A flame tank is a type of

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

equipped with a

flamethrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World W ...

, most commonly used to supplement

combined arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects—for example, using infantry and armoured warfare, armour in an Urban warfare, urban environment in ...

attacks against

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s, confined spaces, or other obstacles. The type only reached significant use in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during which the United States, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and the United Kingdom all produced flamethrower-equipped tanks. A number of production methods were used. The flamethrowers used 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). Fuel 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 The Churchill Crocodile was a British flame-throwing tank of late Second World War. It was a variant of the Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill Mark VII, although the Churchill Mark IV was initially chosen to be the base vehicle. The Croco ...

Combat effectiveness

In comparison to man-portable flamethrowers, flame tanks carried much more fuel, and could fire longer-ranged bursts. Due to their ability to get in range of enemy positions in comparative safety, they were invaluable for rooting out heavy infantry fortifications. For example, as the main guns of US tanks were largely unsuccessful in penetrating the thick

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s created by the Japanese defenders on islands such as

Tarawa Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

, flame throwing tanks were used instead while infantrymen provided the necessary security during their deployment. On Iwo Jima the marines learned that conventional firearms were relatively ineffective against the Japanese defenders and effectively used flamethrowers and grenades to flush out Japanese troops in the tunnels. One of the technological innovations of the battle, the eight Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks equipped with flamethrowers (" Ronson" or "

Zippo A Zippo lighter is a reusable metal lighter produced by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made since their introduction in 1933, incl ...

" tanks), proved very effective at clearing Japanese positions. The Shermans were difficult to disable, such that defenders were often compelled to assault them in the open, where they would face the full firepower of marine rifle and machine gun fire. The maximum range of a flamethrower was typically less than 150 metres. Because of this limitation, the flamethrower was virtually useless on an open battlefield. However, they proved a potent psychological weapon against fortified troops. In many instances, troops surrendered or fled upon seeing a flame tank fire ranging shots, rather than risk being burned alive. Experience of combat use of flamethrower tanks was mixed. German flamethrower variants of the

Panzer II The Panzer II is the common name used for a family of Nazi Germany, German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' II (abbreviated ''Pz.Kpfw. II''). Although the vehicle had originally been designed a ...

and

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III)'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Nazi Germany, Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was List of Sd.K ...

were both discontinued due to unsatisfactory performance and converted into

assault gun An assault gun (from , , meaning "assault gun") is a type of armored infantry support vehicle and self-propelled artillery, mounting an infantry support gun on a protected self-propelled chassis, intended for providing infantry with heavy di ...

s or

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

s. The

Panzer IV The IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the Panzer IV, is a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panzer IV was the most numer ...

was never converted into a flame variant, despite having been configured for many other roles. The mixed results were in part due to the development of

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

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 An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the vehicle armor, armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that ca ...

s. Towards the end of the war, more powerful anti-tank weapons such as the

bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

Panzerschreck ''Panzerschreck'' ( "tank's dread" or "tank's bane") was the popular name for the ''Raketenpanzerbüchse'' 54 ("Rocket Anti-armor Rifle Model 54", abbreviated to RPzB 54), an 88 mm reusable anti-tank rocket launcher developed by Nazi Germa ...

, and

PIAT The Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank (PIAT) Mk I was a British man-portable 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 weapo ...

were introduced which were fatal to tanks at ranges longer than the tank's flamethrower could reach. British

s supported the U.S. Army in the summer of 1944 during the fight over the Normandy hedgerows or the "

Bocage Bocage (, ) is a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture characteristic of parts of northern France, southern England, Ireland, the Netherlands, northern Spain and northern Germany, in regions where pastoral farming is the dominant land use. ' ...

country" and used a squadron during the fighting at the

Battle for Brest The Battle for Brest was fought in August and September 1944 on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. Part of the overall Battle for Brittany and the Allied plan for the Operation Overlord, invasion of mainland E ...

