Wwii question

[Black Op 0]

could a flamethrower destroy or immobolize a tank?

and if they could how did it effect the tank to make it destroyed ?

and also how would a molotov cocktail damage a tank?

[rwryne 0]

imo i don't think either could of damaged a tank , unless the drivers were "turned out" or it was one of those armored ones with the back open like in Saving Private Ryan

[Oligo 1]

If you apply flamethrower to the air intakes of a tank or throw a Molotov onto the air intake grille, the tank will suck in flames. This can either ignite the tanks fuel supply or the crew or both.

Of course, more advanced tanks are protected against such assaults.

[Stealt Eagle 1]

The driver navigates through a small peep hole, through this the flames could go through

[LauryThorn 0]

I totally agree with Oligo.

Molotov cocktails were an official anti-tank weapon of Finnish army in 1939..

[Akira 0]

I'm not sure but correct me if I am wrong...

WW2 tanks had numerous slits for sighting if I am correct without the benefit of glass or other protective covering....but I could be wrong...

So the flame could enter any of those right?

Nor did they have modern AC or such....so wouldn't the tank get REALLY hot (considering metal is on fire thus heating it)....course I could be really simplifying it....

[Black Op 0]

i have read accounts of russian soldiers taking out panzers with molotov cocktails but im not sure how this could knock out a tank, as i cant see how the tank being covered in burning fuel could damage it in any way

[Stealt Eagle 1]

If u hit the wheels, so it can drive on

[Thehamster 0]

What about if you flamed them down the barrel when they were reloading that would barbecue them.

[madmike 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">If u hit the wheels, so it can drive on<span id='postcolor'>

That makes no sense, was it suppost to be cant drive on?

it would still be able to drive if the wheels were hit. I think that it was becuase a lot, if not all tanks had petrol enigines and petrol is very flammable. probably why they use deisel.

BTW what do americans call deiel? petrol= gasoline

[Satchel 0]

There are 2 things you can do with a molotov cocktail, one thing works still on all modern MBT´s.

1. You can "blind" an vehicles optics with burning liquid, this leaves it´s crew practically without situational awareness, enabling a soldier/unit to conduct further attacks or use the temporary point fighting incapability of the vehicle for position changes. It´s only usefull in difficult terrain that restricts the vehicles movement, such as urban terrain, woods and other natural and/or man-made obstacles.

Today we have a device called "Handflammpatrone" for such purposes in the german Army. The range is ca 90 metres and it´s basically a canister of burning phosphor that is fired like an grenadelauncher, only from the hip and with far more recoil-forget everything you might know about handheld weapons and recoil, this one beats them all.

The canister of phosphor will be ignited 1,3 - 2,5 sec (50m-90m) after it had been fired, or earlier- upon impact; if the target is farther than 8m and less than 50m away, with a  concentrated point attack effect. The burning phosphor of a single canister covers an area of 15m width and 50m lenght when ignited inflight, and engulfs multiple armored targets in flames, with highly intense heat and smoke, making the optics of an vehicle unusable. In a point attack on a single target  (8-50m) this effect of course intensifies greatly.

As a last resort it could also be deployed directly against infantry with devastating effect .

2. If an Molotov was placed right on the cowling, there was a chance of the engine catching fire, as burning liquid got directly into the engine housing under the armor protection. Also if the burning fluid somehow managed to get into the fighting compartment (in early tanks there were quite some openings located on a tank that were not sealed up) there was a chance of muntion or flammable material inside being ignited, detroying the tank/ forcing the crew outside. There were also some open turret tanks or tanks driving with hatches open so the commander had a better view, in those cases Molotovs could be directly thrown into the fighting compartment.

However, this generally worked out on very early tanks (pre 1940 timeperiod), in later tanks there were taken precautions against Molotovs, so they became more or less obsolete in the formerly assigned "Anti tank" role.

BTW, the german Army mass-manufactured Molotovs in WW2, unless many other countries where Molotovs were improvised by individual soldiers.

The blinding thing as i wrote still works today, but i personally would think twice about employing this method. Something must have terribly went wrong anyway, if enemy armored units get this close to my postion so they´re within spitting range.

[Wobble 1]

well.. if ya hit it hard enough with the flame thrower for a deacent amount of time.. you would fry the crew inside... WW2 tanks didnt have an AC or anything.. so just the sheer heat would be a real danger to the crew..

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Flamethrowers were alot more useful against tanks in WW2 than they are now. The damage they could cause includes:

-Igniting ammo supplies. In tank designs (like the Sherman) the ammo supply was not especially well protected, and had a nasty habit of catching fire and "cooking off". As you probably know, Flamethrowers excell at that kind of operation.

-Igniting fuel tanks. See above.

-Crew asphyxiation. Fire needs 2 things to burn: Fuel (wood gasoline paper etc.) and air. When you use a concentrated flammable like jellied fuel (napalm, which is similar, but not exactly alike to the stuff they used in flamethrowers) the flames take in so much oxygen that if you are caught in an enclosed space (cave, bunker, tank) you run the risk of choking to death, which is a worst case scenario, and having the air sucked out of your lungs for a few seconds while being exposed to high, if not deadly temeratures (thats your best case scenario). I think that might shock a tank crew into inaction, which would make it as good as a kill (at least for a while).

-Damage to sensitive equipment. As Satchel illustrated, equipment like optics and sensors are very vulnerable to prolonged exposure to concentrated heat. (Also, I hadnt heard of the weapon he spoke of... sounds unpleasant)

However, during WW2, it was easier for enemy infantry to close to the necessary distance needed to apply weapons like flamethrowers (not to say it was especially easy, just that it is much harder now, which is one of the many reasons the USA no longer uses flamethrowers). If you could get up nice and close to a tank, you would actually be a bit safer than if you were a few hundred meters away. Now, flamethrowers were never used as "official" anti tank weapons, because the only units in the US Army that organically maintained a flame team was an Engineer Battalion (not the Marines, flamethrowers were more integrated in the Corps). They were mostly used in assaults on bunkers and other fortified positions, because of the aforementioned heat and air effects, not to mention that there isnt anything quite like having half of your squad set on fire to persuade a guy to step away from his machine gun and head for the door. Also, having a flamethrower strapped to your back was a bit of a death wish; it made you a high priority target to anyone on the battlefield who was flammable (i.e. everybody ). It was kind of like hauling a Bazooka around during a tank engagement, or being the radio man in Vietnam (you were the FIRST guy to get shot at).

oops, went off on a tangent there. long story short: yes, a flamethrower could damage and even kill a tank, if there was no other anti tank weapons available, and if the tank let the flame-man live long enough to finish the job.

[Black Op 0]

thanks for all the info

another question...

How effective would a rifle grenade be against a WWII era.

also i read about this really heavy russian machine gun (think it was .50 cal) was knocking out early german tanks?

is this possible?

[Black Op 0]

bumpity