FLAMETHROWER. This weapon was first used by the Germans in the winter of 1914-15, and with marked success in the Bois d'Avocourt (Verdun) on Feb. 26, 1915 (Ger. Flammen wer f er). The French followed in their use. The British used them on the Somme and in the Zeebrugge attack, St. George's Day, 1918. The American Expeditionary Force did not use them at all. Their value was chiefly moral.
A flamethrower consists of (a) the container filled with some mixture of heavy and light oils, (b) the strong walled vessel filled with air, nitrogen,
etc., under high pressure, and (a) a discharge tube, with nozzle and, in most cases, an ignition device. Between (a) and (b) is a reducing valve, and between (b) and the nozzle a firing valve or trigger. Flame throwers were short-range weapons, and were of two types, the heavy and the portable. The heavy type attained an extreme range of 134Yd. (British model), while with the portable British model a range of 45Yd. wets attained, and maintained some 15 to 18 shots from a single filling of three gallons. The most satis factory propellant was found to be nitrogen—either the pure product or a "deoxygenated air" produced in the field by a mobile plant. (See also GREEK FIRE.)
