The following U.S. report on Italian use of flamethrowers in Russia during WWII was originally published in Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 9, Oct. 8, 1942. [DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the U.S. War Department publication Tactical and Technical Trends. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

USE OF FLAME-THROWER BY ITALIANS IN RUSSIA The Italians on the Russian front are reportedly making extensive use of flame-throwers as supporting weapons for infantry action. The flame-thrower used is known as Model 35, capable of throwing a flame 22 yards and making untenable a zone 39 yards long by 17 yards wide. The device weighs approximately 60 pounds and can produce 10 intermittent jets of flame representing 20 seconds of continuous fire. It is considered inadvisable to employ the flame-throwers in units smaller than a flame-thrower group organized as follows: 1 leader, 1 assistant, 6 squads of 2 teams each; a team composed of 1 operator and 1 assistant. Thus there is a group of 26 men, which breaks down to 12 teams, each operating 1 flame-thrower. Comment: The weapon covered by this report is not superior to our flamethrower, but it is felt that the method of employing flame-throwers in groups of 12 should be of interest to the troops in the field.

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