It was the fifth wave of US Marines hitting the beach on Iuima.
Sherman tanks rolled off their landing craft, but eight of them, though identical from the outside, were not ordinary tanks.
These eight would account for about a third of all Japanese casualties, and they achieved that in the most horrifying way.
These were flame tanks.
Their crews would be a huge part of winning the battle.
However, some of them paid a terrible price for using that weapon.
From the moment people learned how to control fire, they kept finding new ways to use it against each other, and usually in the most horrifying ways imaginable.
One of the best early examples was Greek fire, which you could say was the first real flamethrower.
It was a pressurized burning mixture the Bzantines used in naval battles to spray enemy ships with fire, and it was so effective that water couldn’t put it out.
To this day, no one really knows the exact formula, and its legend as one of the most feared weapons of the ancient world remains intact.
Through the centuries, fire kept finding its way onto the battlefield.
Sometimes in ways that sound completely insane today, like pigs and other animals being set on fire and sent running toward enemy lines just to cause chaos.
But the real flamethrower, the kind we’re talking about here, didn’t appear until the first world war.
It was the Germans who brought it to the battlefield first in one of many desperate attempts to break the deadlock of trench warfare.
When the Flaminger first spewed fire across no man’s land, Allied soldiers were more shocked by how terrifying it looked and sounded than by how deadly it was.
It was more of a psychological weapon at first.
Although the effect on the human body soon cemented its terrifying reputation, they were notoriously dangerous to their operators, and there were several incidents of German squads being killed by their own flamethrowers because of sudden wind changes.
There were even early experiments with mounting those weapons on tanks in World War I, but they didn’t get far.
And after the war, most nations paid little attention to flamethrowers.
That would all change once the Americans found themselves fighting in the Pacific.
And you’re about to see why.
Before we get to the tanks, we need to set the stage with the handheld flamethrowers so it all makes sense.
On the eve of the Second World War, the Allies had a few of these things, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm for them.
There were no dedicated flamethrower units.
They showed up here and there in a couple of rare cases and that was about it.
Then reports started coming in that German troops were using flamethrowers in assault and that pushed American planners back to the drawing board.
They hurried a new round of handheld designs into development and those would arrive first long before any flame tanks rolled off a landing craft.
Handheld flamethrowers were a strange best and worst kind of weapon at the same time.
On the one hand, they could do what rifles and grenades couldn’t, and that’s effectively clear an enemy position to put it lightly, by burning the people inside.
Grenades could do the job, too.
But once you understand how the fortifications on Euima looked, you see why the flamethrower was often the only effective solution.
So, the American military developed the M1 flamethrower in a backpack configuration with a nozzle for the operator to aim at whatever he needed to burn.
It had two tanks holding about five gallons of flammable mixture and between them a smaller tank with compressed nitrogen gas to propel the mixture in a jet some 20 to 40 yards at best.
That was the maximum range.
It weighed about 70 lb when full and that gave you roughly 7 to 10 seconds of continuous firing time.
The fuel went through the nozzle and was ignited in early models electrically by batteries.
that proved unreliable and was later changed to a pyrochnic ignition system where a couple of white phosphorus flares could be activated and they’d burn long enough to ignite the mixture.
Operators shot a mixture of diesel, gasoline, and napalm compound that created a sticky substance burning at about 1500° Fahrenheit and clinging to everything it touched.
Operators also developed a tactic where they first sprayed the target without igniting it.
that soaked the fortification and let the mixture drip deep inside.
And then an ignited burst would set everything and everyone on fire inside.
You see, the effectiveness of flamethrowers in pillbox clearing compared to conventional weapons was because the flames didn’t need to reach the soldiers directly.
An explosion or fragmentation from a grenade can only kill someone who is directly hit.
And fortifications were deliberately built to blunt grenade effects.
They were deliberately dug in a zigzag pattern with grenade channels and holes arranged so a soldier could kick a grenade in at the last second before it exploded.
