PIAT: Britain's Answer to the Anti-Tank Rifle Problem 

Um actually, PIAT stands for Point It At Tanks.

PIAT: For the times you can't crack open a cold panzer with the Boys anymore.

"in theory you could run up and hit the warhead on the side of the tank and it would be just as effective" Japan: "you guys were _launching_ warheads?"

Bazooka and Panzershrek: “rocket propelled technology is the only way to go!” PIAT: “haha spring go ping”

Such a British thing to do--develop a really effective shaped charge warhead and then shoot it at tanks with a damn spring

"BLOOP" -PIAT, 1944

Americans : rockets Germans : rockets British : *HANDHELD MOOORTAAAAAR*

I surprised there's not a bayonet fitting, fixture on this weapon.

A British officer disabled several tanks just after D-Day, by throwing PIAT charges at them, after the spring in his projector broke. He was decorated very highly for this action. He was, after the war, TV personality Jeremy Clarkson's Father in law.

I wonder if there's going to be chrome plated future Ian talking about the history and mechanics of the FGM-148 Javelin and how we can bid on it at Rock Island's December of 2117 regional auction.

“Now let’s head out to the range and put a few rounds through it.”

A few points you missed, Ian, because they are fairly obscure. The bubble level sight on the side is for using it for indirect fire at large, stationary targets (such as a house), and allows you to fire at up to 370 yards in that mode. Set the sight for range, turn the buttplate sideways, tilt the gun back on the buttplate util the bubble is centered in the sight, line that long white painted line with the target, and fire it to use it as a mortar. Also, that plastic looking tray in the chamber is only for firing the training rounds, which are much skinnier than the war shots or the loading practice inert bombs. The tray makes up the difference between the diameter of the warshot rounds and the firing practice rounds (which are basically solid steel batons with a hole bored out for the rod and propelling charge.) Cheap to make (literally they are entirely lathe work), impossible to mistake for live explosive rounds, and a ballistic match to warshots.

A Canadian soldier, Smokey Smith, won the Victoria Cross in Italy, he was a one man war against two German tanks and 40 soldiers...he used a PIAT to put down that counter attack...one of our heroes in Canada!

My father used a PIAT gun for a while and apparently got pretty good with it. He told me a story of the liberation of Holland where he was walking down a street with a Dutch couple after things had supposedly cooled down when they were shot at by a sniper in a house nearby. He went and retrieved his PIAT and proceeded to blow the house apart with it to the cheers of the Dutch couple. He said it fired a projectile shaped like a turnip but I never got a detailed description of the weapon itself. So thanks for this video as now I know what it actually looks like and what a pig it must have been to use. Too bad you couldn't show a projectile from it as I'd like to have seen this "turnip".

"what if we pointed the mortar lower.." "But sir, we're already at 30 degrees! I would have to either just lay it on the floor or hold it.." "Uhmmmmmmmmmmmm"

It's a spring operated crossbow that shoots bombs😍

I think it's important to understand the "Wartime Utility" thinking behind British wartime weapons like the PIAT. Britain had a limited production capacity compared with Germany, and the high-end of that production capacity, the precision engineering end, was very good, but even more limited.. and was assigned by the War Department to where it was really needed. After Dunkirk, where we lost a lot of materiel, we were desperately in need of a mass of rapid solutions to infantry requirements. Time was a luxury we didn't have, and the new wartime-production weapons stood a much better chance of actually making it into the hands of the frontline troops who needed them if the designs were simple, cheap, easy and above all fast to manufacture. The War Department couldn't have cared less what people would think of the crude welding or simplistic design. They cared about whether a design would do the job to an adequate standard, how labour, resource and skills-intensive it was to produce, how quickly it could be got into the hands of the troops- and how easily inexperienced wartime conscripts could be trained to use it and keep it serviceable in the field. The Sten being a prime example: possibly the most minimal SMG ever made, looks like it was made in a shed, and indeed it probably could have been, if German bombing took the factories out. And it did the job. Same with the PIAT- which, incidentally, was a perfectly adequate tank-killer by the standards of the early 40's. I'd far rather use a PIAT than a Sticky Bomb to take a tank out, any day. These were not weapons designed to appeal to the connoisseur, they were designed to fight a war by a country pushing the limits of her production capacity every day, just to try to stay in the fight, and as such they were as much triumphs of resource-management as they were of design. The PIAT made it into the hands of the troops in sufficient numbers, who took German tanks out with them. Job done.

Wow. My Dad trained on these in WWll. I remember him telling me stories. Fortunately, in combat with the Canadian 2nd Antitank Regiment, he graduated to the 17 Pounder Anti Tank Rifle, towed by either a British "Quad" or later, a White Half-Track. His personal backup arm was a STEN MKll. He was Driver/Gunner and helped free Belgium. RIP, Dad... (He passed in 2010)

PIAT: the answer to the question " What shall we do with all these pieces of drainpipe and bedsprings? "

My grandfather always claimed that he got his MBE for inventing the PIAT gun. Decades after his death, we started researching his involvement, but could find nothing. And we found that his MBE was for exemplary administrative work at a training establishment.

