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91-491: Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel ). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium salts of na phthenic acid and palm itic acid . A team led by chemist Louis Fieser originally developed napalm for the US Chemical Warfare Service in 1942 in

182-625: A Royal Engineers officer. This weapon was enormous and completely non-portable. The weapon had an effective range of 80 metres (90 yd), which proved effective at clearing trenches, but with no other benefit the project was abandoned. Two Morriss static flamethrowers were mounted in HMS Vindictive and several Hay portable flamethrowers were deployed by the Royal Navy during the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918. A British newspaper report of

273-512: A Soviet version of the weapon. This was essentially a disposable, single use flamethrower that was buried alongside conventional land mines at key defensive points and triggered by either a trip-wire or a command wire. The weapon contained around 30 litres (8 US gal) of fuel, that was discharged within a second, to a second and a half, producing a flame with a 14-metre (15 yd) range. One defensive installation found in Italy included seven of

364-644: A World War I battle predated flamethrower use, with a petrol spray being ignited by an incendiary bomb in the Argonne-Meuse sector in October 1914. The flamethrower was first used in World War I on 26 February 1915 when it was briefly used against the French outside Verdun. On 30 July 1915 it was first used in a concerted action, against British trenches at Hooge , where the lines were 4.5 m (4.9 yd) apart—even there,

455-406: A central cylinder of propellant gas to maintain the balance of the soldier carrying it. The gas propels the liquid fuel out of the cylinder through a flexible pipe and then into the gun element of the flamethrower system. The gun consists of a small reservoir, a spring-loaded valve, and an ignition system; depressing a trigger opens the valve, allowing pressurized flammable liquid to flow and pass over

546-450: A considerable number. The German High Command devised an operation called "The Fire Plan" (German: Der Feuerplan ), which involved the use of the whole German heavy bomber fleet, flying in waves over London and Paris and dropping all the incendiary bombs that they could carry, until they were either all shot down or the crews were too exhausted to fly. The hope was that the two capitals would be engulfed in an inextinguishable blaze, causing

637-631: A crew of three men and was too unwieldy for offensive use; a defensive 200 litres (53 US gal) model and a more portable 22 litres (5.8 US gal) model were also produced. Austro-Hungarian flamethrowers were unreliable and long hoses were used to prevent the shooter from igniting the fuel tank The British experimented with flamethrowers in the Battle of the Somme , during which they used experimental weapons called " Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors ", named for their inventor, William Howard Livens ,

728-454: A device consisting of a hand-held pump that shot bursts of Greek fire via a siphon -hose and a piston which ignited it with a match, similar to modern versions, as it was ejected. An illustration in Poliorcetica of Hero of Byzantium display a soldier with a portable flamethrower. Byzantines also used ceramic hand grenades filled with Greek fire. Greek fire, used primarily at sea, gave

819-594: A flamethrower equipped tankette; due to heat he exited the tank to fight on foot and was killed in combat. The flamethrower was used extensively 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

910-457: A friction igniter activated by a lanyard. The Brandröhre was designed to be used against enemy casemates; a long pole was used to reach the target and the lanyard was pulled to ignite the fuel; producing a 2-metre (7 ft) long stream of fire. Those weapons were deployed in six-man teams and were limited by their short range. In theory the Brandröhre was replaced by the flamethrower in 1909 but it

1001-550: A large bomb casing was filled with small sticks of incendiary ( bomblets ); the casing was designed to open at altitude, scattering the bomblets in order to cover a wide area. An explosive charge would then ignite the incendiary material, often starting a raging fire. The fire would burn at extreme temperatures that could destroy most buildings made of wood or other combustible materials (buildings constructed of stone tend to resist incendiary destruction unless they are first blown open by high explosives). The German Luftwaffe started

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1092-525: A large number of firebombs, but even then the results were poor and they were generally ineffective in terms of the damage inflicted. They did have a considerable effect on the morale of the civilian population of the United Kingdom. After further experiments with 5-litre barrels of benzol , in 1918, the B-1E Elektron fire bomb (German: Elektronbrandbombe ) was developed by scientists and engineers at

1183-802: A limited extent in both the Pacific War and the European Theater. Napalm was widely used by the US during the Korean War . The ground forces in North Korea holding defensive positions were often outnumbered by Chinese and North Koreans, but US Air Force and Navy aviators had control of the air over nearly all of the Korean Peninsula . Hence, the American and other UN aviators used napalm for close air support of

