PIAT - fairly useless anti tank weapon

[airbolt]

How come the British forces in WW2 had the PIAT when the US had the Bazooka and the Germans had the PanzerSchreck?

Having just watched a doco about Jeremy Clarkson's VC father in law who disabled a number of Tigers ( Tigers! ) with the fairly pathetic PIAT, it makes you wonder how many Tank Kills the British Infantry got in WW2?

[johnlambert]

It did have it's uses if aimed at the side of the tank, and not the front, it could also be used against soft skin vehicles, (armoured cars, etc) , it was smaller and lighter than it's German + American counterparts making it useful for close quarter and urban fighting by being able to create a hole in the side of a house to allow Infantry in, (the same tacticts are used today using a much bigger weapon called the LAW 90).

[johnlambert]

Here is a link you may find interesting


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIAT