Quote:
Originally Posted by Adm.Lee
In a book on US infantry weapons of WW1, there was a blurry photo of a bayonet-mount flamethrower. It only had fuel for one squirt, but the idea was obviously to shoot it as one had closed up on a German trench or MG nest. I was appalled at the idea of multiple soldiers firing these about the same time in the heat of action, much less trying to cross no-man's-land with an extra weight at the long end of their rifles?
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There's reference to these in The Springfield 1903 by William S. Brophy, but I only found a limited preview online. The Flaming Bayonet Mk III used 5 or 6 (sources vary) .44 caliber cases filled with incendiary mixture; the liquid version was the Mark I. Apparently they were capable of shots up to 10 meters, but the Army Chemical Service stopped experimenting with them as the war ended. Weights for various rifle-mounted flamethrowers ranged from 5/8 of a pound to 4.5 pounds.