Flamethrowers in Action Shown in 36 Blazing Photos!

Flamethrowers were first used by the Greeks in the 1st Century AD. More than 1000 years later, this weapon was used by Byzantine Empire against Arabs. In modern times, they were used during World War I, and more widely in World War II.

The English word ‘flamethrower’ is a loan-translation of the German word Flammenwerfer, since the modern flamethrower was invented in Germany.

On July 30th, 1915, it was first used in a concerted action, against British trenches at Hooge, where the lines were just 4.9 yards apart—even there, the casualties were caused mainly by soldiers being flushed into the open and being shot by more conventional means rather than from the fire itself.

The flamethrower was extensively used during World War II. In 1939, the Wehrmacht first deployed man-portable flamethrowers against the Polish Post Office in Danzig.

Subsequently, in 1942, the U.S. Army introduced its own man-portable flamethrower. The vulnerability of infantry carrying backpack flamethrowers and the weapon’s short range led to experiments with tank-mounted flamethrowers (flame tanks), which were used by many countries.

Photos of flamethrowers