Editing Flamethrower (section)

=== Early 20th century ===
{{See also|Technology during World War I}}
[[File:Chemical Warfare Service - Liquid Fire - The way by fire has proved to be a boomerang to the Germans - NARA - 26425078 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|French soldiers using flamethrowers in World War I, 1917]]
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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-09-13 |title="These Hideous Weapons" |url=https://www.historynet.com/these-hideous-weapons/ |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}</ref>

Before WW1, German pioneers used the Brandröhre M.95 a weapon consisting of a sheet metal tube ({{cvt|125|mm|in}} wide and {{cvt|1.2|m|ft}} long) filled with an incendiary mixture, and 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 {{convert|2|m|ft|0|adj=on}} 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 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.<ref name=":6">{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=The Flamethrower |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1472809049 |location=London |pages=9}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Wictor |first=Thomas |title=German Fire Tube |date=2012-05-25 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/45841855@N02/7266463236/ |access-date=2023-12-13}}</ref>

Bernhard Reddeman, a German military officer and former fireman, converted steam powered fire engines into flamethrowers; his design was demonstrated in 1907.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=The Soldier at the Western Front – The Use of Flamethrower - Source 4: Bernhard Reddemann: History of the German Flamethrower troop |url=https://www.hi.uni-stuttgart.de/wgt/ww-one/Start/Bleed_White/Technology_and_Science/ww1_ger_08_03_04.html |access-date=2023-12-16 |website=www.hi.uni-stuttgart.de}}</ref>

The English word ''flamethrower'' is a [[loan-translation]] of [[wikt:Flammenwerfer|the German word ''Flammenwerfer'']], since the modern flamethrower 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 (German Empire)|German Army]] in 1901. The most significant model submitted was a portable device, consisting of a vertical single cylinder {{convert|4|ft|m|order=flip}} long, horizontally divided in two, with pressurized gas in the lower section and flammable oil in 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 {{convert|20|yd|m|order=flip}}. 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 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.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R22888, Westfront, Flammenwerfer.jpg|thumb|German flamethrowers during the [[First World War]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], 1917]]

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.<ref>''The New Shell Book of Firsts'' – Patrick Robertson (Headline)</ref> Despite this, use of fire in 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.<ref name="FLAMEWILL"/>

The flamethrower was first used in World War I on 26 February 1916 when it was briefly used against the French outside Verdun.{{sfn|Clodfelter|2017|p=394}} On 30 July 1915 it was first used in a concerted action, against British trenches at [[Hooge, Belgium|Hooge]], where the lines were {{convert|4.5|m|yd|abbr=on}} apart—even there, the casualties were caused mainly by soldiers being flushed into the open and then shot rather than from the fire itself.<ref name="FLAMEWILL"/> After two days of fighting the British had suffered casualties of 31 officers and 751 other ranks.<ref name="Weapons of War - Flamethrowers">{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/flamethrowers.htm|title=First World War.com – Weapons of War: Flamethrowers|website=www.firstworldwar.com}}</ref>

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 the enemy and to the preceding the infantry advance.<ref name="Weapons of War - Flamethrowers"/>

The flamethrower was useful at short distances<ref name="Weapons of War - Flamethrowers"/> 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 {{convert|18|m|yd|abbr=on}} apart—which was not a common situation; the fuel would also only last for about a minute of continuous firing.<ref name="FLAMEWILL">''First World War'', Willmott, H. P., [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2003, p. 106</ref>

The Germans deployed flamethrowers during the war in more than 650 attacks.<ref name="Weapons of War - Flamethrowers"/>

The Ottoman Empire received 30 flamethrowers from Germany during the war.<ref name=":4">{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=The Flamethrower |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1472809049 |location=London |pages=12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Weaponry |url=http://turkeyswar.com/army/weaponry/ |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Turkey in the First World War |language=en}}</ref>

German flamethrowers were also used by Bulgarian forces.<ref name=":4" />

[[Austria-Hungary]] adopted German designs; but also developed its own flamethrowers in 1915. These included the {{convert|50|l|USgal}} M.15 Flammenwerfer, which required a crew of three men and was too unwieldy for offensive use; a defensive {{convert|200|l|USgal}} model and a more portable {{convert|22|l|USgal}} model were also produced. Austro-Hungarian flamethrowers were unreliable and long hoses were used to prevent the shooter from igniting the fuel tank<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=The Flamethrower |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1472809049 |location=London |pages=13}}</ref>

The British experimented with flamethrowers in the [[Battle of the Somme]], during which they used experimental weapons called "[[Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector]]s", named for their inventor, [[William Howard Livens]], a [[Royal Engineers]] officer.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7697251/Secret-terror-weapon-of-the-Somme-battle-discovered.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7697251/Secret-terror-weapon-of-the-Somme-battle-discovered.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Secret terror weapon of the Somme battle 'discovered' |first=Jasper |last=Copping |date=9 May 2010 |work=Daily Telegraph |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref> This weapon was enormous and completely non-portable. The weapon had an effective range of {{convert|90|yd|m|order=flip|sigfig=1}}, which proved effective at clearing trenches, but with no other benefit the project was abandoned.<ref name="Weapons of War - Flamethrowers"/>

Two Morriss static flamethrowers were mounted in [[HMS Vindictive (1897)|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 the action referred to the British flamethrowers only as ''flammenwerfer'', using the German word.<ref>''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', 26 April 1918, reprinted in the ''Daily Telegraph'', 26 April 2018</ref>

The [[French Army in World War I|French Army]] deployed the Schilt family of flamethrowers, which were also used by the Italian Army.<ref name="McNab_2005">{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=The Flamethrower |year=2015  |pages=16–18 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-1472809049 }}</ref>

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|Caterpillar Twenty Two]] tractor, featuring a turret mounted flamethrower and four Hotchkiss machineguns on the hull. It was used in combat during the [[Constitutionalist Revolution]], routing federal troop from a bridge in an engagement in [[Cruzeiro, São Paulo|Cruzeiro]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blindados em 1932 |url=http://netleland.net/hsampa/epopeia1932/blindados1932.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=netleland.net}}</ref>

In the interwar period, at least four flamethrowers were used in the [[Chaco War]] by the [[Bolivian Army]], during the unsuccessful assault on the [[Paraguay]]an [[Second Battle of Nanawa|stronghold of Nanawa]] in 1933.<ref>Scheina, Robert L. (2003). ''Latin America's Wars Volume II: The Age of the Professional Soldier, 1900–2001''. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, p. 97. {{ISBN|1-57488-452-2}}.</ref> During the [[Battle of Kilometer 7|battle of Kilometer 7 to Saavedra]], Major Walther Kohn rode in a flamethrower equipped tankette; due to heat he exited the tank to fight on foot and was killed in combat.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sigal Fogliani |first=Ricardo |title=Blindados Argentinos, de Uruguay y Paraguay |publisher=Ayer y Hoy |year=1997 |location=Buenos Aires. |pages=144–145 |language=Spanish}}</ref>