, notably aiding in the defeat of a

Fallschirmjäger The () were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-comman ...

garrison at the siege of Montbarey fortress on 16 September 1944. The US Army received a smaller American designed flamethrower mounted upon the M4 Sherman tank during the same month of September 1944, 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 Dutch armies became two of the most active users of the

Wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

variant of the universal carrier equipped with a

. While fighting in Europe, the Wasp was found to be extremely effective in prying German 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. Canadian troops used them during the

Battle of the Scheldt The Battle of the Scheldt in World War II was a series of military operations to open up the Scheldt river between Antwerp and the North Sea for shipping, so that Antwerp's port could be used to supply the Allies in north-west Europe. The oper ...

4th Canadian Armoured Division flamethrower demonstration across canal Balgerhoeke Belgium October 1944

In contrast to man-portable flamethrowers that were vulnerable to bullets and shrapnel, making them extremely dangerous to their operators, flame tanks were extremely difficult to catch on fire or explode unless hit with an armor piercing round or explosive reaching the ammunition and engine fuel inside the tank's main hull. Tanks such as the Churchill Crocodile, which towed the flamethrower liquid container behind the actual tank, held no greater risk of fire than standard tanks. Although the towed container itself could be easily targeted, the tank and its crew remained well protected. The armored trailer and armored coupling of the Churchill Crocodile could be jettisoned from inside the tank if necessary. Crews of flame tanks were not necessarily more vulnerable than those in the standard version of the tank (a Churchill Crocodile flame tank being more or less as vulnerable to anti-tank weapons as the standard Churchill), but the crews of flamethrowing tanks were allegedly treated differently should they be captured alive. Due to the perceived inhumanity of the weapon itself, captured crews of such tanks were allegedly treated much less humanely than crews of regular tanks. The allies suspected that there were instances where flametankers were

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

by German troops upon capture, and although some published sources claim this was a fact, but not a single specific instance is known to have been documented. Nevertheless, British tank crews received sixpence a day extra "danger money" due to the threat of arbitrary execution. Flame tanks also suffered from the fact, along with flamethrower-armed troops, that all enemy within range would usually fire on them due to the fear of the weapon.

World War I

Some vehicles equipped with flamethrowers were trialed by various nations during World War I, although none were used in combat. Some examples include the

Steam Tank The Steam tank (tracked) was an early U.S. tank design of 1918 imitating the design of the British Mark IV tank but powered by steam. The type was designed by an officer from the U.S. Army's Corps Of Engineers. The project was started by Genera ...

and General Jackson's Pedrail prototype.

Interwar period

The successes of the Soviet defense industry, in the late 1920s, made it possible to begin the motorization and mechanization of the Soviet Armed Forces. In 1932, the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR adopted a resolution "On giving the mechanized brigade chemical and other means to fight the enemy's entrenched infantry", thereby setting the direction for the design of chemical tanks (flamethrowers were issued to chemical troops). The T-26 tank was chosen as the basis for the chemical tank, which was put into mass production in the USSR in 1931. This armored vehicle, for that period of time, was distinguished by good performance, surpassing foreign tanks in terms of armor and driving performance. The task for the development of a chemical combat vehicle (BKhM-3 / KhT-26) was assigned to the Military Chemical Directorate (VOKHIMU) of the Red Army, in turn, VOKHIM, entrusted this work to KB-2 of plant No. 174 in Leningrad and the design bureau of the Kompressor plant (chemical equipment). BKhM-3, in addition to the flamethrower, was equipped with smoke launchers and toxic sprays, so these tanks were called not flamethrower, but "chemical". The first combat-ready flamethrower tanks appeared in the early 1930s: KhT-27, KhT-26 and a number of others - in the USSR, CV3 LF - in Italy. Before the start of World War II more than 1,300 flamethrower tanks of various types were produced by Soviet industry.A. N. Ardashev, S. L. Fedoseev. ''Flamethrower tanks of World War II''. - M .: Armor collection, special issue No. 8, 2005, page 3 By the mid-1930s, the first combat use of flamethrower tanks took place. Italy used its flamethrower tanks in the

Second Italo-Ethiopian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Fascist Italy, Italy against Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is oft ...

of 1935-1936, and the CV3 LF was also used by the Italian Expeditionary Force during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Soviet troops first used flamethrower tanks against the Japanese at Khasan in 1938 and later a Khalkhin Gol in 1939. In 1931 the São Paulo Public Force created an assault car section. The first vehicle to be incorporated was a flame tank built from a Caterpillar Twenty Two Tractor. The vehicle was developed by lieutenant Reynaldo Ramos de Saldanha da Gama, with help from the Polytechnic school. It was built from riveted steel plates, with a rotating flamethrower turret, and four 7mm Hotchkiss machineguns mounted on the hull. The Flamethrowers' effective range was a hundred meters. The tank was used in combat during the

Constitutionalist Revolution The Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 (sometimes also referred to as Paulista War or Brazilian Civil War) is the name given to the uprising of the population of the Brazilian state of São Paulo against the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 wh ...