When a flamethrower hit a pillbox, the effect was completely different from an explosion.
Besides the flames and extreme temperatures, there was also the effect of burning most of the oxygen inside.
So, even those who weren’t directly reached by the flames would be severely affected by heat and lack of breathable air.
Perhaps we shouldn’t go too deep into the physiological effects of flamethrower injuries because this video could easily get taken down.
There were studies asking whether the flamethrower was a quote unquote too inhumane way to kill someone.
And results ranged from descriptions of it as the worst way to die to arguments that sensory faculties are so overwhelmed that there isn’t time to feel pain.
I don’t quite buy the painless theory, especially when you take into consideration the screams that came from caves.
I should probably stop there.
If you really want to creep yourself out, you can dive into that rabbit hole later on the internet.
So, you see why the flamethrower became the one weapon that could truly clear those stubborn pillboxes.
As we said, you have 70 lb on your back, and you need to be within hand grenade range to be effective.
Your odd-looking backpack is unmistakable on the battlefield.
And since the enemy knows exactly what will happen if you get close, every weapon they have will be turned on you.
When empty, you still have about 45 lb on your back.
And now you have to find your way back to safety after the whole front saw and heard your long stream of fire, followed by the screams of the soldiers in the fortification you just took out.
That was the problem.
Flamethrower operators weren’t living long, as would be proven on Euima, where 94% of them died.
The first time American troops used a flamethrower against the Japanese was during the battles in the Solomon Islands, where they were used on a larger scale for the first time.
There the vulnerability of the operators was quickly recognized and someone had the idea of combining a flamethrower with a tank to solve its mobility and protection problems leading to the first not so successful flame tanks.
These were experimental conversions of M3 Stuart light tanks fitted with a modified handheld flamethrower system that got the nickname Satan tanks.
They now had about double the range of the foot carried version and around 40 seconds of continuous fire.
However, they were notoriously unreliable, failing in combat about 40% of the time.
Even worse, the Stewart’s light armor offered no protection against anything heavier than machine gun fire, and the turret traverse was limited because of the added system inside.
Still, when they worked and managed to reach the enemy without breaking down or exploding, their effectiveness against fortifications was undeniable, enough to convince the American military to make the concept truly work.
Just five months before the invasion of Iuima, a team was assembled to learn from those earlier failures and create a reliable battle ready flame tank.
This time, the M4 A3 Sherman was chosen as the base.
After a complete redesign of the conventional tank, requiring about 1,200 man-h hours per unit, 150 lb of welding rod, over 1,000 electrical connections, and 150 specialized parts, it was finally completed.
In place of the main gun was a flame projector fed by roughly 300 g of fuel mixture stored inside the tank.
It could project a stream of fire up to 150 yards, lasting about 80 seconds.
Refueling, however, took roughly 2 hours before the tank could fire again.
And the fuel mixture had to be used within 72 hours of preparation, or it would clog the system.
The turret could traverse about 270° with elevation and depression angles similar to a standard Sherman.
The rest of the tank functioned the same, and most importantly, from the outside, it looked just like any other Sherman tank.
That last detail would soon become the Japanese defender’s biggest problem when these new machines landed on their islands.
Converting a Sherman into a flame tank cost the equivalent of about $350,000 today, and eight of them were ready for the assault on Euima.
The Japanese knew the strategic importance of Euima and had an entire year to turn it into a fortress.
The island’s volcanic rock was easy to dig by hand, and they carved 11 mi of tunnels, dug 5,000 caves and underground chambers, and built 1,500 fortified concrete positions across its eight square miles.
About 21,000 men were prepared to make a last stand in defense of their homeland.
Determined to make the Marines job as difficult as humanly possible, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi knew his men would not survive this battle.
Orders were clear.
There would be no evacuation or resupply once fighting began.
