Battle of Iwo Jima - Weapons

Weapons

A weapon heavily used in the Pacific was the United States M2A1 flamethrower. Featuring two tanks containing fuel and compressed gas the mixture combines to produce a force shooting flame out of the tip, these flamethrowers were used to kill Japanese holed into pillboxes, buildings and caves. A battalion would assign one flamethrower per platoon with one reserve flamethrower in each group. Flamethrower operators were usually in more danger than regular troops as the short range of their weapon required close combat, and the visibility of the flames on the battlefield made them a prominent target for snipers. Still they were essential to breaking the enemy and one battalion commander called the flamethrower the “best single weapon of the operation”

Marines later experimented putting flamethrowers on tanks which were also deployed during battle. Their effectiveness was more limited due to the rough terrain of Iwo Jima. A flamethrower tank would have a range of approximately 100 yd (90 m), carry 300 gallons of fuel and have a firing time of 150 seconds.