"U.S. Flamethrowers." Topic

Did the US make use of flamethrowers in the European theater of WWII?

I've seen and read about it being used by the marines.

Anyone have any links or insight?

In NW Europe, they were retained by the Chemical Corps and issued as directed for specific missions.

A few went ashore with the assault wave on D-Day, but they were not widely used.

Allen

Allen,

Do you just sit poised by your keyboard in a state of cat-like readiness, waiting for a question to appear?

If you do, well, thanks!

Matt

I'm thinking he's wired directly in.

- Bob

I have DeLorme Street Atlas and Google Earth open, talking my partner across central Texas with a windmill load (and so have the phone on speaker). I have TMP and the FoW forum open to keep me from being bored while she calls off the roads she's passing.

And I have TurboTax open, doing her 2007 taxes which she forgot to do…

It would be easier if I *were* wired in!

Allen

I know James Coburn used one against that bunker in Hell is For Heroes and then came to a very grisly end in a minefield…..Does that count??

Allen nails it pretty well. I saw a report from the chemical corps noting that most of the flamethrowers issued for D-Day were collected later, abandoned and mostly unused. Flamethrowers were issued and used during the assault on Brest and later around the West Wall, but they were never widely available since they weren't issued to front line engineers.

I'm sure there was one is SPR, so they must have had them!

I think Commonwealth troops use flamethrowers the most(out of ANY army afaiac) with the Canadians and Brits using them alot in Normandy on the Wasp carrier conversion…

They were used in the Italian theater. I have a copy of my uncles WWII military records which shows that he one burst on his back, severly burning him during combat in Italy…
His "first" purple heart…

Not sure how much they were used, but they were used…

If anyone recalls there were at least 2 in SPR. The first one exploded on the beach and took three guys with it. The second was used on the pill box by "Doyle", one of Captain Miller's other guys from the company.

So, according to Hollywood they were a big part of Normandy………..

A lot of the D-Day heavier weapons didn't make it from the boats to the beach. Lots of soldiers went off the ramps or over the side and into too deep water. Flamethrowers, Mortars, MGs, Bazookas, Rifles and gear of all sorts was dropped as men had to all but swim onto the beach. As the tides came in and out I assume some of it got collected, cleaned and reused, but much of it was under water D-Day morning.

In the 70s you could still dig up weapons on the beaches without much effort. I remember seeing a fellow unearth an intact Grease gun on Utah beach in 1979.

Finding a flame-thrower would have been cool (I would have loved to take it to school for the "what I did in the holidays" talk), but I had to content myself with barnacle-encrusted bullets and barbed wire.

not man portable ones it seems but there were shermans adapted. the brits certainly used churchills (crocodile) and the wasp

Finding a flame-thrower would have been cool (I would have loved to take it to school for the "what I did in the holidays" talk)

I would think that taking a flame-thrower to school in the beginning of the autumn semester would be a sure way to get some teachers to freak out nowadays.

No idea how things were in the 70's.

Griefbringer

they were the M1A1 version. not terribly reliable. To date I have only found one confirmed use of them on Omaha Beach- there's a possible second but there is nothing to confirm it.

I had always qiuestions the whole exploding FT thing. (even to ehe point of asking Mythbusters to try it).

Anyone with a FT in ANY movie will always die a horrible flaming death. Just like anyone in Star Trek with a red shirt needs ot be very careful.

All the FT was is two tanks of jellied gas, and a tank of compressed air. A bullet through a gasoline tank will not normallyu explode it. So a bullet through one of the main fuel anks in hteory should act the same. A bullet through the compressed air tank would burst it, but would that ignite the fuel?

The most friendly casualties caused by FT turned out to be by men who were not trained fully, did not frace themsleves properly, and were pushed back fromt he force- flame went up, and then down on them.

"Finding a flame-thrower would have been cool (I would have loved to take it to school for the "what I did in the holidays" talk)

I would think that taking a flame-thrower to school in the beginning of the autumn semester would be a sure way to get some teachers to freak out nowadays.

No idea how things were in the 70's.

Griefbringer"

I was at school from 1961 to 1975. I think some of my teachers would have been able to demonstrate how to use one.

PS How do I get quotes into those white boxes?

Allen,

"Do you just sit poised by your keyboard in a state of cat-like readiness, waiting for a question to appear?"

What else can one do when your stuck in Yermo?

Well, I'm in Barstow, at least. If I were in Yermo, I probably wouldn't have Internet access…

I recall reading extracts from German flamethrower manuals pointing out that they dont explode when hit by bullets. Propably a common concern :)

Or Daggett!

I would be prone to thinking that getting a bullet through a fuel tank in my back would be slightly discomforting, due to:

1.) It having passed very close (or possibly even through) my body on its way to the tank
2.) I might now be getting soaked in a lot of flammable liquid

Griefbringer

john the confused its in the faq (with all sorts of other good stuff) use q in <> then close with q in </>.

like this

Pat, thank you