Instead of the hopeless banzai charges seen in previous battles, he created a detailed plan to make the Americans pay so dearly for capturing that they might reconsider invading the Japanese home island.
Every man was told not to die before killing at least 10 Americans.
The American Navy slowly approached the island and for 74 consecutive days, warships and bombers dropped over 6,800 tons of bombs and fired more than 22,000 shells.
Allied intelligence naively underestimated the Japanese force, believing the island was defended by about 4,000 troops instead of 21,000.
Then they made an even greater mistake by assuming the island had been bombed into submission and stopping the bombardment earlier than planned.
In reality, the Marines approaching the beaches in their landing craft had no idea that only about 200 of the 1500 Japanese fortifications had been destroyed.
The main Japanese force was still waiting underground in its virtually intact tunnel network, ready to show them a kind of combat never seen before.
The Marines hit the beaches on February 19th, 1945.
Although things seemed quiet at first, soon all hell broke loose.
By nightfall, the Marines had gained less than 700 yd of ground at the cost of 2,400 casualties.
But the real battle had only just begun.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese, among the Shermans that landed on the island were eight new flame Shermans.
They were kept in reserve for the first 24 hours because they were precious, irreplaceable assets, and on the morning of the next day, they went into battle.
The first was deployed to assist pinned down Marines near Myama airfield.
Flame Sherman 431 advanced to within about 100 yards of a pillbox and opened fire.
A Japanese 47mm anti-tank gun fired and hit the Sherman, but the shell bounced off while the tank sprayed a 15-second burst over its position until it was completely engulfed in flames, allowing the Marines to continue their assault.
Within 6 hours, all eight flame Shermans were in action, spraying one pillbox after another with fire and horrifying Japanese defenders, many of whom began abandoning their positions in panic once the American tanks got close.
This was still only the beginning.
As the battle grew fiercer each day, the Marines finally had a weapon that could destroy stubborn fortifications that had resisted even the heaviest naval bombardments.
And the effects were horrifying.
Flame tank crews were often so close to their targets, they could see exactly what was happening, and it was a sight no one could forget.
Marines followed about 50 yards behind the flame tanks, clearing out anything that survived.
Standard Shermans provided heavy suppressive fire and followed closely to protect the flame Shermans as they moved within range.
The burning mixture, when sprayed over Japanese positions, seeped through every entrance and ventilation opening.
If heat and loss of oxygen weren’t bad enough, remember that the Japanese stored tons of ammunition and fuel inside those tunnels.
When the flames reached them, countless secondary explosions followed underground, killing everyone inside and burying others alive.
Marines often sealed tunnel openings with explosives, trapping them underground, still alive.
US troops could hear muffled grenade detonations and rifle shots underground.
You can guess what those were.
Even elevated positions weren’t safe as flame tank crews angled their tanks on uneven terrain to fire above the usual elevation limit of their projectors, reaching the tops of cliffs where Japanese defenders thought they were safe.
There was even an instance where Japanese soldiers jumped off cliffs under flamethrower attack to avoid being burned alive.
Shock and panic ran through the Japanese defenders.
Their usual 47mm anti-tank guns weren’t doing much against a Sherman’s frontal armor.
But they would find a way to fight back, one as disturbing as the flame tanks themselves, Japanese soldiers began using desperate tactics, running at American tanks with explosives strapped to their bodies, sacrificing themselves to save others.
Although most never reached the tanks because of close protection around them, some did.
Flame tank number 438 was destroyed on March 11th in exactly this way when a Japanese soldier detonated himself on the tank’s engine compartment, killing three crewmen.
General Kuribayashi reported to his command that the enemy’s special flame tanks did more damage than all their artillery and bombardment combined, and that they had no effective way to counter them.
US engineers worked around the clock to keep flamethrower tanks operational and ready.
They were constantly on the front line fighting or refueling with repairs done during the night.
Fuel was prepared around the clock and flame tanks drove from the front line to refuel and immediately back into combat, doing that for days.
