Infantry flamethrowers. Hellfire German Flamethrower World War II

The design of flamethrowers in Russia began only in the spring of 1915 (that is, even before they were used by the German troops - the idea was apparently already in the air). In September 1915, the first 20 flamethrowers of Professor Gorbov were tested. On February 27, 1916, B.S. Fedoseev, a student of the Provisional Courses at the Moscow Imperial State University, submitted a proposal for a flammable liquid (recipe not presented) and a "pump" for throwing it. At the same time, he referred to the message of the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated January 23, 1916, which spoke of the use by "the Austrians south of Dubna ... an apparatus for repelling attacks, throwing out flames at 30-40 m."
At the end of 1916, the newly developed Leavens and Vincent flamethrowers were ordered in England. In 1916, the Russian army adopted a knapsack flamethrower of the "T" system (that is, the Towarnitsky design), with which flamethrower teams (12 flamethrowers each) were equipped in the infantry regiments of the Russian army since the fall of 1916. At the same time, three batteries were formed, armed with trench flamethrowers designed by Towarnitsky. In mid-1917, the soldiers of these batteries completed their training and were sent to the Northern, Western and Southwestern Fronts.
The Russian high-explosive piston flamethrower of Strandin, Povarnin and Stolitsa was superior in design to foreign flamethrowers with inferior characteristics. At the beginning of 1917, the flamethrower was tested and entered mass production. The SPS flamethrower was successfully used by the Red Army in the years that followed the Civil War. Engineering thought was in full swing: Gorbov's flamethrower was developed already in 1915, Towarnitsky - in 1916, SPS - at the beginning of 1917. In total, about 10,000 knapsack, 200 trench and 362 SPS were produced. From abroad, 86 Vincent flamethrowers and 50 Livens flamethrowers were received. On June 1, 1917, Russian troops received 11,446 flamethrowers.
For the purposes of offensive combat and smoking out enemy forces from pillboxes, the flamethrower hose was redesigned and lengthened, where, instead of the usual conical nozzle, it is replaced by an L-shaped, bent one. This shape allows the flamethrower to effectively operate on embrasures from behind shelters, standing on the side of the embrasure in a "dead", non-projectile zone or on top of the bunker, from its roof.

Attack of the embrasure of the pillbox from its roof (dead zone of fire) using an L-shaped nozzle on the flamethrower nozzle

Russian manual flamethrower during the First World War of the Sieger-Korn system
There has always been an ambiguous attitude to flamethrowers - from enthusiastic (from its highest combat effectiveness) to arrogant-squeamish (as "unsportsmanlike" and "non-gentlemen's weapon"). For example, the Hungarian inventor of the flamethrower, Szakats Gabor, was tried in 1920 for his invention as a war criminal. He patented his invention in 1910; the year before, during maneuvers in Paula, the idea of a flamethrower was born, when he saw soldiers and sailors pouring water on each other.
In general, one person could easily cope with a knapsack flamethrower. But often the situation in battle developed in such a way that it was simply impossible for one person to get close to the enemy positions with a flamethrower on his shoulders. In this case, the gunner and the porter took over. The gunner carried the cannon, and the porter carried the apparatus. Applying such tactics, they managed, hiding behind uneven terrain, to approach the enemy a short distance, directly at the position a porter with a device was hiding in a crater, and a gunner with a cannon crawled close to the enemy and launched.
As a combat unit, a combination of two flamethrower squads (strike group) was used, to which several soldiers armed with grenades were attached. In the general case, such a strike group included: a commander, two squads of knapsack flamethrowers (four people in each) and four grenade launchers.
From the first attacks, flamethrowers gained great popularity among their soldiers, but at the same time they caused panic and fierce hatred of the enemy. And if the German newspapers extolled them in every possible way, then the propaganda of the Entente countries tried to discredit as much as possible in order to cheer up their soldiers. In Russia, the use of flamethrowers was equated with a war crime (although, after their appearance in the Russian army, they preferred to forget about it). And the British seriously argued that only penalty boxes serve in the German flamethrower units!
Russian newspapers wrote:
“The Petersburg Declaration of 1868 recognized that the use of such a weapon, which, after inflicting a wound on the enemy, unnecessarily increases the suffering of people who have been incapacitated, or makes their death inevitable, is contrary to the laws of philanthropy.
Nevertheless, our enemies in close-range battles douse our soldiers with burning and caustic liquids, using special apparatus for this purpose, consisting of metal cylinders filled under high pressure with a mixture of flammable liquids, resinous substances or caustic acids. A tap is attached to the cylinder, when opened, a jet of flame or liquid beats out of it 30 steps forward. Under the action of fire-throwing devices, the jet at the exit from the tube ignites and, developing a very high temperature, burns all objects in its path and turns living people into a solid charred mass. The action of acids is no less terrible. Once on the body, even if protected by clothing, the acid causes deep burns, the skin immediately begins to smoke, the meat breaks down to the bone and the bones are charred. Acid-stricken people die in severe suffering and only rarely survive. "
In the files of the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry, there is a copy of the order for the 2nd German Army of October 16, 1914 No. 32 with detailed instructions for the use of fire-ejecting devices, which, among other things, says that “fire throwers will be used mainly in battles on the streets and in homes and will be stored in places where battles will begin, so that they are always ready for use. "

