MOBAT, WOMBAT, CONBAT | Anti-Tank Chats 

Hi Tank Nuts - let us know what you think of the B.A.T. in the comments below!

The WOMBAT was retained in West Berlin after it was withdrawn elsewhere, due to the difficulties of using MILAN in a built up area, especially the minimum engagement range which was hard to achieve.

Once our army reservist mortar platoon at CFB Wainwright did a 81mm mortar illumination night shoot for our sister regiment in the British army, the Royal Irish Rangers armoured defence platoon. Witnessing these 120s firing at night and using thier M8 spotter rifles was an event I will remember forever. Summer of 1981 in Alberta.

That explanation of squash head rounds was terrifying. I already knew basically how they worked, but the full details about shock waves, and all that, made them sound even worse. As for the naming conventions, one would think that half the development time for these projects is spent making sure the acronyms work out to something cool sounding.

I'm disappointed that one wasn't called a Cricket BAT

I did my (Swedish) military service with an AT platoon mainly armed with a pair of towed pvpj 1110, a 90mm recoilless rifle. Fun fact: In 1989 the effective ranges were given as 800m/700m for stationary/moving targets. In 2000 those ranges had been dropped to 400m/300m. The Ontos is one of my favorite AFV designs. It's just about perfect for an ambush hit-and-run, the type of combat my unit was supposed to conduct. I've read many complaints about "not able to reload under armor" but that's a total non issue when you have a six-shooter for use in battles that never lasts more than about five seconds. With a single gun you'll be happy if there's time to fire a second shot before having to disengage. Then reloading takes place while not in combat.

This channel has the most clear, concise and knowledgeable educators on RU-vid.

A welcome to Chris Copson..a good new member of the video narrators team 👍

In the 60's I was in 4th Btn., Queens Royal Surrrey Regt., TAVR. On the BAT crew. Many happy memories of the beast. Very, very heavy with the 4 piece armoured shield!! I clearly recall our exercises where we would tip it into a ditch and had to get it out using just our manual efforts. And don't leave anything behind it when you fired- you will never see it again. We did try the boasted lack of recoil by following the prescribed example of a glass filled to 1/4" of the top and placed on the top shield. Fired without a drop spilled. And the added bonus? We never walked anywhere with our own wheels and plenty of space for our Bengazi Burner and all mod-cons. First rule, look after yourself. The happiest days.

When i was a child I had a toy version of this. It fired matchsticks and i spent many hours trying to get it to fire one that would ignite on contact.

In 1977-80 I was in A Coy 5 Queens (TA) and our anti-tank teams had MOBATs and were told “when they break if workshops can not fix them, they go off to a museum”. They also had the 7.62 Bren as a spotting rifle and most crews “borrowed” the 30 round mags for their SLRs.

So one could say that an operator of this weapon might be called Batman. Another excellent video. Fascinating explanation. Thank you!

My first Britains toy cannon was a Wombat. :)

I am really enjoying the anti tank chats, thanks

Thank you . Another Great video. Cheers

That was fascinating. I knew that there had been a British weapon system called WOMBAT but knew effectively nothing about it. Now I know quite a bit about a very interesting Cold War era weapon. Thank you.

Good presentation. As a US army reserve member I trained recruits in killing Tanks and lighter targets. Dragon, TOW, M72A1 LAW and AT-4/M136. I had a bit of training on the then New Javelin just before my 27 years of service ended. 2 active the rest on the reserve side. The Bat series were serious beasts. The Malkara had a bigger warhead but was a serious training challenge with poor field results.

This is an awesome presentation. I think Chris shows his past military service,. Concise, thorough and crystal clear!!

An interesting way of considering the potential of the Burney 3.45” weapon is to imagine one trooper effectively carrying the destructive capability of the legendary 25 pounder gun/howitzer and consideration was given for deploying it in the jungles of Burma where normal artillery could be difficult to field. They were tested at the Shoeburyness Ranges a few miles from where I live. A handful were sent out to Burma but because of the sudden collapse of the conflict there, they were not used operationally. It’s also worth mentioning that Burney built a recoilless weapon designed for the assault on the Atlantic Wall. This was a stonking 7.2” calibre weapon firing a wall-buster shell weighing 139lb. It was trialled in September 1943 against a 5’ thick reinforced concrete wall and the effect was suitably gratifying ~ the re-bars were totally severed and chunks of concrete were blown up to 60 yards from the rear of where the wall had been struck. I believe that ultimately a combination of the problem of the immense back-blast and vulnerability of the firing team saw the 7.2” Burney set aside in favour of the Churchill AVRE with the petard mortar and its 40lb warhead ‘Flying Dustbin’ spigot bomb.

