Canada’s Fiery Arsenal : The role of WASP Flamethrowers during the Battle of Leopold Canal
Article written by Amynte Eygun, MA.
Westmount, Quebec – 31 October 2024: During the Battle of Leopold Canal, the primary weapon used by the Canadians was the WASP Flamethrower, aptly named as it would fire flames and disseminate anything in its path. Although the weapon was a British creation, its eventual development and use at the end of the war can be credited to Canadians. By the end of the war, the majority of large scale manufacturers for the WASP flamethrower were Canadian.
This large scale weapon is a variation of the universal carrier, which is a lightly armoured vehicle, with 6-8 fully tracked wheels. Universal carriers live up to their name, as they are a basic vehicle on which different attachments can be added for different types of combat. The WASP flamethrower is a version of the universal carrier with a covered tank of fuel and a flame thrower/projector on the front. Universal carriers were usually just over 5ft tall, 7 ft wide, 12-13 feet long with an 85-95 horsepower engine that allowed it to reach 35 mph. When using the WASP, the soldiers needed to wear goggles, leather gauntlets and wool balaclavas to protect them from the dust, heat and flames emitting from the weapon.
During the battle of Leopold Canal, 27 WASP flamethrowers were slid up to the northern bank of the canal and they were fired for 5 minutes straight, aiming at the German’s southern bank and the slit trenches where they hid. The Germans were known to fear them intensely, hence why the Allied Intelligence had hoped that just the sight of the 27 WASPS would frighten the enemy before they even started firing. The plan for the flamethrowers was that they would be used as a cover and distraction. They were to fire globs of flames across the canal to pry the Germans out of their hidden trenches, to scare them and to kill them. While the flamethrowers produced clouds of smoke, the Canadians were to quickly cross the canal in their assault boats and try to form a bridgehead on the enemy’s side.The flamethrowers allowed the platoons to cross the canal under the cover of smoke, and although it did not completely succeed, without them many more RMR men would have been casualties in the initial crossing.