1274-427: A minute of continuous firing. The German deployed flamethrowers during the war in more than 650 attacks. The Ottoman Empire received 30 flamethrowers from Germany during the war. German flamethrowers were also used by Bulgarian forces. Austria-Hungary adopted German designs; but also developed its own flamethrowers in 1915. These included the 50 litres (13 US gal) M.15 Flammenwerfer, which required

1365-603: A mixed load. Less successful was the Flammenbombe , a 250 kg or 500 kg high explosive bomb case filled with an inflammable oil mixture, which often failed to detonate and was withdrawn in January 1941. In World War II, incendiaries were principally developed in order to destroy the many small, decentralised war industries located (often intentionally) throughout vast tracts of city land in an effort to escape destruction by conventionally aimed high-explosive bombs. Nevertheless,

1456-613: A napalm-like substance that ignites in contact with air, is known as thickened pyrophoric agent , or TPA. Napalm proper is no longer used by the United States, although the kerosene -fuelled Mark 77 MOD 5 firebomb is currently in use. The United States has confirmed the use of Mark 77s in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Signatory states are bound by Protocol III of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons which governs

1547-534: A secret laboratory at Harvard University . Of immediate first interest was its viability as an incendiary device to be used in fire bombing campaigns during World War II ; its potential to be coherently projected into a solid stream that would carry for distance (instead of the bloomy fireball of pure gasoline ) resulted in widespread adoption in infantry and tank/boat mounted flamethrowers as well. Napalm burns at temperatures ranging from 800 to 1,200 °C (1,470 to 2,190 °F). It burns longer than gasoline,

1638-595: A statement that confirmed U.K. support for U.S. napalm attacks". Napalm became an intrinsic element of US military action during the Vietnam War as forces made increasing use of it for its tactical and psychological effects. Reportedly about 352,000 tonnes (388,000 short tons; 346,000 long tons) of US napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973. The US Air Force and US Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets, such as troops, tanks, buildings, jungles, and even railroad tunnels . The effect

1729-426: A tank, or man-portable. The man-portable flamethrower consists of two elements—the backpack and the gun. The backpack element usually consists of two or three cylinders. In a two-cylinder system, one cylinder holds compressed, inert propellant gas (usually nitrogen ), and the other holds flammable liquid, typically some form of petrochemical. A three-cylinder system often has two outer cylinders of flammable liquid and

1820-562: A thermite charge. A plan to fire bomb New York with new long range Zeppelins of the L70 class was proposed by the naval airship fleet commander Peter Strasser in July 1918, but it was vetoed by Admiral Reinhard Scheer . Incendiary bombs were used extensively in World War II as an effective bombing weapon, often in a conjunction with high-explosive bombs. Probably the most famous incendiary attacks are

1911-710: A variant of napalm for use in the Rhodesian Bush War , nicknamed Frantan (short for "frangible tank"). Around the same time, its ally South Africa targeted guerrilla bases in Angola with napalm during the South African Border War . In 2018, Turkey was accused of using napalm in Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish nationalist groups. When used as a part of an incendiary weapon , napalm causes severe burns . During combustion , napalm deoxygenates

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2002-556: A weapon that was used only once in warfare. Napalm however, became an intrinsic element of US military action during the Vietnam War as forces made increasing use of it for its tactical and psychological effects. Reportedly about 388,000 tons of US napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973, compared to 32,357 tons used over three years in the Korean War, and 16,500 tons dropped on Japan in 1945. Incendiary bombs used in

2093-412: Is fed to two tubes. The first opens in the fuel tanks providing the pressure necessary for expelling the liquid. The other tube leads to an ignition chamber behind the exit of the gun assembly, where it is mixed with air and ignited through piezo ignition. This pre-ignition line is the source of the flame seen in front of the gun assembly in movies and documentaries. As the fuel passes through the flame, it

2184-637: Is ignited and propelled towards the target. The concept of projecting fire as a weapon has existed since ancient times. During the Peloponnesian War , Boeotians used some kind of a flamethrower trying to destroy the fortification walls of the Athenians during the Battle of Delium . In 107 AD the Romans used a flamethrower against the Dacians; the device was similar to the one used at Delium. Later, during

