PIAT stood for "Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank" and was the main British anti-tank weapon of World War II.
British soldiers were equipped with the Boys Anti-tank Rifle (Rifle, Anti-Tank, .55in, Boys).
Even during the early stages of the war...
the Boys Rifle as well as other anti-tank rifles were considered
Obsolete it had insufficient power to penetrate the average tank armor
So it was clear that it had to be replaced with a more powerful weapon
the idea of the first British portable anti-tank weapon was brought up by leftenant Colonel Stuart blacker
His black a bombard was actually a spigot mortar modified for an anti-tank role the weapon could launch high-explosive bombs
It's later portable version known as the baby bombard was used as a model for the p8
Black his design was improved by major Miller's Jefferies who is in charge of the special weapons development
organization called Ministry of Defence one or simply MD one
this unit was responsible for creating a number of secret weapons for the British Army during the war because of its nature the
Organization was also known as Churchill's toy shop Maj Jeffries adopted the bombard to be carried and operated by one soldier
The weapon bypassed standard tests and trials as it was of greatest importance to put it in action as soon as it was possible
production of PS began in August 1942 a
Strange thing for the weapon was that at the beginning the main manufacturer was the Imperial Chemical Industries Limited
Which was not an ordnance company
the PRS resembled a heavy tube made of sheets of Steel and was a 39 inches or
0.99 meters long and weighed 32 pounds or 15 kilos the tube housed the spigot mechanism and a firing spring
There was also a trigger mechanism attached and a monopod the rear end of the weapon had padding to rest the shoulder
The front end was made in a shape of a trough with a moveable spigot rod on which a projectile was placed the pr2 launched
high-explosive anti-tank
Projectiles with a shaped charge this novel charge allowed Piatt projectiles to penetrate through four inches of armor
Its projectile tail was made in the shape of a hollow tube into which a propeller charge was inserted
PS projectiles were effective against all tanks at distances of
115 yards or
105 meters
The entire operation of the PS was very simple when the trigger was pulled the spigot rod was pushed by the spring through the hollow
projectile tail which ignited the propellants charged
The propellants explosion launched the projectile and pushed the spigot back against the spring and cost the weapon for the next firing
So it was only before the first launch that the piers had to be cocked manually
The piates simple design and spigot mortar system gave it an advantage over rocket launchers such as the bazooka and Panzerfaust
Since it didn't require a complex rocket mechanism. It was very easy to make and more importantly
it was very cheap from August 1942 until the end of the war the Imperial chemical industries and other
manufacturers produced around
115 thousand weapons another advantage the p8 had gained was its ability to launch high explosive grenades and smoke grenades
Also since have used a spigot mortar system
There was no back blast which allowed the p8 to be used from buildings and other confined spaces
This was impossible to do with rocket launchers without harming everyone inside the room
Despite these advantages Piet's was quite unpopular among British and Commonwealth soldiers because of its many disadvantages
The first one was that it was large and unwieldy and therefore difficult to carry around
Another more important drawback was the difficult and awkward process of the piates initial cocking to do it
The weapon had to be put vertically with the soldier's feet standing on the shoulder padding
The tube was then turned to unlock and pulled upwards to load the spring and to attach it to the trigger mechanism
Once the spring was attached the tube was pulled down again and turned back to lock not only was this entire operation
Complicated it was especially difficult for short soldiers not to mention that it was almost impossible
to complete when in prone position the Piett also had a fairly big recoil which very often caused injuries to its users and
Also had issues with round reliability which would mean that the whole cocking process would have to be done again in battle
Popular or not. The PS was widely used after it at service in mid 1943
It was first used by Canadian troops during the operation husky the Allied invasion of Sicily from July to August
1943 in the British Army, it was used by infantry on a platoon level
it was also used by Royal Marine Commandos and
Even as an auxilary weapon by some light armored vehicle groups
The British deployed the weapon and other armies and resistant movements in occupied Europe
The piates was used by Red Army and Free French troops and also by Greek polish and Yugoslav resistance fighters
After the war ended the need for the pH was reduced
It was gradually withdrawn from service until the early
1950s when it was replaced in the British Army by the American M20 super bazooka
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