The M2-2/M9A1-7 Flamethrower: America's Inferno in World War II

Hello and welcome to World War 2 Stories. I'm your host Steve Matthews, and today we're diving into one of the most terrifying weapons of the Second World War – a weapon that brought hellfire to the battlefield and forever changed the nature of combat in the Pacific Theater. I'm talking about the M2-2 and M9A1-7 flamethrowers, weapons that literally projected liquid fire onto America's enemies.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to World War Two Stories.
I'm your host, Steve Matthews, and today we're diving into one
of the most terrifying weapons of the Second World War, a
weapon that brought Hellfire to the battlefield and forever
changed the nature of combat in the Pacific theater.
I'm talking about the M2-2 and M9O1-7 flamethrowers, weapons

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that literally projected liquid fire onto America's enemies.
Many weapons of war killed from a distance.
Rifles, artillery, bombs droppedfrom planes thousands of feet
overhead. But the flamethrower was
different. It was intimate, personal.
When you wielded A flamethrower,you could see your enemy's face

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as the flames engulfed them. You could hear their screams.
This wasn't a weapon for the faint of heart, and the men who
carried these weapons into battle knew they were marked
men. The birth of the flame, the
modern flamethrower, wasn't an American invention.
That dubious honor belongs to German engineer Richard Fiedler,

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who created the first practical design in 19 O1.
His flamen were for terrified Allied troops during the First
World War, introducing a new kind of horror to the already
nightmarish trenches of the Western Front.
But by the time America entered World War 2, the US Army
Chemical Warfare Service had developed something far more

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advanced than anything the Germans had.
In 1943, they unveiled the M2-2 flamethrower.
This wasn't just a weapon, it was an engineering marvel
designed specifically for the unique challenges of the Pacific
War. The M2-2 was a backpack system
weighing 68 lbs when fully loaded, roughly the weight of an

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8 year old child strapped to your back in the sweltering
jungle heat. It consisted of two main
components, fuel tanks and a propellant tank.
The 2 fuel tanks each held 2 gallons of a special napum
thickened gasoline mixture. This wasn't ordinary gasoline.
The napalm turned it into a sticky, jellied substance that

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would cling to whatever it touched, continuing to burn long
after initial contact. Pressurized nitrogen in the
third tank provided the force toproject this liquid held through
the gun and nozzle assembly. When fully charged, an operator
could unleash 7 to 9 seconds of continuous flame.
Not long in normal circumstances, but an eternity

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in combat in the range up to 40 meters.
That's 130 feet of projection, nearly half the length of a
football field. The ignition system used a
Magneto trigger like what you might find in some lawn mowers,
replacing the unreliable batterypowered mechanisms of earlier

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models. This meant the weapon would work
reliably in the humid, wet conditions of Pacific Islands,
conditions that would render many other weapons useless.
By 1944, an improved version appeared, the M9A1-7.
This model featured better safety valves and improved

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ergonomics, making it marginallyless burdensome for the
operator. But let's be clear, there was
nothing comfortable about carrying a tank of pressurized
Jelly gasoline on your back intocombat.
America's Flamethrower versus the World The American focus on
flamethrower development wasn't shared equally by all

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combatants. The Germans had their own
flaming wore for 35, which was lighter but had significantly
shorter range. The Americans prioritized
durability and fuel capacity, knowing they would be fighting
in the extreme conditions of thePacific islands.
This choice proved prescient. While flamethrowers saw limited

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use in the European theater, they became absolutely essential
in the Pacific. The Japanese had transformed
islands like Iwo Jima, Palilio, and Okinawa into fortress
complexes with interconnected caves, bunkers, and pill boxes.
These positions were nearly impervious to conventional
artillery and difficult to assault with small arms.

