By 1942, the Second World War had persisted for three years. The British had encountered significant combat across different theaters, frequently facing off against the Germans and their tanks. Although their infantry were well-armed with a variety of anti-tank weapons, they weren’t inflicting the necessary damage.
Initially, the British relied on the Boys anti-tank rifle and the Grenade, Rifle No. 68 / Anti-Tank (AT) as their main anti-tank armaments, but soon realized neither was sufficiently effective. In fact, during the British Eighth Army’s assessment of Operation Crusader in North Africa, they couldn’t find a single recorded instance where the Boys rifle successfully disabled a German tank.
Recognizing this weakness, the British understood the need to develop a new weapon to serve as their primary anti-tank gun. This led to the creation of the Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank Mk 1, more commonly known as the PIAT.
Initial development and design of the PIAT
Among the two British weapons most frequently deployed against tanks in the early stages of the war, the Boys anti-tank rifle was considered the best choice. It was a strong rifle capable of piercing 25 mm of tank armor from a distance of half a kilometer. Nonetheless, its deployment in France soon revealed its inability to match the increasingly heavier enemy tank armor.
The predecessor to the PIAT was initially designed as a spigot mortar intended for the British Home Guard to use in the event of a German invasion. The design came from Lt. Col. Stewart Blacker of the Royal Artillery and underwent numerous changes and rejections by the War Office before resulting in the Blacker Bombard. Upon learning about shaped charges, he adjusted the weapon to develop the Baby Bombard.
Innovative ammunition created the PIAT
The improvement of the design was eventually handed over to Maj. Millis Jefferis, a sapper with the British Army and the commander of Ministry of Defence 1 (MD1), the secret British weapon development facility nicknamed “Churchill’s Toyshop.” Jefferis rebuilt the prototype to create what would become the PIAT.
Production began in August 1942 and the weapon was in use the following year.
What’s interesting about the PIAT is that the charge moved extremely slowly – only 83 meters per second – as the weapon fired a hollow cone-shaped charge launched by a jet of molten metal. This meant the range and velocity had no impact on performance. The energy from the explosion was concentrated in the point of the charge, allowing it to easily pierce through a tank, despite its slow speed.
Working with a stiff spring
While the weapon was considered very effective, it had a few drawbacks. The primary difficulty soldiers faced with the PIAT was that the compressed spring used to load it was extremely stiff and hard to manage, yet the process had to be done manually before the first shot was fired.
It was designed, however, so the recoil from that first shot would re-charge the PIAT, meaning the user wouldn’t have to. This didn’t always happen, as there was a lapse between the trigger pull and the round ejection. This often led to those who were inexperienced releasing their grip too early, causing the weapon to not re-charge. It wasn’t a matter of simply re-charging the gun either, as this was difficult to do without standing up.
Due to the issues with the stiff spring, soldiers were trained to keep the PIAT charged before expected use and to always have it charged, but unloaded, when in action. Only when it didn’t automatically re-charge on the recoil did the user actually re-charge during combat.
Other issues with the PIAT
While the stiff spring used for charging the weapon was its primary design flaw, the PIAT had other issues, as well. The weapon itself and its ammunition were very heavy, with the latter alone weighing between 14.4 and 15 kg. While it could be operated by one person, it generally wasn’t, with a second typically carrying and loading the ammunition.
One of the other main issues was that the PIAT had an exceedingly forceful kickback. One British soldier who used the weapon in Italy shot at a German Panther tank while standing with it on his shoulder. Although he succeeded in his shot, the recoil was so strong that he was completed knocked over.
Many soldiers wholeheartedly believed the recoil could break one’s shoulder.
Notable use during the Second World War
The PIAT was used by the British and other Commonwealth forces during the final years of the Second World War. It was first introduced during the Tunisia Campaign and was later used in the battles of Normandy, Arnhem, Ortona and Villers-Bocage, as well as during operations Epsom and Perch. Polish resistance fighters also used it during the Warsaw Uprising.
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By the end of the war, there were roughly six Victoria Crosses awarded for PIAT-related actions, along with many other medals. Among the recipients were Maj. Robert Cain, who destroyed several German vehicles in Oosterbeek; Pvt. Ernest “Smokey” Smith, who knocked out a Panther tank; and Rifleman Ganju Lama, who single-handedly defeated several Japanese tanks during the Battle of Imphal.