Infantry flamethrowers. Hellfire on the front Flamethrowers of World War II

Are backpack flamethrowers still in use? October 2nd, 2017

Chinese military training with jet backpack flamethrower ().

How many meters does he hit? It seemed to me that the armies of the world now only have jet (manual or mechanized) flamethrowers in service. Are there really backpack flamethrowers still in service?

A little history:

The backpack fire device was first proposed to the Russian Minister of War in 1898 by the Russian inventor Sieger-Korn. The device was found difficult and dangerous to use and was not accepted for service under the pretext of “unrealism.”

Three years later, the German inventor Fiedler created a flamethrower of a similar design, which was adopted without hesitation by the Reuter. As a result, Germany managed to significantly outstrip other countries in the development and creation of new weapons. The use of poisonous gases no longer achieved their goals - the enemy now had gas masks. In an effort to maintain the initiative, the Germans used a new weapon - flamethrowers. On January 18, 1915, a volunteer sapper squad was formed to test new weapons. The flamethrower was used at Verdun against the French and British. In both cases, he caused panic in the ranks of the enemy infantry, and the Germans managed to take enemy positions with few losses. No one could remain in the trench when a stream of fire burst through the parapet.

On the Russian front, the Germans first used flamethrowers on November 9, 1916 in the battle near Baranovichi. However, here they were unable to achieve success. The Russian soldiers suffered losses, but did not lose their heads and stubbornly defended themselves. The German infantry, rising under the cover of flamethrowers to attack, encountered strong rifle and machine-gun fire. The attack was thwarted.

The German monopoly on flamethrowers did not last long - by the beginning of 1916, all the warring armies, including Russia, were armed with various systems of this weapon.

The construction of flamethrowers in Russia began in the spring of 1915, even before their use by German troops, and a year later a backpack flamethrower designed by Tavarnitsky was adopted for service. At the same time, Russian engineers Stranden, Povarin, and Stolitsa invented a high-explosive piston flamethrower: from it the flammable mixture was ejected not by compressed gas, but by a powder charge. At the beginning of 1917, a flamethrower called SPS had already entered mass production.

How they work

Regardless of the type and design, the principle of operation of flamethrowers is the same. Flamethrowers (or flamethrowers, as they used to say) are devices that emit jets of highly flammable liquid at a distance of 15 to 200 m. The liquid is thrown out of the tank through a special fire hose by the force of compressed air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen or powder gases and ignites when it exits fire hose with a special igniter.

In World War I, two types of flamethrowers were used: backpack flamethrowers for offensive operations, heavy ones for defense. Between the world wars, a third type of flamethrower appeared - high-explosive.

A backpack flamethrower is a steel tank with a capacity of 15-20 liters, filled with flammable liquid and compressed gas. When the tap is opened, the liquid is thrown out through a flexible rubber hose and a metal fire nozzle and ignited by an igniter.

The heavy flamethrower consists of an iron tank with a capacity of about 200 liters with an outlet pipe, a tap and brackets for manual carrying. A fire hose with a control handle and an igniter is movably mounted on a carriage. The flight range of the jet is 40-60 m, the sector of destruction is 130-1800. A shot from a flamethrower hits an area of 300-500 m2. One shot can knock out up to a platoon of infantry.

A high-explosive flamethrower differs in design and principle of operation from backpack flamethrowers - the fire mixture is ejected from the tank by the pressure of gases formed during the combustion of a powder charge. An incendiary cartridge is placed on the nozzle, and a powder ejection cartridge with an electric fuse is inserted into the charger. Powder gases eject liquid at a distance of 35-50 m.

The main disadvantage of the jet flamethrower is its short range. When shooting at long distances, the system pressure needs to increase, but this is not easy to do - the fire mixture is simply pulverized (sprayed). This can only be combated by increasing the viscosity (thickening the mixture). But at the same time, a freely flying burning jet of fire mixture may not reach the target, completely burning out in the air.

Flamethrower ROKS-3

Cocktail

All the terrifying power of flamethrower-incendiary weapons lies in incendiary substances. Their combustion temperature is 800−1000C or more (up to 3500C) with a very stable flame. Fire mixtures do not contain oxidizing agents and burn due to oxygen in the air. Incendiaries are mixtures of various flammable liquids: oil, gasoline and kerosene, light coal oil with benzene, a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide, etc. Fire mixtures based on petroleum products can be either liquid or viscous. The former consist of a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel and lubricating oil. In this case, a wide swirling jet of intense flame is formed, flying 20-25 meters. The burning mixture is capable of flowing into the cracks and holes of target objects, but a significant part of it burns out in flight. The main disadvantage of liquid mixtures is that they do not stick to objects.

Napalms, that is, thickened mixtures, are a different matter. They can stick to objects and thereby increase the affected area. Liquid petroleum products are used as their fuel base - gasoline, jet fuel, benzene, kerosene and a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel. Polystyrene or polybutadiene are most often used as thickeners.

Napalm is highly flammable and sticks even to wet surfaces. It is impossible to extinguish it with water, so it floats on the surface, continuing to burn. The burning temperature of napalm is 800−11000C. Metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels) have a higher combustion temperature - 1400−16000C. They are made by adding powders of certain metals (magnesium, sodium), heavy petroleum products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of flammable polymers - isobutyl methacrylate, polybutadiene - to ordinary napalm.