2275-428: Is more easily dispersed, and adheres to its targets. These traits make it both effective and controversial. It has been widely used from the air and from the ground, the largest use having been via airdropped bombs in World War II in the incendiary attacks on Japanese cities in 1945. It was used also for close air support roles in the Korean War , the Vietnam War , and various others. Napalm has also fueled most of

2366-457: Is still short compared with that of other infantry weapons. The risk of a flamethrower operator being caught in the explosion of their weapon due to enemy hits on the tanks is exaggerated in films. In some cases, the pressure tanks have exploded and killed the operator when hit by bullets or grenade shrapnel. In the documentary Vietnam in HD , platoon sergeant Charles Brown tells of how one of his men

2457-659: The American Civil War , "Greek Fire" shells were produced and used by Union troops during the Second Battle of Charleston Harbor . During the 1871 siege of Paris, French chemist Marcellin Berthelot suggested pumping flaming petroleum at Prussian troops. In 1898 Russian captain Sigern-Korn experimented with burning jets of kerosene for defensive use; in theory in they would be fired from parapets of fortifications. The idea

2548-578: The Byzantine era, sailors used rudimentary hand-pumped flamethrowers on board their naval ships. Greek fire , extensively used by the Byzantine Empire , is said to have been invented by Kallinikos of Heliopolis , probably about 673 AD. Byzantine texts described weapons, used by Byzantine land forces, which were shooting Greek fire and called cheirosiphona (χειροσίφωνα, meaning hand-held siphons, singular χειροσίφωνο). The flamethrower found its origins in

2639-676: The First Indochina War and the Algerian War . At first, the canisters were simply pushed out the cargo doors of transport planes, such as the Amiot AAC.1 ; later mostly B-26 bombers were used. Peruvian forces employed napalm throughout the 1960s against both communist insurgents and the Matsés indigenous group; four prominent Matsés villages were bombed during the 1964 Matsés massacres  [ es ] . From 1968–1978, Rhodesia produced

2730-464: The Griesheim -Elektron chemical works. The bomb was ignited by a thermite charge, but the main incendiary effect was from the magnesium and aluminium alloy casing, which ignited at 650 °C, burned at 1,100 °C and emitted vapour that burned at 1,800 °C. A further advantage of the alloy casing was its lightness, being a quarter of the density of steel, which meant that each bomber could carry

2821-724: The Pacific War . Napalm was often deployed against Japanese fortifications on Saipan , Iwo Jima , the Philippines , and Okinawa , where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender. Following a shortage of conventional thermite bombs, General Curtis LeMay , among other high-ranking servicemen, ordered air raids on Japan to start using napalm instead. A 1946 report by the National Defense Research Council claims that 40,000 tons of M69s were dropped on Japan throughout

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2912-718: The Song dynasty in its defense against hostile neighbours to the north, including the Mongols . Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Khwārazmī in Mafātīḥ al - ʿUlūm (“Keys to the Sciences”) ca. 976 AD mentions the bāb al-midfa and the bāb al-mustaq which he said were parts of naphtha-throwers and projectors ( al-naffātāt wa al-zarāqāt ). Book of Ingenious Mechanical Device ( Kitāb fī ma 'rifat al-ḥiyal al-handasiyya ) of 1206 by Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari mentioned about ejectors of naphtha ( zarāqāt al-naft ). In 1702,

3003-518: The bombing of Dresden and the bombing of Tokyo on 10 March 1945 . Many different configurations of incendiary bombs and a wide range of filling materials such as isobutyl methacrylate (IM) polymer, napalm , and similar jellied-petroleum formulas were used, many of them developed by the US Chemical Warfare Service . Different methods of delivery, e.g. small bombs, bomblet clusters and large bombs, were tested and implemented. For example,

3094-503: The flamethrowers (tank-, ship-, and infantry-based) used since World War II, giving them much greater range. The development of napalm was precipitated by the use of jellied gasoline mixtures by the Allied forces during World War II . Latex , used in these early forms of incendiary devices, became scarce, since natural rubber was almost impossible to obtain after the Japanese army captured

3185-436: The igniter and out of the gun nozzle. The igniter can be one of several ignition systems: A simple type is an electrically heated wire coil; another used a small pilot flame , fueled with pressurized gas from the system. Flamethrowers were primarily used against battlefield fortifications, bunkers , and other protected emplacements. A flamethrower projects a stream of flammable liquid, rather than flame, which allows bouncing

