Yay - the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) lives! One of the best WW2 infantry heavy weapons always gets ignored for Hollywood loves bazookas - partly as the US didn't use the PIAT but also because bazookas "look" deadlier and make a nice sound (the PIAT goes "plop"). But bazookas were plagued by problems and ineffective against tanks (ok against pill-boxes etc). German panzerschrecks (literally a cloned bazooka, but bigger) were a bit better but long, unwieldy, and made lots of smoke, giving away firer's position (hence "stovepipe" nickname).
Not a single German tank was killed by bazooka in North Africa and did little better in Europe. By comparison, postwar analysis show PIATs responsible for 7% of all German tanks killed by Western forces. Still mightn't sound much but aircraft only destroyed 6% of German tanks.
But here's what they all overlook - the PIAT was also a light mortar. You twist the stock 90 degrees, and pull a 2ft telescopic leg out of the hand grip. That's why a PIAT's stock & hand grip look oversized, and why a PIAT is heavier than a bazooka. Also, PIATs are smokeless, and fired a deadly HEAT round. It entered service before bazooka & schreck, and lasted to the 1950s. Meanwhile, upgraded bazookas (basically trying to back-copy panzerschrecks) were used in the Korean War but were a faulty design, and still deemed ineffective in the anti-tank role.
11 comments
Not a single German tank was killed by bazooka in North Africa and did little better in Europe. By comparison, postwar analysis show PIATs responsible for 7% of all German tanks killed by Western forces. Still mightn't sound much but aircraft only destroyed 6% of German tanks.
But here's what they all overlook - the PIAT was also a light mortar. You twist the stock 90 degrees, and pull a 2ft telescopic leg out of the hand grip. That's why a PIAT's stock & hand grip look oversized, and why a PIAT is heavier than a bazooka. Also, PIATs are smokeless, and fired a deadly HEAT round. It entered service before bazooka & schreck, and lasted to the 1950s. Meanwhile, upgraded bazookas (basically trying to back-copy panzerschrecks) were used in the Korean War but were a faulty design, and still deemed ineffective in the anti-tank role.
Seriously tho those tank numbers are crazy.
:|
And he keeps doing this on my mods, and other's mod, when nobody asked.