Lighter people

The army profession of a flamethrower was extremely dangerous - as a rule, you had to get within a few tens of meters to the enemy with a huge piece of iron behind your back. According to an unwritten rule, soldiers of all armies of World War II did not take flamethrowers and snipers prisoner; they were shot on the spot.

For every flamethrower there was at least one and a half flamethrowers. The fact is that high-explosive flamethrowers were disposable (after operation, a factory reload was required), and the work of a flamethrower with such weapons was akin to sapper work. High-explosive flamethrowers were dug in front of their own trenches and fortifications at a distance of several tens of meters, leaving only a camouflaged nozzle on the surface. When the enemy approached within firing distance (from 10 to 100 m), the flamethrowers were activated (“exploded”).

The battle for the Shchuchinkovsky bridgehead is indicative. The battalion was able to fire its first fire salvo only an hour after the start of the attack, having already lost 10% of its personnel and all its artillery. 23 flamethrowers were blown up, destroying 3 tanks and 60 infantrymen. Having come under fire, the Germans retreated 200-300 m and began to shoot Soviet positions from tank guns with impunity. Our fighters moved to reserve camouflaged positions, and the situation repeated itself. As a result, the battalion, having used up almost the entire supply of flamethrowers and having lost more than half of its strength, destroyed by the evening six more tanks, one self-propelled gun and 260 fascists, barely holding the bridgehead. This classic fight shows the advantages and disadvantages of flamethrowers - they are useless beyond 100m and are terrifyingly effective when used unexpectedly at point-blank range.

Soviet flamethrowers managed to use high-explosive flamethrowers on the offensive. For example, in one section of the Western Front, before a night attack, 42 (!) high-explosive flamethrowers were buried at a distance of only 30-40 m from a German wooden-earth defensive embankment with machine gun and artillery embrasures. At dawn, the flamethrowers were blown up in one salvo, completely destroying a kilometer of the enemy’s first line of defense. In this episode, one admires the fantastic courage of the flamethrowers - to bury a 32-kg cylinder 30 m from a machine-gun embrasure!

No less heroic were the actions of flamethrowers with ROKS backpack flamethrowers. A fighter with an additional 23 kg on his back was required to run to the trenches under deadly enemy fire, get within 20-30 m of a fortified machine-gun nest, and only then fire a volley. Here is a far from complete list of German losses from Soviet backpack flamethrowers: 34,000 people, 120 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers, more than 3,000 bunkers, bunkers and other firing points, 145 vehicles.

Costumed Burners

The German Wehrmacht in 1939-1940 used a portable flamethrower mod. 1935, reminiscent of flamethrowers from the First World War. To protect the flamethrowers themselves from burns, special leather suits were developed: jacket, trousers and gloves. Lightweight "small improved flamethrower" mod. 1940 could be served on the battlefield by only one fighter.

The Germans used flamethrowers extremely effectively when capturing Belgian border forts. The paratroopers landed directly on the combat surface of the casemates and silenced the firing points with flamethrower shots into the embrasures. In this case, a new product was used: an L-shaped tip on the fire hose, which allowed the flamethrower to stand on the side of the embrasure or act from above when firing.

The battles in the winter of 1941 showed that at low temperatures German flamethrowers were unsuitable due to unreliable ignition of flammable liquids. The Wehrmacht adopted a flamethrower mod. 1941, which took into account the experience of the combat use of German and Soviet flamethrowers. According to the Soviet model, ignition cartridges were used in the flammable liquid ignition system. In 1944, the FmW 46 disposable flamethrower was created for parachute units, resembling a giant syringe weighing 3.6 kg, 600 mm long and 70 mm in diameter. It provided flamethrowing at 30 m.

At the end of the war, 232 backpack flamethrowers were transferred to the Reich fire departments. With their help, they burned the corpses of civilians who died in air-raid shelters during air raids on German cities.

In the post-war period, the LPO-50 light infantry flamethrower was adopted in the USSR, providing three fire shots. It is now produced in China under the name Type 74 and is in service with many countries around the world, former members of the Warsaw Pact and some countries in Southeast Asia.

Jet flamethrowers have replaced jet flamethrowers, where the fire mixture, enclosed in a sealed capsule, is delivered by a jet projectile hundreds and thousands of meters. But that is another story.

sources

Today we will take a closer look at some types of flamethrowers in service with various armies around the world. Despite their “short range”, flamethrowers are quite powerful and terrifying weapons in terms of their damaging factor.

Flamethrower LC TI M1

A flamethrower used by the Brazilian army. This is a more modern form that replaced the American flamethrowers used during World War II. The flamethrower consists of two cylinders intended for fire mixture and compressed air separately, they are connected together, and also include a supply hose and a starting device. After the flamethrower is launched, gas under high pressure flows through the reducer and solenoid valve into two cylinders at once.

The flamethrower's starting device consists of eight 1.5 V batteries, a voltage converter with a switch, a check valve, and an incendiary spark device. After the release hook is pressed, current is supplied to the electromagnetic valve, after which air under high pressure enters the cylinders with the fire mixture. The fire mixture goes through a hose to the launcher, after which it is thrown at the target using a valve and a “barrel”.

To achieve the desired ignition of the fire mixture, the voltage converter is 20,000 V.