3276-566: The musculature , where it would continue to burn day after day." On 4 July 1942, the first test occurred on the football field near the Harvard Business School . Tests under operational conditions were carried out at Jefferson Proving Ground on condemned farm buildings and subsequently at Dugway Proving Ground on buildings designed and constructed to represent those to be found in German and Japanese towns . This new mixture of chemicals

3367-401: The "Badger" (a converted Ram tank ) and the "Oke", used first at Dieppe . A propane-operated flamethrower is a straightforward device. The gas is expelled through the gun assembly by its own pressure and is ignited at the exit of the barrel through piezo ignition . Liquid-operated flamethrowers use a smaller tank with a pressurized gas to expel the flammable liquid fuel. The propellant gas

3458-471: The "Incendiary Bomb, 30-lb., Type J, Mk I", burned for approximately two minutes. Articles in late 1944 claimed that the flame was so hot it could crumble a brick wall. For propaganda purposes the RAF dubbed the new incendiary bomb the "Superflamer". Around fifty-five million incendiary bombs were dropped on Germany by Avro Lancasters alone. Many incendiary weapons developed and deployed during World War II were in

3549-566: The 'fierce fire oil' derived ultimately from China's contact in the 'southern seas', with Arabia (大食國 Dashiguo ). In the Battle of Langshan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River) in 919, the naval fleet of the Wenmu King of Wuyue defeated the fleet of the Kingdom of Wu because he had used 'fire oil' to burn his fleet; this signified the first Chinese use of gunpowder in warfare, since a slow-burning match fuse

3640-478: The Allies to sue for peace. Thousands of Elektron bombs were stockpiled at forward bomber bases and the operation was scheduled for August and again in early September 1918, but on both occasions, the order to take off was countermanded at the last moment, perhaps because of the fear of Allied reprisals against German cities. The Royal Air Force had already used their own "Baby" incendiary bomb (BIB) which also contained

3731-755: The Byzantines a substantial military advantage against enemies such as members of the Arab Empire (who later adopted the use of Greek fire). An 11th-century illustration of its use survives in the John Skylitzes manuscript. The Pen Huo Qi ("fire spraying device") was a Chinese piston flamethrower that used a substance similar to petrol or naphtha , invented around 919 AD during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . The earliest reference to Greek fire in China

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3822-598: The No. 1 Weapon in Korea". British Prime Minister Winston Churchill privately criticized the use of napalm in Korea, writing that it was "very cruel", as US/UN forces, he wrote, were "splashing it all over the civilian population", "tortur[ing] great masses of people". He conveyed these sentiments to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar Bradley , who "never published the statement". Publicly, Churchill allowed Bradley "to issue

3913-503: The Prussian Army tested P. Lange's "serpent-fire-spray'' (Schlangen-Brand-Spritze) who produced a jet of fire 4 metres (12 ft) wide and 40 m (120 ft) long; two years later it was rejected as useless. Peter the Great's chief engineer Vasily Dmitrievich Korchmin designed various incendiary weapons.such as incendiary rockets and furnaces for heating cannonball; two Russian ships

4004-524: The Prussian Committee of Engineers. In 1908 Fiedler started working with Reddeman and made some adjustments to the design; an experimental pioneer company was created to further test the weapon. It was not until 1911 that the German Army accepted their first real flamethrowing device, creating a specialist regiment of twelve companies equipped with Flammenwerfer Apparent. Despite this, use of fire in

4095-710: The Third Reich during the latter half of World War II, a smaller, more compact flamethrower known as the Einstossflammenwerfer 46 was produced. Germany also used flamethrower vehicles, most of them based on the chassis of the Sd.Kfz. 251 half track and the Panzer II and Panzer III tanks, generally known as Flammpanzers . The Germans also produced the Abwehrflammenwerfer 42 , a flame-mine or flame fougasse , based on

4186-879: The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 1980, which entered into force as international law in December 1983. As of January 2023, 126 countries have ratified Protocol III. Incendiary device Incendiary weapons , incendiary devices , incendiary munitions , or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry . Incendiaries utilize materials such as napalm , thermite , magnesium powder , chlorine trifluoride , or white phosphorus . Though colloquially often called " bombs ", they are not explosives but in fact operate to slow

