Anti-Tank Chats #5 | PIAT | The Tank Museum 

Major Cain is such a character, winning a VC in Arnhem, living his life after the war and never telling anyone he actually won the VC.

My great-grandfather brought back a “Demilitarized” PIAT when he came back from Europe in late-‘46, and it was in the family until the mid-1990s. That’s when we donated his collection to the local Royal Legion. We all found out his unit’s armourer de-mil’d the PIAT, solely, by cutting off the end of the trigger. It was handed back to the Legion after it was properly demilitarized by the Canadian Forces, and is back to being displayed.

Hello, Tank Nuts! We hope you enjoy this weeks Anti-Tank Chat with Stuart Wheeler, do let us know your thoughts in the comments.

I've been fascinated by the PIAT, ever since I saw the first picture. It's so uniquely British that you probably need to pronounce it with the right accent for the weapon to work.

And all this time I thought the spring tension alone was what was launching the projectile..... Sigh. Of course, there would be a launching charge. How many coffee table ww2 books failed to mention that?

This is going to be good “Bring up the PIAT” 👍

This is the first time the operation of this weapon made sense to me. The virtual cutaway view of its operation was key in communicating how it worked.

Its ability to knock out German tanks frontally was pretty impressive, at a time when bazookas and AT rifles had to engage from the side.

Stewart Blacker was an amazing man, who led an incredible life of seeking solutions to the problems he encountered whilst having out of this world adventures. Definitely an Autobiography worth reading.

On the morning of June 6th British paratroopers defending the captured bridges over the river Orne and the Caen canal were engaged by two small German craft coming north down the canal. A PIAT was brought up and hit one which crashed into the bank, the other fled down towards the coast and the guns of the Royal Navy

Good video guys, always pleased to see efforts to explain the much maligned PIAT wasn't as useless as is often thought. Glad the photographs of the design drawings I provided were useful!

The Canadian Smokey Smith won the VC in a similar story in Italy.

These anti tank chats are really interesting. I just wish they were released on a more regular basis.

Excellent work. A long delayed but super comprehensive exposition on the much maligned PIAT. Thank you.

If you'd like to read a story of the PIAT being used in Burma, read the next to last chapter of George MacDonald Fraser's autobiography "Quartered Safe Out Here". He used it in an ambush of Japanese attempting to escape by river from being surrounded by 14th army. The rest of the book is quite good.

Impressive how much armour penetration it had for the time.

"...only swapping to a 2 inch mortar when the PIAT''s ammo ran out." Just hold on there. You mean to say he started firing a HE platoon support weapon point blank from the hip? From The Hip Just so he could keep hunting Nazi tanks. ( I think even Chuck Norris trembled the tiniest bit hearing that.)

My dad was seconded to the British army in the later stages of WWII. He didn't talk much about this time, but when he did, the PIAT was almost always involved. That's good enough advertising for me.

George Macdonald Frazier, in his memoir: 'Quartered Safe Out Here,' describes using the PIAT against Japanese river barges during the Burma campaign. He had no complaints.

Excellently detailed explanation of the PIAT ams it’s use. Well done that man. It always reminds me of the mess left after PIRA decided to fire an RPG7 from inside a van…. No backblast can be very useful. Backblast in a confined tin box, perhaps less so.

While it's heavier than the Bazooka that is the only downside in exchange for many advantages: + Larger projectile (shot at the same velocity as Bazooka) + smaller and easier to camouflage + able to be shot while prone + able to be shot from enclosed spaces and with troops nearby + No visible flash or smoke when firing + Much faster reload, especially with an assistant (5 hits in 20 seconds on a moving target!) + Can be used in an indirect-fire role However, the PIAT was a dead-end design, it could not be scaled up as it was already the upper limit of carrying weight, nor could lighter materials be used as it needs the mass of the PIAT was needed to absorb recoil. Both of these principles would be used on the M20 Super Bazooka, as that used a larger rocket that also allowed a higher velocity to be used which extended range. And the overwhelming desire was for an infantry direct-fire weapon with more range, which required a higher velocity. The British accepted the 84mm Carl Gustav which was just as heavy and fired a projectile just as large but at 4x the velocity and rifled for additional accuracy and about 2x the velocity of the Super Bazooka. The Carl-G would eventually be lightened even more over time as it could since it was recoil-less it only needed to contain the pressure with composite materials. Bazooka had a few advantages: + light enough to be fired from very awkward positions like leaving out around cover + the rockets can be set as booby traps to be fired without the tube, which exists only to protect who fires it + many bazookas can be attached together and easily fired in volleys (see "Bazooka Charlie") the electrical ignition was key to this. + it's just a cheap metal pipe, they could be mass produced in astonishing numbers + the bazooka was less likely to have a round skip off slanted surfaces without properly detonating

That was another good anti tank chat as always. Looking forward to the Panzerfaust for comparison

Blacker Bombard was used by NZ and Indian troops in North Africa at least - I have read reports from both nations about their use with the HE round in combat. In one some NZ troops were being bothered by an MG post in the day so at night they moved the Bombard up into position and lobbed a few rounds at the post, silencing it forever.

