There livespan was short, like most infantry. They were held in the rear of the infantry advance till ready to be called up. They were covered by rifle and machine gun fire to get their job done.
@@TheFlamethrowerExperts 16 percent of the infantry died in the war so for 84 percent of them their lifespan the entire war sooooo I don't think with the 16 percent killed you could work out any averages like 35 minutes that is so retarded
More like your chillin in a cave and suddenly you feel uncordinated and lethargic. You resist the urge to sleep but to no avail as your vision starts going black at the edges, slowly fading to unconsciousness. Fire eats oxygen and it was the more useful aspect when it came to rooting out the enemy.
@@cadennorris960 they did they flame it while they approached it and then they’d throw a satchel charge the cave entrance to seal the cave marines will talk about how they can hear them trying to dig out
OH That's really smart, instead of a pilot light, it uses friction like a flint rod. That way the liquid can be expelled at a safe distance so it can't overheat the nozzle, and that distance is the choke because it suppresses air intake! Beautiful engineering.
Its actually a cluster of flare charges, that's what the black cylinder he loaded in first is. But it was done for all those exact reasons. You get a couple strikes for separate uses or in case a few don't light
@@ProfessorPootisit seems to me that after he pulled the trigger a few times the lighting mechanism stopped lighting the fuel. If that is the case then it’s not a good idea because after every 4 to 5 pulls you have to stop and change out the charging device.
My uncle carried one of those for the entire pacific theater. So folks They were definitely a target But alot of them were damn smart country boys. Of course he preferred his BAR But he knew how to use this better than anyone. Burning people alive wounded him for life. His stories were incredible, and they belong to me now. God bless ya red Miss ya brother
For those who dont know, the ignitor on the end of it is that round block they put in the nozzle. It has 5 magnesium charges that are started by pulling the front trigger. A flamethrower Marine was carrying dead weight unless he had other charges packed with him. Because after all 5 are used which they dont last long, youre walking around with whatever fuel you still had on your back. The Japanese had flamethrowers also but only really used them when they were in an offensive postion prior to the US entering the war, essentially when they were purly in a defensive position when we joined the fight and didnt have a use for them. I guess Karma caught up to them. Also yes the average life expectency of a Flamethrower Marine was extremely low. I know of a story from a friends grandpa of when he got appendicitis prior to landing on Iwo Jima so he got pulled before it and after his surgery he was the only flame thrower marine left.
Love it how bf1 flame thrower was extremely bad then we had the crappy pistol flame thrower which was even more useless and then there was the pick up flamethrower which kills everyone in 2 frame
Saw an interview with a WW2 vet who fought on Iwo Jima and used a flamethrower. The part the stuck out to me was that he said that all the guys who had flamethrowers volunteered for the job. These guys had nerves of steel, sheesh. I couldnt picture myself running into a battlefield with a fuel tank strapped to my back
The fuel tanks wasn't much of a concern as far as exploding goes even if punctured it still requires a spark to be ignited, but yes you had to be built different to volunteer for a flame thrower job.
That episode of the Shawn Ryan Show with guest Don Graves was definitely a really great interview. It got me thinking which way would someone want to go if they had to choose between either being killed via a flamethrower or by having a special operations dog fly through the air like Superman and tear someone to shreds. Either way that just sounds like a bad day at the office.
@TheFlamethrowerExperts this is pure diesel? The diesel used in flamethrowers is a mixture... the military flame throwers leave a substance on the surface that keep burning for a while. These flames didn't even hit the ground.
@@TheFlamethrowerExperts the notable difference between using diesel and napalm is with napalm it spews out as a liquid, coating everything in fire rather than burning up before contact. Very scary
Do you know what the M-97 Flamethrower sounds like? It roars like a dragon, a fiery god purging everything in it's path. Hold down the trigger and the "woosh" drowns out everything else, focus on the noise and you almost convince yourself you don't hear the screams. By the time the tank is empty, everything is over, even the men are quiet. There's nothing but the crackling of burning thatch. You see, it's not the noise that keeps me awake at night, it's the silence.
In Eugene Sledges’s book, he describes that not only does this burn you to death, but when it’s used on an enclosed area such as a bunker or a cave, all the oxygen is consumed by the flame so you’re both suffocating and burning to death
@@tomr6955eb sledge was trained for a mortar squad. He fought on Pelielu and Okinawa. He probably either saw it first hand or talked to a surviving flamethrower marine
Fire needs oxygen to burn, humans need oxygen to live, inside an enclosed space their is limited oxygen, said fire will use the oxygen so humans inside can't use oxygen to live, that's how humans suffocate @@tomr6955
@@tomr6955 Eugene Sledge's dad was a doctor, so it's safe to say he was probably educated. Also, a lot of the bunkers they cleared with flamethrowers weren't filled with charred bodies. The soldiers suffocated while laying down on the ground.
