Flame tank
Encyclopedia
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
equipped with a flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
, most commonly used to supplement combined arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
attacks against fortifications, confined spaces, or other obstacles. The type only reached significant use in the Second World War, during which the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(including members of the British Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
) all produced flamethrower-equipped tanks.
A number of methods of production were used. Flamethrowers were either modified versions of existing infantry flame weapons (Flammpanzer I and II) or specially designed (Flammpanzer III). They were mounted externally (Flammpanzer II), replaced existing machine gun mounts, or replaced the tank's main armament (Flammpanzer III). Ammunition for the flame weapon was either carried inside the tank, in armoured external storage, or in some cases in a special trailer behind the tank (Churchill Crocodile
Churchill Crocodile
The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk VI Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle....
).
Flame tanks are generally considered obsolete. Today, thermobaric weapons such as the Russian TOS-1
TOS-1
TOS-1 is a Soviet 30-barrel or 24-barrel multiple rocket launcher and thermobaric weapon mounted on a T-72 tank chassis. TOS-1 was designed for defeating enemy personnel in fortifications, in open country, and in lightly armoured vehicles and transport...
are considered to be the successor to flame tanks.
Combat effectiveness
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
, flame throwing tanks were utilized instead, while infantrymen provided the necessary security during their deployment.
In an open battlefield, the flamethrower was virtually useless because of its short range.
Experience of combat use of flamethrower tanks was mixed. German flamethrower variants of Panzer II
Panzer II
The Panzer II was the common name for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II...
and Panzer III
Panzer III
Panzer III was the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and...
were both discontinued due to unsatisfactory performance and converted into assault gun
Assault gun
An assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions....
s or tank destroyer
Tank destroyer
A tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...
s. The Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
was never converted into a flame variant, despite being used for just about every purpose imaginable on the battlefield.
The mixed results were in part due to the development of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
anti-tank weapons. At the start of the Second World War most infantry units had weapons with some effectiveness against armoured targets at ranges of thirty to fifty meters, like anti-tank rifle
Anti-tank rifle
An anti-tank rifle is a rifle designed to penetrate the armour of vehicles, particularly tanks. The usefulness of rifles for this purpose ran from the introduction of tanks in World War I and until the Korean War...
s. Towards the end of the war, more powerful anti-tank weapons such as the bazooka
Bazooka
Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, widely fielded by the U.S. Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat...
, Panzerschreck
Panzerschreck
Panzerschreck was the popular name for the Raketenpanzerbüchse , an 88 mm calibre reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Another popular nickname was Ofenrohr ....
, and PIAT
PIAT
The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank was a British hand-held anti-tank weapon developed during the Second World War. The PIAT was designed in 1942 in response to the British Army's need for a more effective infantry anti-tank weapon, and entered service in 1943.The PIAT was based on the spigot...
were introduced which were fatal to tanks at ranges longer than the tank's flamethrower could reach.
While the British used a squadron of Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
Crocodiles
Churchill Crocodile
The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk VI Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle....
during the fighting at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
in September 1944, the US Army received a smaller American designed flamethrower mounted upon the M4 Sherman tank during the same month. Assigned to the US Army's 70th Tank Battalion, the flamethrowing tanks went into action on 18 September 1944, where it was found that the weapons had a very short range as compared to the British Crocodiles, and consequently were not very popular amongst US troops.
The Canadian and Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
armies became one of the most active users of the Wasp flamethrowers while fighting in Europe, finding the weapons to be extremely effective in prying German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
soldiers from their defenses. Indeed, the mechanical flamethrowers, although not impressive by themselves, struck horror into the minds of German troops, who feared them more than any other conventional weapon.
Crews of 'flame' tanks were not necessarily more vulnerable than those crews in the regular, standard version of the tank (a Churchill 'Crocodile' flame tank being more or less just as vulnerable to anti-tank weapons as the standard Churchill), the crews of flamethrowing tanks were often treated differently should they be captured alive by enemy troops. Due to the perceived inhumanity of the weapon itself, captured crews of such tanks were often treated much less humanely than crews of regular tanks. Instances of 'flametankers' being executed by the opposite troops upon capture were not uncommon.
Flame tanks were not necessarily more prone to catching fire. Tanks such as the Churchill 'Crocodile', which towed the liquid container behind the actual tank held no greater risk of fire than standard tanks.
German Army (Wehrmacht Heer)
- Panzer II Flamm, a variant of the German Panzer II Ausf D/E.
- Flammpanzer 38HetzerThe Jagdpanzer 38 , later known as Hetzer , was a German light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38 chassis. The project was inspired by the Romanian "Mareşal" tank destroyer.The name Hetzer was at the time not commonly used for this vehicle...
, a variant of the Jagdpanzer 38(t) tank destroyerTank destroyerA tank destroyer is a type of armored fighting vehicle armed with a gun or missile launcher, and is designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles...
. - Panzerkampfwagen B2 (F), a variant produced by the Germans based on captured French Char B1 tank chassis.
- Flammpanzer III Ausf M/Panzer III (F1), a variant of the German Panzer III Ausf M.
- Sdkfz 251/16 FlammpanzerwagenSdKfz 251The Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Hanomag company during World War II. The largest and best armored of the wartime half-tracks, the Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps into battle....
, a variant based on the Sdkfz 251 series of half-trackHalf-trackA half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...
s. - StuG III (FLAMM)Sturmgeschütz IIIThe Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
, a variant based on a variety of pre-Ausf F StuG III assault gunAssault gunAn assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions....
chassis.
Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito)
- L3 Lf flame tank, a variant of the L3/35L3/35The L3/35 or Carro Veloce CV-35 was an Italian tank used before and during World War II. Although designated a light tank by the Italian Army, its turretless configuration, weight and firepower make it closer to contemporary tankettes....
tanketteTanketteA tankette is a tracked combat vehicle resembling a small tank roughly the size of a car, mainly intended for light infantry support or reconnaissance. Colloquially it may also simply mean a "small tank"....
. - L6 Lf flame tank, a variant of the L6/40 light tankLight tankA light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in low-intensity conflict. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility.The light tank was a major...
.
Imperial Japanese Army (Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun)
- Japanese Army Type "SS" Armored Engineer Vehicle Models Bo,Ko,Otsu,Hei,Tei
- Flame tank model of Type 97 Chi-HaType 97 Chi-HaThe was a medium tank used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It was the most widely produced Japanese medium tank of World War II, although the armor protection was considered as average in the 1930s...
Tank.
World War II Allied
Light Tank M3 (General Stuart)
- M3 Satan: Improvised conversion of M3 light tank with Canadian Ronson.
Medium Tank M4 (General Sherman)
- M4A3R3 Zippo: Sherman tankM4 ShermanThe M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
used during the Battle of Iwo JimaBattle of Iwo JimaThe Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
(1945) - M4 Crocodile: four M4 tanks converted by British for US 2nd Armored Division in NW Europe with the same armored fuel trailer as used on ChurchillChurchill tankThe Tank, Infantry, Mk IV was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war...
but the fuel line went over the hull. - Sherman Badger: CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's replacement of its Ram Badger, the Sherman Badger was a turretless M4A2 HVSS Sherman with Wasp IIC flamethrower in place of hull machine gun, developed sometime from 1945 to 1949. The 150 gallons at 250 psi was effective to 125 yards, with elevation of +30 to -10 degrees and traverse of 30 degrees left and 23 degrees right. This inspired the US T68.
Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) "Churchill"
- Churchill OKE: Churchill IIChurchill tankThe Tank, Infantry, Mk IV was a heavy British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war...
with "Ronson" flamethrower. 3 used at Dieppe in 1942Dieppe RaidThe Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter or later on Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5:00 AM and by 10:50 AM the Allied...
. - Churchill CrocodileChurchill CrocodileThe Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk VI Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle....
: Churchill VII with an armored fuel trailer using compressed nitrogen. The flamethrower replaced the hull machine gun leaving the main armament unaffected. Used after the Normandy landings (1944)
Tank, Infantry, Mk II, Matilda II (A12)
- Matilda Frog (25): 25 Matilda IIMatilda tankThe Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II was a British infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12....
tanks converted to flame tanks by the Australians in late 1944. - Matilda Murray: Australian improvement over the Frog, produced in 1945.
Medium Tank T-34
- ОТ-34 (OT-34-76): created from various models of the T-34-76, had an internally mounted flame-thrower ATO-41 (ATO-42 later) replacing the hull machine gun.
- OT-34-85: created from the T-34-85, had an internally mounted flame-thrower ATO-42 replacing the hull machine gun.
Heavy Breakthrough Tank KV (Klim Voroshilov)
- KV-8: KV-1 fitted with the ATO-41 flame-thrower in the turret, beside a machine gun. In order to accommodate the new weapon, the 76.2mm gun was replaced with a smaller 45 mm Gun M1932, though it was disguised to look like the standard 76 mm.
Light Tank T-26
- KhT-26 (OT-26)T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
: developed in 1933. Based on the twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 tank but using a single turret armed with a flamethrower, the second turret was removed. - KhT-130 (OT-130)T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
: Flamethrower variant of model 1933, using a larger 45 mm gun turret (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower). - KhT-133 (OT-133)T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
: Flamethrower variant of model 1939 (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower). - KhT-134 (OT-134)T-26 variantsMain article: T-26 tankMore than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production...
: Flamethrower variant of model 1939, with 45 mm gun.
Other
- Ram Badger: Canadian Ram tankRam tankThe Tank Cruiser, Ram was a cruiser tank designed and built by Canada in the Second World War, based on the U.S. M3 Medium tank. Due to the entrance of the United States into the war and the superior design of the American Sherman, it was used exclusively for training purposes and was never used in...
adapted with flamethrower. - LVT(A)-4 Ronson: (1944) With full tracks, armor, and a turret, arguably the LVTLanding Vehicle TrackedThe Landing Vehicle Tracked was a class of amphibious vehicles introduced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Army during World War II. Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they rapidly evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles as well...
was a swimming light tank; this was a fire support version with M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage turret but the 75 mm howitzer replaced with the CanadianCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Ronson flamethrowerRonson systemThe Ronson system was a flamethrower developed in World War II and used by the United States Marine Corps during World War II.The Ronson was developed by the British Petroleum Warfare Department in 1940. Having insufficient range it was passed over but taken up by the Canadians for further work....
.- LVT-4(F) Sea Serpent: British version armed with flamethrowers, but unarmored.
- Wasp: not strictly a flame tank, the Universal Carrier (a small lightly armoured tracked personnel/equipment carrier) fitted with the Wasp flamethrower - a continued development of the Ronson by the Petroleum Warfare Department.
Post-war and Cold War tanks
- M67 Zippo: a variant of the US M48 Patton tank.
- OT-55T-55The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...
: a variant of the widely used Soviet T-55 tank. - OT-62T-62The T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank, a further development of the T-55. Its 115 mm gun was the first smoothbore tank gun in use.The T-62 was produced between 1961 and 1975. It became a standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, partly replacing the T-55, although that tank continued to be...
: a variant of Soviet T-62 MBT.