Crews were beyond exhausted, but they had to push on.
It is estimated that flame tanks lowered the casualty rate for Marines by some 40%.
By mid-March, organized Japanese resistance had largely collapsed, although ambushes and individual attacks continued for weeks after the island was declared secured.
Then came March 21st.
After 30 days of heavy combat, the remaining 3,000 Japanese defenders were about to make their last stand in horrific fashion.
Six surviving original flame tanks were reinforced with four new ones urgently shipped from Hawaii, and they were now ready for the largest flamethrower assault in the Pacific War.
Flamethrower and regular Shermans advanced in formation, setting fire to and blowing up everything in their path.
Over the course of a single day, they fired 8,000 gallons of fuel mixture and suffered 92 Marines killed and 257 wounded.
That was still far less than the losses a conventional assault would have produced.
They broke the last organized Japanese defense completely, many of whom were killed by flamethrowers.
Two out of eight flame Shermans on Eoima were knocked out, while the rest suffered other malfunctions from continuous combat and were cannibalized for parts to keep the remaining machines running.
The surviving tanks were shipped back to Hawaii where they were examined and the design refined further, eventually leading to the next generation of flame tanks like the M67 Zippo used in Vietnam.
Survivors came out of the tunnels at night gathering supplies they could find and some continue to fight, but out of 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Euima, fewer than 200 surrendered and survived.
The rest are still on the island, most of them buried in the very tunnels they dug.
Flamethrowers on Euima fired some 360,000 gallons of fuel mixture.
So that’s an enormous quantity over the course of the battle.
All US Marines agreed that if not for those tanks, they would not have captured Euima.
And already horrific casualties would have been even greater.
Seeing this, the Americans went full steam ahead with converting Shermans into flame variants and prepared about 70 of them for a planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.
They were used again on Okinawa in the final days of World War II, where they consumed over 200,000 gallons of mixture against Japanese defenses.
It was the fifth wave of US Marines hitting the beach on Iuima.
Sherman tanks rolled off their landing craft, but eight of them, though identical from the outside, were not ordinary tanks.
These eight would account for about a third of all Japanese casualties, and they achieved that in the most horrifying way.
These were flame tanks.
Their crews would be a huge part of winning the battle.
However, some of them paid a terrible price for using that weapon.
From the moment people learned how to control fire, they kept finding new ways to use it against each other, and usually in the most horrifying ways imaginable.
One of the best early examples was Greek fire, which you could say was the first real flamethrower.
It was a pressurized burning mixture the Bzantines used in naval battles to spray enemy ships with fire, and it was so effective that water couldn’t put it out.
To this day, no one really knows the exact formula, and its legend as one of the most feared weapons of the ancient world remains intact.
Through the centuries, fire kept finding its way onto the battlefield.
Sometimes in ways that sound completely insane today, like pigs and other animals being set on fire and sent running toward enemy lines just to cause chaos.
But the real flamethrower, the kind we’re talking about here, didn’t appear until the first world war.
It was the Germans who brought it to the battlefield first in one of many desperate attempts to break the deadlock of trench warfare.
When the Flaminger first spewed fire across no man’s land, Allied soldiers were more shocked by how terrifying it looked and sounded than by how deadly it was.
It was more of a psychological weapon at first.
Although the effect on the human body soon cemented its terrifying reputation, they were notoriously dangerous to their operators, and there were several incidents of German squads being killed by their own flamethrowers because of sudden wind changes.
There were even early experiments with mounting those weapons on tanks in World War I, but they didn’t get far.
And after the war, most nations paid little attention to flamethrowers.
That would all change once the Americans found themselves fighting in the Pacific.
And you’re about to see why.
Before we get to the tanks, we need to set the stage with the handheld flamethrowers so it all makes sense.
On the eve of the Second World War, the Allies had a few of these things, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm for them.
There were no dedicated flamethrower units.