Flamethrowers were used by the German army against Allied troops in World War I. In World War II flamethrowers were fueled with napalm, which burned with intense heat and clung to its target. In the 1950s the United States developed a one-shot portable flamethrower for use in close range against fortified positions.
My step mothers grandfather served in WW2 and according to his stories he was one of the guys running up and clearing areas with a flamethrower when either a hose or a tank busted and he took all the fuel to the face. It damaged his eyes terribly eventually leading to his blindness. The man was a hell of a warrior and would even play the harmonica sitting on the couch for us with his eyes trained to a painting of his long past wife. Even without seeing the entire image he still knew what or who he was looking at
There are interviews with WW2 veterans and one was a flamethrower operator, he mentioned that you only have a handful 2-second bursts in those tanks, this guy probably emptied them.
My grandfather on my dads side left Germany, when quote, his “neighbors and social peers gradually got more insane, with no change in how many were sick”. He made it to America w/ his young wife(my grandmother) and lived in Springfield, NJ in the house my father ect ect grew up in. Since he was a German immigrant, when he enlisted in the US Military... he wasent allowed to be deployed to Germany. So for World War II he was sent to Japan. Believe it or not, this is what he did “bunker clearing with flamethrower”. The navy battleships basically flattened the whole island and destroyed the coast line at first. So they basically sent in huge units to clear bunkers, dugouts, ect ect. There was about 5-6 men that always stuck with/coordinated with one flamethrower guy like a team. They all knew how to use it if needed and could coordinate with another flamethrower and his guys for larger/difficult bunkers, machine gun nest. It may sound very cool, but he said it was horrifying in retrospect.
в России многие люди сейчас ощущают то что чувствовал ваш дедушка в Германии перед отъездом. в обществе слишком много жестокости. мы так быстро скатились до ужасных мыслей и слов, которые говорят обычные люди. ужас
my grandmother lived on lake worth, tx and she and her neighbors lived in fear of the cattails marching up to the shoreline and "blocking the view" she and her co worker, both telephone operators, employed several methods of attack but my favourite one was the WW2 surplus flame thrower they acquired in the late 40s. i would give a lot to have seen 2 drunken telephone operators out on the beach waving that thing around. they knew quite a few officers, acquisition of it would have been easy
Fun fact: if a flamethrower reached a enemy position, like a machinegun nest, he would soak the whole thing with fuel, 99% of the time the enemies just leave without offering resistance
So you me he just "shot" the fuel out the flame thrower, without igniting it before, on the enemies, and they had at least a chance to get out alive?! So he could use the flame thrower to burn them, or they would ignite themselves when they start shooting after they were soaked with fuel, so they just chose to run away?!
@@IronWarrior95 its both parts of the history, its a threat and a calm way to prevent them to fight back, all they can use at that point its their melee equipment since a little spark can burn them all And most of the time they make them prisioners you know, Geneva suggestion
@@IronWarrior95 In a similar vein, flamethrower tanks would often fire off a few bursts from outside their effective range, announcing their presence. Most soldiers surrendered on the spot.
In ww2 and the Vietnam war, it used a Napalm and gasoline mixture, meaning it was very stiky, also it shot a good distance, a true flame thrower. nowadays, Napalm is illegal to buy and own
We made flame throwers out of herbicide backpack sprayers and drip torch nozzles to burn slash piles when I worked as a forestry tech. Not quite as powerful as this thing but still pretty fun.
I met an old veteran who told me they would turn off the pilot light, soak the Japanese in the bunker in fuel, they stand around like wtf, then ignite it.
The fact that it was napalm they were throwing is just horrifying. Lots of cave defenders wouldn’t even die of the direct flames, they would have suffocated from the immense oxygen being sucked out of the closed space and the insane temperatures
Marine corps MOSs now have some sick art and decals to go with their history. I could only imagine what a flamethrower MOS would be like now and what that history and art would look like
I saw a demo of one of these a few years ago, I was sitting a considerable distance away, and I could not believe the intense heat that thing gave off even from that far away! Nasty weapon!!
I heard someone say that back in WW2 that the only English word the Japanese knew was flamethrower and i can believe it especially after seeing how it was used on them in the movie Hacksaw Ridge..
Check out the pulse fire. You can buy them on Palmetto arms for about 400. There's on with a quarter gallon tank that you can put on your AR and another that has backpack thing that allows 4 minutes of flames.
I got mine from the local mcdonalds near me. I ordered it as a toy for my happy meal... Too bad they're not selling the toy anymore as they deem it to be "danerous and hazardous to everyting" Its total bs
Buy a 2.5 gallon refillable water fire extinguisher, a 6" piece of 1/4" steel tubing, and a propane trigger ignition torch. Shove tubing down rubber hose and weld torch to tube. Fill with gasoline/diesel mix. Pressurize with air compressor and fire away. Range 25 yards
@@brianwilson4861think there’s a few videos of people using scuba tanks and CO2 tanks from paintball guns to make em……along with a pressure washer gun to use as the torch😬
I got to see one of these demonstrated once as a kid, maybe early teens. I was about 30 yards away, and (obviously) it wasn't pointed in my direction, and still, it was the most intense heat I've ever experienced in my life. Even hiding behind my dad to escape the heat, I physically couldn't bear it. Can NOT imagine being on either the giving or receiving end of this thing.
