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 good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

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 ...

, 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 by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other) ...

attacks against

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, during which the United States,

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom (including members of the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

) 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).

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 Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

, 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 Ronson may refer to: People * Barbara Ronson (1942–2018), British Liberal Democrat politician * Billy Ronson (1957–2015), English footballer * Charlotte Ronson (born 1977), English fashion designer in New York * Gail Ronson (born 1946), Bri ...

" or " Zippo" 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 German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' II (abbreviated PzKpfw II). Although the vehicle had originally been designed as a stopgap while l ...

and

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight ot ...

were both discontinued due to unsatisfactory performance and converted into

assault gun Assault gun (from german: Sturmgeschütz - "storm gun", as in "storming/assaulting") is a type of self-propelled artillery which uses an infantry support gun mounted on a motorized chassis, normally an armored fighting vehicle, which are designed t ...

s or tank destroyers. The

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was 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 Pan ...

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 is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

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 armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that can be carri ...

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

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...

Panzerschreck ''Panzerschreck'' (lit. "tank fright", "tank's fright" 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 dev ...

, 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 weapon ...

were introduced which were fatal to tanks at ranges longer than the tank's flamethrower could reach. British Churchill Crocodiles 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 and Northern Germany, in regions where pastoral farming is the dominant land use. ''Bocage'' may als ...

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 during World War II. Part of the overall Battle for Brittany and the Allied plan for the invasion of mainland Europe called for the capture of port facilities, ...

, notably aiding in the defeat of a

Fallschirmjäger The ''Fallschirmjäger'' () were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander ...

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 flamethrower. 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 led by the First Canadian Army, with Polish and British units attached, to open up the shipping route to Antwerp so that its port could be used to supply the Alli ...

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 often treated differently should they be captured alive by German 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 German troops upon capture were not uncommon. Subsequently, 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 open up on them due to the fear of the weapon.

World War II Axis

German Army

* ''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) tank destroyer * 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, a variant based on the Sd.Kfz. 251 series of

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

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

chassis

Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito)

* L3 Lf flame tank, a variant of the

L3/35 The L3/35 or Carro Veloce CV-35 was an Italian tankette that saw combat 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 tan ...

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

Imperial Japanese Army

*Japanese Army

Sōkō Sagyō Ki The , also known as the , was a fulltrack engineering vehicle of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) introduced in 1931. The vehicle was considered by the IJA to be one of its most versatile multi-function support vehicles. History During the 1930s ...

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 Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in the Second World War. It proved sufficient against infantry but, like the American M3 Stuart light tank, was not d ...

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 "

" replacing main armament

Medium tank M4 ("Sherman")

*''M4 A2'' with bow mounted E4-5 flamethrowers *U.S.Army ''CWS-POA-H1'' and ''H2'' USMC ''M4 A3R5'' ''Mark-1'' *U.S.Army ''CWS-POA-H5'' USMC ''M4 A3R8'' 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 Crocodile'': 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 Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. 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, best known as the Matilda, was 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 machi ...

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 Worl ...

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 The Kliment Voroshilov (KV) tanks are a series of Soviet heavy tanks named after the Soviet defence commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov who operated with the Red Army during World War II. The KV tanks were known for their heavy armour pro ...

'': 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.

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 (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower) *'' KhT-133 (OT-133)'': flamethrower variant of model 1939 (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower) *'' KhT-134 (OT-134)'': flamethrower variant of model 1939, with a 45 mm gun

Other

* ''Ram Badger'': Canadian

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

cruiser tank adapted with flamethrower *''LVT(A)-4 Ronson'': (1944) with full tracks, some armor, and a turret, arguably the landing vehicle tracked 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, also known as the Bren Gun Carrier and sometimes simply the Bren Carrier from the light machine gun armament, is a common name describing a family of light armoured tracked vehicles built by Vickers-Armstrongs and othe ...

(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 The Petroleum Warfare Department (PWD) was a government department established in Britain in 1940 in response to the invasion crisis during World War II, when Germany apparently would invade the country. The department was initially tasked with ...

Bishop, p. 272

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: not actually based on a tank, but an armoured flamethrower based on the M113 armoured personnel carrier

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