They showed up here and there in a couple of rare cases and that was about it.
Then reports started coming in that German troops were using flamethrowers in assault and that pushed American planners back to the drawing board.
They hurried a new round of handheld designs into development and those would arrive first long before any flame tanks rolled off a landing craft.
Handheld flamethrowers were a strange best and worst kind of weapon at the same time.
On the one hand, they could do what rifles and grenades couldn’t, and that’s effectively clear an enemy position to put it lightly, by burning the people inside.
Grenades could do the job, too.
But once you understand how the fortifications on Euima looked, you see why the flamethrower was often the only effective solution.
So, the American military developed the M1 flamethrower in a backpack configuration with a nozzle for the operator to aim at whatever he needed to burn.
It had two tanks holding about five gallons of flammable mixture and between them a smaller tank with compressed nitrogen gas to propel the mixture in a jet some 20 to 40 yards at best.
That was the maximum range.
It weighed about 70 lb when full and that gave you roughly 7 to 10 seconds of continuous firing time.
The fuel went through the nozzle and was ignited in early models electrically by batteries.
that proved unreliable and was later changed to a pyrochnic ignition system where a couple of white phosphorus flares could be activated and they’d burn long enough to ignite the mixture.
Operators shot a mixture of diesel, gasoline, and napalm compound that created a sticky substance burning at about 1500° Fahrenheit and clinging to everything it touched.
Operators also developed a tactic where they first sprayed the target without igniting it.
that soaked the fortification and let the mixture drip deep inside.
And then an ignited burst would set everything and everyone on fire inside.
You see, the effectiveness of flamethrowers in pillbox clearing compared to conventional weapons was because the flames didn’t need to reach the soldiers directly.
An explosion or fragmentation from a grenade can only kill someone who is directly hit.
And fortifications were deliberately built to blunt grenade effects.
They were deliberately dug in a zigzag pattern with grenade channels and holes arranged so a soldier could kick a grenade in at the last second before it exploded.
When a flamethrower hit a pillbox, the effect was completely different from an explosion.
Besides the flames and extreme temperatures, there was also the effect of burning most of the oxygen inside.
So, even those who weren’t directly reached by the flames would be severely affected by heat and lack of breathable air.
Perhaps we shouldn’t go too deep into the physiological effects of flamethrower injuries because this video could easily get taken down.
There were studies asking whether the flamethrower was a quote unquote too inhumane way to kill someone.
And results ranged from descriptions of it as the worst way to die to arguments that sensory faculties are so overwhelmed that there isn’t time to feel pain.
I don’t quite buy the painless theory, especially when you take into consideration the screams that came from caves.
I should probably stop there.
If you really want to creep yourself out, you can dive into that rabbit hole later on the internet.
So, you see why the flamethrower became the one weapon that could truly clear those stubborn pillboxes.
As we said, you have 70 lb on your back, and you need to be within hand grenade range to be effective.
Your odd-looking backpack is unmistakable on the battlefield.
And since the enemy knows exactly what will happen if you get close, every weapon they have will be turned on you.
When empty, you still have about 45 lb on your back.
And now you have to find your way back to safety after the whole front saw and heard your long stream of fire, followed by the screams of the soldiers in the fortification you just took out.
That was the problem.
Flamethrower operators weren’t living long, as would be proven on Euima, where 94% of them died.
The first time American troops used a flamethrower against the Japanese was during the battles in the Solomon Islands, where they were used on a larger scale for the first time.
There the vulnerability of the operators was quickly recognized and someone had the idea of combining a flamethrower with a tank to solve its mobility and protection problems leading to the first not so successful flame tanks.
These were experimental conversions of M3 Stuart light tanks fitted with a modified handheld flamethrower system that got the nickname Satan tanks.
They now had about double the range of the foot carried version and around 40 seconds of continuous fire.
However, they were notoriously unreliable, failing in combat about 40% of the time.
