The ROKS-2 flamethrowers were flamethrowers used by the Soviet Union during World War II.
Description[]
A key feature of the ROKS flamethrowers is that they were designed to look like a rifle and a backpack so the user wouldn't be picked out as a target so often.[1] The weight of the ROKS-2 is about 25 kg full and it was capable of storing about 10 liters of fuel.
The ROKS-2 could keep firing burning fuel for about 6–8 seconds at a time and the range was around 30–35 meters. The main components of the ROKS-2 were the fuel hose, the fueltank, and a pressurized nitrogen tank. The nitrogen tank was placed right under the disguised fuel tank. The flamethrower was activated when the user pulled the trigger of the flamethrower which was disguised as a Mosin Nagant M1891/30.
Variants[]
The only variant produced of the ROKS-2 flamethrower was the ROKS-3, which was introduced as a far more simplistic models to save on production time and costs. Other than the minor stripping down of the weapon, it still retained many of the original features of the ROKS-2 and looked very similar.
History[]
The ROKS-2 Flamethrower was used by Soviet forces from 1935-1945 and it used in many different battles along the Eastern Front. There is controversy about whether the rifle and backpack camouflage actually worked very well, but even so, the ROKS Flamethrower was used by Soviet and Finnish troops in battles like Kursk. [N 1]
Finnish Use[]
During the Winter War and other conflicts between Finnish forces and Soviet forces, the Finnish captured many ROKS flamethrowers and designated them Flamethrower M/41-R.[2] These captured flamethrowers were used by the Finnish until the end of World War II.
Notes[]
- ↑ Much of the controversy can be attributed to the fact that oftentimes, even if a flamethrower operator fires for a brief period of time, he is still singled out so testing whether the camouflage was effective in combat is difficult.
References[]
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