Scheme of the action of the assault group when capturing a trench
On February 23, 1915, units of the C ... regiment, during the attack of the German trenches, near the village of Konopnitsy, were doused with a burning resinous liquid, which caused severe burns to the lower ranks of the body and face; on the night of April 22, during the attack on Makuvki Hill 958, the ranks of our infantry division found about 100 charred corpses of our soldiers, exposed to fire-throwers, and 8 such vehicles were captured from the Austrians. In addition, many of the lower ranks were then seriously injured from burns; on the night of May 17, in the village of Dolyna, in Galicia, fire throwers were used against the I ... infantry regiment, which took away several of these vehicles from the enemy; On May 20, during the attack at Przemysl, several ranks of the O ... infantry regiment received severe burns; in May, several fire-throwing devices were taken from the Germans on the river. Bzure; On February 10, near the metro station, the ranks of the Life Guards P ... regiment were hardly injured, they were burned with sulfuric acid mixed with kerosene; On February 27, during the capture of enemy trenches near Przemysl, the ranks of the K ... regiment found 3 vehicles filled with acid; in mid-March, the Austrians used an acid-throwing apparatus near the village of Yablonki during the offensive of our troops; On May 12, near the town of Dolina, during an attack on the Austrian positions I ... the regiment poured acid on some lower ranks, and one of the Cossacks had his cheek burned to the bone, as a result of which he soon died; On June 13, near the village of Bobrika, in Galicia, 4 lower ranks of F ... the regiment were doused with liquid that ignited when they touched clothes, two of them then burned alive; On July 24, a German officer and soldiers were taken prisoner near Osovets, with jars of caustic liquid that damaging the eyes were found. In addition to special devices, the enemy also resorted to throwing ordinary bottles filled with acids at our soldiers, as it was established in the battles on the river. Ravke and near Lodz in the winter of 1914, and finally, on January 9, 1915, the ranks of the I ... regiment were found left by the Austrians in their trenches, near the village of Lipnoy, pots with acid, emitting suffocating fumes.
2nd Army. Order number 32
Headquarters, Saint-Quentin October 16, 1914

§ 4. Emitters of fire or liquid emitting gases
These methods will be made available to individual units of the army by the commander-in-chief as needed. At the same time, the units will receive the knowledgeable persons highly necessary for the handling of these devices, and when the units receive the appropriate instructions, the composition of these persons should be reinforced by sappers specially selected for this purpose, after proper training.
Fire ejectors are supervised by sappers specially trained for this; these devices, emitting an instantly flammable liquid, are like fire extinguishers. Fire waves are applicable at a distance of 20 meters. Their action is instant and deadly, they throw the enemy a great distance due to the spreading heat. Since they burn for 1 / -2 minutes and the operation of the devices can be interrupted at will, it is advisable to throw out the flame in short separate flashes in order to be able to destroy several objects with one dose of the contents. The fire emitters will be primarily used in battles on the streets and in homes, and will be stored ready for use where the attack will start ...
Throughout the war, flamethrowers were used as an auxiliary means, requiring especially favorable conditions for their use in positional warfare. Knapsack flamethrowers were used almost exclusively in the offensive, and when this offensive was carried out on a relatively narrow sector of the front, it had the character of a swift "short-cut" strike (raid) and solved the problem of capturing a small section of positions. If it was possible to bring the flamethrowers at a distance of 30-40 steps from the first line of trenches, then the success of the attack was almost always guaranteed. Otherwise, the flamethrowers were shot while moving with a bulky apparatus on their backs. Therefore, the use of knapsack flamethrowers became possible only in night attacks or at dawn, if the flamethrowers managed to crawl up to the enemy and occupy the craters of shells for their cover.
In Russia, the use of knapsack flamethrowers when breaking through a fortified position was supposed to "clear" the enemy from trenches and message trenches. Flamethrowers were to be used to "pave" the way for Russian infantry groups in their fight against the enemy in his trenches and communication trenches. The fight in the enemy's defensive zone consists of a series of short strikes from traverse to traverse, from dugout to dugout. Therefore, it was supposed to achieve a complete combination of the work of flamethrowers with the actions of grenade launchers and a strike group.
In defense, knapsack flamethrowers were located in the areas of platoons of the second echelons of companies and even battalions - if the second echelon of the battalion is intended exclusively for the defense of this area and does not intend to perform maneuvers.

Backpack flamethrowers still in business? October 2nd, 2017

Chinese military training with jet backpack flamethrower ().

How many meters does it hit? It seemed to me that the armies of the world are now armed only with jet (manual or mechanized) flamethrowers. Aren't you still armed with knapsack flamethrowers?

A bit of history:

For the first time a knapsack fire device was offered to the Russian Minister of War by the Russian inventor Sieger-Korn in 1898. The device was found difficult and dangerous to use and was not accepted into service under the pretext of "unreality".

Three years later, the German inventor Fiedler created a flamethrower of a similar design, which was adopted without hesitation by the racer. As a result, Germany was able to significantly outstrip other countries in the development and creation of new weapons. The use of poisonous gases no longer achieved its goals - the enemy had gas masks. In an effort to maintain the initiative, the Germans used a new weapon - flamethrowers. On January 18, 1915, a volunteer sapper detachment was formed to test new weapons. The flamethrower was used at Verdun against the French and British. In both cases, he caused panic in the ranks of the enemy infantry, the Germans managed to take enemy positions with small losses. No one could stay in the trench when a stream of fire poured over the parapet.

On the Russian front, the Germans first used flamethrowers on November 9, 1916, in a battle near Baranovichi. However, they did not succeed here. Russian soldiers suffered losses, but did not lose their heads and stubbornly defended themselves. The German infantry, which had risen under the cover of flamethrowers to attack, encountered strong rifle and machine-gun fire. The attack was thwarted.

The German monopoly on flamethrowers did not last long - by the beginning of 1916, all the howling armies, including Russia, were armed with various systems of these weapons.

The design of flamethrowers in Russia began in the spring of 1915, even before they were used by the German troops, and a year later a knapsack flamethrower designed by Tavarnitsky was adopted. At the same time, Russian engineers Stranden, Povarin, Capital invented a high-explosive piston flamethrower: from it the combustible mixture was thrown out not by compressed gas, but by a powder charge. At the beginning of 1917, a flamethrower called SPS had already entered mass production.

How are they arranged

Regardless of the type and design, the principle of operation of flamethrowers is the same. Flamethrowers (or flamethrowers, as they said earlier) are devices that throw jets of flammable liquid at a distance of 15 to 200 m.The liquid is thrown out of the tank through a special hose by the force of compressed air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen or powder gases and ignited when leaving fire hose with a special ignitor.

In the First World War, two types of flamethrowers were used: knapsack in offensive operations, heavy - in defense. Between the world wars, a third type of flamethrower appeared - a high-explosive one.

