Editor in Chief Bill | 07 May 2011 8:30 a.m. PST |
Nominations? And to be specific, we're talking about something man-portable here
|
Connard Sage | 07 May 2011 8:36 a.m. PST |
we're talking about something man-portable here
Then you should have put that in the thread title, otherwise some tool will nominate the PAK 8.8cm 41 |
Connard Sage | 07 May 2011 8:37 a.m. PST |
|
Doms Decals | 07 May 2011 8:49 a.m. PST |
|
fred12df | 07 May 2011 8:50 a.m. PST |
There's not a huge list in common use Panzerschreck Panzerfaust Bazooka PIAT Molotov cocktail Anti tank rifle |
Sundance | 07 May 2011 8:59 a.m. PST |
Russian mine dogs – did a great job blowing up Russian tanks – cause that's what they were trained on
|
Timbo W | 07 May 2011 9:01 a.m. PST |
How about the Ordnance RCL. 3.45in MK 1 ? range 1000 yds, 11 lb HESH warhead According to Wiki- No penetration figures were ever made public. but it is fairly certain that it could knock a 10 lb slab off the back of 6in (150mm) of armour plate at any range it could hit. OK technically not actually used in WW2, but very nearly. |
Bayushiseni | 07 May 2011 9:04 a.m. PST |
Despair, Mr. Sundance, make people do foolish things
Panzerfaust 100. Cheap. Discartable. In the end of the war some conscript German troops received nothing but a panzerfaust. They called it "expensive club". |
Kampfgruppe Cottrell | 07 May 2011 9:18 a.m. PST |
|
John D Salt | 07 May 2011 9:39 a.m. PST |
75mm Kromuskit RCL. OK, it takes several men to carry it, but that's still man-portable. It wins on the strength of the splendid little 54mm model of it that Britain's used to make. All the best, John. |
Griefbringer | 07 May 2011 10:13 a.m. PST |
There's not a huge list in common use Don't forget satchel charges, anti-tank grenades, magnetic mines and various other very close range weapons. Panzerfaust 100. Cheap. Discartable. Plus it had a number of characteristics that probably were considered pretty welcome by the average infantryman (= intended user): - easy to use - relatively easy to carry - good armour penetration - at least some amount of range The basic concept (if not the actual implementation) certainly influenced heavily weapons design in the post-WWII years, with a discardable rocket launcher being the most common anti-tank weapon to be found in the hands of a common infantryman these days. |
SauveQuiPeut | 07 May 2011 10:38 a.m. PST |
Tom Hank's greasy, exploding sock? |
Monophagos | 07 May 2011 10:44 a.m. PST |
Man-portable wireless so you could call in artillery or airstrike
. |
Grand Duke Natokina | 07 May 2011 11:48 a.m. PST |
Connard, I prefer the 43 with the split trail. But to keep it in line with Bill's man portableness requirement, the Panzerschreck. Mainly because it is reloadable. |
Frederick | 07 May 2011 11:56 a.m. PST |
A second vote for the Panzerschreck – as I recall, the best a Panzerfaust could do was about 140mm armour penetration, while a Panzerschreck could penetrate 200 mm – which was signficantly better than anything the good guys had! |
zippyfusenet | 07 May 2011 12:08 p.m. PST |
Hand grenades and K-bar knives, in the hands of Sgt. Rock and the Combat Happy Joes of Easy Company. Took out that Tiger every time. I was also impressed by the Japanese 250 kilo bomb, hidden in a foxhole with a private who was supposed to trigger it by hitting the fuse with a wooden mallet when a tank rolled over him. |
freecloud | 07 May 2011 12:20 p.m. PST |
Typhoon. Totally man portable once switched on
|
Gary Kennedy | 07 May 2011 1:07 p.m. PST |
If you're an infantryman, anything that makes the opposing tank commanders hesitate. I'm not thoroughly convinced the Panzer crews were quite as dismissive of the effects of the PIAT or the 2.36-in rocket launcher as general opinion is today. Being in a steel box while high explosive and/or shaped charged warheads were detonated around/on the turret and hull, even if they are not penetrating hits, was distracting to say the least I'm sure. Disrupting or delaying an attack could be accomplished with lesser weapons however, and armour that's hung up thinking about things isn't doing its job. While they're negotiating your screen of pitifully ineffective handheld weapons, fingers crossed the Arty or TD units are getting ready to say hello
If the criteria is what an infantryman, or two, could carry that was capable of destroying the majority of enemy vehicles with a single shot, then Panzerschreck probably gets my vote. The reduced signature of the Panzerschreck perhaps would be more attractive to the user, but neither are much fun to fire indoors so where's my poor, maligned PIAT! Gary |
Johnny Boy | 07 May 2011 1:15 p.m. PST |
Anti-tank umbrella in the hands of Major Allison Digby Tatham-Warter at Arnhem. You will go some to find something as 'man portable'. John |
Ron W DuBray | 07 May 2011 1:15 p.m. PST |
|
Ascent | 07 May 2011 1:18 p.m. PST |
Slightly early maybe but in the Spanish civil war they used crowbars to pry open the hatch and then throw in a grenade. |
manchesterreg | 07 May 2011 1:44 p.m. PST |
|
Griefbringer | 07 May 2011 1:45 p.m. PST |