Good friend of mine i worked with for years at concord lumbers cabinet shop here in new Hampshire Ray Bolby i hope i spelled name right! anyway he was a marine who used a flame thrower and landed on Okinawa with first wave of marines . He was close to retirement i was about 18 he was teaching or trying to teach me to build cabinets . When i found he was a marine fought in world war two i of course would ask questions about his experience with utmost respect ....mostly. he told me some stories that were to my young naive dumb ass i thought were embellishments...like he said sometimes after blasting out bunkers or pill boxes they would look inside and find the enemy dead without burns said they suffocated because the air had been sucked up from the flame theowers blast. Another time after reading a book he lent me written by i think William manchester titled "good bye darkness" which i recommend... I stupidly asked him about collecting gold teeth . I realized i had gone to far when i saw his jaw muscles in his cheek tense up and that strange look like his eyes would go out of focus he would mumble something and walk away after sending me to the board field looking for the elusive birds eye maple boards for a customers cabinets. I always thought it was punishment but it was actually him wanting me to think about things . Next morning i was clocked in talking with old eddie degrenier hope i spelled it right.... He was another vet who was in the air force during world war two Raymond came in walked by us and casually tossed a dungaree bag on the work table i was reading some blueprints on looking at it i looked at eddie questioningly he got a hard look in his eyes and walked away i guess him and ray had spoken about my questions day before .i opened it up and yeah there was a bunch of human teeth in there with gold fillings. I started being embarrassed but then i got really emotional almost crying i realised his life at my age was not about partying smoking grass drinking and chasing girls around with my mustang he was fighting for his life and doing things to other young men that today seem horrific but to them it was not. I never doubted those guys again who worked for that company all their lives raised families after basically saving the damned world ....i never got a chance to thank raymond and the other guys for what they did and for putting up with me actually i grew up without a dad at home and they in many ways taught me how to be a man not a punk they have all passed away and where ever they are now... after all those years ago... im in my sixties....I want to say thank you to ray and Eddie and Gerry foster and all the good people that serve and have served for your sacrifices so people like me could have a live of safety...... Thank you and ray eddie and Gerry rest in peace you dont need me to say it but i do appreciate the time i had working with you guys i wish i could have realized it more back then...💪
I highly suggest y’all listen to the Shawn Ryan show, he had a man who used the flamethrower in ww2, he said that no one wanted to do the job because everyone saw the fuel tanks on the back as a death wish, one bullet and you go up in flames.
Wow....I never knew the M2 Flamethrower had a pilot light from flares inside the tube's front where the gas is expelled, and thus creating a stream of flame....that's actually really ingenious...dangerous, but then again: it's a flamethrower. Stuff's pretty dangerous, tbh.
It's horrifying , I once found things like that cool. Just somehow I imagined in the silence of this video and only the sound of the flamethrower is just trembling
I do Japanese WWII reenacting. We did an event at Benton Harbor, Michigan three years ago where the Marines used a real flamethrower against in battle. Now, this battle was heavily scripted and rehearsed. The flamethrower would be used against an empty position. Trouble was, I did not know this until I arrived for the event. Going through the emails and texts prior to this, I couldn't find any mention of a flamethrower! Anyway, we do one of the battles. As Japanese we abandon the position as the flamethrower operator approaches. We reach our second bunker that is some distance away. The operator opens up and spews burning diesel against the vacant condition. Flames being what they are, the flames expanded as it came out and still came towards us in the new position. We could feel the heat against us and dove for the floor out of reflect. Don't worry, the flames didn't come near us. Funny thing was, as I lay there waiting for the signal to launch of final banzai charge, I had a flashback. Before this event I opened an insurance policy because, shit happens. While speaking to the agent, as a joke, I asked, "If I'm killed by a flamethrower, am I covered by the policy?" The agent paused, "Uh, yes...but I have never heard of anyone being killed by a flamethrower before." It was comforting to know that, as flames spewed next to us, I could die knowing that I'm financially covered!
Моя прабабушка во вторую мировую войну укрылась от немцев в лесу, а когда пришла в деревню то увидела сожжëнный хлев, в который согнали всех женщин, детей,стариков.На свсю деревню стоял тошнотворный запах мяса и лежали скорченные обугленные тела. она запомнила это на всю жизнь. Не дай бог это пережить кому либо.
Me grandad usmc , was flame thrower operator on iwojima , he got blown up back filled with volcanic debris rock and ash.. Military told him there's nothing they can do. he lived till 1994
The emotional impact of that weapon is devastating. Imagine carrying that thing all day and then realize you get no more than 7 seconds of fun. The screams of disappointment must be night mare fuel.
