Why a Navy electrician built a "suicidal" flamethrower tank during WW2 — then shocked everyone by fighting in it himself for 32 days on Iwo Jima. This World War 2 story reveals how one Seabee's desperate innovation challenged everything the military believed about flame weapons.
February 21, 1945. Electrician's Mate Second Class Joseph Kissel, 117th Naval Construction Battalion, climbed into an M4A3 Sherman tank rolling toward Japanese pillboxes on Iwo Jima. He had spent 1,200 hours wiring the CB-H1 flamethrower system himself at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The problem was brutal: portable flamethrower operators were dying at a 92% casualty rate. Japanese snipers identified them instantly by the twin fuel tanks on their backs. Kissel's solution was to mount the flame system inside a Sherman tank, replacing the 75mm gun with 400 feet of pressurized fire. Every expert said this was too complex. Marine commanders called it experimental and untested. Army engineers warned the 1,100 electrical connections would fail in combat.
They were all wrong.
What Kissel discovered that February morning wasn't about building a bigger flamethrower. It was about protecting the operators with armor while maintaining devastating firepower in a way that contradicted everything portable flamethrower doctrine taught. By climbing into the assistant driver's seat of his own creation, Kissel would prove whether his innovation could survive the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history. The eight flame tanks he built would face eleven miles of Japanese tunnels, 750 fortified positions, and 22,000 defenders who had months to prepare.
This is the story of how a 24-year-old electrician's refusal to accept 92% casualties changed mechanized warfare. From the workshops of Schofield Barracks to the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima, discover what happened when innovation met the ultimate test.
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