4277-612: The Yangtze River in 975. Southern Tang forces attempted to use flamethrowers against the Song navy, but were accidentally consumed by their own fire when violent winds swept in their direction. Documented also in later Chinese publications, illustrations and descriptions of mobile flamethrowers on four-wheel push carts appear in the Wujing Zongyao , written in 1044 (its illustration redrawn in 1601 as well). Advances in military technology aided

4368-711: The action referred to the British flamethrowers only as flammenwerfer , using the German word. The French Army deployed the Schilt family of flamethrowers, which were also used by the Italian Army. In 1931 the São Paulo Public Force created an assault car section. The first vehicle to be incorporated was a tank built from a Caterpillar Twenty Two tractor, featuring a turret mounted flamethrower and four Hotchkiss machineguns on

4459-540: The available air and generates carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide , so asphyxiation , unconsciousness, and death are also possible. Napalm is lethal even for dug-in enemy personnel, as it flows into foxholes , tunnels, and bunkers , and drainage and irrigation ditches and other improvised troop shelters. Even people in undamaged shelters can be killed by hyperthermia , radiant heat , dehydration , asphyxiation , smoke exposure, or carbon monoxide poisoning . Crews of armored fighting vehicles are also vulnerable, due to

4550-404: The casualties were caused mainly by soldiers being flushed into the open and then shot rather than from the fire itself. After two days of fighting the British had suffered casualties of 31 officers and 751 other ranks. The success of the attack prompted the German Army to adopt the device on all fronts. Flamethrowers were used in squads of six during battles, at the start of an attack destroying

4641-439: The civilian destruction caused by such weapons quickly earned them a reputation as terror weapons with the targeted populations. Nazi Germany began the campaign of incendiary bombings at the start of World War II with the bombing of Warsaw , and continued with the London Blitz and the bombing of Moscow, among other cities. Later, an extensive reprisal was enacted by the Allies in the strategic bombing campaign that led to

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4732-427: The civilian population", "tortur[ing] great masses of people". He conveyed these sentiments to US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Omar Bradley , who "never published the statement". Publicly, Churchill allowed Bradley "to issue a statement that confirmed U.K. support for U.S. napalm attacks". During the Vietnam War , the U.S. Air Force developed the CBU-55 , a cluster bomb incendiary fuelled by propane ,

4823-436: The enemy and to the preceding the infantry advance. The flamethrower was useful at short distances but had other limitations: it was cumbersome and difficult to operate and could only be safely fired from a trench, which limited its use to areas where the opposing trenches were less than the maximum range of the weapon, namely 18 m (20 yd) apart—which was not a common situation; the fuel would also only last for about

4914-422: The form of bombs and shells whose main incendiary component is white phosphorus (WP), and can be used in an offensive anti-personnel role against enemy troop concentrations, but WP is also used for signalling, smoke screens , and target-marking purposes. The U.S. Army and marines used WP extensively in World War II and Korea for all three purposes, frequently using WP shells in large 4.2-inch chemical mortars. WP

5005-418: The ground troops. Napalm was used most notably at the beginning of the Battle of Outpost Harry . Eighth Army chemical officer Donald Bode reported that, on an "average good day", UN pilots used 260,000 liters (70,000 US gal; 58,000 imp gal) of napalm, with approximately 230,000 liters (60,000 US gal; 50,000 imp gal) of this thrown by US forces. The New York Herald Tribune hailed "Napalm,

5096-410: The hull. It was used in combat during the Constitutionalist Revolution , routing federal troop from a bridge in an engagement in Cruzeiro . In the interwar period, at least four flamethrowers were used in the Chaco War by the Bolivian Army , during the unsuccessful assault on the Paraguayan stronghold of Nanawa in 1933. During the battle of Kilometer 7 to Saavedra , Major Walther Kohn rode in

5187-427: The intense heat conducted through the armor. Even in the case of a near miss, the heat can be enough to disable a vehicle. One firebomb released from a low-flying plane can damage an area of 2,100 square meters (2,500 sq yd). International law does not specifically prohibit the use of napalm or other incendiaries against military targets, but use against civilian populations was banned under Protocol III of

