In World War II, flamethrowers were used often. Flamethrowers can disable protected emplacements such as bunkers. Flamethrowers were first introduced in the trench warfare of World War I. In 1939, the armed forces of Germany deployed man-portable flamethrowers, and the allies deployed their's in 1942. The main flamethrower for Germany was the Flammenwerfer 35, a man-portable flamethrower. It weighed 35.8 kilograms, and had an effective range of 25 meters. It also held 11.8 liters of fuel for it. There was also a later, upgraded version named the Flammenwerfer 41. The main flamethrower for the United States was the M2 Flamethrower, It had an effect range of 20 meters, weighed 30.8 KG, and held 4 gallons of fuel for the weapon. Infantry portable flamethrowers soon fell out of use as flamethrower tanks negated the risk of putting an infantry man in harm's way with a flamethrower, the tanks provided much more safety.
Flamethrowers seem like really cool weapons, but they do have a very limited use. Outside of its use in the Pacific I'd like to know more about Allies/Axis using these portable flame-throwers. A flamethrower tank seems like a much better implementation than strapping loads of fuel onto infantry, however less mobile it may be.
Concerning Axis, man-portable flamethrowers, A primer that might help get you started is shown below. While not exhaustive, it should help with initial research. Germany Flammenwerfer 35 Flammenwerfer 41 Einstossflammenwerfer 46 (Single-shot flamethrower) Abwehrflammenwerfer 42 (A flamethrowing landmine) Italy Lanciafiamme Spalleggiabile Model 35 Lanciafiamme Spalleggiabile Model 40 and 41 (41 was an improved model) Lanciafiamme d'Assalto Mod 41 (Man-portable flamethrower, light for assaults) Japan Type 93 flamethrower Type 100 flamethrower Finland Italian Lanciafiamme Spalleggiabile Model 35 M/41-R (Captured Soviet ROKS-2) M/Kuusinen 44
