Flamethrowers

[bushfighter]

Should any Member appreciate an introduction to flamethrowers as weapons then this link:

http://www.worldwar1.com/tripwire/smtw.htm

has a short collection of articles including film footage.

Harry

[Tom W.]

Just thought I'd make a few corrections.

The article "Weapons of War - Flamethrowers" promulgates mistakes that are all over the Internet in several languages.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/flamethrowers.htm

"Having tested the Flammenwerfer in 1900 the German army deployed it for use in three specialist battalions from 1911 onwards."

No. The first flamethrower was patented in 1900, but the German army didn't begin testing it until 1908, when the weapon was assigned to the Pioneer Experimental Company. Flamethrowers were officially adopted in 1909 and assigned to pioneer siege trains in 1912. There were no dedicated flamethrower battalions until March of 1915, when the 3rd Guard Pioneer Battalion was established.

The first notable use of flamethrowers was not at Hooge against the British in 1915 but at Malancourt on February 26, 1915, against the French. At Hooge, the Germans didn't use "gas cylinders strapped to the back of the men responsible for using the instrument, a lit nozzle attached to each cylinder." Instead, each portable flamethrower was operated by a three-man squad consisting of lance operator, flamethrower carrier, and assistant-grenadier who was trained to take over in the event either the lance operator or flamethrower carrier was put out of action.

Portable flamethrowers were not used in groups of six; they were used mainly in shock troops consisting of two flamethrower squads, four hand-grenade throwers, and one or two shock-troop leaders. Single flamethrower squads were also assigned to individual infantry shock troops as "flame-accompanying squads" used to deal with particularly stubborn points of resistance.

German records show that flamethrowers did not explode when punctured by projectiles, and there are many German, French, and British accounts of German flamethrower operators being taken prisoner. They were not always executed out of hand when captured.

The French Schilt portable flamethrower was developed and used in 1915, not 1917-1918, and it was not in any way superior to the German models. The Schilt flamethrowers were ignited with 10-second fuses attached to the nozzles. After the fuse burned out, the flamethrower sappers had to throw incendiary grenades and squirt the oil on them. It wasn't until late 1917 that the French invented a nine-minute fuse that allowed the weapon to fire intermittent jets of flame.

The Germans didn't invent a self-igniting flamethrower in 1917; the German automatic igniter was standard on all flamethrowers since 1912.

"Tragedy at Fismette, France, 1918"

http://www.historynet.com/tragedy-at-fismette-france-1918.htm

For all their terror and exhaustion, the doughboys held. From behind the wall and along the village perimeter, they opened fire on the German stormtroopers. They concentrated on the men with flamethrowers. Their morale soared when a bullet punctured a flamethrower tank and a German erupted into flames. The other flamethrowers followed, one by one like roman candles, until all that remained was the smell of burning flesh.

Only two German flamethrower pioneers were killed at Fismes on August 12, 1918. A photo of the fallen flamethrower carrier with the body of an assault infantryman next to him clearly shows that the flamethrower didn't engulf him in flames.

[Tom W.]

That Youtube video linked at http://www.worldwar1.com/tripwire/smtw.htm isn't very useful.

Here's a better one that shows American doughboys using a French Schilt No. 3 bis (the first weapon) and a British Norris-Menchen. The flamethrower usage begins at 1:20.

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675068861_Gas-and-Gas-Mask_German-soldiers_gas-cylinders-and-artillery-shells_gas-helmet_World-War-I

[Tom W.]

A flamethrower shock troop. In front is the first three-man flamethrower squad, followed by the shock-troop leader, four hand-grenade throwers with grenade bags, and the second flamethrower squad.

The assault infantrymen appear to be wearing the lighter gray-green tunic, which could mean they're members of Jäger- (Sturm-) Bataillon Nr. 3.

[Tom W.]

Here's the typical Hollywood interpretation of flamethrower tactics in World War I. It's from the 1979 remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, an otherwise terrific film.

At 0:19 you see a three-man French flamethrower squad (accurate) using a two-man flamethrower (inaccurate) out in the middle of No Man's Land all by themselves (inaccurate) firing aimless jets of flame at the ground (incomprehensible). A German soldier very rightly shoots them down like the idiots they are, and the falling French lance operator sprays one of his comrades.

The French fielded three-man flamethrower squads consisting of a flamethrower operator armed with a one-man weapon, an assistant flamethrower operator (to attach the fuses and open the weapon's various valves) and a grenadier who threw incendiary grenades for when the fuses burned out. French doctrine prohibited flamethrowers from being used in the first wave. They were to follow in the second or third wave, and they were to be protected by riflemen and grenadiers.

By 1916--when this scene is supposed to take place--French flamethrowers featured self-closing valves on the lance, so that when the operator was killed or wounded the weapon would stop firing. But there would be no reason whatsoever for a flamethrower squad to be out in the middle of No Man's Land all by itself. It just didn't happen.

Of the combatant nations that used flamethrowers in the war, all except for one devised very effective, detailed, well thought-out tactics.

[Tom W.]

Here's a screen grab from the flamethrower scene in All Quiet on the Western Front.

The poor flamethrower carrier is loaded down with the flamethrower, steel body armor, and a golf bag, apparently. Maybe it's full of grenades. No wonder he fell down when the lance operator was shot. He lost his balance in the mud and toppled over.

[Tom W.]

Here's a screen grab from the 2001 movie The Lost Battalion, showing a flamethrower pioneer who's just tried to bash Major Whittlesey with his lance, and he's just about to get one of those knucker-duster trench knives in his gut.

The flamethrower and uniform aren't very accurate, but more importantly the tactics depicted are suicidal. The German flamethrower operators just march upright into the entrenched American positions and are mowed down. In the real attack, two members of Assault Battalion No. 2 were killed, but it isn't clear if they were flamethrower pioneers, since no fatalities are mentioned for the dates in question in the flamethrower regiment's death book. The American accounts have them killing most of the flamethrower pioneers, causing their weapons to explode and "kindling the Flammenwerfer men into torches."

At any rate, flamethrower pioneers were highly trained assault troops who happened to be armed with flamethrowers. Once their weapons ran out if oil--they carried only 10 seconds' worth--they fought with hand grenades, pistols, carbines, sharpened spades, and daggers.

That's why these movie depictions of them just walking calmly into rifle and machine-gun fire are frustrating. I don't mind the inaccuracy of the weapons and uniforms as much as I do the false representations of the tactics. Imagine a movie that showed British infantrymen firing their SMLEs upside down or with their bare toes. That's how these fictitious representations of flamethrower tactics strike me.

[Tom W.]

Since I have the thread to myself, here's another WWI movie with flamethrowers. This one is Romanian. The flamethrower used is the Soviet LPO 50, a Warsaw Pact weapon, which always struck me as a ludicrous design. It uses explosive cartridges in each of the three fuel tanks that propel a piston forward, squirting the fuel out in a one-second burst. Thus each flamethrower had the capability of firing only three one-second bursts. You can see in the film that the flamethrower operators are utterly wasting their fuel, simply firing it into the air.

[Tom W.]

Actual footage of WWI Italian static flamethrowers in action, beginning at 10:46. Notice how the flame jet flares from a stream into a ball as the oil runs out.

[egbert]

The movie from post #9 is great.