For this flamethrower, an unthickened mixture is most often used, which includes diesel fuel and vegetable oil. The use of thickened fire mixtures is also implied. The disadvantages of the flamethrower are the need for a diesel compressor to charge the high-pressure cylinder.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are determined by the following parameters: the length of the launcher is 635 mm, the volume of the cylinders is 2x9 liters, the compressed air pressure reaches 200 atmospheres, when loaded the flamethrower weighs 34 kg, when unloaded - 21 kg, the distance over which the thickened fire mixture is launched, is 70 m.

Flamethrower LPO-50

A flamethrower, which is designed to eliminate enemy firing points located in cover. The flamethrower is also used to destroy armored and automotive structures, the enemy himself and create a fire. The development began in the USSR, the main goal of which was to replace high-explosive flamethrowers. Currently, this flamethrower is not used in the Russian army, but is used in other armies of the world.

The production of the flamethrower belongs to China. The design includes the following elements: three cylinders that are filled with fire mixture, while they are connected; they also include a supply hose and a launch device that looks like a rifle with a bipod. The cylinders have a neck used when pouring the fire mixture, a squib designed to create pressure, and a check valve connected to the hose through which the fire mixture flows.

All cylinder hoses are connected into a single tee, from where the fire mixture goes to the starting device. The starting device has an electrical unit. It is located in front of the handle. The electrical unit consists of four batteries and contacts. There is a fuse on the left side, and in the muzzle there are 3 squibs designed to ignite the fire mixture. When the fire mixture is started, press the safety catch to the “fire” position, and then press the trigger. The direction of the current goes from the batteries, then to the squib, which releases the fire mixture from the pressure of the powder gases.

The check valve is opened by the action of the trigger, after which the squib in the muzzle is initiated. If the fire mixture begins to burn from the squib charge, it will be ejected from the barrel of the weapon directly to the target. The duration of each start varies between 2-3 s. If you press the trigger again, the next squib will fire. The launcher has a butt and also a mechanical sight, consisting of a front sight and rear sight. A modification of this flamethrower is the Type 74; its design is no different from the LPO-50, produced in China.

The main characteristics of this flamethrower are the following parameters: the caliber is 14.5 mm, the length of the launcher reaches 850 mm, the volume of the cylinders is 3x3.3 liters, the weight of the flamethrower, which contains a fire mixture, is 23 kg, and the weight of the flamethrower without a fire mixture is 15 kg. The longest launch distance for an unthickened mixture is 20 m, and for a thickened mixture - 70 m.

The disadvantages of a flamethrower are the fact that a very small amount of mixture can be supplied, and the launch occurs only after the squib has begun to burn, which is also unprofitable. Thus, the fire mixture can only be fired 3 times.

Backpack flamethrower

Flamethrower attached to the back. Throws the burning mixture 40 m using compressed air. The charge is designed for 6-8 shots. The main design element of a backpack flamethrower is a steel container filled with a fire mixture: flammable liquid or compressed gas. The volume of such a container is 15-20 liters. The fire mixture is thrown through a flexible rubber hose into a metal fire nozzle and is ignited by an igniter at the outlet of the fire nozzle. The mixture exits the container after opening a special tap valve. Used for offensive purposes. The backpack flamethrower is most effective in a combat situation with a narrow corridor. The main disadvantage of using a backpack flamethrower is its short range. To protect flamethrowers from burns, special fireproof suits are used.

Jet flamethrower

A flamethrower, the operating principle of which is based on the use of a rocket projectile that pushes out a fire mixture enclosed in a sealed capsule. The range of action of such a flamethrower is hundreds and thousands of meters. The disadvantage of a “classic” flamethrower is its short firing range, which is 50-200 m. And even in the event of high pressure, this problem remains unresolved, since the fire mixture burns during flight and only a small part of it reaches the target. Accordingly, the greater the distance, the less fire mixture will reach.

The problem can be solved by increasing the amount of fire mixture and increasing the pressure, but such an operation also sooner or later reaches a limit. With the advent of the jet flamethrower, this problem was resolved, since it does not involve the use of a burning liquid, but a projectile that contains a fire mixture. And the fire mixture begins to burn only when the projectile reaches the target.

An example of a rocket-propelled flamethrower is the Soviet RPOA, also called Shmel. Modern jet flamethrowers involve the use of thermobaric compounds that replace the fire mixture. If such a mixture reaches the target, it is sprayed, and after a certain time an explosion occurs. In the area of the explosion, both temperature and pressure increase.

Flamethrower "Lynx"

A rocket-propelled infantry flamethrower, the main purpose of which is to eliminate enemy firing points located in cover. The flamethrower is also used to destroy armored and automotive structures, the enemy himself and create a fire. Development was carried out during 1972-1974. at the Instrument Design Bureau of the city of Tula (KBP). Became used in the Soviet army since 1975.

The flamethrower includes the following elements: a launcher, which includes some parts from the RPG-16 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher; there are also two types of missiles, the warhead of which is filled with a fire mixture. Its composition is either smoke-generating (“Lynx-D”) or incendiary (“Lynx-Z”). To fire a flamethrower, you need to attach an additional plastic container to the launcher. Inside it there is a capsule containing a fire mixture and a jet engine running on solid fuel.

If you connect the launcher and the container, this connection will be secured by three clamps that are located on the outside of the container. When an electrical impulse is received, which is generated from an electrical mechanism, the capsule is released, the flame travels through the tube that conducts the fire, the jet engine ignites, and its charge burns out. After this, the body is separated from the capsule itself.

