Tank Equipped With Flame Thrower

Medium Tank Equipped With Flame Thrower firing on entrance to enemy cave. Picture taken on Okinawa, 1 45. 

The Luzon fighting saw the arrival of both auxiliary and main armament flame throwers from the zone of interior. The XIV Corps included a tank battalion, equipped with bow gun flame throwers, that was employed in the house-to-house fighting in Manila. In one instance a flame tank neutralized in a few minutes a barricaded building which had defied the infantry for two days. Twenty-five more bow gun flame throwers reached the Sixth Army in mid-April. ... 

The 4th and 5 th Marine Divisions emphasized the greater eflfective-ness of the main armament type as opposed to the auxiliary flame thrower, of which the 4th Division had twenty-four. These divisions recommended more large capacity flame throwers and their incorporation as organic equipment in ail tank battalions. Although the 3d Marine Division entered the Iwo Jima operation without main armament flame throwers, it was later on able to borrow some from the other divisions. In its opinion this type was better against enemy defenses than the auxiliary bow gun flame throwers with their shorter range and limited traverse. ... 

Tank crews developed a fear of the periscope type after the fuel container of one burst and ignited upon being struck by an enemy shell, burning the tank crew to death. This type of auxiliary flame thrower, therefore, was never fully tested in battle. Nor was the bow gun type, with which the III Amphibious Corps was equipped, put to much use, for main armament flame tanks of the 713th Tank Battalion were preferred by Marine as well as Army units. ... 

As a matter of fact, comparatively little use was made of the E4-3 in France and Germany. Unfortunately, the first reported action was a complete failure, a circumstance which may have helped discourage wider use of the weapon. Two medium tanks with E4-3 flame throwers reported to the y4ist Tank Battalion, First Army, on 13 September 1944. At the time, both tanks were improperly equipped and one had a defective engine. The y4ist Tank Battalion repaired and equipped the vehicles and attached them to Company C. When further trouble developed, one of the tanks was evacuated to an ordnance repair shop. On 18 September, the remaining E4-3 flame tank supported an infantry attack on an enemy pillbox. Because of inadequate pressure the tank had to get within twenty-five yards of the fortification before the flame could reach the embrasure. This action failed to reduce the pillbox, and the infantry did not take the position. In fact, there was doubt whether or not the enemy suffered any casualties from the attack. 

The Italian and Japanese Armies did not equip tanks with auxiliary flame throwers, but the German Army had two flame throwers that might be placed in this classification. For the Pz. Kw. II tank it developed a... 

The job of the CWS did not end with the production of flame throwers. Weapons had to be serviced, fuels had to be mixed with thickeners, and compressed gas or air had to be supplied. The CWS rigged up an air compressor and mixing vat carried on a truck or trailer. With this equipment troops could mix the hundreds of gallons of thickened fuel used by flame tanks, and compress the large volume of air needed as a propellant. ... 

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