I served in anti-tanks, I was a 95mm recoilles gun loader, and 112mm APILAS gunner, and off course 66mm LATW was as familiar as my RK-62

100 cm of armor at 30 degree is very effective penetration. That's about the front of a Panther. I never knew that the P.I.A.T. was such a widely used and beloved weapon among British troops. Clear, understandable, well-informed, and enjoyable presentation by Prof. Wheeler. Hail to the heroes we wielded this brilliant weapon in combat.

Major Robert Henry Cain was Jeremy Clarkson's Father in Law, Clarkson does an excellent documentary 'War Stories'.

Hadn't realised that the PIAT was so versatile beyond it's anti tank role, but it made good sense.

Ganju Lama, 1/7 Gurkha Rifles, received the VC for destroying 2 Japanese tanks during the Imphal fighting. It appears that his was the 3rd Victoria Cross awarded for using the PIAT.Thank you for covering this uniquely British Weapon. Were any Blacker bonbards used in the field against German or Italian armour?

There is a PIAT used in the Polish film “Kanal” in one scene. A Goliath remote control bomb was also used.

Some of your best content in terms of information density and overall communication. Thanks for posting.

Read George MacDonald Frazers book "Quartered Safe out Here", as a young LCpl he was assigned to a special force detachment in Burma to instruct the locals in the use and to use it in an ambush. Great book, well worth a read

Fascinating description of the PIAT. Thank you!. I also like the way PIAT was cocked, similar (I think) to how crossbows were cocked hundreds of years ago.

Thanks for a very comprehensive and thorough chat on this interesting weapon. I like that you've broadened your coverage & look forward to seeing more like this.

The PIAT is such a British weapon. I mean how much more eccentric and finicky could you make an infantry weapon? I'm surprised the damn thing didn't come with a sextant attached.

What a superb chat. Thank you very much Stuart.

Overlooked the famous use of a PIAT at Pegasus Bridge during D-Day. In that action, British glider commandos seized Pegasus Bridge to cut the beachheads off from German reinforcement. Later that night a combat Engineers from a Panzer division tried to cross the bridge to investigate reports of paratroopers in the area. The commandos fired on the lead tank, "brewing it up." The tank crew died and severely wounded the tank commander, also the Engineer unit company commander. The Germans withdrew, so impressed by the tank's violent destruction they claimed the bridge was defended by numerous 6 lb anti-tank guns. They postponed the operation until daylight, by which time it was too late and no German vehicle could move in the open without massive allied tactical air attacks. So the commandos, using a PIAT, prevented an entire Panzer division from sweeping the D-Day beaches.

This is the most complete and detailed PIAT documentary i have ever seen. Well done Tank Museum. Really good.

Love these anti-tank chats!!! Keep em coming!

Interesting and very good video 🙂 .. the video of the troops training on the PIAT are shooting at the Stug III that Jon Philips later restored, turns out it was one of only three ever sent to North Africa with the DAK and there are photos of it captured there ... he left the holes in it ;-)

Been looking forward to more of this series

Great description of the PIAT and how it works and how it was used.

When he said it hit a moving Churchill 🐌 I couldn't help but laugh! 😂

Excellent presentation. Thank you

Kiwis seemed to think quite highly of them in Italy, including using them in the mortar role.

The best video I've seen in a long time. Thank you.

Very informative and well done. Glad I could help!

Absolutely loving this series, and it's nice to see and hear from some new faces.

Yesss at last! Love the PIAT

Great talk well done. Would like to hear more chats from this chap.

I learned fro history that the PIAT was an effective anti-tank weapon, but i had never heard of it's role against bunkers and as a mortar. This has raised my appreciation for the weapon and it's role in WWII.

Excellent job, as always.

What a great series! Excellent work!

Thank you for the best review of this weapon I have seen.

Good to see footage from “Theirs is the Glory”. Also given an alternate expansion of the PITA acronym (pain in the a***) I’m not too surprised by my forebears.

Excellent presentation of this weapon! Fascinating video.

This part of the Tank Museum's content really is "an untold story"; one of the best things on youtube.

Excellent. Thank you.

Great insight-thanks. My late father received the training on the PIAT fairly late in the war either in the Middle east or Germany- he was not impressed- ' a boingy thing with a spring' was his view. Mind you he had until shortly before been a cavalryman ! Wish I'd asked him more but isn't that always the way.....

