Early Trails with Flame
I have come across an account of the early trials with flame equipment mounted on carriers. It is contained in “An Historical Account of the 7th Canadian Reconnaissance Regiment (17th Duke of York’s Royal Canadian Hussars) in the World War 1939 – 1945” by Capt Walter G. Pavey (Montreal 1948).
“Towards the end of October (1943), Col. Hugman received some orders from Canadian Military Headquarters, informing him that the Regiment would be required to do some specialized training under very strict security rules, and would have to be moved completely away from 3rd Division for this purpose. So it was, that on the night of October 29th, under a blanket of secrecy, the Regiment left Nine Yews.
“It was still not definitely known just what this specialized training was to be when the 17th arrived at this tiny English town (Woldingham), some twenty miles from London, the next day. However, a few days later the Technical Adjutant, Capt. M.G. Christie, arrived with some 100 of the new Ronson Flame Throwers. It seems that the 17th, because of its fine training record, had been selected to try to devise a method for using flame throwers en masse. The Regiment had been given three months to teach itself how to use these new weapons, maintain them and produce some sort of method of tactical employment for them. Incidentally, the methods of tactical employment devised by the Unit were compiled by the various Squadrons into a written pamphlet which later was used as the basis for the subsequent Army Training Pamphlets pertaining to the use of flame.
“It is no wonder then that leaves were cancelled and all entertainment was curtailed, for once again the 17th had an important job of work to do and they would not rest until it was done. It was soon discovered that although they could learn the mechanics of the new toy, it would be impractical for the Regiment to stay at Woldingham for tactical training, and on the 22nd of November, the 17th moved with their flame-throwers well camouflaged, back to West Chiltington.
“This last stay in West Chiltington was to cover one of the most important training periods in the Regiment’s history and, in fact, the final one, for it was from this place that the 17th Hussars left for their trip to the Normandy beachhead. Arriving the 22nd of November, the Unit, now fully acquainted with the working of their flame-throwers, set out on all-out training syllabus which would cover everything from Section Flame Tactics to Regimental Flame Tactics.
“A special training area was allotted to the Unit which was guarded day and night by Detachments of Security Police to insure that the business of the Regiment was not allowed into the public’s hands.
“The method in which the Regiment arrived at its final decision on flame-throwers was by having each Squadron devise its own flame tactics and each Squadron, in turn, had its troops study and produce Section tactics.
“Finally, on January 13th, the regiment was able to train as a whole on the South Downs with their flame carriers massed. During all this period, it was becoming more and more apparent to the Officers of the Unit that the use of flame-throwers in great numbers would not be practical because of their vulnerability and because of the big maintenance problem. The business of keeping flame-throwers well-equipped with flame fluid had become really quite difficult.
“At any rate, no matter what various members of the Regiment thought, there was to be a large-scale demonstration for the benefit of high-ranking Canadian and British Officers, to be held on the South Downs on the 21st of January and the Unit was still determined to put on as good a show as they possibly could, in order to give this new war idea a truly fair trial.
“On the day of the big demonstration the Brass Hats arrived in droves to see just exactly how far the Regiment had gone with this thing. So, in order to give them a proper idea of what it would be like, the Commanding Officer placed these visitors in all flame vehicles which would take part in the demonstration, then started the thing going.
“After it was all over, even the high-ranking officers who had been the promoters of this idea, agreed with the Regimental Training Officers and Col. Hugman that to commit a whole Regiment to flame-throwers would not be a sound idea. At the same time, these Officers paid the very highest compliments to the Regiment, as a whole, for the way in which they had gone about producing what they considered to be the most complete and fairest trail the new weapon could possibly have had. Almost immediately, the Regiment lost their flame-throwers, keeping only one per Scout Troop, which remained in their normal establishment throughout the war.”
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