A knapsack flamethrower is a steel tank with a capacity of 15-20 liters, filled with a flammable liquid and compressed gas. When the tap is opened, the liquid is thrown out through a flexible rubber hose and a metal hose and ignited by an igniter.

The heavy flamethrower consists of an iron tank with a capacity of about 200 liters with an outlet pipe, a crane and hand brackets. The hose with the control handle and the igniter is movably mounted on the gun carriage. The range of the jet is 40-60 m, the sector of destruction is 130-1800. A shot from a flamethrower affects an area of 300-500 m2. With one shot, it can be incapacitated up to an infantry platoon.

The high-explosive flamethrower differs from the knapsack flamethrower in design and principle of operation - the fire mixture from the tank is thrown out by the pressure of the gases formed during the combustion of the powder charge. An incendiary cartridge is put on the nozzle, and a powder ejection cartridge with an electric fuse is inserted into the charger. Powder gases emit liquid at 35-50 m.

The main disadvantage of the jet flamethrower is its short range. When shooting at long distances, an increase in the pressure of the system is required, but this is not easy - the fire mixture is simply pulverized (sprayed). This can only be dealt with by increasing the viscosity (thickening the mixture). But at the same time, a freely flying burning jet of fire mixture may not reach the target, completely burnt out in the air.

Flamethrower ROKS-3

Cocktail

All the terrifying power of flamethrower-incendiary weapons lies in incendiary substances. Their combustion temperature is 800-1000C and more (up to 3500C) with a very stable flame. Fire mixtures do not contain oxidizing agents and are burned due to atmospheric oxygen. Incendiary substances are mixtures of various flammable liquids: oil, gasoline and kerosene, light coal oil with benzene, phosphorus solution in carbon disulfide, etc. Fire mixtures based on petroleum products can be both liquid and viscous. The former consist of a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel and lubricating oil. In this case, a wide swirling jet of intense flame is formed, flying 20-25 meters. The burning mixture is capable of flowing into the slots and holes of target objects, but a significant part of it burns out in flight. The main disadvantage of liquid mixtures is that they do not stick to objects.

Napalm, that is, thickened mixtures, is a different matter. They can stick to objects and thereby increase the affected area. Liquid petroleum products are used as their fuel base - gasoline, jet fuel, benzene, kerosene and a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel. The most commonly used thickeners are polystyrene or polybutadiene.

Napalm is highly flammable and adheres even to damp surfaces. It is impossible to extinguish it with water, so it floats on the surface, continuing to burn. The burning temperature of napalm is 800-11000C. A higher combustion temperature - 1400-16000C - is possessed by metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels). They are made by adding powders of certain metals (magnesium, sodium), heavy oil products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of combustible polymers - isobutyl methacrylate, polybutadiene to ordinary napalm.

Lighter people

The army profession of a flamethrower was extremely dangerous - as a rule, it was necessary to get close to the enemy several tens of meters with a huge piece of iron behind. According to an unwritten rule, soldiers of all armies of World War II did not take flamethrowers and snipers prisoner, they were shot on the spot.

For each flamethrower, there was at least one and a half flamethrower. The fact is that high-explosive flamethrowers were disposable (after detonation, a factory reload was required), and the work of a flamethrower with such a weapon was akin to a sapper. High-explosive flamethrowers were dug in front of their own trenches and fortifications at a distance of several tens of meters, leaving only a disguised nozzle on the surface. When the enemy approached the shot range (from 10 to 100 m), the flamethrowers were activated (“undermined”).

The battle for the Shchuchinkovsky bridgehead is indicative. The battalion was able to make the first volley of fire only an hour after the start of the attack, having already lost 10% of its personnel and all the artillery. 23 flamethrowers were blown up, destroying 3 tanks and 60 infantrymen. Once under fire, the Germans retreated 200-300 m and began to shoot Soviet positions with tank guns with impunity. Our fighters moved to reserve camouflaged positions, and the situation repeated itself. As a result, the battalion, having used up almost the entire supply of flamethrowers and having lost more than half of its composition, destroyed six more tanks, one self-propelled gun and 260 fascists by evening, barely holding the bridgehead. This classic combat shows the advantages and disadvantages of flamethrowers - they are useless beyond 100m and terrifyingly effective when unexpectedly applied at close range.

Soviet flamethrowers managed to use high-explosive flamethrowers in the offensive. For example, in one sector of the Western Front, before a night attack, 42 (!) High-explosive flamethrowers were buried at a distance of only 30-40 m from the German wooden-earthen defensive embankment with machine-gun and artillery embrasures. At dawn, the flamethrowers were blown up by one salvo, completely destroying a kilometer of the enemy's first line of defense. In this episode, the fantastic courage of the flamethrowers is admired - to bury a 32-kg cylinder 30 m from the machine-gun embrasure!

No less heroic were the actions of flamethrowers with ROKS backpack flamethrowers. A soldier with an additional 23 kg behind his back was required to reach the trenches under deadly enemy fire, get close to a distance of 20-30 m to the fortified machine-gun nest, and only then fire a volley. Here is a far from complete list of German losses from Soviet backpack flamethrowers: 34,000 people, 120 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers, more than 3,000 bunkers, bunkers and other firing points, 145 vehicles.

Costume burners

The German Wehrmacht in 1939-1940 used a portable flamethrower mod. 1935, reminiscent of flamethrowers from the First World War. To protect the flamethrowers themselves from burns, special leather suits were developed: a jacket, trousers and gloves. Lightweight "Small Improved Flamethrower" mod. 1940, only one soldier could serve on the battlefield.

Flamethrowers were used extremely effectively by the Germans in the capture of the Belgian border forts. The paratroopers landed directly on the battle cover of the casemates and with flamethrower shots into the embrasures silenced the firing points. At the same time, a novelty was used: an L-shaped tip on the fire hose, which allowed the flamethrower, when fired, to stand on the side of the embrasure or act from above.