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But they had one critical vulnerability They needed air.
And where there's air, fire can burn the Pacific inferno.
The island hopping campaigns of 1944 and 1945 saw the
flamethrower come into its deadly own.
On Iwo Jima alone, flamethrowersaccounted for a staggering 30%

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of all Japanese casualties. Think about that.
Nearly one third of all enemy deaths on an island where some
of the fiercest fighting of the war took place came from this
single weapon system. At the height of the battle,
American forces were using 10,000 gallons of flamethrower
fuel every day. That's enough to fill a small

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swimming pool with liquid fire. The sticky napalm mixture didn't
just burn on the surface, it seeped into ventilation systems
of bunkers, ignited oxygen supplies, and often suffocated
defenders who weren't touched directly by the flames.
But statistics don't tell the whole story.
Let me walk you through what a flamethrower assault actually

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looked like in practice. Imagine you're a Marine on
Palilio. Your battalion has been trying
to take a ridgeline for three days.
Conventional attacks have failed.
Artillery barely scratches the surface of the Japanese
positions carved into the coral.Then comes the order.
Bring up the flamethrowers. The tactic was called blowtorch

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and Corkscrew, A brutal but effective approach developed
through hard won experience. First Rifleman and BAR Gunners
would lay down suppressive fire,pinning the Japanese defenders
inside their positions. Then, under this covering fire,
the flamethrower operators wouldadvance.
Picture this. A Marine or combat engineer,

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already exhausted from days of combat, carrying nearly 70 lbs
of equipment, hunched forward topresent the smallest possible
target he would need to close towithin 20 to 40 meters of the
enemy position. close enough to be hit by grenades, to see the
muzzle flashes of enemy rifles, to hear Japanese soldiers

(06:30):
shouting to each other. Every step brought him closer to
his target, but also increased his vulnerability.
Japanese soldiers had standing orders to target flamethrower
operators first. They knew all too well the
devastation these weapons could bring.
Then, when in position, the operator would open the valves

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and pull the trigger. A stream of Jelly gasoline would
arc through the air, ignited at the nozzle, turning into a
blazing projectile that could engulf an entire bunker opening
in seconds. The heat was so intense it could
melt flesh from bone at close range.
After the initial burst, other marines would move forward with

(07:10):
grenades or satchel charges to clear any debris and eliminate
survivors. Then on to the next position,
the next bunker, the next cave. This process would be repeated
dozens, sometimes hundreds of times across a single
battlefield. The operators had to master
techniques that could save theirlives.

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How to adjust their stance to counter the weapons recoil, how
to avoid having flames blown back on them by sudden wind
shifts, How to quickly drop the apparatus if it was damaged and
likely to explode. The marked men being selected as
a flamethrower operator was essentially a death sentence.
The statistics are sobering. Flamethrower operators in the

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Pacific theater experienced a 92% casualty rate.
Let that sink in. For every 100 men who carried
these weapons into battle, only 8 would make it out and scathed.
They were prime targets for obvious reasons.
The bulky silhouette of the tanks on their backs made them
easy to spot. The limited range meant they had

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to get dangerously close to enemy positions, and perhaps
most significantly, Japanese troops had standing orders to
execute captured flamethrower operators on the spot.
No prisoner status, no mercy. Contrary to popular belief in
Hollywood depictions, the fuel tanks themselves were largely
bullet resistant. Tests showed that standard .30

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caliber rounds would typically ricochet off the tanks rather
than penetrate them, but the back plate remained vulnerable
and a well placed shot could still turn the operator into a
human torch. One persistent myth is that the
tanks would explode when hit. In reality they would more
likely leak gradually, though this was small comfort to the

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men carrying them. A leaking tank of napalm on your
back was still a death sentence,just a slightly slower 1.
The psychological burden was perhaps even greater than the
physical risk. Flamethrower operators saw their
enemies die in the most horrificway imaginable, burning alive.
Many reported having nightmares for decades after the war.

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As Donald Graves, one of only 18survivors out of 335
flamethrower operators deployed on Iwo Jima, later recalled.
The smell of burning flesh was unforgettable.
Yet despite these risks and burdens, there was never a
shortage of volunteers. These men knew the flamethrower

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could save the lives of their fellow Marines.
Each bunker neutralized by flamemeant dozens of American lives
spared from a costly frontal assault.
The enemy's nightmare. The psychological impact on
Japanese defenders was equally profound.
The mere sight of flamethrowers approaching their positions

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often induced panic. During the Battle of Okinawa,
there were documented cases of Japanese soldiers surrendering
immediately rather than face incineration, A remarkable
occurrence given the Japanese military's emphasis on fighting
to the death rather than surrender.
This fear wasn't limited to the Pacific.