As a young lad back in the day, as the lowest rung in a Conbat AT gun crew, i was a loader. Always remember how heavy the 120mm shells were, and yes, the back blast. Downside was you also had the job of removing the bloody things if there was a misfire, as the rest of the crew would hastily exit left to a safe distance. Got to fire the thing a few times on the range though, so wasnt all bad. Setting up the .50 spotting rifle and main gun to the sight using a bore scope was also a frequent task.

Most enjoyable. I remember the infantry buzzing around the Einbeck Bowl in Landrovers carrying the Wombat, in the early 80s. I was a troop commander AD at the time.

Anyone did the Royal Marine course, all the all arms Lympstone. I did the all arms. If you were a tad under weight in a webbing run, you had to carry heavy kit for the say, one bit was wally the wombat shell. I miss them days. I was young, healthy, fit. I am now stuck in with a lung condition I picked up in Iraq , slightest chill sets me of. I still exercise, but more jogs at a very slow pace.

Excellent video, I've never seen such a comprehensive history of recoilless rifles, and I've always wanted to know more about them!

Thank you for doing this Video. History of the various BATs, need to be documented.

Thank you for another excellent video. During the time the Wombat was in service, a punishment for a squadie could carrying a dummy full weight practice round for a day.. Somthing to be seriously avoided! Thank you again.

Very interesting weapon & history. These videos are well presented as always. Thanks TTM 👍

Exellent video! In future, if possible, could you please show us the breech open? It is so rare to see it in museum pieces but maybe in these kind of videos it could be done.

We had Wombat. They had no radio as that could have caused an accidental discharge. I was a signaler, so on exercise sometimes I was sent with them with my A41. Wombat and portee were cool.

Well done, sir! I knew about the "projectile out front, gas out the back" principle, but not about the the squash head effect.

I spent 12 years in A/Tk started on Wombats back in 69 had a brief spell with Conbat before going to BAOR and back to Wombat, we also had Swingfire at that time, had a couple of years with a TA unit as PSI with MOBATS and finally on to Berlin in 1980 with the Platoon swapping the MILAN and going back to WOMBAT. Loved firing the WOMBAT.

Thank you for the great work Sir

I'm an ex-British tank commander (Chieftain\Challenger 1) and frequently heard people mention how loud the 120mm was when firing. Although loud, it was nothing compared to the Wombat. My dad had been Anti-Tank platoon for years with 1RHF. He took me and my brothers along to a range day with the TA at Otterburn and i even got to fire the .50 ranging gun. My overriding memory of the Wombat firing to this day though, was the noise, the way the ground shook even up to 100m away and the venturi blast. It was biblical!

Very interesting video. Well presented. I especially like how Mr. Copson pronouces German names in a way that they are actually recognizable.

As a British Army Teaching establishment you might like to ask someone as a "Training Exercise" too put some compressed air in the tyres, I bet even Richard would jump at the chance.

I love weird early versions of things. Like the basics are there, it’s just got an extra shotgun strapped on for no reason.

Very happy to see this. Using Javelins and other ATGW to attack MBTs, fair exchange. Using them against Sangars, mud brick compounds, bunkers? Not so much. Far more economical to use a recoilless rifle and very portable.

Thanks, excellent presentation. I also had the matchstick firing BAT in the 70s!

Great video. Thanks and please keep them coming.

4:44 😅 that guy totally took a cactus to the face

i was in an anti tank plt in BAOR....loved that gun the wombat !!

Stop the video at 7:29 and please be upstanding and a round of applause to anyone who’s ever been “beasted” in the guard room with a WOMBAT shell.I feel your pain.

That was absolutely fascinating. Thank you.

Another fine video as always. Thank you very much.

Excellent ! Very interesting. Thanks a lot for the video.

I've always had a thing for the BATs. I have a feeling WOMBATs on FV432s might be surprisingly useful for Ukraine right now.

That was so informative from Chris again.

Great video :) Keep 'em coming :) Meanwhile - I have no rockets in pockets, or wombats in my combats :)

Brilliant presentation.

