Portable Flame Throwers
Kleinflammenwerfer The first German man-portable flamethrower. Fuel was stored in a large vertical, cylindrical backpack container. High-pressure propellant was stored in another, smaller container attached to the fuel tank. A long hose connected the fuel tank to a lance tube with an igniting device at the nozzle. The propellant forced the fuel through the hose and out of the nozzle at high speed when a valve was opened. The igniting device at the nozzle set fire to the fuel as it sprayed out. The flamethrower was operated by two soldiers, one carrying the fuel and propellant tanks, another wielding the lance
Wechselapparat 1917 The Germans introduced another small flamethrower design in 1917 to replace the earlier Kleif. The Wechselapparat ("Wex") had a doughnut-shaped backpack fuel container with a spherical propellant container in the middle. This design was updated during the Second World War to become flamethrower model 40. However, model 40 was considered too fragile so it was soon replaced by model 41, a simpler construction with smaller, horizontal, cylindrical backpack containers. The doughnut-shaped container design was copied by the British during World War II. Flammenwerfer M.16. The Flammenwerfer M.16. was a flamethrower used by German infantry during World War I for clearing trenches and killing riflemen. It was used in 1918 in the battle of Argonne Forest in France against Allied forces. The Flammenwerfer M.16 was the first flamethrower ever. The Nazis in the 1940s created the sequel, the Flammenwerfer 35. German riflemen would usually be behind flamethrower carrying infantry. The flamethrowers would kill enemy infantry, helping the riflemen move in. Flammenwerfer 35 Flammenwerfer 41 1941 The Flammenwerfer 41, or FmW 41 was the German flamethrower used during late World War II, used to clear out trenches and buildings. It was the more upgraded version of the Flammenwerfer 35 It could project fuel up to 32m from the user.
Type 93 and 100 flamethrowers 1933 The Type 93 and Type 100 Flamethrowers were flamethrowers used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy's SNLF during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
K pattern flamethrower 1944 The K pattern (Polish: wzór K) was a man-portable backpack flamethrower, produced in occupied Poland during World War II for the underground Home Army. These flamethrowers were used in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
Flamethrower, Portable, No 2 1943 The Flamethrower, Portable, No 2 (nicknamed Lifebuoy from the shape of its fuel tank), also known as the Ack Pack, was a British design of flamethrower for infantry use in the Second World War. It was a near copy of the German Wechselapparat ("Wex") from 1917.
M2 flamethrower 1943 The M2 flamethrower (M2-2) was an American man-portable backpack flamethrower that was used in World War II. It was the successor to the M1 and M1A1 flamethrowers.
M1A1 Flamethrower 1940 The M1 and M1A1 were portable flamethrowers developed by the United States during World War II. M1 weighed 72 lb, had a range of 15 meters, and had a fuel tank capacity of 5 gallons. The improved M1A1 weighed less at 65 lb, had a much longer range of 45 meters, had the same fuel tank capacity, and fired thickened fuel (napalm).
ROKS flamethrowers 1935 The ROKS-2 and ROKS-3 were man-portable flamethrowers used by the USSR in the Second World War. The ROKS-2 was designed not to draw attention so the fuel tank was square and resembled a regular backpack, and the nozzle looked like a service rifle. The propellant tank was a small bottle underneath the backpack fuel tank. ROKS-3 was a simplified design and had a regular cylindrical fuel tank. The Finnish designation for captured ROKS-2 units was m/41-r.
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