75th Anniversary Operation Market Garden
6 pounders carried in Horsas, 17pounders carried in Hamilcars.
Actually the PIAT was surprisingly effective (being able to penetrate upto 4" of armour) and it didn't produce a backblast, unlike the Bazooka, which lent to its use for FIBUA.The main problems with it were recoil and the difficulty in cocking it.
Actually the PIAT was surprisingly effective (being able to penetrate upto 4" of armour) and it didn't produce a backblast, unlike the Bazooka, which lent to its use for FIBUA.The main problems with it were recoil and the difficulty in cocking it.
The launcher was a lump unfortunately, think this is where the German Panzerfaust equivalents were much more practical. Of course, the Panzerfaust could not be reloaded afaik, so perhaps the UK bean counters saw the PIAT as more cost effective...
but the basic concept of using a small high pressure charge to push a larger lump of (possibly shaped charge) explosives to the target seems plausible.
... plus a 200 pound main spring, that you re-cocked with your feet!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_vS-VdYas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk_vS-VdYas
How many Panzers did you bag? 
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For eg there were 6 VCs awarded to PIAT operators which included killing Pazer IVs and at least one Panther.
During the Normandy campaign it was assessed that 7% of all German tanks destroyed by British forces were taken out using the PIAT (compared to 6% taken out by aircraft using RPs).
Furthermore a 1944/45 Canadian Army survey ranked the PIAT as the number one most “outstandingly effective” weapon, followed by the Bren gun.
I hefted one in a museum a while back
IMHO you deserve a VC for firing the beast never mind hitting anything
It's a monstrosity................
IMHO you deserve a VC for firing the beast never mind hitting anything
It's a monstrosity................
I doubt it - I understood it had to be fired from a prone position as the recoil would knock you back yards and do immense damage to you
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I always think the PIAT was a typically English looking solution to a particular problem, large chunks of angle iron, designed to be built in a garden shed by someone who had been told what a bazooka looked like but had never seen one. And then paint the finished item green.................
The projectile itself was actually reasonably effective against the side and rear armour of most tanks. Front sloping or ERA - almost a waste of time. Pretty heavy to carry too - anyone who has had to heft the 84 around will understand that particular problem...................
Arc
The projectile itself was actually reasonably effective against the side and rear armour of most tanks. Front sloping or ERA - almost a waste of time. Pretty heavy to carry too - anyone who has had to heft the 84 around will understand that particular problem...................
Arc
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No ERA during WWII. The major defences against a shaped charge were (as you say) sloped armour, and spaced armour (think StuG III and StuG IV side-plates).
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Frances Catherine Cain (daughter of Maj Robert Henty Cain VC) married Jeremy Clarkson in 1993 as his second wife. They divorced in 2014.
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Another Arnhem Dakota story from the EDP; https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/sur...ttle-1-6282266