The capsule has a tail unit, which allows it to fly along a relatively smooth trajectory, since the tail unit contributes to the rotation of the axis of this capsule. The sight itself is framed and consists of a front sight and a movable rear sight, which hinges on the sight frame. To achieve greater stability of the flamethrower, a bipod is provided; it is located in the front part of the launcher. At the end of the 1980s. The Lynx flamethrower was replaced with the Shmel RPOA, which featured a more advanced device.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are the following parameters: the length in the firing position reaches 1440 mm, the mass in the firing position is 7.5 kg, and the mass of the launcher is 3.5 kg, the content of the fire mixture reaches 4 liters, the sighting range is 190 m, and the maximum firing distance is 400 m, transferring to a combat position takes 60 s.

Flamethrower T-148

Weapons designed in Italy. The main purpose was to provide support that was needed on the battlefield. The advantages of the flamethrower are reliability in use and simplicity of design; it was these qualities of the flamethrower that the Italian developers focused on. For this reason, the flamethrower’s operation scheme was quite simple.

Cylinders intended for fire mixtures are filled with napalm 2/3 by volume. After this action, air is pumped into the check valve, the pressure of which is 28-30 kg/cm2. A special indicator located on the valve shows whether the operating pressure has been reached or not. After start-up, the pressure causes the fire mixture to flow into the check valve through the hose, after which it is ignited by electricity and thrown out to the target.

The electronic device that allows you to ignite the fire mixture is powered by nickel-cadmium batteries. The device remains sealed and operates even if water gets into the flamethrower. But besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages. One of them is low pressure in the system itself, which decreases during startup. But you can also find positive features in this property. Firstly, this makes the flamethrower lighter, and secondly, its maintenance is greatly simplified, since it can also be charged with air from combat compressor equipment. Diesel fuel can serve as a substitute for the fire mixture.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are the following parameters: the length of the launcher is 380 mm, the volume of the cylinders reaches 15 liters, the weight of the unloaded flamethrower is 13.8 kg, and the weight of the equipped flamethrower is 25.5 kg. The launch duration is 2-3 s, the launch range at the maximum distance reaches 60 m.

Flamethrower TPO-50

A heavy infantry flamethrower, the action of which is based on the ejection of a fire mixture. The ejection of the fire mixture is facilitated by the pressure of the powder gases; they are formed when the powder charge is burned. This process works as follows. The gas presses on the liquid, which, in turn, enters through a piston-obturator, designed to separate liquid and gas in the barrel of the flamethrower. After this, the fire mixture, flying out of the nozzle, is ignited by a special mechanism.

The flamethrower consists of three barrels and a carriage, which replace each other. The replaceable barrel consists of a body and a head, which are connected by a union nut, a powder chamber, a nozzle, a piston-obturator, as well as a mechanical fuse and an electrical contact. The body contains a fire mixture and there is pressure inside it. The body also has sight frame pads and a triple clamp stop. The bottom of the body is presented in the shape of a sphere; it implies the presence of an ear for attaching the barrel to the gun carriage. The barrel is carried by a special handle attached to the ear holes. One of the main parts of the barrel is the head. It is designed to accommodate the working components of a flamethrower.

The head shape is sphere, made from sheet steel. The head has a ring that connects it to the body. The head includes a siphon bushing, a powder chamber bowl and a safety valve bushing. The siphon sleeve gradually transforms into the siphon pipe, which is designed to eject the fire mixture from the barrel. The siphon pipe implies the presence of a bell, due to which a smoother exit of the fire mixture is achieved. The lower part of the pipe and the piston-obturator bushing have a special hole to allow residual gases to escape.

The purpose of the shutter piston is to uniformly distribute the pressure of the powder gases on the fire mixture and its exit from the barrel when fired. The powder chamber contains an ignition device, a powder charge, a grate, a gas nozzle, as well as other parts that ensure the formation of a shot. The powder chamber is located on the head cup. There are holes in its cover intended for a flare tube of capsule contact, as well as for a mechanical fuse. The flare tube is used to provide an outlet for the incendiary star, which ignites the flamethrower jet.

If the flamethrower is activated by mechanical action, then the ROKS-3 ignition cartridge is used. The mechanical fuse must be placed in the sleeve of the powder chamber cover, after which it is secured with a union nut. Before a shot is fired, the mechanical fuse must be cocked. If the flamethrower is activated by operations involving electrical signals, then from the current source, that is, from the battery, there is a conductor connected to an electrical contact. In this case, the PP-9 squib cartridge is used. The entire sequence of shot formation consists of several stages.

First, the ROKS-3 cartridge is ignited using a mechanical fuse, after which the flame passes from the incendiary star to the powder charge. Then the gases in the powder chamber enter the gas region of the barrel through the nozzle. Due to the action of gases, the pressure reaches 60 kgf/cm2, and the piston-obturator releases the fire mixture through the siphon pipe. The nozzle membrane is cut off and the fire mixture is thrown onto the target. The fire mixture in the barrel develops a speed of 3 to 36 m/s, this is explained by the fact that there is a large difference in the dimensions of the barrel and siphon pipe, which are 200 mm and 5 mm, respectively.

