Eli5: How effective were flamethrowers when they were still in use in the military and what were the dangers of operating one?
In: 57
They were incredibly effective for a lot of things. There were issues because of how effective they were basically if you had one on your back, everyone wanted to kill you to keep you from using it on them. Sometimes the tank would get hit though and you could end up on fire yourself. They weren’t discontinued though because of that, it was decided that they caused too much damage without killing often times. People would end up in with major painful burns yet wouldn’t die or would die after long periods of suffering.
That’s when they were banned in war. Believe it or not a lot of things in war are banned for not being deadly enough. The official position is “suffering should be kept to an absolute minimum”. So they want quick instant painless deaths as the goal. No using things designed to maim or cause undue suffering.
Truth be told I think flame throwers are still in the military but used quite sparingly. It’s good for clearing fields and such but can’t be used against people. Obviously not much use in like Afghanistan, but if we went back to war in a jungle you’d see them used again.
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