The Soldier at the Western Front – The Use of Flamethrower

“But what is this? Has hell opened up under our feet? Are we right at the rim of a furious volcano? The trench is filled with flames, with sparks, with bitter smoke, the air is unbreathable. I hear hissing, crackling, and alas, yes, the cries of pain.” ((source 1: Louis Barthas: Poilu)

With these words the French corporal Louis Barthas described a German flamethrower attack at the western front in the summer of 1915. First used in battle in the Forest of Argonne in 1914, the flamethrowers were supposed to end the still stand in the trench warfare. They have been specifically implemented for the tactical support of the assault troops and for the local defense. Apart from the physical destruction the flames had a paramount psychological impact on the enemy. As soon as it was known that an attack with flamethrowers was planned the enemies troops often retreated, this created more advantageous conditions for the attacking infantry. Bernhard Reddemann, who played a decisive part in the development of the military flamethrower, emphasized that the major impact was “the moral shock of the enemy [which] was so immense that he never tried to resist physically”. Furthermore the flamethrower had a huge moral impact on the own infantry as well by supporting their “will to attack” and their “confidence in the victory”. Reddemann, a former fire chief of Posen and leader of a pioneer company of the territorial forces, started to research on devices to spray burning fluids in 1907 and designed since 1912/13 prototypes for two different seizes of flamethrowers. Because of his participation in the development of this cruel melee weapon and the connected military utilization of fire brigades he is one of the most controversial persons in the history of German fire brigades. Richard Fiedler (source 2), an engineer from Berlin, ranks as the re-discoverer of the first modern flamethrower he had started as early as 1900 with the research for his “fire-tube” and devices to fumigate trenches. Since 1914 Reddemann worked together with him on the further development. The technology was comparable simple and the flames could be generated with little effort. Nitrogen was pressed into a container with a highly inflammable oil mixture under high pressure. A valve controlled the emanation of the oil stream which was inflamed by an ignition. The thick black smoke that was produced enhanced the moral impact on the enemy. When the threat was imminent to be discovered to early by the enemies artillery another oil mixture was applied which produced only a thin, hardly visible smoke.

Use of a flamethrower against a tank. „Frontkämpferwerk“, p. 192 (source 3)

On the 18th January 1915 a special squad with 48 pioneers, by the large former fireman, was formed under the name of “Flamethrower Squad Reddemann” (Flammenwerfer-Abteilung Reddemann). Its first combat mission took place in Malancourt near Verdun on the 26th February (source 4). Despite initial reluctance the army command demanded after this first successful attempt the upbringing of a flamethrower company until April. In the following months further units followed and until April they have been combined in the guard reserve pioneer regiment and consisted of 3,000 men. Each company was equipped with 30 to 40 light flamethrowers and twelve to 15 large flamethrowers (source 5).

The attack of the trenches followed a comparable procedure when attacked with hand grenades. Before the assault group attacked the trench was set aflame in general by pairs of two flamethrowers (source 6). Although the use of flamethrowers brought an advantage for the attackers this didn’t lead to chance in the trench warfare and caused additional problems and dangers (source 7). Especially the large models were complicated to handle and needed additional man to protect the operating crew. This attracted the enemy’s attention and the flamethrower groups often came under fire first. An explosion of the oil tank caused terrible consequences not for the crew alone but as well for the man surrounding them. These difficulties caused France and Great Britain, who were researching on the field as well, soon decided to abandon the development.

After the end of the war the production and use of such weapons for military purposes was banned in paragraph 171 of the Treaty of Versailles. In Germany this ban only caused that the further development of the flamethrower was realized in foreign subsidiary companies in the following years until the Second World War.

Sophie Richter, Dresden 2015

Bibliography

Fred Koch: Flammenwerfer des deutschen Heeres bis 1945, Wölfersheim-Berstadt 1995.
Thomas Wictor: German flamethrower pioneers of World War I, Atglen 2007.