When the fire mixture flies directly out of the nozzle, its speed reaches 106 m/s, which is explained by the conical narrowing of the siphon pipe. After the fire mixture has flown out of the barrel, it is ignited using an incendiary star. A nozzle with a diameter of 32 mm forms and directs the jet to the target. The nozzle includes a body and a shut-off device. The shut-off device is designed to ensure that a working pressure of 60 kgf/cm2 is achieved in the working housing.

The nozzle body consists of two parts - conical and cylindrical. The cone angle is 10 and the length of the cylindrical part is 96 mm. The head has a safety valve, its diameter is 25 mm. The valve is designed to prevent pressure from increasing above 120 kgf/cm3. The sight device includes elements such as a sighting frame, clamps and front sights. There are numbers written on the clamps that determine the throwing range with a direct shot, where the height is 1.5 m. That is, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 indicate ranges equal to 100, 120 and 140 m.

The flamethrower is transported using a carriage. It is designed so that it can be either on wheels or on skis. The carriage is also used if there is a need to change the barrel and change its elevation angles. The carriage includes a frame with openers, handles for moving, a bracket with clamps, which are designed to install replaceable barrels.

A flamethrower is a melee weapon that hits the enemy with a jet of burning fire mixture. The flamethrower is designed to burn the enemy out of field fortifications, tanks, stone buildings, trenches, machine gun nests, to create fires in populated areas and forests, and to destroy manpower.

The first new type of weapon to appear in the industrial 20th century was the jet flamethrower. Moreover, the manufacturers initially planned it not as an army weapon, but as a police weapon to disperse demonstrators. The first backpack flamethrower was created by the German scientist Richard Fiedler in 1901, which was adopted by the Reichswehr in 1905. Flamethrowers were used back in the Balkan War and were widely used already in the First World War to destroy enemy firing points. Two types of flamethrowers were used: backpack ones for offensive operations and heavy ones for defensive operations. During the interwar period, a third type of flamethrower appeared - high-explosive.

According to the principle of operation, flamethrowers were divided into jet (a separate type of which are high-explosive) and capsule (ampoulothrowers). In turn, among jet flamethrowers, a distinction is made between backpack (“carryable”, “light”, served by one flamethrower) and heavy (served by several flamethrowers) flamethrowers.

IN jet flamethrowers the entire stream of fire mixture flying towards the target was burning. It was ignited using an incendiary cartridge directly at the muzzle. The force of the flame instantly ignited almost the entire jet. The fiery “snake”, stretching for tens of meters, had very high fighting qualities, inflicting significant physical and moral damage on the enemy. At the same time, the bulk of the mixture burned out while still on the trajectory, without reaching the target. The main disadvantage of the jet flamethrower is its short range. When firing at long distances, it was necessary to increase the pressure in the system, which caused splashing of the fire mixture. This could only be combated by increasing the viscosity of the mixture, calculating the range of the jet so that it would not completely burn out before reaching the target.

Backpack flamethrower It was an oval or cylindrical steel tank with a capacity of 10–25 liters, filled with flammable liquid and compressed gas. The operating pressure in the system was 12-15 atm. When the tap is opened, the liquid is thrown out through a flexible rubber hose and a metal nozzle and ignited by an igniter. The backpack flamethrower is carried using straps over the shoulders. The direction of the liquid stream was carried out using a control handle attached to the fire hose. It was also possible to control the stream by holding the fire hose directly with your hands. To do this, in some systems the outlet valve was located on the fire hose itself. The empty weight of the flamethrower (with hose, tap and fire nozzle) is 11-14 kg, loaded - 20-25 kg.

Heavy Flamethrower consisted of an iron tank with a capacity of about 200 liters with an outlet pipe, a tap and brackets for carrying by hand. The compressed gas was in a special bottle and, using a rubber connecting tube, a tee and a pressure gauge, was supplied to the tank during the entire duration of the flamethrower’s operation, i.e., a constant pressure was maintained in the tank (10-13 atm.). A fire hose with a control handle and an igniter was movably mounted on a carriage. The igniter in a heavy flamethrower could be the same device as in a backpack one, or ignition was carried out by electric current. The weight of an empty heavy flamethrower (without a hose and lifting device) is about 95 kg, when loaded it is about 192 kg. The flight range of the jet was 40–60 m. A shot from such a flamethrower affected an area of 300–500 m2. One shot could knock out up to a platoon of infantry. A tank caught under a flamethrower stopped and in most cases caught fire.

High Explosive Flamethrower in design and principle of operation it differed from backpack ones - the fire mixture was ejected from the tank by the pressure of gases formed during the combustion of the powder charge. An incendiary cartridge was placed on the nozzle, and a powder ejecting cartridge with an electric fuse was inserted into the charger. An electric or special sapper wire was connected to the fuse, stretched at a distance of 1.5-2 km to a source of electric current. Using a pin, the high-explosive flamethrower was fixed in the ground. Powder gases ejected liquid at a distance of 35–50 m. High-explosive flamethrowers were installed on the ground in groups of 3 to 10 pieces.

Flamethrowers used incendiary substances whose combustion temperature was 800–1000 ° C or more with a very stable flame. Fire mixtures did not contain oxidizers and burned due to atmospheric oxygen. Incendiaries were mixtures of various flammable liquids: oil, gasoline and kerosene, light coal oil with benzene, a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide, etc. Fire mixtures based on petroleum products could be either liquid or viscous. The first consisted of a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel and lubricating oil. In this case, a wide swirling jet of intense flame was formed, flying 20–25 meters. The burning mixture was able to flow into the cracks and holes of target objects, but a significant part of it burned out in flight. The main disadvantage of liquid mixtures was that they did not stick to objects.