PIAT has been the victim of a lot of unfair criticism stemming from misinformation and false rumors. It was a good weapon.

Thank you. Really enjoyable and informative video. Cheers

That was so very interesting. Thank you! 👍

Hey, we need a new antitank weapon. The Boys isn't getting the job done. How about we make a shoulder fired mortar with a giant AT round? And the crazy thing is . . .that idea worked!

1:45 "The crew would have been macerated" Unfortunately, this means: *_macerate_* _verb_ past tense: macerated; 1. Soften or become softened by soaking in a liquid. "macerate the mustard seeds in vinegar" "The crew had been macerated in Guinness"

There's an interesting description of using the Piat against IJA river boats in Burma by George MacDonald Fraser in his book Quartered Safe Out Here. He gives a very clear description of how quirky, awkward, and heavy it was to carry and use, yet it seemed to work somewhat effectively.

THank You that was Great!

WAHEY! been waiting for this one for ages

Breath of fresh air to hear someone who knows what they are talking about and does not pretend that the spring actually projected the projectile without any other propelent involved requiring the weapon to be cooked after every shot.

An informative video that helped my understanding of how the weapon worked and complimented the souvenir brochure I received at Tankfest ‘23. I had always believed this was an unpopular weapon that wasn’t particularly effective. Thanks for presenting a factual and balanced account of its development and employment. 👍

Woo! I'm enjoying these chats

Excellent presentation

Awesome. I like this bloke.

Really interesting video. Thanks.

Loved it!

I certainly learned more from this than I have elsewhere . Super.

I really like these anti-tank chants keep up the good work mate.

A great video about a fantasic anti-tank weapon.

Great video

Well presented.

I honestly hadn't heard of the secondary mortar capability but it makes sense!

Top job guys

Found that really interesting. When I got interested in military history and particularly tanks in the 70s ; the PIAT was always treated as a joke and every reference I recall suggested it was spring launched, limited range and ineffective. Thank you

Excellent

Have a Blacker Bombard concrete base at the bottom of my garden with excellent sight lines of a river bridge

Brilliant video :-)

Fantastic presenter & series.

I really like these anti-tank chats. I hope you continue to more unconventional weapons, as well as some of the Anti-Tank guns. There isn't nearly as much attention given to these weapons as there is to tanks themselves.

Great content!

A great presentation by Stuart, as always.

it's like firing a musket, pull the trigger and wait for the launch. brilliant,

Nice to hear a true account of the PIAT. I have so many claiming it rubbish. 60 rounds launched at short notice as a Mortar. So it worked reliably and the squash head round could smash/shatter the frontal armour of a German Heavy tank when bazookas could and small calibre anti tank guns could not.

On the subject of controlling back-blast: the IRA used readily available items from the kitchen to make The Prig. Soup cans filled with HE for a warhead and to control recoil it blew out the back a packet of crushed digestive biscuits!

My mate’s dad fought in Italy anf had many a tale to tell. One day he and his no.2 were stalking a Tiger, took the shot to see the projectile bounce off the glacis and go vertical. At which point they quickly retired.

Thank you.

If you want to know more about Robert Cain, I recommend the Jeremy Clarkson documentary on the VC. It was his father in law.

I always remember Anthony Hopkins in a bridge too far "bring up the PIAT!" And then it's a spring loaded Rube Goldberg bazooka substitute. Sprrroouiiinnnnggg!

Canadian Ernest 'Smokey' Smith won the Victoria Cross in 1944 when: "...At a range of thirty feet and having to expose himself to the full view of the enemy, Private Smith fired the P.I.A.T. and hit the tank, putting it out of action. Ten German infantry immediately jumped off the back of the tank and charged him with Schmeissers and grenades. Without hesitation Private Smith moved out on the road and with his Tommy gun at point-blank range, killed four Germans and drove the remainder back. Almost immediately another tank opened fire and more enemy infantry closed in on Smith's position. Obtaining some abandoned Tommy gun magazines from a ditch, he steadfastly held his position, protecting his comrade and fighting the enemy with his Tommy gun until they finally gave up and withdrew in disorder."

I noticed you mentioned a few 6 pounder anti-tank guns at Arnhem. Will there be a talk about Lance Sergeant Jack Baskeyfield VC of the South Staffordshire Regiment? Jack's grave has never been found sadly.

Anybody see the PIAT in Combat Dealers (Bruce Crompton) They came up with several anti tank weapons to demonstrate for a film maker.

Any ideas about how much did it cost to produce a PIAT, in decimal £ ? Ive been looking and I can’t find an estimate or an actual amount from the time.

They mentioned that the piat was used in East Asia. There is a great photo showing a veitminh, two man team using a captured one.