The fighting in the winter of 1941 showed that at low temperatures German flamethrowers were unusable due to the unreliable ignition of a flammable liquid. The Wehrmacht was armed with a flamethrower mod. 1941, which took into account the experience of the combat use of German and Soviet flamethrowers. In accordance with the Soviet model, igniter cartridges were used in the ignition system of the flammable liquid. In 1944, a disposable flamethrower FmW 46 was created for parachute parts, resembling a giant syringe weighing 3.6 kg, 600 mm long and 70 mm in diameter. He provided flamethrowing at 30 m.

At the end of the war, 232 knapsack flamethrowers were transferred to the Reich fire brigade. With their help, the corpses of civilians who died in bomb shelters during air raids on German cities were burned.

In the post-war period, the LPO-50 light infantry flamethrower was adopted in the USSR, providing three fire shots. Now it is produced in China under the name Type 74 and is in service with many countries of the world, former members of the Warsaw Pact and some countries of Southeast Asia.

Jet flamethrowers replaced jet flamethrowers, where the fire mixture, enclosed in a sealed capsule, is delivered by a jet projectile to hundreds and thousands of meters. But that is another story.

sources

Today we will take a closer look at some of the types of flamethrowers in service with various armies of the world. Despite their "non-range", flamethrowers are quite powerful and terrible in their damaging factor weapons.

Flamethrower LC TI M1

A flamethrower used by the Brazilian army. This is a more modern form that replaced the American flamethrowers used during World War II. The flamethrower consists of two cylinders designed for the fire mixture and compressed air separately, they are connected together, also includes a supply hose and a launcher. After the flamethrower is launched, the gas under high pressure goes through the reducer and the solenoid valve into two cylinders at once.

The flamethrower launcher consists of eight 1.5 V batteries, a voltage converter with a switch, a check valve, and an incendiary spark device. After the trigger is pressed, a current is supplied to the electromagnetic valve, after which high pressure air enters the cylinders with the fire mixture. The fire mixture goes along the hose to the launcher, after which it is thrown at the target using the valve and the "barrel".

To achieve the desired ignition of the fire mixture, the voltage converter is 20,000 V.

For this flamethrower, an unheated mixture is most often used, which includes diesel fuel and vegetable oil. It also implies the use of thickened fire mixtures. The disadvantage of a flamethrower is the need for a diesel compressor to charge the high pressure cylinder.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are determined by the following parameters: the length of the launching device is 635 mm, the volume of the cylinders is 2x9 liters, the compressed air pressure reaches 200 atmospheres, the flamethrower weighs 34 kg when loaded, 21 kg when unloaded, the distance at which the thickened fire mixture is launched, is 70 m.

Flamethrower LPO-50

Flamethrower, which is designed to eliminate enemy firing points that are in cover. Also, a flamethrower is used to destroy armored and automobile structures, the enemy himself and create a fire. Development began in the USSR, the main goal of which was to replace high-explosive flamethrowers. Currently, this flamethrower is not used in the Russian army, but is used in other armies of the countries of the world.

Flamethrower production belongs to China. The structure includes the following elements: three cylinders that are filled with a fire mixture, while they are connected, also includes a supply hose and a launch device that looks like a rifle with a bipod. The cylinders have a neck used when pouring the fire mixture, an igniter designed to create pressure, as well as a check valve connected to the hose through which the fire mixture flows.

All hoses of the cylinders are connected into a single tee, from where the fire mixture goes to the starting device. The starting device has an electrical unit. It is in front of the handle. The electrical box consists of four batteries and contacts. There is a fuse on the left side, and in the muzzle there are 3 squibs designed to ignite the fire mixture. When the fire mixture is started, the safety catch is pressed to the "fire" position, after which the trigger is pressed. The direction of the current goes from the batteries, then to the squib, which releases the fire mixture from the pressure of the powder gases.

The check valve is opened by the action of the trigger, after which the squib in the muzzle is initiated. If the fire mixture began to burn from the squib charge, then it would be ejected from the barrel of the weapon directly to the target. In time, the duration of each start varies within 2-3 s. If you press the trigger again, the next squib will start to operate. The launcher has a butt and also a mechanical sight, consisting of a front sight and rear sight. A modification of this flamethrower is the Type 74, in its design it does not differ from the LPO-50 produced in China.

The main characteristics of this flamethrower are the following parameters: the caliber is 14.5 mm, the length of the launch device reaches 850 mm, the volume of the cylinders is 3x3.3 liters, the mass of the flamethrower, which contains the fire mixture, is 23 kg, and the mass of the flamethrower without the fire mixture is 15 kg. The longest distance for launching the non-thickened mixture is 20 m, and the thickened mixture - 70 m.

The disadvantages of the flamethrower are the facts that a very small amount of the mixture can be supplied, and the start-up occurs only after the squib has started to burn, which is also unprofitable. Thus, the fire mixture can be started up only 3 times.

Backpack flamethrower

Flamethrower, fortified behind the back. Throws out the burning mixture up to 40 m using compressed air. The charge is designed for 6-8 shots. The main structural element of the knapsack flamethrower is a steel container filled with a fire mixture: a flammable liquid or compressed gas. The volume of such a container is 15-20 liters. The fire mixture is thrown through a flexible rubber hose into a metal hose, at the outlet of the hose it is ignited with an igniter. The mixture is released from the container after opening a special valve-tap. It is used for offensive purposes. The knapsack flamethrower is most effective in a combat situation with a narrow corridor. The main disadvantage of using a knapsack flamethrower is its short range. To protect flamethrowers from burns, special fireproof suits are used.

Jet flamethrower

A flamethrower, the principle of which is based on the use of a rocket propelling a fire mixture enclosed in a sealed capsule. The range of such a flamethrower is hundreds and thousands of meters. The disadvantage of the "classic" flamethrower is the small firing range, which is 50-200 m. And even in the event of high pressure, this problem remains unresolved, since the fire mixture burns in flight and only a small part of it reaches the target. Accordingly, the greater the distance, the less the fire mixture will fly.

The problem can be solved by increasing the amount of fire mixture and increasing the pressure, but for such an operation, sooner or later, the limit also comes. With the advent of the jet flamethrower, this problem was resolved, since it involves the use of not a burning liquid, but a projectile that contains a fire mixture. And the fire mixture begins to burn only when the projectile reaches the target.

