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 the igniter and out of the gun nozzle.

The gas propels the liquid fuel out of the cylinder through a flexible pipe and then into the gun element of the flamethrower system. A three-cylinder system often has two outer cylinders of flammable liquid and a central cylinder of propellant gas to maintain the balance of the soldier carrying it. 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.

The backpack element usually consists of two or three cylinders. The man-portable flamethrower consists of two elements-the backpack and the gun. They can be vehicle-mounted, as on a tank, or man-portable. Modern flamethrowers were first used during the trench warfare conditions of World War I and their use greatly increased in World War II. Military use German Brandkommando (burning detachment) destroying Warsaw during the planned destruction of the city. Various forms are designed for an operator to carry, while others are mounted on vehicles. The military use of flamethrowers is restricted through the Protocol on Incendiary Weapons.Īpart from 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. Most military flamethrowers use liquid fuel, typically either gasoline 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 when necessary. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in World War II as a tactical weapon against fortifications. Marine firing a flamethrower during the Vietnam War United States Marines demonstrating flamethrower usage (2012)Ī flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. A Type 93 flamethrower used by the Imperial Japanese Army, drawing made for the US Military Intelligence Service A U.S.

Who invented the modern day tank