12-215 Garand picture of the Day Kwajalein

[Bill Hollinger]

Men of the 7th Division using flame throwers to smoke out Japanese from a block house on Kwajalein Island, while others wait with rifles ready in case Japanese come out..
February 4, 1944

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[Sarge1998]

Seldom mentioned but Japan was the first to use the flamethrower in WWII to clear fortified positions, in the battles at Wake Island, Corregidor, Guadalcanal and Milne Bay.

I should probably have stated the first to use in the Pacific theater. My local public TV station has been running Ken Burns "The War" the past few days, in the first installment they had film depicting the Japanese using a flamethrower on fortified bunkers/dugouts during the Battle of Corregidor, that started me to a bit of research.

[browningautorifle]

But then again, according to them, the whole thing never really happened...