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In Europe, German troops similarly dreaded encountering
flamethrower equipped units. Though the weapons saw less
frequent use, they're due to thedifferent nature of the
fighting. Why was the fear so intense?
Beyond the obvious horror of being burned alive, there was
something primarily terrifying about fire as a weapon.
It's worth remembering that for most of human history, fire has

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been both essential for survivaland one of our greatest fears.
Our evolutionary programming tells us to run from fire, to
see it weaponized and directed deliberately at you, trigger
something deep in the human psyche.
To add to this the fact that flame attacks were often
delivered at close range, where you could see the operator,

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where there was no anonymity in the killing, as there is with
artillery or distant rifle fire.It was personal in a way.
Few other weapons were heroes ofthe Flame Medal of Honor
recipients. Despite, or perhaps because of,
the extreme danger they faced, flamethrower operators were
responsible for some of the mostheroic actions of the Pacific

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War. None exemplifies this better
than Corporal Herschel Woody Williams.
On February 23rd, 1945, during the Battle for Iwo Jima,
Williams unit encountered a series of reinforced concrete
pill boxes. Marines have been trying to
neutralize these positions for hours, suffering heavy

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casualties in the process. Williams volunteered to go
forward alone with his flamethrower.
What happened next defies belief.
Over the span of four hours, Williams neutralized 7 Japanese
pill boxes. His citation for the Medal of
Honor describes how he would crawl directly to the enemy

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positions, often within a few yards of the enemy, to deliver
fatal bursts of flame. At one point, when his weapon
malfunctioned, he calmly repaired in the open under fire
before continuing his one man assault.
Williams actions enabled his unit to advance and ultimately
secure their objective. His courage earned him the Medal

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of Honor, and he would go on to become one of the last surviving
recipients from the Pacific War.But Williams wasn't alone in his
bravery. Across the Pacific, flamethrower
operators routinely performed acts of staggering courage.
Consider the case of Donald Graves, whom I mentioned earlier

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as one of only 18 survivors out of 335 flamethrower operators on
Iwo Jima. His continued willingness to
carry his weapon into battle dayafter day, knowing the odds
against him, represents a different kind of heroism, the
quiet, persistent courage of menwho did their duty despite
knowing the likely cost. When interviewed decades later,

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many of these men expressed complex feelings about their
service, as Woody Williams himself reflected.
We didn't enjoy it, but it was the only way to save lives.
They didn't relish the sufferingthey inflicted, but they
understood the tactical necessity of the weapon they
wielded. The tactical impact.

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It's difficult to overstate the tactical importance of the
flamethrower in the Pacific theater.
Before its widespread adoption, American forces struggled to
overcome Japanese defensive positions without sustaining
massive casualties. The introduction of the
flamethrower fundamentally changed this equation.
Take the Battle of Palilio as anexample.

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The island Zimmerbergal Mountain, nicknamed Bloody Nose
Ridge by Marines, contain hundreds of interconnected caves
and bunkers. Conventional weapons couldn't
penetrate these positions. Artillery bounced off the rock
face or merely sealed entrances temporarily.
Small arms fire was ineffective against enemies sheltered behind

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thick coral and concrete, but flamethrowers could project
their deadly payload into the smallest opening.
Once inside a cave system, the flames would consume available
oxygen, turning the entire complex into an oven that would
either burn or suffocate the defenders.
A position that might have cost dozens of American lives to take

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by direct assault could be neutralized by a single
flamethrower team. This tactical advantage reshaped
how the island campaigns were fought.
By late 1944, Marine and Army units had reorganized to
integrate flamethrower teams at the platoon level.
Combined Arms Tactics evolved tosupport these specialized teams,

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with rifle squads, machine Gunners, and demolition experts
working in concert to get the flamethrower operators into
position to deliver their devastating attacks.
Technical Mastery The effectiveness of the
flamethrower wasn't just about its raw destructive power, it
required technical mastery to use properly.

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Operators underwent rigorous specialized training before
deploying to combat zones. They learned how to maintain the
complex apparatus, how to mix fuel for maximum effectiveness,
and how to troubleshoot common problems in the field.
They practiced firing techniquesto maximize range and coverage
while minimizing exposure. They studied the effects of

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wind, terrain, and temperature on their weapons performance.
Perhaps most importantly, they trained extensively on how to
work as part of a combined arms team.
A flamethrower operator acting alone was vulnerable and less
effective. But integrated into a well
drilled squad with Rifleman providing covering fire and

(16:13):
engineers ready to exploit the chaos created by the flames, he
became part of a devastatingly effective combat system.
The M2-2 flamethrower itself wasa marvel of wartime engineering.
Let's look at some of its technical specifications.
It weighed 68 lbs when fully loaded, about 31 kilograms.