Even worse, the Stewart’s light armor offered no protection against anything heavier than machine gun fire, and the turret traverse was limited because of the added system inside.
Still, when they worked and managed to reach the enemy without breaking down or exploding, their effectiveness against fortifications was undeniable, enough to convince the American military to make the concept truly work.
Just five months before the invasion of Iuima, a team was assembled to learn from those earlier failures and create a reliable battle ready flame tank.
This time, the M4 A3 Sherman was chosen as the base.
After a complete redesign of the conventional tank, requiring about 1,200 man-h hours per unit, 150 lb of welding rod, over 1,000 electrical connections, and 150 specialized parts, it was finally completed.
In place of the main gun was a flame projector fed by roughly 300 g of fuel mixture stored inside the tank.
It could project a stream of fire up to 150 yards, lasting about 80 seconds.
Refueling, however, took roughly 2 hours before the tank could fire again.
And the fuel mixture had to be used within 72 hours of preparation, or it would clog the system.
The turret could traverse about 270° with elevation and depression angles similar to a standard Sherman.
The rest of the tank functioned the same, and most importantly, from the outside, it looked just like any other Sherman tank.
That last detail would soon become the Japanese defender’s biggest problem when these new machines landed on their islands.
Converting a Sherman into a flame tank cost the equivalent of about $350,000 today, and eight of them were ready for the assault on Euima.
The Japanese knew the strategic importance of Euima and had an entire year to turn it into a fortress.
The island’s volcanic rock was easy to dig by hand, and they carved 11 mi of tunnels, dug 5,000 caves and underground chambers, and built 1,500 fortified concrete positions across its eight square miles.
About 21,000 men were prepared to make a last stand in defense of their homeland.
Determined to make the Marines job as difficult as humanly possible, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi knew his men would not survive this battle.
Orders were clear.
There would be no evacuation or resupply once fighting began.
Instead of the hopeless banzai charges seen in previous battles, he created a detailed plan to make the Americans pay so dearly for capturing that they might reconsider invading the Japanese home island.
Every man was told not to die before killing at least 10 Americans.
The American Navy slowly approached the island and for 74 consecutive days, warships and bombers dropped over 6,800 tons of bombs and fired more than 22,000 shells.
Allied intelligence naively underestimated the Japanese force, believing the island was defended by about 4,000 troops instead of 21,000.
Then they made an even greater mistake by assuming the island had been bombed into submission and stopping the bombardment earlier than planned.
In reality, the Marines approaching the beaches in their landing craft had no idea that only about 200 of the 1500 Japanese fortifications had been destroyed.
The main Japanese force was still waiting underground in its virtually intact tunnel network, ready to show them a kind of combat never seen before.
The Marines hit the beaches on February 19th, 1945.
Although things seemed quiet at first, soon all hell broke loose.
By nightfall, the Marines had gained less than 700 yd of ground at the cost of 2,400 casualties.
But the real battle had only just begun.
Unbeknownst to the Japanese, among the Shermans that landed on the island were eight new flame Shermans.
They were kept in reserve for the first 24 hours because they were precious, irreplaceable assets, and on the morning of the next day, they went into battle.
The first was deployed to assist pinned down Marines near Myama airfield.
Flame Sherman 431 advanced to within about 100 yards of a pillbox and opened fire.
A Japanese 47mm anti-tank gun fired and hit the Sherman, but the shell bounced off while the tank sprayed a 15-second burst over its position until it was completely engulfed in flames, allowing the Marines to continue their assault.
Within 6 hours, all eight flame Shermans were in action, spraying one pillbox after another with fire and horrifying Japanese defenders, many of whom began abandoning their positions in panic once the American tanks got close.
This was still only the beginning.
As the battle grew fiercer each day, the Marines finally had a weapon that could destroy stubborn fortifications that had resisted even the heaviest naval bombardments.
And the effects were horrifying.