5278-688: The late 20th century sometimes contained thermite , made from aluminium and ferric oxide . It takes very high temperatures to ignite, but when alight, it can burn through solid steel. In World War II, such devices were employed in incendiary grenades to burn through heavy armour plate, or as a quick welding mechanism to destroy artillery and other complex machined weapons. A variety of pyrophoric materials can also be used: selected organometallic compounds, most often triethylaluminium , trimethylaluminium , and some other alkyl and aryl derivatives of aluminium, magnesium , boron , zinc , sodium , and lithium , can be used. Thickened triethylaluminium,

5369-518: The latter part of the period, gunpowder was invented, which increased the sophistication of the weapons, starting with fire lances . The first incendiary devices to be dropped during World War I fell on coastal towns in the east of England on the night of 18–19 January 1915. The small number of German bombs, also known as firebombs, were finned containers filled with kerosene and oil and wrapped with tar-covered rope. They were dropped from Zeppelin airships . On 8 September 1915, Zeppelin L-13 dropped

5460-413: The lower part of its wearer's back, leaving the upper part of his back free for an ordinary rucksack. Flamethrowers soon fell into disfavour. Flamethrowers were extensively used by German units in urban fights in Poland , both in 1943 in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and in 1944 in the Warsaw Uprising (see the Stroop Report and the article on the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ). With the contraction of

5551-455: The military applications, flamethrowers have peacetime applications where there is a need for controlled burning , such as in sugarcane harvesting and other land-management tasks. Various forms are designed for an operator to carry, while others are mounted on vehicles. Modern flamethrowers were first used during the trench warfare conditions of World War I and their use greatly increased in World War II . They can be vehicle-mounted, as on

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5642-412: The near-annihilation of many German cities. In the Pacific War , during the last seven months of strategic bombing by B-29 Superfortresses in the air war against Japan , a change to firebombing tactics resulted in the death of 500,000 Japanese and the homelessness of five million more. Sixty-seven Japanese cities lost significant areas to incendiary attacks. The most deadly single bombing raid in history

5733-443: The night of June 10–11, 1953. Eighth Army chemical officer Donald Bode reported that on an "average good day" UN pilots used 70,000 US gallons (260,000 L) of napalm, with approximately 60,000 US gallons (230,000 L) of this thrown by US forces. British prime minister Winston Churchill privately criticized the use of napalm in Korea, writing that it was "very cruel", as US and UN forces, he wrote, were "splashing it all over

5824-428: The operator to be precise and conservative. Flamethrowers using a fougasse-style explosive propellant system also have a limited number of shots. The weapon is very visible on the battlefield, which causes operators to become immediately singled out as prominent targets, especially for snipers and designated marksmen . Flamethrower operators were rarely taken prisoner, especially when their target survived an attack by

5915-399: The operator; moreover, an unignited stream of flammable liquid can be fired and afterwards ignited, possibly by a lamp or other flame inside the bunker. Flamethrowers pose many risks to the operator. The first disadvantage is the weapon's weight and length, which impairs the soldier's mobility. The weapon is limited to only a few seconds of burn time, since it uses fuel very quickly, requiring

6006-411: The petroleum-based Greek fire , were launched by throwing machines or administered through a siphon . Sulfur- and oil-soaked materials were sometimes ignited and thrown at the enemy, or attached to spears, arrows or bolts , and fired by hand or machine. Some siege techniques—such as mining and boring—relied on combustibles and fire to complete the collapse of walls and structures. Towards

6097-674: The process of chemical reactions and use ignition rather than detonation to start or maintain the reaction. Napalm , for example, is petroleum especially thickened with certain chemicals into a gel to slow, but not stop, combustion, releasing energy over a longer time than an explosive device. In the case of napalm, the gel adheres to surfaces and resists suppression. A range of early thermal weapons were utilized by ancient , medieval / post-classical and early modern armies, including hot pitch , oil, resin , animal fat and other similar compounds. Substances such as quicklime and sulfur could be toxic and blinding. Incendiary mixtures, such as

6188-462: The rubber plantations in Malaya , Indonesia , Vietnam , and Thailand . This shortage of natural rubber prompted chemists at US companies such as DuPont and Standard Oil of New Jersey , and researchers at Harvard University , to develop factory-made alternatives: artificial rubber for all uses, including vehicle tires, tank tracks, gaskets, hoses, medical supplies and rain clothing. A team of chemists led by Louis Fieser at Harvard University

