The idea of flamethrower tanks came about towards the end of WWI. Even though the US Army was not really sure if this was a platform that they wanted to pursue they still had the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) work on its development. For most of the interwar years there was not much development as this type of weapon was actually considered a failure. There was a renewed interest at the outbreak of World War II based on reports of German and Italian tank mounted flamethrowers. The real need for the flamethrower tank came from the Pacific campaign. There the usefulness of routing out the enemy from fortified positions on the islands become a backbone operation for the flamethrower tank. Thus also saving countless lives of soldiers. The US Army flamethrower tank was used sparingly in the ETO. Mainly due to the lack of platforms and fortified positions as encountered in the Pacific.

Author Steve Zaloga has done his research as usual and come through with another excellent book. The book covers the development, testing, field use and modifications. The period photos are an excellent source of reference for modelers and the content really gives a view into all that went into getting successful units into operation.

I highly recommend this book for World War II US armor fans. I would like to thank Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for allowing me to be able to review this book.