Flame tank crews were often so close to their targets, they could see exactly what was happening, and it was a sight no one could forget.
Marines followed about 50 yards behind the flame tanks, clearing out anything that survived.
Standard Shermans provided heavy suppressive fire and followed closely to protect the flame Shermans as they moved within range.
The burning mixture, when sprayed over Japanese positions, seeped through every entrance and ventilation opening.
If heat and loss of oxygen weren’t bad enough, remember that the Japanese stored tons of ammunition and fuel inside those tunnels.
When the flames reached them, countless secondary explosions followed underground, killing everyone inside and burying others alive.
Marines often sealed tunnel openings with explosives, trapping them underground, still alive.
US troops could hear muffled grenade detonations and rifle shots underground.
You can guess what those were.
Even elevated positions weren’t safe as flame tank crews angled their tanks on uneven terrain to fire above the usual elevation limit of their projectors, reaching the tops of cliffs where Japanese defenders thought they were safe.
There was even an instance where Japanese soldiers jumped off cliffs under flamethrower attack to avoid being burned alive.
Shock and panic ran through the Japanese defenders.
Their usual 47mm anti-tank guns weren’t doing much against a Sherman’s frontal armor.
But they would find a way to fight back, one as disturbing as the flame tanks themselves, Japanese soldiers began using desperate tactics, running at American tanks with explosives strapped to their bodies, sacrificing themselves to save others.
Although most never reached the tanks because of close protection around them, some did.
Flame tank number 438 was destroyed on March 11th in exactly this way when a Japanese soldier detonated himself on the tank’s engine compartment, killing three crewmen.
General Kuribayashi reported to his command that the enemy’s special flame tanks did more damage than all their artillery and bombardment combined, and that they had no effective way to counter them.
US engineers worked around the clock to keep flamethrower tanks operational and ready.
They were constantly on the front line fighting or refueling with repairs done during the night.
Fuel was prepared around the clock and flame tanks drove from the front line to refuel and immediately back into combat, doing that for days.
Crews were beyond exhausted, but they had to push on.
It is estimated that flame tanks lowered the casualty rate for Marines by some 40%.
By mid-March, organized Japanese resistance had largely collapsed, although ambushes and individual attacks continued for weeks after the island was declared secured.
Then came March 21st.
After 30 days of heavy combat, the remaining 3,000 Japanese defenders were about to make their last stand in horrific fashion.
Six surviving original flame tanks were reinforced with four new ones urgently shipped from Hawaii, and they were now ready for the largest flamethrower assault in the Pacific War.
Flamethrower and regular Shermans advanced in formation, setting fire to and blowing up everything in their path.
Over the course of a single day, they fired 8,000 gallons of fuel mixture and suffered 92 Marines killed and 257 wounded.
That was still far less than the losses a conventional assault would have produced.
They broke the last organized Japanese defense completely, many of whom were killed by flamethrowers.
Two out of eight flame Shermans on Eoima were knocked out, while the rest suffered other malfunctions from continuous combat and were cannibalized for parts to keep the remaining machines running.
The surviving tanks were shipped back to Hawaii where they were examined and the design refined further, eventually leading to the next generation of flame tanks like the M67 Zippo used in Vietnam.
Survivors came out of the tunnels at night gathering supplies they could find and some continue to fight, but out of 21,000 Japanese soldiers on Euima, fewer than 200 surrendered and survived.
The rest are still on the island, most of them buried in the very tunnels they dug.
Flamethrowers on Euima fired some 360,000 gallons of fuel mixture.
So that’s an enormous quantity over the course of the battle.
All US Marines agreed that if not for those tanks, they would not have captured Euima.
And already horrific casualties would have been even greater.
Seeing this, the Americans went full steam ahead with converting Shermans into flame variants and prepared about 70 of them for a planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.
They were used again on Okinawa in the final days of World War II, where they consumed over 200,000 gallons of mixture against Japanese defenses.