6279-424: The stream off walls and ceilings to project the fire into unseen spaces, such as inside bunkers or pillboxes . Typically, popular visual media depict the flamethrower as short-ranged and only effective for a few metres (due to the common use of propane gas as the fuel in flamethrowers in movies, for the safety of the actors). Contemporary flamethrowers can incinerate a target some 50–100 metres (160–330 ft) from

6370-409: The upper section. On depressing a lever the propellant gas forced the flammable oil into and through a rubber tube and over a simple igniting wick device in a steel nozzle. The weapon projected a jet of fire and enormous clouds of smoke some 18 metres (20 yd). It was a single-shot weapon—for burst firing, a new igniter section was attached each time. In 1905 Fiedler's flamethrower was demonstrated to

6461-469: The use of incendiary weapons: Protocol III states though that incendiary weapons do not include: Flamethrower Most military flamethrowers use liquid fuel, typically either heated oil or diesel , but commercial flamethrowers are generally blowtorches using gaseous fuels such as propane . Gases are safer in peacetime applications because their flames have less mass flow rate and dissipate faster, and often are easier to extinguish. Apart from

6552-436: The war using the 1918-designed one-kilogram magnesium alloy B-1E Elektronbrandbombe ; later modifications included the addition of a small explosive charge intended to penetrate the roof of any building which it landed on. Racks holding 36 of these bombs were developed, four of which could, in turn, be fitted to an electrically triggered dispenser so that a single He 111 bomber could carry 1,152 incendiary bombs, or more usually

6643-565: The war, damaging 64 cities and causing more deaths than the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . German fortifications and transportation hubs were targeted with napalm during both Operation Overlord and the Battle of the Bulge , sometimes in conjunction with artillery. During the Allied siege of La Rochelle , napalm was dropped on the outskirts of the Royan pocket , inadvertently killing French civilians. The Royal Air Force (RAF) used napalm to

6734-637: The weapon is fired. When pierced by a bullet, a metal can filled with diesel or napalm will merely leak unless the round is an incendiary type that may ignite the mixture inside. The best way to minimize the disadvantages of flame weapons was to mount them on armoured vehicles. The Commonwealth and the United States were the most prolific users of vehicle-mounted flame weapons; the British and Canadians fielded "Wasps" ( Universal Carriers fitted with flamethrowers) at infantry battalion level, beginning in mid-1944, and eventually incorporating them into infantry battalions. Early tank-mounted flamethrower vehicles included

6825-454: The weapon of choice for the British "dehousing" plan . The bomb consisted of a hollow body made from aluminium- magnesium alloy with a cast iron/steel nose, and filled with thermite incendiary pellets. It was capable of burning for up to ten minutes. There was also a high explosive version and delayed high explosive versions (2–4 minutes) which were designed to kill rescuers and firefighters. It

6916-514: The weapon's short range led to experiments with tank -mounted flamethrowers ( flame tanks ), which were used by many countries. The Germans made considerable use of the weapon ( Flammenwerfer 35 ) during their invasion of the Netherlands and France, against fixed fortifications. World War II German army flamethrowers tended to have one large fuel tank with the pressurizer tank fastened to its back or side. Some German army flamethrowers occupied only

7007-435: The weapon; captured flamethrower users were in some cases summarily executed . The flamethrower's effective range is short in comparison with that of other battlefield weapons of similar size. To be effective, flamethrower soldiers must approach their target, risking exposure to enemy fire. Vehicular flamethrowers also have this problem; they may have considerably greater range than a man-portable flamethrower, but their range

7098-771: The weapons, carefully concealed and wired to a central control point. During the Winter War Finland adopted the Italian Lanciafiamme Modello 35 as the Liekinheitin M/40; 176 flamethrowers were ordered but only 28 arrived before the end of the war. Those flamethrowers were not used in the Winter War; but were issued to engineers during the Continuation War along with captured ROKS-2 flamethrowers OT-130 and OT-133 flame tanks were captured from

7189-610: The “Svyatoy Yakov” and “Landsou” were armed with flamethrower tubes designed by him. He also developed instructions for their use together with the Tsar. In the 1750s a French engineer named Dupre, developed a new flammable mixture; it was tested in LeHavre and set fire to a sloop. During the British shelling of LeHavre in 1759, the French War Minister tried to obtain authorization to use this fuel. Although flamethrowers were never used in