Luv the clear explanation.

It's a good thing development ended when it did, or they would have tried to name a version combat wombat.

In the late 1970s, our Wombats were named after the swords of heroes in the the Lord of the Rings. Painted on spotting rifle empty case protective shield. Joke was Wombat "...easily portable by its crew of four..." I believe ours went down on the Atlantic Conveyor after being handed over to Task Force. Unofficial doctrine was three rounds and clear off...signature from ventura was spectacular. Other role for AT platoon was fire support from 0.5 spotting rifle. The famous Browning heavy m.g. Very popular with rifle platoons who were very unhappy about us drawing unwanted attention to themselves and then crashing out to decondary position. They did like our travelling and extensive brew kits, though. Glad we never had to use them for real, though.

Good video. Thank you.

Same principal as the Cark Gustav. Thanks for the vid.

Nice description, thanks.

Very interesting Video. Learned something today. Not least about wonderfull Acronyms :)

I spent a year in a TA (Reserve for non-British) anti-tank platoon and we had the Bren LMG as a spotting rifle. With everything else going on you had to work out the difference in trajectory between the main armament and the Bren. If I remember correctly, they only coincided at 600 meters and if the target was anything less you had to get the spotters into the tracks and if it was 800 the tracers needed to be going just over the top of the turret. I think I got it the right way around but it's 40 years and you can't remember everything. When I did the full course at Netheravon(?) they said they only took them out of store twice a year for the TA to train on. Because the back blast could be seen for miles supposedly the drill was only fired two rounds and then took your gun off to a prepared secondary position before the next engagement. It was in a pit weighed 750kg and it took about 20 minutes to strip out never mind pulling cross country with a Landrover, putting in another pit and caming up which was at least another 20 minutes. Assuming you got a hit with both rounds they told us Russian tanks came in threes and sometimes in fours. The assumption had to be a lot of seriously ****** off Ruskies would do nothing while all this was going on!

Handsome looking weapon. Great presentation, thank you

I love recoilless rifles as a concept so this was great.

I remember a training session with a wombat as a cadet. It was fitted with a starlight scope. the drill round was enormous. probably heavier than me!

I enjoyed your video and learned something I didn't know about recoilless weapons...dang it i thought I knew everything 😁👍

Fascinating!

The right tyre on that L7 could use some air.

2:55 I have a surviving Stereoscope of the Krupp exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair, an astounding display.

Ha! I have some Pics of our Bn AT concentration back in the '70s, with a lot of wombats firing their tracer and main over a long camera exposure - must upload it somewhere one day. Back to wombats - good when mounted on the back of a 432, but talk about a signature...... Meanwhile wombat drill rounds were still being used in many Guardrooms throughout the Army for many decades after the weapon itself was withdrawn - they could be polished, and they were heavy - ideal for use by the 'detainees' who would, for loooong periods, either polish or carry them!

Very interesting!

Thanks!

I know a fellow Marine who manned an Ontos, and he let me know that if all 6 tubes were fired at once, the two center tubes projectiles would hit each other not very far downrange.

A great very interesting Tank Chat.

It should be noted that recoilless rifles were used for decades after military service for avalanche control

Interesting weapon, today mostly forgotten by major armies, but some insurgency groups still use them... A cousin of mine back in the day had fired one while he was in the army. It was Yugoslav made M60 in 82mm caliber. Almost identical to American recoilless gun. He claims it is very accurate, almost sniper like, but low shell velocity and, biggest drawback - huge "demasking effect" (which is the way our army says "once you pull the trigger, they can see your position from the Moon"). Huge bang, smoke and dust go all around the weapon, so return fire is expected pretty much in seconds...

I repaired and decommissioned the Wombat at the Airborne Museum in Aldershot about 20 years ago. I had never seen one before. REME Metalsmith 88-10.