An example of a jet flamethrower is the Soviet RPOA, also called Bumblebee. Modern jet flamethrowers provide for the use of thermobaric compositions that replace the fire mixture. If such a mixture reaches the target, then it is sprayed, and after a certain time - an explosion. In the area of the explosion, both temperature and pressure rise.

Flamethrower "Lynx"

Rocket infantry flamethrower, the main purpose of which is to eliminate enemy firing points that are in cover. Also, a flamethrower is used to destroy armored and automobile structures, the enemy himself and create a fire. The developments were carried out during 1972-1974. at the Tula Instrument Design Bureau (KBP). It began to be used in the Soviet army since 1975.

The flamethrower includes the following elements: a launcher, which includes some parts from the RPG-16 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, there are also two types of missiles, the warhead of which is filled with a fire mixture. Its composition is either smoke-forming ("Lynx-D") or incendiary ("Lynx-Z"). To fire a flamethrower, you need to attach an additional plastic container to the launcher. Inside it is a capsule containing a fire mixture and a jet engine that runs on solid fuel.

If you connect the launcher and the container, then this connection will be fixed by three clamps, which are located on the outside of the container. When an electrical impulse is received, which is generated from an electrical mechanism, the capsule is released, the flame goes through the tube that conducts the fire, the reactive engine ignites, and its charge burns out. After this, the body is separated from the capsule itself.

The capsule has a tail unit, which allows it to fly along a residually flat trajectory, since the tail unit contributes to the rotation of the axis of this capsule. The sight itself is a frame, it includes a front sight and a movable rear sight, which leans back on the sight frame. To achieve greater stability of the flamethrower, a bipod is provided, it is located in front of the launcher. In the late 1980s. the "Lynx" flamethrower was replaced by the RPOA "Bumblebee", which was distinguished by a more perfect device.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are the following parameters: the length in the firing position reaches 1440 mm, the mass in the firing position is 7.5 kg, and the mass of the launcher is 3.5 kg, the content of the fire mixture reaches 4 liters, the aiming range is 190 m, and the maximum firing distance - 400 m, transfer to a combat position in time takes 60 s.

Flamethrower T-148

Weapons designed in Italy. The main purpose was to provide the support that was needed on the battlefield. The advantages of the flamethrower are reliability in use and simplicity of design, it is on these qualities of the flamethrower that the Italian developers focused on. For this reason, the scheme of operation of the flamethrower was quite simple.

The cylinders intended for the fire mixture are filled with napalm by volume by 2/3 of the volume. After this action, air is pumped into the check valve, the pressure of which is 28-30 kg / cm2. A special indicator located on the valve shows whether the working pressure has been reached or not. After start-up, the pressure contributes to the fact that the fire mixture goes to the check valve through the hose, after which it is ignited by electricity and thrown to the target.

An electronic device that allows you to ignite the fire mixture is powered by nickel-cadmium batteries. The device remains tight and works even if water gets into the flamethrower. But apart from the advantages, there are also disadvantages. One of them is the low pressure in the system itself, which drops during start-up. But positive features can also be found in this property. Firstly, this makes the flamethrower easier, and secondly, its maintenance is greatly simplified, since it can also be charged with air from military compressor equipment. Diesel fuel can be used as a substitute for the fire mixture.

The main characteristics of the flamethrower are the following parameters: the launch device is 380 mm long, the volume of the cylinders reaches 15 liters, the mass of an unloaded flamethrower is 13.8 kg, and the mass of the equipped flamethrower is 25.5 kg. The launch duration is 2-3 s, the launch range at the maximum distance reaches 60 m.

Flamethrower TPO-50

A heavy infantry flamethrower that ejects a fire mixture. The ejection of the fire mixture is facilitated by the pressure of the powder gases, they are formed when the combustion of the powder charge occurs. This process takes place as follows. The gas presses on the liquid, which, in turn, enters through the piston-obturator, designed to delimit the liquid and gas in the flamethrower barrel. After that, the fire mixture, flying out of the nozzle, is ignited by a special mechanism.

The flamethrower consists of three barrels and a gun carriage, which replace each other. The replaceable barrel consists of a body and a head, which are connected by a union nut, a powder chamber, a nozzle, a piston-obturator, as well as a mechanical fuse and an electrical contact. The body contains a fire mixture, there is pressure inside it. Also, the body has pads for the sight frame and a triple clamp stop. The bottom of the case is presented in the form of a sphere, it implies the presence of an ear for attaching the barrel to the gun carriage. The barrel is carried by a special handle attached to the ear holes. One of the main parts of the barrel is the head. It is designed so that the working units of the flamethrower are mounted in it.

Head shape - sphere, made of sheet steel. The head has a ring that connects it to the body. The head includes a siphon bushing, a powder chamber cup and a safety valve bushing. The siphon bushing gradually passes into the siphon pipe, which is designed to eject the fire mixture from the barrel. The siphon pipe implies the presence of a bell, due to which a smoother output of the fire mixture is achieved. The lower part of the pipe and the bushing of the piston-obturator have a special hole for the residual gases to escape.

The purpose of the piston-obturator is to evenly distribute the pressure of the powder gases to the fire mixture and its exit from the barrel when fired. The powder chamber contains an ignition device, a powder charge, a grate, a gas nozzle, as well as other parts that ensure the formation of a shot. The powder chamber is located on the head glass. Holes are made in its cover for the capsule contact flare tube, as well as for a mechanical fuse. The torch tube is used to provide an outlet for the incendiary star, which ignites the flamethrower jet.

If the flamethrower is actuated by mechanical action, then the ROKS-3 ignition cartridge is used. A mechanical fuse must be placed in the bushing of the powder chamber cover, after which it is secured with a union nut. Before a shot is fired, a mechanical fuse must be put on a combat platoon. If the flamethrower is activated by operations associated with electrical signals, then from the current source, that is, from the battery, there is a conductor connected to an electrical contact. In this case, the PP-9 squib is used. The entire sequence of the formation of a shot consists of several stages.

