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A fire-breathing monster on the battlefield, the Churchill Crocodile was one of the most awe-inspiring weapons of World War II. Tank expert David Fletcher chronicles the development of the flamethrower tank, examining the dramatic effect of these tanks in battle from use in France to the terrifying attack on the Senio River in Italy, as well as investigating the post-war use of Crocodiles to burn down and sterilise the site of Belsen concentration camp, and their mobilisation for the Korean War. Researched using the papers of Reginald Fraser the genius behind the flamethrowers and dramatically illustrated with detailed artwork and previously unpublished photographs, this book brings to life the true terror of these tanks.
'One of the most vivid battle stories of the Second World War' SIR BASIL LIDDELL HART The only memoir by a Churchill Crocodile tank commander. This Spitfire Publishers 2022 edition features a new introduction by the author. Normandy, June 1944. Tank commander Andrew Wilson, a twenty-year-old lieutenant, is in charge of a troop of three British Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tanks. The fearsome Crocodile was one of 'Hobart's Funnies' - top secret armoured vehicles designed to punch a hole through Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences during D-Day. But there was nothing remotely humorous about the Crocodile. This terror-weapon reduced German fortifications to raging infernos of clinging liquid fire in seconds, incinerating its occupants. It was truly a horrific weapon. The flame projector, firing a crude form of napalm, was also a powerful psychological weapon, so feared by the Germans that many surrendered after the first ranging shots. Andrew Wilson, MC, vividly describes battling across 1,800 miles of enemy-held territory, the vicious street-to-street fighting, the constant risk of ambush from anti-tank panzerfausts and 88s, Tiger and Panther tanks. From Noyers Ridge and the Falaise Gap through to the final confrontation at the Rhine, here is a first-hand account of tank warfare at its deadliest. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew Wilson, MC, was an English journalist and writer whose career spanned the Daily Express, the BBC World Service to his long-term home at The Observer. Born in Herne Bay, Kent he volunteered on his 18th birthday and served in the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) becoming a captain commanding a troop of Churchill Crocodile flame-throwing tanks from D-Day through France, Holland and into Germany. After the war he read PPE at Oxford University and embarked on his almost 40-year journalism career. He wrote several books including his first-hand account of his experiences as a tank commander, Flame Thrower, and as co-translator of Helmut Pabst's Eastern Front memoir, The Outermost Frontier: A German Soldier in the Russian Campaign ('A masterpiece' The Observer). He was awarded a PhD in military history from the Catholic University of Leuven in 2009. He died in 2020 aged 97.
The US Army and Marine Corps experimented with a wide range of flame-thrower tanks through World War II in both the European and Pacific theaters. Although the US Army deployment of flame-thrower tanks in the ETO was problematic at best, flamethrowers were much more widely used in the Pacific theater and became ubiquitous by 1945, including an entire Army flamethrower tank battalion on Okinawa in 1945, the largest single use of flamethrower tanks in World War II. This will cover the initial attempts at the use of auxiliary flamethrowers by both the US Army and Marine Corps in 1943, the standardized adoption of the Satan flamethrower tank by the Marines in 1944, the development of main gun flamethrowers by the Marines and US Army based on the POA-CWS designs, and the myriad other types tested in combat including the powerful LVT-4 design using Navy flamethrowers at Peleliu in 1944. Due to the extensive Japanese use of fortifications in the final year of the Pacific war, Flamethrower tanks became one of the most important solutions in American tactics.
The British Army started the development of flame throwers in 1938, but progress was slow and interest was side-lined after Dunkirk while the army reequipped. Investment in a flame-throwing tank only returned to the agenda thanks to interest by General Percy Hobart when he developed 'funnies' for 79th armored Division and the concept gained the support of General Sir Alan Brooke. 141 (The Buffs) Regiment RAC had been converted to Churchill Tanks at the end of 1941 and in early 1944 they were earmarked for another change of role to the Crocodile conversion of the new Mk VII Churchill tank. This flame throwing system was secret and started to arrive with the regiment in April 1944. By D-Day only one squadron was equipped and trained, with space on the landing craft only available for two troops to land in support of 50th Division. The rest of the regiment arrived by the end of June and were in action with various formations across the front. There followed a period of misuse by those they supported and learning on the job by the regiment's squadrons, but by the middle of the campaign a clear doctrine for the use of the Crocodile had emerged and they were in great demand.
Author : Estate of Joseph H Alexander Publisher : Naval Institute Press Page : 340 pages File Size : 25,20 MB Release : 2008-09-01 Category : History ISBN : 1612511678
Marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph Alexander takes a fresh look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. His gripping narrative, first published in 1995, has won him many prizes, with critics lauding his use of Japanese documents and his interpretation of the significance of what happened. The first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, the violent three-day attack on Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress of barely three hundred acres, left six thousand men dead. This book offers an authoritative account of the tactics, innovations, leadership, and weapons employed by both antagonists. Alexander convincingly argues that without the vital lessons of Tarawa the larger amphibious victories to come at Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa might not have been possible.
This 1949 US Army Chemical Corps study examines the history and development of man-portable and mechanized flamethrowers (Allied and Axis); their use in the South Pacific, Central Pacific, and the CBI as well as North Africa and Europe; and their employment against the Allies. It is rich in anecdotes and descriptions of company and platoon level combat. A summary section examines issues ranging from tactics, training and employment to maintenance, supply, and fuels. This study includes 21 appendices mainly training memoranda, pamphlets, and training circulars. There are an additional 32 sketches and photographs. This is a high resolution typescript that was never published; it was a first draft circulated for comments. Image and type clarity are very good. Series: Chemical Corps Historical Studies