, routing federal troops from a bridge in an engagement at Cruzeiro. During the battle of Kilometer 7 to Saavedra in the

Chaco War The Chaco War (, ''Flammpanzer'' I a field variant of the German Panzer I used briefly during the war in North Africa * Panzer II Flamm, a variant of the German Panzer II Ausf D/E * ''Flammpanzer'' 38, a variant of the Jagdpanzer 38(t)

* Panzerkampfwagen B2 (F), a variant produced by the Germans based on captured French Char B1 tank chassis * Flammpanzer III Ausf. M/Panzer III (Fl), a variant of the German Panzer III Ausf. M * Sd.Kfz. 251/16 Flammpanzerwagen, not actually a tank but a Sd.Kfz. 251 series

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. A half-track combines the soft-ground traction of a tank with the Car handl ...

* StuG III (Flamm), a variant based on a variety of pre-Ausf F StuG III

chassis

Italian Royal Army

* L3 Lf flame tank, a variant of the

L3/35 The L3/35, also known as the Carro Veloce CV-35, was an Italian tankette that saw combat before and during World War II. It was one of the smallest tanks that faced combat. Although designated a light tank by the Italian Army, its turretless con ...

tankette A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting.

* L6 Lf flame tank, a variant of the L6/40

light tank A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for ...

Imperial Japanese Army

*Japanese Army Sōkō Sagyō Ki armoured engineer vehicle models Bo, Ko, Otsu, Hei, Tei *Flame tank model of

Type 95 Ha-Go The was a light tank used by the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War, at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but was not effective against othe ...

tank

World War II Allied

Light tank M3 ("Stuart")

Flame-throwing-tank-bouganville-RG-208-AA-158-L-001

*''M3 Satan'': Modified conversion of M3 light tank with Canadian " Ronson" replacing main armament

Medium tank M4 ("Sherman")

*''M4 A2'' with bow mounted E4-5 flamethrowers *U.S.Army ''CWS-POA-H1'' and ''H2'' USMC ''M4A3R5'' ''Mark-1'' *U.S.Army ''CWS-POA-H5'' USMC ''M4A3R8'' with coaxial H1A-5A flamethrower *U.S.Army ''M42-B1E9'' *''M4 Crocodile'': four M4 tanks converted by British for US 2nd Armored Division in NW Europe with the same armoured fuel trailer as used on the Churchill Crocodile but the fuel line went over the hull *''Sherman Badger'': Canada's replacement of its Ram Badger, the Sherman Badger was a turretless M4A2 HVSS Sherman with a Wasp IIC flamethrower in place of the 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. *''Sherman Adder'': a conversion kit to equip Sherman tanks, used in India on Sherman IIIs and Sherman Vs

Tank, Infantry, Mk IV "Churchill"

*''Churchill Oke'': Churchill Mk II with fixed "Ronson" flamethrower. Three were part of the 1942 Raid on Dieppe but were put out of action before the equipment was used. *''

'': Churchill Mk VII equipped with a kit including an armored fuel trailer that used compressed nitrogen for pressure. The flamethrower replaced the hull machine gun leaving the main armament unaffected. Eight hundred conversion kits were produced. Operating under the organization of the

79th Armoured Division The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist armoured division of the British Army created during the Second World War. The division was created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, D-Day. Major-General Percy ...

, as with other specialised vehicles, it was deployed following the 6 June 1944

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in north-west Europe and in the Italian campaign. It could deliver eighty one-second bursts out to before refuelling.

Tank, infantry, Mk II, Matilda II

*''Matilda Frog'': 25

Matilda II The Infantry Tank Mark II, better known as the Matilda, is a British infantry tank of the Second World War.Jentz, p. 11. The design began as the A12 specification in 1936, as a gun-armed counterpart to the first British infantry tank, the mac ...