First, the ROKS-3 cartridge is ignited with the help of a mechanical fuse, after which the flame passes from the incendiary star to the powder charge. Then, the flow of gases in the powder chamber into the gas region of the barrel through the nozzle is observed. Due to the action of gases, the pressure reaches 60 kgf / cm2, and the piston-obturator releases the fire mixture through the siphon pipe. The nozzle membrane is cut off, and the fire mixture is thrown onto the target. The fire mixture in the barrel develops a speed of 3 to 36 m / s, this is due to the fact that there is a large difference in the dimensions of the barrel and the siphon pipe, which are 200 mm and 5 mm, respectively.

When the fire mixture flies out directly from the nozzle, then its speed reaches 106 m / s, which is explained by the conical narrowing of the siphon pipe. After the fire mixture flew out of the barrel, it is ignited with the help of an incendiary star. Forms and directs a jet to the target with a nozzle, which is 32 mm in diameter. The nozzle includes a body and a shut-off device. The locking device is designed so that a working pressure of 60 kgf / cm2 is reached in the working body.

The nozzle body consists of two parts - conical and cylindrical. The cone angle is 10 and the length of the cylindrical part is 96 mm. The head has a safety valve, its diameter is 25 mm. The valve is designed to prevent a pressure increase of more than 120 kgf / cm3. The scope device includes such elements as an aiming frame, clamps and front sight. On the clamps, numbers are written that determine the throwing range with a direct shot, where the height is 1.5 m.That is, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 denote the range equal to 100, 120 and 140 m.

The flamethrower is transported using a gun carriage. It is designed so that it can be both on wheels and on skis. The carriage is also used if there is a need to change the barrel and change its elevation angles. The carriage includes a frame with openers, handles for moving, a bracket with clamps, which are designed to install interchangeable barrels.

I was born in 1926 in a Volga village (now it does not exist). The family had seven children, and I was the third. In 1940, the family moved to the city of Yoshkar-Ola (Mari Republic), where his father worked as a carpenter at an ammunition plant.

I stayed to finish the village seven-year plan. He met the war as a sixteen-year-old boy. I was just in the city - I remember there was some kind of holiday, and now the radio announces that the war has begun. I returned home to the village, and our men are already being taken away. Then the turn came up to our year, they drafted me into the army in the fall of 1943.

The training ground was near Moscow, and there was a distribution according to the types of troops. I don't know by what criteria we were chosen, but I ended up in the flamethrower. There they showed everything, and they gave a shot from the flamethrower, it is true - with water! Apparently, they were afraid that someone would set fire to it. I must say that a flamethrower is a terrible weapon, effective. There is no need for any infantry: three flamethrowers can keep the entire line of defense. It is impossible to hide from such a fire (1500 0 C) - everything is on fire. If a drop of fire falls on a person, then it is useless to extinguish, only to tear off the clothes, and even then you will not have time - everything happens instantly. The disadvantage was that the range was short. For the attack, it was necessary to crawl 20 meters. After the war, they made such flamethrowers that shoot more than 200 meters.

At the end of my studies they gave me the rank of corporal and sent me to the front. There he soon got a junior sergeant, and then a sergeant. He commanded a flamethrower unit on the 1st, 2nd Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts. I had to fight as part of assault groups. The task was to destroy the equipment and manpower of the enemy, to clear the way for the infantry. All the artillery and engineering groups walked behind. The attack always began with an artillery barrage - they had to bombard through us, but sometimes they hit us too. Well, communication back then was not the same as now, when you can get through to any corner.

I had ten people under my command. And they went on assignments like this: they chose the worst weather. Slush, rain, snow, fog, night - this is our job. We were dirty like pigs. Any obstacle can be overcome as much as possible - all creep up and as close as possible. It's very difficult with a man. I was experienced in this regard. I always knew my subordinates. And now I remember everyone by name - Vanya, Kolya, Fedya. We went on assignments in three, it was no longer possible. They killed us like I don’t know who ... Here I take three and instruct: “If only a rocket and you raised your hand like that, don't take it away, keep it there. Raised your head, don't nod. " After all, if you did something wrong - that's it, you will be killed.

Well, what do you remember. Here is my first operation. It was just our offensive in Belarus. The Germans began to retreat, but we deliberately did not cross their path. He told his own: "To lie down and not move." And we settled down in the bush. First, they let the reconnaissance pass by us. We went further, closer - we do not touch them. Then the equipment went, they began to take out the ammunition. And this is more important to us. When the cars started moving, I aimed at the center, drove a segment - the cars caught fire. And as I managed to bounce off - everything exploded there, and the craters remained - not to pass, not to pass.

Then here's another assignment of mine. It was near the city of Proekul, in Latvia. I already had great experience, but by that time I had lost 10 people (one remained). I asked for replenishment, they gave the youth. And young people - after all, it is not worse. When a soldier is fired upon, he at least understands. During the offensive, they made an ambush near the road. I looked, there was a passenger car like our "Moskvich". My comrade (Tolya's name) and I jump out from both sides, pointed the trunks, and stopped the car. I opened the door and saw that there were officers. He grabbed the first by the breasts and pulled out. They did not resist, because they simply did not expect us, so we did everything in a smart way. After all, their reconnaissance passed, the infantry passed, they were informed by radio that everything was calm. We waited for this moment.

So, I myself led someone like a general. When I grabbed him, by a sinful deed, the order, tore off the cross from him, I thought I would live, at least I would show people. He brought him out of the way, but he does not go further and says something in his own way. I don’t understand their language, but I have to walk 200 meters and I don’t have time to figure it out. How he slapped him! Nerves can't stand it. It's simple there. I hit him, he fell, I kicked him: “Come on! Get up! " I take him to the commander's headquarters. There the translator sat and translated him: here de, the sergeant of the flamethrower unit beat the general. And the commander still comes up to me, hugs me - "well done!" - He says.

In general, I was respected. The first from the battalion received the Order of Glory, then he was the first to receive the second award, the third. They killed us often. No one surrendered to me. Everyone was afraid of this, but it was not. My task was according to the instructions, according to the secret: if only I was surrounded, I had to kill myself (I had a pistol) - yes, this was my duty, like every flamethrower. The infantrymen did not have this. And I also had to open the flamethrower, release the fuel, scatter the cartridges, in general, destroy the weapon. And no one even thought of captivity, in any case. Everyone knew their instructions, they signed up upon entering the flamethrower troops. And the inner attitude was: I'd rather die, but not give up.

