M2 flamethrower
type of flamethrower used by United States armed forces starting in World War II
The M2 flamethrower was an American, man-portable, backpack flamethrower that was used in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M2 was the successor to the M1 and M1A1 flamethrowers. Although its burn time was around 7 seconds long, and the flames were effective around 20–40 meters, it was still a useful weapon. With the arrival of flamethrower tanks, the need for flamethrower-carrying infantrymen to expose themselves to enemy fire had been greatly reduced.
Though some M2s were sold off, the majority were scrapped.
Combat use
Second World War
The M2 flamethrower saw combat use in the Pacific theater, being deployed to combat strongly fortified and entrenched Japanese positions. Following the success with the M1 flamethrower, the M2 was developed and put into combat use in 1943. Towards the end of the conflict, later models of the M2 were equipped with the fuel-thickening agent known as napalm.
Vietnam War
The improved M2A1-7 flamethrower saw limited use during the conflict due the North Vietnamese use of guerilla tactics, heavy jungle growth, and ready availability of napalm aerial bombs.
Variants of the M2
The M2, which was the WWII model, had hexagonal gas caps and hourglass frames.
“M2 flamethrower” enters the record as type of flamethrower used by United States armed forces starting in World War II. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what flamethrower, type and used can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1427038. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1943.
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