Viscous or thickened mixtures include napalm. They can stick to objects and thereby increase the affected area. Liquid petroleum products were used as their fuel base - gasoline, jet fuel, benzene, kerosene and a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel. Polystyrene or polybutadiene were most often used as thickeners. Napalm was highly flammable and stuck even to wet surfaces. It is impossible to extinguish it with water, so it floats on the surface, continuing to burn. The burning temperature of napalm is 800–1100C°. Metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels) had a higher combustion temperature – 1400–1600C°. They were made by adding powders of certain metals (magnesium, sodium), heavy petroleum products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of flammable polymers - isobutyl methacrylate, polybutadiene - to ordinary napalm.

The following requirements were imposed on flammable liquids used for flamethrowers;

a) the liquid must have a possibly higher specific gravity (otherwise it is sprayed in front of the flamethrower’s mouthpiece), which affects the flight range of its scab;

b) should not burn too strongly in the air, otherwise it burns 70-80% in the air and only a small amount of it reaches the target;

c) must ignite without fail.

Viscous mixtures most fully satisfy the specific requirements of flamethrowing. At the same time, they also have disadvantages, one of which is their instability. The properties of viscous mixtures vary depending on the time of year and ambient temperature. In some cases, due to the climatic characteristics of the theater of military operations, the formulations of flamethrower mixtures could be different and fluctuate in the ratio of one or another component. Thus, there were “winter” and “summer” recipes with the same components, but with an increase or decrease in them depending on sharp temperature fluctuations.

By the beginning of World War II, flamethrowers were in service with most developed countries, and were also produced on a massive scale during the war. Thus, Great Britain had 7.5 thousand flamethrowers, Germany - 146.2 thousand, Italy - 5 thousand, Poland - 0.4 thousand, USSR - 72.5 thousand; USA – 39 thousand, Japan – 3 thousand. Finland had several hundred captured flamethrowers. In total, about 274 thousand infantry flamethrowers of various types were used during the war.

During the war, Great Britain and the USSR produced a type of flamethrower - ampulomet. In it, a capsule (ampoule, bottle) with a fire mixture that did not have its own engine was delivered to the target using a propellant charge. The British invention practically did not take part in military operations, while the Soviet invention found widespread use in the defense of Stalingrad. Subsequently, the Red Army used ampoules sporadically. This weapon did not bring any tangible effect, but in successful individual battles it gave a positive result.

The practice of using flamethrowers has developed special tactics for their use in battle. Military experts noted that, along with the defeat of enemy equipment, fortifications and manpower, flamethrowers were also characterized by a significant psychological impact on the enemy in combination with small arms, tanks and artillery.

For the successful use of flamethrowers, the guidance documents indicated the need to carry out such activities as preparing flamethrower crews for joint actions in combat formations of troops, thorough reconnaissance of targets to be hit, blocking targets and approaches to them using artillery and mortar fire and smoke weapons, fire supporting the actions of flamethrower crews, selecting appropriate flamethrowers, close interaction with infantry, maneuvering forces and fire, supplying and reloading flamethrowers. At the same time, it was necessary to take into account the capabilities of flamethrowers in the consolidated plan for fire support, anti-tank warfare and obstacles.

If backpack flamethrowers were primarily used to destroy firing points, as well as openly located enemy personnel, then high-explosive flamethrowers could also be used against tanks. High-explosive flamethrower units were intended to destroy enemy tanks and manpower. Their defensive tasks were numerous: to cover tank-dangerous areas, repel massive attacks by enemy tanks and infantry, protect the flanks and joints of formations and units, and strengthen the stability of troops on captured bridgeheads. In offensive battles, their duties included securing captured lines and repelling counterattacks by enemy tanks and infantry. Small groups of flamethrowers armed with FOGs mounted on special carts or skis were included in assault detachments and groups to destroy fortified enemy firing points.

On the morning of July 30, 1915, a strange and terrible event occurred at the positions of British troops near the city of Ypres. This is how the officer of the British troops Auld describes it: “... quite unexpectedly, the first lines of troops at the front were engulfed in flames. It was not visible where the fire came from. The soldiers only saw that they seemed to be surrounded by a frantically spinning flame, which was accompanied by a loud roar and thick clouds of black smoke...”

On the morning of July 30, 1915, a strange and terrible event occurred at the positions of British troops near the city of Ypres. This is how British officer Ould describes him:

“... quite unexpectedly, the first lines of troops at the front were engulfed in flames. It was not visible where the fire came from. The soldiers only saw that they seemed to be surrounded by a furiously spinning flame, which was accompanied by a loud roar and thick clouds of black smoke; here and there large drops of burning oil fell into the trenches or onto their heads. Screams and howls rent the air as individual soldiers, rising in the trenches or trying to advance into the open, felt the force of the fire. The only salvation seemed to be to run back; This is what the surviving soldiers resorted to. Within a small space the flames pursued them, and a local retreat became a local rout, while only one man is known to have returned from the artillery bombardment that followed.”

