One of the most terrifying weapons ever found by humans is the flamethrower (flame-flaming). From the name alone we will already be able to know that this weapon uses fire as the core of its main weaponry. Essentially, flamethrowers are a kind of equipment that spouts flammable liquids or high-pressure gases & already disulute fire so that when secreted it looks like a sprayed flame tongue.
The concept of fire-spouting weapons was probably first used by the Byzantine Empire in the 4th century BCE where Byzantium at the time used a weapon known as the “Greek Fire” (Greek fire). The Greek fire is a kind of flamethrower gun mixed with special liquids & when in contact with water, the fire will not be extinguished & it is even more blazing. With the armament, the Byzantium’s naval fleet could control the Mediterranean Sea region in southern Europe until its collapse in the 15th century.
Modern flamethrowers have designs that vary depending on their use in the field, but in essence they consist of two main parts: a flamethrower rifle & a fuel tube. The flamethrower rifle as the name suggests a major place where fire is ejected, while the fuel tube is where the fuel fluid is stored that is needed to ignite the fire. Some fuels for known flamethrowers are liquid nitrogen, natural gas, propane, & oil.
The advantages of fire-sapping weapons are in addition to having a high damage power flamethrower can also give psychological terror effect on his enemies. The reason is simple, who the hell wants to die burning alive? Furthermore, flamethrowers can also be used to kill enemy troops hiding in a building quickly & efficiently than if they had to destroy the building first or use another anti-infantry weapon such as grenades.
The simplest fire-burning weapon is portable flamethrower where the design of a fuel tube that is lined by the operator & has a hose that is connected to a fire-sprayed rifle. The main drawback of portable flamethrower guns is that heavy fuel tubes complicate the wearer to move, the maximum firing distance is short compared to other modern weapons, & the wearer is also easily killed remotely by enemy shooters (Sniper). To anticipate, the users of portable flamethrowers must always be properly controlled by other members of the team.
Modern fire-fighting weapons were first used by the Germans during World War I between 1914 and 1915 under the name “Flammenwerfer ” (the name would later become the basis of the English word “flamethrower “) & proved to be able to provide fatal damage as well as psychological distress for their opponents. Since then, other countries such as France also adopted the use of flamethrower weapons with their own modifications. In the battle, users of fire-thrower guns are almost always immediately executed so caught by enemy troops.
The use of flamethrowers increasingly mushed in World War II era where countries such as Japan, USA, & the Soviet union also used flamethrowers as part of their weaponry. In this period, many countries have begun to install flamethrowers on other war vehicles such as tanks (known as flame tanks/fire tanks) or vessels. The goal is no other to anticipate the fact that the wearer’s portable flamethrowers are hard to move quickly & easily be killed remotely by the enemy shooter (sniper).
After World War II, the use of flamethrowers was increasingly rare as it started many other weapons development that were more effective than flamethrowers, but had functions & similar destructive capabilities. Some examples of these weapons are a thermobaric rocket (a rocket that will create a giant flame blast when it explodes) & the Napalm Bomb. In the present day, flamethrowers are also used for other activities that do not relate to the war as it is to use the forest & open a new, empty land.
