrifying
Japanese defenders, many of whom began
abandoning their positions in panic once
the American tanks got close. This was
still only the beginning. As the battle
grew fiercer each day, the Marines
finally had a weapon that could destroy
stubborn fortifications that had
resisted even the heaviest naval
bombardments. And the effects were
horrifying. Flame tank crews were often
so close to their targets, they could
see exactly what was happening, and it
was a sight no one could forget. Marines
followed about 50 yards behind the flame
tanks, clearing out anything that
survived. Standard Shermans provided
heavy suppressive fire and followed
closely to protect the flame Shermans as
they moved within range. The burning
mixture, when sprayed over Japanese
positions, seeped through every entrance
and ventilation opening. If heat and
loss of oxygen weren't bad enough,
remember that the Japanese stored tons
of ammunition and fuel inside those
tunnels. When the flames reached them,
countless secondary explosions followed
underground, killing everyone inside and
burying others alive. Marines often
sealed tunnel openings with explosives,
trapping them underground, still alive.
US troops could hear muffled grenade
detonations and rifle shots underground.
You can guess what those were. Even
elevated positions weren't safe as flame
tank crews angled their tanks on uneven
terrain to fire above the usual
elevation limit of their projectors,
reaching the tops of cliffs where
Japanese defenders thought they were
safe. There was even an instance where
Japanese soldiers jumped off cliffs
under flamethrower attack to avoid being
burned alive. Shock and panic ran
through the Japanese defenders. Their
usual 47mm anti-tank guns weren't doing
much against a Sherman's frontal armor.
But they would find a way to fight back,
one as disturbing as the flame tanks
themselves, Japanese soldiers began
using desperate tactics, running at
American tanks with explosives strapped
to their bodies, sacrificing themselves
to save others. Although most never
reached the tanks because of close
protection around them, some did. Flame
tank number 438 was destroyed on March
11th in exactly this way when a Japanese
soldier detonated himself on the tank's
engine compartment, killing three
crewmen. General Kuribayashi reported to
his command that the enemy's special
flame tanks did more damage than all
their artillery and bombardment
combined, and that they had no effective
way to counter them. US engineers worked
around the clock to keep flamethrower
tanks operational and ready. They were
constantly on the front line fighting or
refueling with repairs done during the
night. Fuel was prepared around the
clock and flame tanks drove from the
front line to refuel and immediately
back into combat, doing that for days.
Crews were beyond exhausted, but they
had to push on. It is estimated that
flame tanks lowered the casualty rate
for Marines by some 40%. By mid-March,
organized Japanese resistance had
largely collapsed, although ambushes and
individual attacks continued for weeks
after the island was declared secured.
Then came March 21st. After 30 days of
heavy combat, the remaining 3,000
Japanese defenders were about to make
their last stand in horrific fashion.
Six surviving original flame tanks were
reinforced with four new ones urgently
shipped from Hawaii, and they were now
ready for the largest flamethrower
assault in the Pacific War. Flamethrower
and regular Shermans advanced in
formation, setting fire to and blowing
up everything in their path. Over the
course of a single day, they fired 8,000
gallons of fuel mixture and suffered 92
Marines killed and 257 wounded. That was
still far less than the losses a
conventional assault would have
produced. They broke the last organized
Japanese defense completely, many of
whom were killed by flamethrowers. Two
out of eight flame Shermans on Eoima
were knocked out, while the rest
suffered other malfunctions from
continuous combat and were cannibalized
for parts to keep the remaining machines
running. The surviving tanks were
shipped back to Hawaii where they were
examined and the design refined further,
eventually leading to the next
generation of flame tanks like the M67
Zippo used in Vietnam. Survivors came
out of the tunnels at night gathering
supplies they could find and some
continue to fight, but out of 21,000
Japanese soldiers on Euima, fewer than
200 surrendered and survived. The rest
are still on the island, most of them
buried in the very tunnels they dug.
Flamethrowers on Euima fired some
360,000 gallons of fuel mixture. So
that's an enormous quantity over the
course of the battle. All US Marines
agreed that if not for those tanks, they
would not have captured Euima. And
already horrific casualties would have
been even greater. Seeing this, the
Americans went full steam ahead with
converting Shermans into flame variants
and prepared about 70 of them for a
planned invasion of the Japanese
mainland. They were used again on
Okinawa in the final days of World War
II, where they consumed over 200,000
gallons of mixture against Japanese defenses.
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