This was the first use of flamethrowers by German troops on the Western Front. British Field Marshal French writes in his report: “During the time that has elapsed since my last dispatch, the enemy has used a new invention, which consists of throwing a strong stream of burning liquid onto our trenches. With the support of such weapons, the enemy launched an attack early on the morning of July 30 on the trenches of the 2nd Army at Gooth on the road to Meijen. Almost all the infantry occupying these trenches had to abandon them. But this retreat was caused more by surprise and temporary confusion at the sight of the burning liquid than by losses from these weapons. Retaliatory attempts were made to regain lost positions with repeated counterattacks. However, these attempts proved fruitless and costly.”

This means that Germany still did not shy away from developing new weapons and, before all the warring parties, reached the point of introducing them into the troops. A volunteer sapper squad was formed to test the flamethrower in combat conditions. Major Hermann Reddemann, the former chief of the Leipzig fire department, was appointed its commander. The battalion initially consisted of six companies, but by 1917 the number of companies had increased to twelve. Each company had 20 large and 18 small flamethrowers. Each assault battalion included a flamethrower platoon consisting of four to eight backpack flamethrowers.

The German army had two types of backpack flamethrowers in service: small and medium. The Vex small flamethrower consisted of a carrying device, a reservoir for flammable liquid and a nitrogen cylinder. The reservoir for flammable liquid was in the form of a lifebuoy with a capacity of 11 liters. The weight of the equipped flamethrower is 24 kilograms, empty - 13 kilograms. Watering with a continuous burning stream - 20 seconds. The range of the jet is about 25 meters.

The medium flamethrower "Kleif" differed from the "Vex" mainly in size. The weight of the equipped flamethrower is 33.5 kilograms, empty - 17.5 kilograms.

There was also a German large flamethrower, the Grof, which was carried by two flamethrowers. Its tank already held 100 liters of liquid. By combining several of these flamethrowers through a connecting hose, the Germans created a Grof battery.

After such a stunning debut of flamethrowers in the theater of military operations, all the warring parties rushed to invent, implement, and improve their existing developments in the field of flamethrower weapons. It is clear that the damaging psychological moment when using flamethrowers was no less than being hit directly by fire. In most cases, soldiers panicked if they even saw an enemy flamethrower brigade.

There were real scientific and design achievements in all countries. But they were very “raw”, they were not given due attention, and were considered unpromising. But the war, the events near Ypres, near Verdun, where new weapons were also used, showed that this was not so.

All flamethrowers used during the First World War corresponded in design and essence to the same three types of Fiedler flamethrowers, tested in Russia, near Izhora long before the war. They were reservoirs with flammable liquid, which was thrown out through a flexible hose ending with a fire hose by the force of compressed air. Then the jet was ignited using a special automatic device. The fire was thrown at a distance from 15-35 meters (backpack flamethrowers - there were two types: small and medium), to 40-60 meters or more (heavy flamethrowers - half-trench and trench).

Typically, the flammable liquid for equipping flamethrowers was a mixture of oil with gasoline and kerosene. But there were other “national” developments. The British, for example, used a solution of yellow phosphorus in carbon disulfide for flamethrowing, and this solution was diluted with a large amount of turpentine. Once on skin or clothing, it spontaneously ignited after a few seconds, without being ignited. The French used a mixture of light coal oil and benzene in various combinations depending on the time of year. The “blue”, “yellow” and “green” oils used by the Germans consisted of a mixture of various products obtained from the distillation of coal tar.

On October 27, 1916, near Baranovichi, in the area of Skrobovsky Stream, the Germans used flamethrowers for the first time against the Russian army. However, we did not have such a stunning effect as on the Western Front, panic, confusion, and retreat. Why? Several important factors came into play. Intelligence and explanatory work with troops. An interesting document has been preserved. “Act of the commission to examine the methods of use of flamethrowers by the Germans in the battle on November 9 in the area of Skrobovsky Stream.” In which the events of that October day, eyewitness accounts, and expert opinions are carefully described, almost minute by minute.

“On the night of October 26-27, the troops were warned about the upcoming German attack with flamethrowers on the day of October 27th, and in some units this warning reached the companies and company commanders warned the lower ranks about the impending attack with flamethrowers , explaining the structure and action of the latter (based on newspaper information and drawings from magazines); in some companies of the 322nd Infantry Regiment, supplies of water were even made to extinguish fires that might arise, and lower ranks were recommended to throw off clothes lit by flamethrowers..."

Of course, such explanations were rather vague, since no one, including the officers, had a clear idea of what flamethrowers were. But all this deprived the Germans of surprise.

“The initial exit of the flamethrowers from the enemy trenches and their initial movement were no different from the usual beginning of the infantry’s movement to attack, so it was not always possible to distinguish from a distance whether they were flamethrowers or grenadiers. Against some close-in areas, the flamethrowers immediately showed their worth, operating directly from their trenches; So, opposite the sector of the 6th company of the 217th regiment, where the distance between the trenches was 30 steps, German flamethrowers climbed onto the parapet of the trench and from there tried to water our trenches, but the stream did not reach. Only one of the loopholes got a few drops, which burned one of the lower ranks. After 2-3 minutes, the flamethrowers were driven away by our fire.”