In the forty-third the Germans still rested great. I don't even know what helped us then. There were few weapons then, they appeared more in the forty-fourth. Here, our "Katyushas" - but at first they were not there either. When I came, there weren't enough machines. Once it even happened like this: I saw that the killed soldier was lying, he was swollen, and the belt had run over the canvas body. How to be? And the weapon must be removed. So, I pressed it with my boot, turned everything around, took off the disk and hung it on myself. So he armed himself. Where to go?

Outfit? Well, that's really there - the only thing, they gave me the shoes. So I frayed them all. The overcoat, as in the beginning, was given out, so he walked in it until the end of the war. In Eastern Europe, the weather was always almost the same: slush, endless mud. The cold was not stronger than minus ten. Still, you can freeze. You wrap yourself in what you only have on. There was a case, they said. Zhukov arrived, conducts an inspection, and the soldiers are all barefoot: some have a footcloth on their feet, some have tied their soles. He ordered the commander to shoot, the soldiers were shod. Pests were everywhere. I knew one clerk of the headquarters, the foreman at the commander. He also boasted that he always had a lot of money. The division is replenished - 25 thousand people, and when the fighting has passed, there are not many people left. But money came for everyone. The order was as follows: the soldier must receive it or they were sent to their relatives. So the staff officers did not do this, but filled their pockets with full.

We ate, I don't even know what. Here, once I ate porridge when I came from the first assignment. Before assignments, it sometimes happened: the elder calls and says: "Whom are you taking with you?" Then they take us into the room, and there is sausage, alcohol on the table - as much as you want. I take half a glass of alcohol, dilute it with water, drink it, eat it with sausage. And all that is there, you will not eat much. They say, take with you as much as you want, otherwise you can get stuck during a task somewhere, who will be there to feed. And how much can you take? Half a ring of sausage will fit into my pocket - I won't take any more. You come another time - there is no kitchen. What to eat? They were starving more and more. Well, it was a difficult time, there was a lot missing. If only to end the war - the main thing was ...

Newspapers? Radio? Oh, this is only in what films, maybe, they show. There was nothing like that. In general, I have not seen a single film where it was shown how everything really was. What are they hiding - I don't know ...

And when we went to Europe, nothing changed much. First, we were thrown to another front - we covered 95 kilometers in a day. Once we stopped for a halt. And everyone carried the equipment on themselves - a flamethrower behind their backs, they additionally took the machine gun. Then they walked across Poland. In relations with the Poles, we had such an order. We knew they were harmful (we were warned). They were unfriendly, looked at us as an enemy. If any of them did something, I had the right to kill him immediately, immediately. And this was practiced. And so, when it began, the Poles became clever, they began to respect us. In Latvia, Lithuania, too, they did it as against the Poles. We were also instructed not to talk, and that was all.

There we also had the right to go to the store and buy something. Well, you will come in: they did not treat us very carefully, not well. And then, one of ours disappeared there. They killed him, even the body was not found. Then the three of us began to walk with submachine guns. One remains at the door, two enter the store. One is shopping, the other is on the alert. Immediately, the attitude changed: they ran at a run to serve us, and the attacks stopped.

There was no such attitude in Ukraine, only in Western Ukraine. And the Belarusians - they received us very well. We shared everything with local partisans ...

What can be said about the reasons for our failures and victories? Our people are steadfast. It was scary there: all the time under fire. Endurance needs a canine and fighting spirit. Our soldier is more stubborn, more persistent. He will lie there until he is crushed. Another weapon. We had a good one, but if there had been as much of it from the very beginning of the war as in 1944, they would not have gone anywhere. But if the commander is afraid, panic is obtained. If he does not show an example, the soldier will not go anywhere. Basically, of course, everything depends on the commander. However, not from everyone. Here, I saw the battalion commander once, but I don’t know what to call. I found out the company commander only when the war was over, and even then, I will not tell - the soldiers almost killed him. He disappeared, and no one else saw him. They were hiding, you know. Everything lay on the squad leader and platoon commander ...

One case became an example of personal heroism for me. Once I saw Marshal Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan inspecting the positions. He walked at such a walking pace, waving his cane. And suddenly their guns fired a volley, the shells exploded very close. So all the commanders around fell into the grooves. And he goes on quietly for himself. So in fact they all felt ashamed. Here's how. I later wrote him a letter expressing personal respect ...

Why did they retreat in the first year of the war? There was a betrayal. Even forty-three. I was just near Moscow, recovering after being wounded. A military factory was nearby - it was blown up. Yes, they made a mistake so that one shift worked, the second took over, and the third was also at the plant, since it was necessary to increase production. All three shifts blew up - it was the spies who worked!

How was life after the war? In 1945 I ended up in a hospital in Pskov. There was such a broken building, half of it was just ruins. After he was sent to Moscow to the collection point for the cured. Here they learned a little, gave the rank of lieutenant and took them to Krasnoyarsk, there new units were formed. He served here in the city of Nazarov until 1955. It was like an ordinary combat company, only there were almost only front-line soldiers serving. And we all wondered why they were holding us for so long. Then I found out, they told me in secret that they were preparing for an attack on Alaska and that they needed experienced, fired people. Already invented weapons for preliminary shelling, such that directly from our Chukotka across Alaska. And there were many small parts like ours scattered around. So, if they were pulled together, then the force would come out great!

I served in this special company for a year, only then they let me go home for a visit. Where to go? At home, the whole village collapsed, fellow men did not return. What to do? I went to the city where my brother lived. There I met a nurse in a kindergarten. The next day, I made an offer, and a day later we signed with her (as a front-line soldier, I was signed without a 15-day deadline in the registry office on the day the documents were submitted). The next day I went back to settle down. The unit was given an apartment. Then my wife came and brought my mother-in-law with her.

