Post by whitehorse on Dec 8, 2019 18:25:47 GMT
I’ll compare the PIAT to the most well-known handheld Anti-Tank weapons of the Second World War; namely, the American M1 and M1A1 Bazooka, and the German RPzB 54 Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust.
Most importantly, the PIAT (or Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) was an 83mm spigot mortar system. The other weapons could all be classified as rocket launchers. This design led to some inherent advantages to the other systems.
First and foremost, it had no back-blast at all. As it is, for all intents and purposes, a mortar, enemy tanks couldn’t pinpoint the operator by the large blast and flash of light of a rocket. Having no blast also meant it was a lot safer for friendly troops to be near; you can’t stand behind a Bazooka, but you can stand behind a PIAT.
Secondly, it was a very simple design; it is a tube connected to a large spring and spigot assembly. There is very little that could break. While the system was not perfect (I’ll come to this later), it was very reliable relative to, more notably, the M1 Bazooka.
Now, on to some general disadvantages.
The PIAT is by far the heaviest AT system here at 15kg (32lb). This was a source of constant complaint by British and Commonwealth troops. To compare this to the others:
The (M1A1) Bazooka was 5.8kg (12.75lb)
The Panzerschreck was 11kg (22lb)
The Panzerfaust (60) was 6.25kg (13.8lb)
Even when compared to the 88mm Panzerschreck (which fired the largest warhead), this is a substantial amount of dead weight to carry. That weight was mostly to offset the heavy recoil of the PIAT, but even then, it had quite the kick to it.
Another complaint was the difficulty to cock the mechanism for the first shot. Fighting the spring the whole way, you needed to brace the weapon under your feet and pull the entire thing upwards to set the spring for firing. After that, it re-cocked itself using recoil; occasionally this failed, and you would need to try again.
This is a lot more physically difficult than loading rockets into either the Bazooka or the Panzerschreck, and infinitely more difficult than pulling out another Panzerfaust from a rucksack.
This was never fixed, although training was given on how to properly seat the weapon to make sure it did re-cock itself (this mostly consisted of explaining you shouldn’t stick it into soft ground to fire, and to properly brace it against either yourself, or solid ground, unless you wanted the delightful task of re-cocking the thing).
Misconceptions
There are stories of the PIAT ammunition being extremely unreliable, however, the ammunition was as unreliable as Bazooka ammunition; Bazookas had the unfortunate tendency to ricochet due to the dart-like shape of the rocket, and PIAT shells would not detonate on angled surfaces. Both of these issues were solved later in the war.
One thing that the PIAT did have over the Bazooka is the much larger ammunition (83mm as opposed to 60mm) which made it more effective against heavier targets. Both weapons had an effective direct fire range of 100 metres, and the PIAT crews were able to get a lot closer due to their relative “stealth” when firing. One story often repeated is that a PIAT crew was able to ambush a group of Panzers from almost point blank range at night, which saved their squadmates
The PIAT has confirmed kills on everything from Panzer IIIs…
(Destroyed in Italy by some very sarcastic troops there)
…to Panthers
(Destroyed by the Canadian, Joe Lapointe, in Normandy)
…To Tigers
(Destroyed in Italy)
Edit: Corrections!
First and foremost, it had no back-blast at all. As it is, for all intents and purposes, a mortar, enemy tanks couldn’t pinpoint the operator by the large blast and flash of light of a rocket. Having no blast also meant it was a lot safer for friendly troops to be near; you can’t stand behind a Bazooka, but you can stand behind a PIAT.
Secondly, it was a very simple design; it is a tube connected to a large spring and spigot assembly. There is very little that could break. While the system was not perfect (I’ll come to this later), it was very reliable relative to, more notably, the M1 Bazooka.
Now, on to some general disadvantages.
The PIAT is by far the heaviest AT system here at 15kg (32lb). This was a source of constant complaint by British and Commonwealth troops. To compare this to the others:
The (M1A1) Bazooka was 5.8kg (12.75lb)
The Panzerschreck was 11kg (22lb)
The Panzerfaust (60) was 6.25kg (13.8lb)
Even when compared to the 88mm Panzerschreck (which fired the largest warhead), this is a substantial amount of dead weight to carry. That weight was mostly to offset the heavy recoil of the PIAT, but even then, it had quite the kick to it.
Another complaint was the difficulty to cock the mechanism for the first shot. Fighting the spring the whole way, you needed to brace the weapon under your feet and pull the entire thing upwards to set the spring for firing. After that, it re-cocked itself using recoil; occasionally this failed, and you would need to try again.
This is a lot more physically difficult than loading rockets into either the Bazooka or the Panzerschreck, and infinitely more difficult than pulling out another Panzerfaust from a rucksack.
This was never fixed, although training was given on how to properly seat the weapon to make sure it did re-cock itself (this mostly consisted of explaining you shouldn’t stick it into soft ground to fire, and to properly brace it against either yourself, or solid ground, unless you wanted the delightful task of re-cocking the thing).
Misconceptions
There are stories of the PIAT ammunition being extremely unreliable, however, the ammunition was as unreliable as Bazooka ammunition; Bazookas had the unfortunate tendency to ricochet due to the dart-like shape of the rocket, and PIAT shells would not detonate on angled surfaces. Both of these issues were solved later in the war.
One thing that the PIAT did have over the Bazooka is the much larger ammunition (83mm as opposed to 60mm) which made it more effective against heavier targets. Both weapons had an effective direct fire range of 100 metres, and the PIAT crews were able to get a lot closer due to their relative “stealth” when firing. One story often repeated is that a PIAT crew was able to ambush a group of Panzers from almost point blank range at night, which saved their squadmates
…to Panthers
…To Tigers
Edit: Corrections!
Panzerfausts had the largest warhead at 106mm (150 variant) and 149mm (30, 60, 100 variants).
I neglected to mention the PIAT had a muzzle report similar to a rifle. It’s a mortar, so I thought it would have been more obvious.
I forgot to mention in the Misconceptions part that neither the Bazooka nor the PIAT were very accurate, with both scoring 25% hits on advancing targets and 50% hits on side to side targets. This was confirmed by testing during the war and reports of their usage after.
I also forgot to mention that the Bazooka was used more frequently on non-tank targets, where it was quite effective.