Flamethrower In The Pacific Theater

Section B: Investigation
The war in the Pacific Theater was technically always going on since the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But, in America’s war strategy, the Pacific came second. America and Europe was hell-bent on retaking Europe from Nazi Germany. Of course, they didn’t just completely ignore the Japanese in the Pacific, but most of the firepower and men went to Europe. During World War Two, many flamethrowers were deployed in Europe, and they were effective in not only lowering the morale of the enemy soldiers, but also capturing pillboxes, bunkers, and just causing major damage overall. These were turbulent and violent times in the world. In the Pacific Theater, flamethrower units were indispensable and one of the most valued teams on

The flamethrower unit would make its way up to the bunker, and then release the devastating power of the flamethrower in the bunkers, killing all who were inside and disabling the bunker. But, the flamethrower peaked during the Pacific, due to the Japanese tactics. The Japanese would dig out tunnels underground and use caves in which they barricaded themselves. Because of these tactics, it took Iwo Jima a whole month to completely capture . It doesn’t sound like that much time, considering some battles take more than one, until you realize that the island was only 5 miles long and 2 miles wide. In a car going 60 miles per hour, it would take a mere 5 minutes to travel across the entire island (Flags of our Fathers, 73). These tactics were great for defending against normal munitions, since the Japanese had fortified the tunnels so that there would only be one entrance, with many Japanese weapons trained on the entrance, ready to fire at anything that moves. Any person brave or stupid enough to enter the caves would be annihilated instantly by the Japanese firepower. Adding the fact that there were corners, making it even harder to prepare to enter the cave meant that regular soldiers entering was suicide. That is where the flamethrower unit would come in and shoot inside the caves or tunnels, ensuring death for all who were inside. Deaths were not only caused by the flames, though. Because

Many soldiers knew the job that the flamethrowers had, and put their lives on the line to protect those operators. Like previously mentioned, Woody was accompanied by four riflemen, two of which died trying to get him to do his job. He wasn’t the only one who did that though. Many, many soldiers died trying to protect the flamethrowers. It could be compared to the Navajo code talkers. They were to protect them at all times. Some soldiers acknowledged that there was no other way to get through Iwo Jima. They thought that it would be easy since they had been bombing the whole island for hours leading up to the invasion. But, they didn’t know that there weren’t many Japanese soldiers on the surface, but rather all underground and in caves. The Allies knew that bullets and regular munitions would do nothing to them, so, like was stated in Flags of our Fathers “The battle for Iwo Jima would quickly turn into a primitive contest of gladiators: Japanese gladiators fighting from tunnels and caves and American gladiators fighting aboveground, exposed on all sides, using napalm to burn the opponents out of their hiding places” (73). They knew that the only way to get them out was with the napalm, and napalm is exactly what flamethrowers