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 A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World Wa ...

ATO-41 (ATO-42 later) replacing the hull machine gun *'' OT-34-85'': created from the T-34-85, had an internally mounted

ATO-42 replacing the hull machine gun

Heavy breakthrough tank KV ''(Kliment 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 76.2 mm gun was replaced with a smaller, 45 mm, gun M1932, though it was disguised to look like the standard 76 mm. *'' KV-8S'': KV-1 fitted with the ATO-42 flame-thrower (improved version of ATO-41) in the turret. In order to accommodate the new weapon, the 76.2 mm gun was replaced with a smaller, 45 mm, gun M1932, though it was disguised to look like the standard 76 mm. Some KV-8S were created by mating the ''KV-1S'' hull with a ''KV-8'' turret, while the remainder had a KV-1S turret with ATO-42 flamethrower but lacked the coaxial machine gun. *'' KV-8M'': an upgraded version of KV-8S equipped with two flamethrowers, replacing the coaxial machine gun in the turret and hull-mounted machine gun. Two prototypes were constructed.

Light tank T-26

*'' KhT-26 (OT-26)'': 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)'': flamethrower variant of model 1933, using a larger 45 mm gun turret (main gun was replaced with a flamethrower). *'' KhT-133 (OT-133)'': flamethrower variant of model 1939 (main gun was replaced with a flamethrower). *'' KhT-134 (OT-134)'': flamethrower variant of model 1939, with 45 mm gun intact and hull-mounted flamethrower. Prototype only.

Other

* ''Ram Badger'': Canadian

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

cruiser tank adapted with flamethrower *''LVT(A)-4 Ronson'': (1944) with full tracks, some armor, and a turret, arguably the

landing vehicle tracked The Amphibious Vehicle, Tracked (LVT or AMTRAC) is an amphibious warfare vehicle and Amphibious vehicle, amphibious landing craft, introduced by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. (The USN and USMC use ''L'' to designate ...

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 Canadian Ronson flamethrower. **''LVT-4(F) Sea Serpent'': British version armed with flamethrowers, but unarmoured *''Wasp'': not strictly a flame tank, the

Universal Carrier The Universal Carrier, a development of the earlier Bren Gun Carrier from its light machine gun armament, was one of a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and other companies. The first carriers – the Br ...

(a small lightly armoured tracked personnel and equipment carrier) fitted with the Wasp flamethrower, a continued development of the Ronson by the Petroleum Warfare Department

Post-war and Cold War tanks

* M4-A3E8 M4 Sherman with 105 howitzer and a coaxial H1A-H5A flamethrower * M67 "Zippo": a variant of the US M48 Patton tank * TO-55: a variant of the widely-used Soviet T-55 tank * TO-62: a variant of the Soviet T-62 MBT * M132 armored flamethrower: First put in service in 1964, not actually based on a tank, but an armored flamethrower based on the

M113 The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 APCs. The M113 was first used ...

armored personnel carrier. This vehicle was successfully used during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. *PM-1: Czechoslovakian prototype based on the ST-I

Post–Cold War and 21st century

Since 1978, flamethrowers and the last flame 'tank' the M132 armored flamethrower have not been part of the US arsenal. Though not banned, these weapons have fallen out of use and have instead been replaced with non-flamethrower incendiary weapons like

thermobaric weapons A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, or a vacuum bomb, is a type of explosive munition that works by dispersing an aerosol cloud of gas, liquid or powdered explosive. The fuel is usually a single compound, rather than a mixture o ...

which may have been fielded in Afghanistan by the United States in 2009 and by Russia in the 2022

Russo-Ukrainian war The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

References

Works cited

Sources

* * Lucy, Roger V, "Mechanized Flamethrowers in Canadian Service, Service Publications, 2009. * Zaloga, Steven J. ''M3 & M5 Stuart.'' 1999; Osprey Publishing/New Vanguard #33. . * Zaloga, Steven J. ''Armored Thunderbolt, The US Army Sherman in World War II.'' 2008; Stackpole Books. .

External links

Flame tank prediction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flame Tank Armoured warfare Flamethrowers Tanks by type