Flamethrower
Clearing out trenches since World War 1!
The flamethrower would spread fire by using burning fuel. The Germans used the flamethrower and there were two models. One model was named Kleinflammenwerfer, which was portable and only one person could use it. It used Compressed air and carbon dioxide and could stream 18 meters. The second one was grossflammenwerfer and was not suitable for singer person use but could spray fire twice the distance as the kleinflammenwerfer. The first notable use of the flamethrower was used at Hooge in Flanders against the British army and the flamethrower was used against the French Trenches at the Battle of Verdun. The Germans launched 650 flamethrower attacks. Richard Fiedler was credited with creating the flamethrower of ww1. The flamethrower was used as a close combat weapons and for clearing trenches.
Impacts and Consequences of the Flamethrower
The main purpose of the flamethrower was to clear out trenches and used as a close-combat weapon in no mans land. The flamethrower would easily take out a front line but the person using it was a huge target to get killed. An Impact the flamethrower had was it stopped tanks and could clear an enemy position easily. Consequences of the flamethrower was that it was heavy and that meant the person using it would have to stand and someone had to carry the tank. The person using the flamethrower was an easy shot. They couldn't crawl because of how heavy the tank was. Another consequence was it had bad range. The person using a Flamethrower would have to get close to the target and go get shot easily before reaching the enemy.
Connections to Today
The flamethrower has stayed the same for the most part. There are not much newer models of the flamethrower but there are better ones that were created during the Korean, and Vietnam wars. The M2-2 Flamethrower was used in World War 1 and it is still being used. It has a max firing range of 132 feet which is way better than the 60 feet of the original flamethrower. The M2-2 was used during WW2, Korean, and Vietnam Wars. Another flamethrower that was mounted to a vehicle was the Churchill crocodile created by Great Britain. It could spray fire up to 150 yards. It was used during the second world war. The picture above is a modern day falmethrower.
Jared Welch
Sources:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/flamethrowers.htm
http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/the-ww1-flamethrower-a-new-weapon-of-war/
Sources:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/flamethrowers.htm
http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/the-ww1-flamethrower-a-new-weapon-of-war/