Livens flame Thrower

[Dave]

Just watched a great Time Team special on C4 OD. "Somme's Secret Weapon". A synopsis is below:

 

In the half-light of dawn, on the frontline of the Somme battlefield on 1 July 1916, a small metal nozzle pushed its way up through the ground in No Man's Land to point at the German front line.

 

On the signal, a terrifying stream of burning oil shot out of the nozzle, drenching the German trenches in flaming diesel. The soldiers that didn't flee would have burned alive.

 

It was the day the British army launched an all-out assault in northern France. Along the 16-mile front, tens of thousands of soldiers died and the only ground that the British forces captured was around the village of Mametz, where historian Peter Barton believes that a top-secret and terrible weapon, known as a Livens Flame Projector, was deployed.

 

Although there are plans and secret war diaries, not one piece of this weapon exists in any museum in the world.

 

Tony Robinson joins a unique dig near Mametz, delving into the past to find out whether or not this weapon really was deployed and, if so, whether it really worked in the way that was described. And, employing the skills of the Royal Engineers, a replica Livens Flame Projector fires up for one last, terrifying, time.

 

Well worth a watch if you have'nt seen it. You can get it on the Channel 4 On Demand. They found parts of the flamme thrower and personal effects of the soldiers in the trenches.

[leon21]

 

Yes iv'e seen the programme, ( what an awesome weapon it must have been).

[RAF635SQ]

An odd weapon, shame nothing much survived of them. Oddly I knew about it before I saw the TV show when it was first aired, must of seen it on the Internet at some point I guess.

It must of been the scariest thing for those poor German soldiers who did get on the end of one of these. They must of thought they was in hell.

Gives me shivers even thinking about being the target of one.

[Greg]

It is a great episode, also watch the time Team special on the WWI Dugout too. It is available from 4OD any time.

 

I learnt about the flame thrower about 5 years ago from Tony Pollard. Back then he was just starting up the Glasgow University Centre for Battlefield Archaeology and wouldn't shut up about this 'dragon flame thing' that he thought was still out there and he was going to find it.

 

It is really neat archaeology, and the stuff the battlefield archaeology centre is doing lately is great (they recently built themselves a 1745 Cannon... for 'scientific purposes'

[mr bridger]

Yes iv'e seen the programme, ( what an awesome weapon it must have been).

seen it a while back well worth a view.