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Its fuel capacity was 4 gallons,or about 15 liters.
It could project flames between 20 and 40 meters, depending on
conditions, with a burn time of 7 to 9 seconds of continuous
operation. The propellant was pressurized
nitrogen gas and ignition was provided by a Magneto trigger

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system. Each component was designed to
balance reliability, safety to the extent possible
ineffectiveness. The dual tank system allowed for
better weight distribution. The nitrogen propellant was
chosen for its stability and consistent pressure
characteristics. The Magneto ignition eliminated

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the problem of battery failure in humid conditions.
By the time the M9O1-7 variant was introduced in 1944, further
refinements had been made. Safety valves were improved to
reduce the risk of catastrophic failure.
Ergonomic changes made the backpack slightly more
comfortable to wear an easier toDon or doff quickly.

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These might seem like minor details, but in combat they
could mean the difference between life and death for the
operator. The Ethical dimension No
discussion of the flamethrower would be complete without
addressing the ethical questionsit raises.
Even in the context of Total War, where air power was laying
waste to entire cities and atomic weapons would soon make

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their debut, there was somethingparticularly troubling about the
flamethrower. It's worth noting that while the
weapon was never officially banned during World War Two,
there were already murmurs aboutits morality.
The weapon inflicted suffering in a way that many considered
excessive, even by the standardsof the time.

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To die by fire is arguably one of the most painful ways a human
being can perish. These concerns would eventually
lead to the flamethrowers decline.
By 1978, the United States had faced them out of their military
inventory, replacing them with other systems like rocket
propelled grenades that could achieve similar tactical effects

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with less horrific results. the United Nations would eventually
ban the use of flamethrowers against personnel, though not
against material targets, in 2008, citing the excessive
cruelty they inflicted. This formal recognition of what
many had long felt speaks to theuniquely disturbing nature of
flame as a weapon. Yet in the context of the

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Pacific War, with its No Quartercombat, in the enormous
casualties sustained in assaulting Japanese positions
through conventional means, the flamethrowers adoption was seen
as a necessary evil. It saved American lives even as
it inflicted terrible deaths on the enemy.
The man who wielded these weapons carried this moral

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burden along with the physical weight of their equipment.
Many would struggle with it for the rest of their lives.
As one operator put it years later, we did what we had to do,
but that doesn't mean we have tolike what we did.
The Legacy of Flame As the War in the Pacific drew to its fiery
conclusion in August 1945, the flamethrower had secured its

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place in military history. It had proven itself as one of
the most tactically significant infantry weapons of the war,
particularly in the unique conditions of the Pacific
theater. Its legacy lived on in the
M9O1-7 variant, which would continue to see service in Korea
and Vietnam before its eventual retirement.

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But perhaps its most enduring legacy was in how it changed
infantry tactics against fortified positions.
The concept of using specializedweapons to reduce strong points,
rather than overwhelming them with manpower, would influence
military thinking for decades tocome.
For the men who operated these weapons, the legacy was more

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personal. Many carried physical and
psychological scars for the restof their lives.
Yet they also carried the knowledge that their actions,
terrible as they sometimes were,had helped bring an end to a
brutal conflict and had saved countless American lives in the
process. The M2-2 and M9O1-7

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flamethrowers symbolized both the ingenuity and the horror of
Modern Warfare. They represented American
industrial might and technical expertise harnessed for
destruction. They were weapons born of
necessity, deployed in a war where victory was the only
acceptable outcome, regardless of the means required to achieve
it. Today, these weapons exist only

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in museums and history books. They're terrible.
Fire has been extinguished, but the stories of the men who
carried them, their courage, their sacrifice and their burden
continue to burn brightly in ourcollective memory of World War
Two. I'm Steve Matthews, and this has
been World War Two stories. Until next time, remember that

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behind every weapon of war is a human story of those who created
it, those who wielded it, and those who suffered its effects.
It's these stories that truly help us understand the nature
and cost of conflict. Thank you for listening to World
War Two Stories. If you enjoyed this episode,
please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and join us

(22:05):
next time as we continue to explore the remarkable stories
of history's greatest conflict.