Again from the Act:

“The jet of flame emitted by the first type of apparatus was observed by many eyewitnesses; its length did not exceed 10–20 steps (the wind on the day of the battle was east), only some single people said that it reached 50 and even 70 steps in length. This jet ignited, for the most part, immediately upon leaving the apparatus, and sometimes retreating about an arshin from the beginning and had the appearance of a fiery wavy line, gradually expanding towards the end and hardly smoking; in several cases, there was not a continuous stream of fire, but rather a series of separate fiery splashes escaping from the apparatus. When it fell to the ground, the stream produced a cloud of thick black smoke. Some eyewitnesses claim that when it hit people, trenches, the ground, it continued to burn, often igniting these objects too, and the result was a rather strong and bright fire... Severely burned people, victims of the action of German flamethrowers, passed through the medical institutions of the building 5 people . There were 20–25 people who were easily burned in the Gorbatovsky regiment, 4 in the Kovrovsky regiment, and there were no burned people in the other regiments. All those burned by the time the commission arrived were evacuated.”

As you can see, the use of unprecedented weapons by the Germans did not bring much damage. But, of course, there was moral and psychological damage. As a result, an authoritative commission, consisting of both military personnel directly and military engineers and scientists, came to the following conclusions:

1. Flamethrowers and devices that emit caustic liquid are a means of close combat at a distance of no more than 30–40 steps, therefore, they can pose an immediate danger only to the defenders of trenches located at this distance from the enemy’s trenches. In all other cases, flamethrowers must first be delivered to this distance, and only then can they be used for combat.

2. Flamethrowers, due to their insignificant range of action, cannot at all replace artillery preparation, machine-gun and rifle fire, or even hand grenades. They are only an auxiliary means under the indispensable condition of using all other types of fire.

3. In terms of the strength of the impression they make on the defenders of the trenches and the external effect of their action, flamethrowers are significantly inferior to all other types of fire and asphyxiating gases.

4. The use of flamethrowers with success is possible only to complete the defeat of an enemy shocked and upset by the previous battle, when his resistance is largely broken, and when the number of flamethrowers is significant.

5. Flamethrowers can only advance under a smoke screen.

6. Flamethrowers alone, without the support of grenadiers, machine guns and infantry, are not able to occupy anything and hold what they have captured.

7. The most reliable means of protection against flamethrowers is fire of all types.

8. Going on a counterattack against flamethrowers is harmful, since, leaving the trenches and moving forward, we voluntarily approach their distance favorable for action.

9. Lower ranks must be familiar with the appearance of flamethrowers and their offensive techniques.

10. In the trenches it is necessary to observe the moment the flamethrowers appear.

11. In the event of a breakthrough in the first line and flamethrowers going to the rear, the nearest reserves should occupy the second line of trenches, at least with a sparse chain of riflemen, without crowding in large dugouts with a limited number of exits, since in this case one or two flamethrowers can cut off the exits from him (about half a company of the 4th company of the 217th regiment was captured in a similar dugout of the third line of trenches).

12. If a burning liquid gets on your clothes and continues to burn, you should quickly throw it off.

13. To extinguish fires caused by flamethrowers, you should have a supply of sand or loose earth in the trench, with which to cover the burning wooden parts, as well as a supply of water.

Emperor Nicholas II testing the British Tilly-Gosko flamethrower.

All this gave the signal for the forced introduction of flamethrowers into the Russian army. Our troops began to be equipped with flamethrowers, both domestic developers and those developed by allied gunsmiths. These were the flamethrowers of Tovarnitsky, Gorbov, Aleksandrov, Tilly-Gosko, the Englishman Lawrence, the Frenchman Vincent, Ershov, and the Moscow SPS fire mines. They were all approximately the same in technology. In addition to “SPS”, created by Russian engineers Stranden, Povarnin and Stolitsa. It is the principle they proposed that is now used in all flamethrowers in the world. This was not an improvement of old achievements, but a completely different, innovative development, based on other principles of fire.

The device was an oblong iron cylinder - a chamber for fuel, inside which a piston was motionlessly placed. A grating incendiary cartridge was put on the nozzle, and a powder ejecting cartridge was inserted into the charger. An electric fuse was inserted into the cartridge, the wires from which went to the blasting machine. The flamethrower weighed about 16 kilograms, when equipped - 32.5 kilograms. The range of action reached 35-50 meters and the action time was 1-2 seconds.

In similar flamethrowers, the expulsion of the fire mixture was usually carried out using compressed air or hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The principle of using the pressure of powder gases to push out the fire mixture remains basic to this day.

At the beginning of 1917, the SPS high-explosive flamethrower entered mass production. It was loaded at the Kazan Oil Refinery, where the industrial production necessary for the production of explosives was organized.

But for the first time they used advanced weapons not against external enemies, but in a completely different era, in the fratricidal Civil War. The first use of high-explosive flamethrowers in the history of military art occurred during the defense of the Kakhovsky bridgehead by the Red Army in the fall of 1920.

In total, during the First World War, 10 thousand backpack flamethrowers, 200 trench flamethrowers and 362 SPS were manufactured in Russia. 86 Vincent system flamethrowers and 50 Livens system flamethrowers were received from abroad. On June 1, 1917, Russian troops received 11,446 flamethrowers.

That is, in fact, in the Russian army this weapon, advanced at that time, appeared only towards the end of active hostilities. Which, of course, was a clear miscalculation of our military leadership. But subsequently, Russian scientists were able to catch up and invent precisely that type of weapon that became an integral part of the armed forces of the advanced, in the military sense, countries of the world.

Vladimir Kazakov.