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BUDDAHAID CAN TAKE IT; HE GOT CLOSEST

NICKNAME OR 'OFFICIAL' DESIGNATION

IT ACTUALLY IS THE SHERMAN M4A3E8 FLAME DRAGON DESIGNATED POA CWS H5(PACIFIC OPERATION AREA CHEMICAL WEAPON SERVICE H5-VARIANT OF THE CANADIAN-BUILT RONSON LIGHTER IN THE 75MM BARREL WHICH COULD PUT A SEVERE NAPALM JET OUT TO 60 YARDS) HAD TO HAVE BEEN WICKED COMING ASHORE IN A MARINE CORPS AMPHIB OPERATION.....

After use in the field, commanders objected to main armament flame throwers chiefly because they replaced the tank's main gun. To meet this criticism, COL Unmacht's staff drew up plans for mounting flame throwers alongside the gun instead of replacing it. Work began in late 1944 when Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, anticipating an invasion of Japan, asked for at least seventy-two main armament flame throwers. Most of the tanks provided by the Marines carried 75mm guns, the remainder carried 105mm howitzers. By judicious planning, designers arranged the interior of the vehicles to allow the storage of forty rounds of 75mm or twenty rounds of 105mm shells without decreasing the quantity of flame-thrower fuel. Handicapped by a scarcity of parts and a dearth of machinists and other craftsmen, the work proceeded slowly. During the battle on Okinawa the Tenth Army asked for eighteen of these double-barrel M4A1 Sherman tanks, designated POA-CWS-H5. They were on their way to that island by the time the battle ended, and were rerouted, instead, to the Marianas to equip the Marine division rehabilitating there. Seventy tanks were ready for the invasion of Japan when the operation was called off and the war came to an end.

The rapid demobilization after World War II ended terminated interest in the M4 Sherman flame tanks. The Army was left with none, but the Marine Corps kept a small number of the double-barreled M4A3E8 Shermans equipped with 105mm main gun with the POA-CWS-H5 flame system alongside. When the Korean War began in June 1950, the Marine Corps hurriedly formed a platoon of nine flame tanks within its First Tank Battalion. These tanks were pulled from storage in Hawaii and California, then accompanied the Marines in the Inchon Landing, 15 September 1950. In Korea, the M4 Sherman flame tanks made a heroic contribution,