A second vote for the Panzerschreck – as I recall, the best a Panzerfaust could do was about 140mm armour penetration, while a Panzerschreck could penetrate 200 mm The first panzerfaust model (Panzerfaust 30 Klein) had a penetration of 140 mm, but all of the subsequent models had the same 200 mm armour penetration as Panzershreck, so no difference on that. That said, the Panzershreck had a longer range than a Panzerfaust. On another note, it was a heavier and clumsier item to carry around. Good for dedicated tank hunting teams, while Panzerfaust was handier for adding some anti-tank defense to the generic infantry squads. |
Doms Decals | 07 May 2011 1:59 p.m. PST |
|
teenage visigoth | 07 May 2011 2:36 p.m. PST |
What zippyfusenet sez. Sgt. Rock and a handgrenade. |
Matsuru Sami Kaze | 07 May 2011 2:54 p.m. PST |
Republic Aviation P-47D Thunderbolt(12,602 built) is what you want. |
miniMo | 07 May 2011 2:59 p.m. PST |
|
Major Mike | 07 May 2011 4:06 p.m. PST |
Panzerfaust. Everybody scrounged them up during the war and used them. |
Toshach | 07 May 2011 5:15 p.m. PST |
I'd say it's a tie between the Typhoon, P-47, and the Sturmovik. |
Connard Sage | 07 May 2011 5:22 p.m. PST |
Thanks for that Toshach. I don't feel so stupid now. |
quidveritas | 07 May 2011 6:07 p.m. PST |
Panzerfaust all the way. Works in the dark, bad weather, and places where a plane can't see or go. mjc
|
zoneofcontrol | 07 May 2011 6:25 p.m. PST |
A shovel for digging an anti-tank ditch. |
Char B1 bis | 07 May 2011 7:19 p.m. PST |
Flamethrower..was this as effective as it would seem to be? |
Sterling Moose | 07 May 2011 7:32 p.m. PST |
A potato in the exhaust? Molatov cocktail to the rear deacks? |
Fonthill Hoser | 07 May 2011 8:07 p.m. PST |
Another vote for flamethrowers. |
skippy0001 | 07 May 2011 8:44 p.m. PST |
One fat man and a little boy |
starkadder | 07 May 2011 9:00 p.m. PST |
Short barreled 25 Pounder. Australians man-hauled them (and the ammo) from Port Moresby over the Kokoda Trail and up the northern coast of New Guinea. They were loved, hated, cheered and sworn at – often by the same people. |
Jemima Fawr | 07 May 2011 9:25 p.m. PST |
German spanners (or rather, the lack of them). |
andygamer | 07 May 2011 9:50 p.m. PST |
Typhoons. They're man portable--only one pilot, after all. |
Agesilaus | 07 May 2011 10:49 p.m. PST |
PTRD or Major Allison Digby Tatham-Warter's umbrella. |
Bangorstu | 08 May 2011 1:34 a.m. PST |
Might be an urban myth, but I've been told Ethiopians used to simply use crowbars and muscle to tip Italian tankettes over onto their top. Given the lack of hatches on any other surface, you could then simply leave the crew to die of thirst
. |
Andy ONeill | 08 May 2011 3:53 a.m. PST |
Well the Rotkappchen ATGM weighed 9Kg so that's pretty man portable. There's some doubt as to whether they saw combat but 5000 were made. So it kind of depends on your criteria. The pz faust was what the tankers really feared because it meant any german infantry at all could be a threat. Terry Ganders's "Bazooka" lists penetration: PzFaust – at 30 degrees 140mm Klein 30 200mm 30m through 150m PzShreck 150mm RPzb 43 and 54 180mm RPzb 54/1 Roughly 26k of the latter were made and 2.2 million of the earlier rounds. Bazooka ( I think this is at 90 deg though ) 120mm PIAT 100mm |
Martin Rapier | 08 May 2011 4:51 a.m. PST |
As mentioned above, restricting it to man portabel seriously reduces the list. Flamethrowers make lousy anti-tank weapons, despite how computer games like to model them. Another vote for the panzerfaust, a very innovative and effective design which put a decent AT capability into every single infantry section, not just specialist infantry AT teams. Another effective weapon was the humble shovel (for anti-tank ditches) or anti-tank mines. |
troopwo | 08 May 2011 7:08 a.m. PST |
For straight out portability, probably the Panzerfaust 150. Although for accuracy and variety of ammunition, you might want to give the US 75mm recoilless rifle a thought. They did make it into the war by the end of the Pacific campaigns on a number of the later islands like Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They tend to be better remembered for Korea though, by which time they were widespread copied by the Chinese even. |
Griefbringer | 08 May 2011 7:48 a.m. PST |
Although for accuracy and variety of ammunition, you might want to give the US 75mm recoilless rifle a thought. Certainly nice range and accuracy, but the armour penetration capability was not all that much to write about (around 100 mm or so), and both the gun and the ammo would have been a pain to haul around for infantryman. Had this weapon been available earlier and in greater numbers, it might have become a legend. |
Char B1 bis | 08 May 2011 9:36 a.m. PST |
|
Dynaman8789 | 08 May 2011 10:02 a.m. PST |
mice. but seriously, panzerfaust. |
archstanton73 | 08 May 2011 10:26 a.m. PST |
Yep Panzerfaust
.. although as an "everyman" weapon I would go with the Molotov cocktail--Easy to make, easy to use and if you drink half the petrol first HEYHEYHEY Fun to use!! |
Griefbringer | 08 May 2011 11:02 a.m. PST |
although as an "everyman" weapon I would go with the Molotov cocktail--Easy to make, easy to use Lugging around a glass bottle with highly flammable fluid is not exactly what I would like to do on a battlefield
|
wrgmr1 | 08 May 2011 12:12 p.m. PST |
My vote is for the Panzerfaust 150 or this little item.. link Magnetic Anti-tank mine. |