Wechselapparat

The Wechselapparat M.1917, nicknamed the Wex, was a German flamethrower introduced in early May 1917 to replace the earlier Kleif model. It was developed by engineer workshops within the Guards Reserve Pioneer Regiment, the main flamethrower unit of the Imperial German Army, and was the first flamethrower in the German arsenal that could be operated by a single soldier if needed. It was deployed in a group of four, two operators, one officer and one grenadier, and used a doughnut shaped backpack fuel container with a spherical nitrogen propellant container at its center feeding flame oil through a hose to a lance fitted with a magnesium based igniter. The Wex was used from 1917 until the end of the war in 1918, saw further use in the German revolution of 1918 to 1919 by the Freikorps and the Reichswehr, and some examples survived the Treaty of Versailles to be used by Finnish and Polish forces in the 1920s. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/