The first effective Recoiless AT Weapon was the US Bazooka at 60mm,GB was content till OP Market Garden then and a Work Group called Broadway began trials with a 3.7" (94mm) BAT using an Barrel from the M1937 Medium AA Gun but had problems with a suitable Venturi then the War ended and the Prototype was Scrapped.The rest is history but the Bren was converted to 7.62 .30 cal which had a similar trajectory to the Mobat and later we used a .50cal as a spotter on the WOMBAT.

very good ,the complete package

This is very help full info for a mod we're working on for hoi4

Sorry if this has already been written: As a child, around 1970, I bought a Britains Models BAT. That has long gone. It was far less effective, as a toy, than the crude Britains 25 Pounder. There were online resources claiming that all of this family were known as the 'VC gun' in British service. You could only got the medal posthumously; because if you killed a tank every single enemy would have started shooting at you before your round landed (and you don't get a medal for missing!). I suggest doing a video on how/why the 17 Pounder ATG was kept in British Army service in Berlin after it has been retired from the BAOR

...any topic that launches with a nod to the Ontos, is bound to intrigue 👍🍻

HESH is one of those concepts that I have always wondered why it wasn't more widely adopted. I have heard things like it requires rifled barrels which are naturally more expensive than smoothbore barrels and that it's easier to hit a target with a fast moving sabot than the slower HESH but never heard anything along the lines of lack of effectiveness against armor. Not to mention a HESH shell likely can replace normal HE shell in most cases for softer targets.

When I was a kid there was one of these at Biggin Hill air show which you could play with, including a wood an brass dummy round you could load and eject. Unfortunately when I wasn't paying attention someone ejected the round and it landed on my foot! Ouch. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to spoil the day for the rest of the family, and me of course. It was only when we got home that i spilled the beans... the damage was largely bruising but my poor old big toenail never grew straight again and got worse and worse as I grew older and eventually led to my toenail being killed off so I don't have one anymore....kids eh

Good video

Forgotten Weapons did a video on the M8 spotting rifle

I can remember night firing the conbat at imber ranges ( i was in Anti-tanks Plt 1LI )

I've read that Wombats fitted to Land Rovers were supposed to be removed from the vehicle for firing; if firing from the vehicle was necessary, it was to be done at a 90° angle. I have a 1/35 scale Wombat conversion set for the Italeri Land Rover i need to build one of these days....

Could you, please, inflate those tyres, it’s doing my head in 😂🤣.

Great vid fun fact about the M50 Ontos yes it did see combat in Vietnam but from wiki quote: The Ontos did see use as an anti-tank weapon during the American involvement in the Dominican Civil War: on 29 April 1965 an M50 Ontos and an M48 Patton of the 6th MEU engaged and destroyed two rebel L/60L light tanks, each destroying one. In another instance, an Ontos destroyed an AMX-13. Apparently the 120mm BAT where shipped to see action in the Falklands war but never got taken of the transport ships they where being transported on.

Right now you could have hours of fun in Ukraine playing with a Wombat ⏰ 🎉 🇺🇦 it's the finest length of precision engineered drain pipe ever to serve in her late Majesty's armed forces 😊👍 the only thing it couldn't stop is a NAAFI delivery van 💥 but truth be told nothing can stop a NAAFI delivery van the Yorkie Bars will always get through 🍫😉

Pump the tyres up, there's a good chap.

Grandfather was in charge of an anti-tank company in germany with these things. In the DERR.

I have used the Carl Gustaf, only set fire to something once 😂

Served with these weapons for about 5 years. Great weapons, very destructive. We reckoned that WOMBAT meant What! One More BAT!, But the, Squaddies do have a bizarre sense of humour.

I love recoilless rifles ❤

I used one during Inf Corps Training. I still have the scab from the Matilda I hit. It's about 75mm & was still attached by about a mm of steel. The inside of the Tank was shredded & nothing left of the scabs or anything else that was protruding anywhere. Terrifying.

During many visits and walking Long Distance in Belgium, I sadly first later became aware of the "lost" Tiger 2. in La Gleize and never got to visit it! It has few dents in the front from the Americans, later trying to shot at it with anti tank guns!!

I used to have a Dinky or Corgi toy of one of these in the 1960s. it was just called a BAT gun so I have no idea what specific piece it was.

The bren on the side might not been very good for sighting but would have been good for spraying the enemy after a shell or two I look forward to the next video here in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The car Burney is pictured with at the beginning of this piece is (I think) called the Burney Streamline and is of his own design.

I come across a wombat at an army fair and it had a Bren gun for ranging

Another solution is to purchase a couple of RPG7s from your local B&Q.

Please tell me tbat you are doing an episode on the carl-gustav m4 ?

Please do a video on American and another on French tank doctrine like your British one

how well do squash head rounds works if they strike at an oblique angle ?