Flame tank A Flame tank is a type of tank equipped with a flamethrower , most commonly used to supplement combined arms attacks against fortifications or other obstacles . The type only reached significant use in the Second World War , during which the United States , Soviet Union , Germany , Italy , Japan and the United Kingdom ( including members of the British Commonwealth ) all produced flamethrower - equipped tanks . A number of methods of production were used . Flamethrowers were either modified versions of existing infantry flame weapons ( Flammpanzer I and II ) or specially designed ( Flammpanzer III ) . They were mounted externally ( Flammpanzer II ) , replaced existing machine gun mounts , or replaced the tank ' s main armament ( Flammpanzer III ) . Ammunition for the flame weapon was either carried inside the tank , in armoured external storage , or in some cases in a special trailer behind the tank ( Churchill Crocodile ) . Flame tanks are generally considered obsolete . Today , thermobaric weapons such as the Russian TOS - 1 are considered to be the successor to flame tanks . Combat effectiveness . Flame tanks did not suffer from the same vulnerability as man - portable flamethrowers , carried much more fuel , and fired longer - ranged flame bursts . Further , they were often well supported by infantry , such as in Iwo Jima , when massed Japanese attacks against the flame tanks were repelled by rifle fire . However , in an open battlefield , the flamethrower was virtually useless because of its short range . Experience of combat use of flamethrower tanks was mixed . German flamethrower variants of Panzer II and Panzer III were both discontinued due to unsatisfactory performance and converted into assault gun s or tank destroyer s . The Panzer IV was never converted into a flame variant , despite being used for just about every purpose imaginable on the battlefield . The mixed results were in part due to the development of infantry anti - tank weapons . At the start of the Second World War most infantry units had weapons with some effectiveness against armoured targets at ranges of thirty to fifty metres , like anti - tank rifle s . Towards the end of the war , more powerful anti - tank weapons such as the bazooka , Panzerschreck , and PIAT were introduced which were fatal to tanks at ranges longer than the tank ' s flamethrower could reach . The effectiveness of a tank ' s flamethrower " against an enemy tank " was in question . While crews of ' flame ' tanks were not necessarily more vulnerable than those crews in the regular , standard version of the tank ( a Churchill ' Crocodile ' flame tank being more or less just as vulnerable to anti - tank weapons as the standard Churchill ) , the crews of flamethrowing tanks were often treated differently should they be captured alive by enemy troops . Due to the perceived inhumanity of the weapon itself , captured crews of such tanks were often treated much less humanely than crews of regular tanks . Instances of ' flametankers ' being executed by the opposite troops upon capture were not uncommon . Flame tanks were not necessarily more prone to catching fire . Tanks such as the Churchill ' Crocodile ' , which towed the liquid container behind the actual tank held no greater risk of fire than standard tanks .