7280-455: Was Operation Meetinghouse , an incendiary attack that killed some 100,000 Tokyo residents in one night. The 4 lb (1.8 kg) incendiary bomb, developed by ICI , was the standard light incendiary bomb used by RAF Bomber Command in very large numbers, declining slightly in 1944 to 35.8 million bombs produced (the decline being due to more bombs arriving from the United States). It was

7371-526: Was abandoned due to technical issues During the siege of Port Arthur, Japanese combat engineers used hand pumps to spray kerosene into Russian trenches. Once the Russians were covered with the flammable liquid, the Japanese would throw bundles of burning rags at them. Before WW1 German pioneers used the Brandröhre M.95 a weapon consisting of a sheet metal tube (125 mm (4.9 in) wide and 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long) filled with an incendiary mixture, and

7462-503: Was first approved for use on the front lines in 1943. The first use of napalm in combat was in August 1943 during the Allied invasion of Sicily , when American troops, using napalm-fueled flamethrowers , burned down a wheat field where German forces were believed to be hiding. Napalm incendiary bombs were first used the following year, although the exact date and battle are disputed. Two-thirds of napalm bombs produced during WWII were used in

7553-520: Was invented in Germany. The first flamethrower, in the modern sense, is usually credited to Richard Fiedler . He submitted evaluation models of his Flammenwerfer to the German Army in 1901. The most significant model submitted was a portable device, consisting of a vertical single cylinder 1.2 metres (4 ft) long, horizontally divided in two, with pressurized gas in the lower section and flammable oil in

7644-445: Was killed when his flamethrower was hit by grenade shrapnel during the battle for Hill 875 . The pressurizer is filled with a non-flammable gas that is under high pressure. If this tank ruptures, it might knock the operator forward as it was expended in the same way a pressurized aerosol can bursts outward when punctured. The fuel mixture in the containers is difficult to light, which is why magnesium-filled igniters are required when

7735-508: Was made in 917, written by Wu Renchen in his Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms . In 919, the siphon projector-pump was used to spread the ' fierce fire oil ' that could not be doused with water, as recorded by Lin Yu (林禹) in his Wu-Yue Beishi (吳越備史), hence the first credible Chinese reference to the flamethrower employing the chemical solution of Greek fire. Lin Yu mentioned also that

7826-449: Was normal for a proportion of high explosive bombs to be dropped during incendiary attacks in order to expose combustible material and to fill the streets with craters and rubble, hindering rescue services. Towards the end of World War Two, the British introduced a much improved 30 lb (14 kg) incendiary bomb, whose fall was retarded by a small parachute and on impact sent out an extremely hot flame for 15 ft (4.6 m); This,

7917-528: Was not always purely physical as napalm had psychological effects on the enemy as well. During the Greek Civil War , after the capture of Mount Vitsi during Operation Pyrsos , the Hellenic Air Force bombed Mount Grammos —a stronghold for the opposing Democratic Army of Greece —with US-supplied napalm. The French Air Force regularly used napalm for close air support of ground operations in both

8008-531: Was required to ignite the flames. The Chinese applied the use of double- piston bellows to pump petrol out of a single cylinder (with an upstroke and a downstroke), lit at the end by a slow-burning gunpowder match to fire a continuous stream of flame (as referred to in the Wujing Zongyao manuscript of 1044). In the suppression of the Southern Tang state by 976 AD, early Song naval forces confronted them on

8099-454: Was still in use in WW1; it was used during the assaults on Fort du Camp-des-Romains in 1914 and Fort Vaux in 1916. Bernhard Reddeman, a German military officer and former fireman, converted steam powered fire engines into flamethrowers; his design was demonstrated in 1907. The English word flamethrower is a loan-translation of the German word Flammenwerfer , since the modern flamethrower

8190-437: Was the first to develop synthetic napalm during 1942. "The production of napalm was first entrusted to Nuodex Products, and by the middle of April 1942 they had developed a brown, dry powder that was not sticky by itself, but when mixed with gasoline turned into an extremely sticky and flammable substance." One of Fieser's colleagues suggested adding phosphorus to the mix which increased the "ability to penetrate deeply [...] into

8281-489: Was widely credited by many Allied soldiers for breaking up numerous German infantry attacks and creating havoc among enemy troop concentrations during the latter part of World War II. In both World War II and Korea, WP was found particularly useful in overcoming enemy human wave attacks . Napalm was widely used by the United States during the Korean War , most notably during the battle " Outpost Harry " in South Korea during

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