| Original caption reads: “Devil’s Breath on Hell’s Island — Two Marine privates hit the deck to throw a scorching inferno at the mighty defenses which blocked the way to Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi.” 2 United States Marines from Headquarters Platoon, I Company, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division, direct flame throwers at Japanese defenses that block the way to Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. On the left is Private 1st Class Richard Klatt (June 20, 1926 – March 3, 1945), of North Fond Dulac, Wisconsin, and on the right is Private 1st Class Wilfrid M. “Willie” Voegeli (February 10, 1925 – October 6, 2000). Dense scrubwood was a terrain feature. This thick brush at the volcano’s base hid an extensive network of trenches, anti-tank ditches and camouflaged pillboxes. Many of the latter were sand-covered, giving them the appearance of mounds. After the pillboxes were reduced by the flamethrowers and the ammunition exploding inside them had ceased, Marines of the 5th Engineer Battalion sealed them with demolitions to prevent Japanese reoccupation. Americans combined flamethrowers with explosives, sealing Japanese defenders inside their underground defensive positions. This came to be know as “corkscrew and blowtorch” tactics. The portable M2-2 flamethrower, with the 3 full tanks (2 each with 2 gallons of napalm-thickened fuel and a smaller 3rd 1 with pressurized nitrogen as propellant) weighed 68 pounds (30 kilograms) and had a new cartridge-based ignition system in a revolver type magazine (flame-thrower’s left hand), with a total of 5 possible ignitions before reloading, making it much more reliable than the earlier M1 and M1A1 models, which used a spark plug to ignite the fuel as it was projected at the target. The maximum range of the M2-2 was 80 yards (70 meters), with the duration of each ignition maintained for no more than 10 seconds. Private 1st Class Klatt of North Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, was wounded on March 1, when a bullet caused his flamethrower to explode on his back. He was badly burned and died 2 days later on the hospital ship USS Solace. Private 1st Class Voegeli of Colwich, Kansas, recalled landing. “I wasn’t there ten minutes, and guys all around me were getting shot,” remembering carrying a 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of equipment as he hit the beach. “If anybody says ever says you can’t go three or four nights without sleeping, they’re lying. Every morning, we’d be wide awake, even if we didn’t get any sleep, because we were so keyed up.” Voegeli survived the war, married Alice E. Majerus Voegeli (September 21, 1924 – April 6, 2015) and had 8 children. When Japanese recovery teams began searching Iwo Jima for bodies decades later, they reported they could tell whether or not a corpse had been hit with a flamethrower. The skeleton would be “sticky” to the touch, as the accelerant that comprised the lighter fuel would continue to burn through flesh to the bone. Photo by Robert C. Campbell (February 13, 1923 – October 17, 2011). During World War II he served in the Coast Guard aboard the USS Bayfield and later the LST 784 as an Electronics Technician’s Mate Petty Officer 1st Class. He participated in the D-Day invasions of Normandy and Southern France, continuing on to the Pacific Theater during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He also served in the Navy during the Korean conflict. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1845.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.13 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3469 x 2565 |
| Photographer | Robert Campbell |
| Photographer Title | United States Marine Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 1, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Iwo Jima |
| Country | Bonins |
| Archive | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Record Number | 67484 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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