Only in 1955 was I allowed to demobilize. We moved to Novosibirsk: my wife's brother lived here and has been calling for him for a long time. I got a job at the Turbine Generator Plant. He worked under the leadership of A.A. Nezhevenko. There was such a case once: they made equipment for China and India. And so one generator had to be put on the four-meter pins. To fix them, holes had to be drilled from above. But as? You cannot lift the machine up there. So, when there were days before the project was completed, the director came to me: no one knew what to do. This is where a small Austrian machine came in handy, which I once picked up and repaired at a junkyard. After that, the director is nowhere without me. And when he went to work at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, he invited me to his place. He needed me here. It was in 1961. I got a job as a borer-coordinator. Made parts for missiles. And six months later, Nezhevenko died. Of the workers, only I was invited to the funeral.

The director of the institute was Academician Budker, with him, too, good relations developed. He was easy to talk to, often at work. There was a case, I remember this: he personally brought me an assignment, drawings in an envelope, even the head of the shop did not know about them. The same device was ordered from the Leningrad plant. So then it turned out that I did better than them. A month later, when I even forgot about this task, they bring me a sealed envelope. I opened it during a break, and there - 500 rubles. I got scared, went secretly to ask the director what it was, maybe some kind of provocation. And he told me that the prize was for an important assignment. And it also happened. Budker comes up and asks: “Kolya, when did you have a rest? "You will go tomorrow." Then only I am writing a request for a vacation, I know that they will let me go.

I myself am not a party member. I didn’t want to join the party, because I saw how they violate everything, steal. This is not for me. And all the time they called me to the party, dragged me ...

Now I am the head of the Council of Veterans at the plant. He always organized celebrations on the occasion of Victory Day. Today, there is almost no one to invite. Always negotiated with our dining room. Four managers have changed, but I still work here ...

Recorded by Daria Sheremeteva

The first new type of weapon to appear in the industrial XX century was the jet flamethrower. Moreover, the manufacturers initially planned it not as an army, but as a police weapon to disperse the demonstrators. A strange way to pacify your own citizens by burning them to the ground.

In the early morning of July 30, 1915, the British troops were stunned by an unprecedented sight: from the direction of the German trenches, huge tongues of flame suddenly burst out and, with a hiss and whistle, whipped towards the British. “Quite unexpectedly, the first lines of troops at the front were engulfed in flames,” the eyewitness recalled with horror. “It was not visible where the fire came from. The soldier seemed to be surrounded by a furiously swirling flame, which was accompanied by a loud roar and thick clouds of black smoke; here and there, drops of boiling oil fell into the trenches or trenches. Screams and howls shook the air. Throwing down their weapons, the British infantry fled in panic to the rear, leaving their positions without a single shot. So flamethrowers entered the battlefields.

Fire behind your shoulders

The German monopoly on flamethrowers did not last long - by the beginning of 1916, all the howling armies, including Russia, were armed with various systems of these weapons.

Flamethrower tank OT-133 based on the light tank T-26 (1939)

How are they arranged

The knapsack flamethrower is a steel tank with a capacity of 15–20 liters, filled with a flammable liquid and compressed gas. When the tap is opened, the liquid is thrown out through a flexible rubber hose and a metal hose and ignited by an igniter.

The heavy flamethrower consists of an iron tank with a capacity of about 200 liters with an outlet pipe, a crane and hand brackets. The hose with a control handle and an igniter is movably mounted on a gun carriage. The range of the jet is 40-60 m, the sector of destruction is 130-1800. A shot from a flamethrower affects an area of 300–500 m2. With one shot, it can be incapacitated up to an infantry platoon.

Hit of the Second World War - backpack flamethrower ROKS-3

Cocktail
All the terrifying power of flamethrower-incendiary weapons lies in incendiary substances. Their combustion temperature is 800–10000C and more (up to 35000C) with a very stable flame. Fire mixtures do not contain oxidizing agents and are burned due to atmospheric oxygen. Incendiary substances are mixtures of various flammable liquids: oil, gasoline and kerosene, light coal oil with benzene, phosphorus solution in carbon disulfide, etc. Fire mixtures based on petroleum products can be both liquid and viscous. The former consist of a mixture of gasoline with heavy motor fuel and lubricating oil. In this case, a wide swirling jet of intense flame is formed, flying 20-25 meters. The burning mixture is capable of flowing into the slots and holes of target objects, but a significant part of it burns out in flight. The main disadvantage of liquid mixtures is that they do not stick to objects.

Napalm is highly flammable and adheres even to damp surfaces. It is impossible to extinguish it with water, so it floats on the surface, continuing to burn. The burning temperature of napalm is 800-11000C. A higher combustion temperature - 1400-16000C - is possessed by metallized incendiary mixtures (pyrogels). They are made by adding powders of some metals (magnesium, sodium), heavy petroleum products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of combustible polymers - isobutyl methacrylate, polybutadiene to ordinary napalm.

American flamethrower М1А1 during World War II

Lighter people
The army profession of a flamethrower was extremely dangerous - as a rule, it was necessary to get close to the enemy several tens of meters with a huge piece of iron behind. According to an unwritten rule, soldiers of all armies of World War II did not take flamethrowers and snipers prisoner, they were shot on the spot.

Soviet flamethrowers managed to use high-explosive flamethrowers in the offensive. For example, in one sector of the Western Front, before a night attack, 42 (!) High-explosive flamethrowers were buried at a distance of only 30–40 m from the German wooden-earth defensive embankment with machine-gun and artillery embrasures. At dawn, the flamethrowers were blown up by one salvo, completely destroying a kilometer of the enemy's first line of defense. In this episode, the fantastic courage of the flamethrowers is admired - to bury a 32-kg cylinder 30 m from the machine-gun embrasure!

No less heroic were the actions of flamethrowers with ROKS backpack flamethrowers. A soldier with an additional 23 kg behind his back was required under deadly enemy fire to reach the trenches, get close to a distance of 20-30 m to the fortified machine-gun nest, and only then fire a volley. Here is a far from complete list of German losses from Soviet backpack flamethrowers: 34,000 people, 120 tanks, self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers, more than 3,000 bunkers, bunkers and other firing points, 145 vehicles.

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