Introduction
Chapter One
Early Flamethrowers; Richard Fiedler; Flamethrowers Versus Fire Tubes; The Kaiser Rejects Flamethrowers?; Bernhard Reddemann; Reddemann Builds his First Flamethrowers; 1909-1912; Automatic Igniters.
Chapter Two
The War Begins; Flamethrowers in Combat; Flamethrowers Recalled; Flammenwerfer-Abteilung Reddemann; The First Large-scale Flamethrower Attack; Aftermath.
Chapter Three
The III. Garde-Pionier-Bataillon; Combat Equipment of the Flamethrower Battalion; Tactics; Flamethrowers in Assault Squads; An Inauspicious Combat Debut; Successful Large-scale Flamethrower Assaults; Sturmabteilung Calsow; Kurhessische Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 11; The Flamethrower as a Poison-gas Sprayer.
Chapter Four
The Schlayer Gasoline Sprayer; The Flamethrower Battalion Grows; Total Number of Flamethrower Attacks in 1915; Allied Confusion About Flamethrowers; Sturmabteilung Rohr; Instructions for the Employment of Flame Projectors.
Chapter Five
Preparations for Verdun; Pamphlet on the Use of Flamethrowers; The Battle of Verdun; Individual Flamethrower Attacks; Creation of the II. Garde-Pionier-Ersatz-Bataillon; Exploding Flamethrowers; Final Attack of the 3rd Guard Pioneer Battalion; Creation of the Garde-Reserve-Pionier-Regiment; Organization of Flamethrower Companies; Machine Guns in the Regiment; Improvements of Flamethrowers; The Explosions at Fort Douaumont; Flamethrower Attack on the Dead Man.
Chapter Six
Charles Theune Conducts an Attack; Flamethrower Attack in Flanders; The Assault on Fort Vaux; Flamethrower Attack in the Western Tunnel; Flamethrower Attack in the Eastern Tunnel; The French Capture Flamethrowers; A Second Flamethrower Mishap; Final Flamethrower Attack Inside Fort Vaux; 3rd Battalion of the Flamethrower Regiment; Total Number of Flamethrower Attacks; French Reaction to the Flamethrower; Rehearsing a Flame Attack with Assault Infantry.
Chapter Seven
The Battle of the Somme; The British Train to Survive Flamethrowers; Feints and Signaling; The British Use Flamethrowers Offensively; German Flamethrower Attacks at the Somme; Individual Flamethrower Attacks; German Lessons Learned at the Somme; Jäger- (Sturm-) Bataillon Nr. 3; Flamethrower Attack in Verdun; The Conferment of the Death’s Head Sleeve Badge; The Crown Prince and the Flamethrower Regiment; The Kaiser Meets a Flamethrower Pioneer; Mass Flamethrower Attack at Skrobowa; The Knife Tactic Used on the Western Front.
Chapter Eight
Flame Battles from January to June 1917; Flamethrower Attack on Toboly; Austro-German Cooperation on Flamethrowers; The Battle of Bullecourt; Assault Battalion No. 5 (Rohr) Attacks Hill 304; German Flamethrower Training Course.
Chapter Nine
Turkish Flamethrower Troops; Unternehmen Strandfest; Individual Flamethrower Attacks on the Western Front; Individual Flamethrower Attacks in Russia and Galicia; The Battle for Hill 70; Flamethrower Attack at Passchendaele; Individual Flamethrower Attacks in South Tirol and Galicia; Germans Attack Their Own Flamethrower Operators?; Jäger (Assault) Battalion No. 3 at Cambrai.
Chapter Ten
Flame Battles on the Western Front, January 1 to March 20, 1918; Individual Flamethrower Attacks; The 21st Canadian Battalion Repels a Flamethrower Attack; Flamethrowers Against Tanks; Preparations for the Kaiser’s Battle: March Companies; Breakthrough Battles on the Western Front, March 21 to July 15; The Changeable Fighting of the Breakthrough Battles; Flamethrower Attack at Croisilles; Flamethrowers Used to Kill British Prisoners?; Review of the Breakthrough Battles; Battles on Other Fronts, March 21 to July 17; Flamethrowers and the German A7V Tank; Americans Experience Flamethrower Attacks.
Chapter Eleven
August of 1918; Flamethrowers on the Vesle; Italian Leaflet Dropped to Austrians; Americans Awarded for Courage Facing Liquid Fire; The Aerial Flamethrower; German Pioneer Companies Receive Flamethrowers; The Lost Battalion; Distribution of Flamethrower Companies October 1918; The End of Hostilities; Total number of Flame Combats 1915-1918; Casualties of the Flamethrower Pioneers.
Chapter Twelve
Postwar Time Line; Flamethrowers and Revolution; Flamethrower Pioneers Remove Sleeve Badge; Freikorps Units with Flamethrower Sections; Flamethrower Deployments by Freikorps and the Reichswehr; The Abolition of Flamethrowers and Their Illegal Use.
Chapter Thirteen
The Legacy of the Flamethrower; Flamethrowers as Weapons of Savages; The Myth of the Mass Exploding Flamethrowers; Reddemann on the Effectiveness of Flamethrowers; Charles Theune on the Effectiveness of Flamethrowers; Bernhard Reddemann Confronts Amos A. Fries; The Germans Confirm the Effectiveness of Flamethrowers; The Allies Confirm the Effectiveness of Flamethrowers; The Legacy of the Guard Reserve Pioneer Regiment; Reddemann Disappears from History.
Chapter Fourteen
German Flamethrower Data: grosse Flammenwerfer (Grof) M.1912; grosse Flammenwerfer (Grof) M.1916; kleine Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1912; kleine Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1914; kleine Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1915, early model; kleine Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1915, late model; kleine Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1916; mittlere Flammenwerfer (Kleif) M.1917; Wechselapparat (Wex) M.1917; Field-manufactured and Other Flamethrowers; Lances; Hoses; Igniters; Flame Oil.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Uniforms of the Flamethrower Pioneers
Appendix 2: Evolution of Flamethrower Combat Formations 1914-1918
Appendix 3: Organization and Equipment of Flamethrower Companies
Appendix 4: Arms and Ammunition of Flamethrower Pioneers
Appendix 5: Instructions on the Cooperation Between the Infantry and Flamethrowers
Appendx 6: Flamethrower Shock Troop
Appendix 7: Wex March Platoon
Endnotes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