First used in Sicily? PIAT vs. FIAT!

Lying in wait to disable an oncoming tank is doubtless one of the more terrifying tasks assigned to an infantryman.

The USN was still using spigot mortars until quite recently the hedgehog anti-submarine weapon is basically a multiple P.I.A.T.

Ernest "Smokey" Smith won the Victoria Cross by, among other things, taking out a Mark V Panzer tank with a PIAT at 30 FEET.

"A contemporary (1944-45) Canadian Army survey questioned 161 army officers, who had recently left combat, about the effectiveness of 31 different infantry weapons. In that survey, the Bren was ranked the number one most “outstandingly effective” weapon, followed by the PIAT in second place."

People at Nerf, take notes, you could use this same system to fire those old nerf footballs.

"A Bridge Too Far" had some good scenes with the PIAT.

I have a feeling this is one of those weapons that troops would have loved to hate, but hated to be without...

Another thought for the positive side of the PIAT. The lack of any back blast makes spotting the operator more difficult, and makes it ideal in an urban environment. It can safely be fired from inside a building or other confined space.

Several years ago we were sitting outside the Cafe Gondree at Pegasus bridge on a D Day 6 th June anniversary . We were privileged to shake the hand that fired the most important shot on D Day . The soldier who fired the PIAT knocking out the lead tank which had come down the road to investigate the bridge attack . Was Sargent " Wagger " Thornton of the parachute regiment . One of Sgt Thornton's comrades also there at the time pointed across the road and said " Yer he fired the PIAT from that door way over there ". Sitting there in the June sunshine enjoying a beer It was hard to imagine the history changing drama that had taken place on that very spot .It was humbling to realize for a short time we were in the company of heroes .

I think it’s interesting that the piano is sort of like a longbow. The British went back to using a longbow. It’s powered by elastic force, it takes skill and muscle use it, and most importantly it’s silent and has no flash. It’s a spring powered weapon. They went back to what they knew.

So it's basically a T-Shirt cannon that shoots awesome?

It was a PIAT that stopped German armour advancing on Pegasus Bridge in the early hours of D-Day. This effectively sealed off that area from armour, & is often overlooked by many historians, particularly American. Pegasus was the earliest assault of the day carried out by lightly armed Glider borne troops, who carried the day against all odds.

Corporal Ernest Alvia "Smokey" Smith, of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada , was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross. "On the night of 21/22 October 1944 at the River Savio, in Northern Italy, Private Smith was in the spearhead of the attack which established a bridgehead over the river. With a PIAT anti-tank launcher he disabled a 44-ton Panther Mark V tank at a range of just 30 feet (10 metres), and while protecting a wounded comrade, he killed four panzergrenadiers and routed six others. When another tank was sent to take out his position, he used another PIAT to damage it enough to retreat. He then carried his wounded comrade and joined a counter-attack to disperse the Germans still attacking his previous position.[2] The squad destroyed three Panther Tanks, two self-propelled artillery pieces, a half-track, a scout car, and a few German soldiers. During his career, Smith was promoted to corporal nine times but subsequently demoted back to private nine times prior to his actions at the River Savio. He later achieved the rank of sergeant."

USA: We created this bazooka! USSR: Nice! Send us a bunch of those! Japan: Very nice! We're going to make our own version! Germany: So are we, but we're going to improve it! Britain: We have a springy bomb-lobber!

I talked to an old fella at a small world war two armament museum in southern Canada awhile back. Apparently the training on the PIAT was fairly abysmal and you were basically just told how to aim and load it. Anyways the guy and his little squad had set up an ambush point on an important road in France to snag some tank frags. Sure enough, on runs a small panzer (He didn't know exactly what type, but judging on his description is was a III or IV) and a truck. So he ripped out his PIAT, aimed on target, shot, direct hit, annndd.... *bonk*. No explosion. So they tried again, same thing. The turnip just bounced off. So they used their better judgement and ran away before they were noticed. Turns out they were never told to remove the rubber safety caps from the projectiles lol.

If I remember right, there's a great scene in a Bridge too far where the soldiers are shooting down at the bridge with the PIAT.

About 115 feet maximum range, insufficient? ...calculating distance between my window and the neighbour’s noisy hen house... Yeah, good enough for me! I will order one, and I hope I’ll get it delivered before Sunday morning.

When anyone hears "Bloop" "What was that?" When Germans hears "Bloop" " *RUUUN FRITZ AAAHHHHHHH* "

This is a great overview of how a PIAT works. Amazed how many tanks this thing knocked out. A tool for brave soldier.

If you hear the words "terrifying to use" and/or Ian giggling, you know it's gonna be a good watch.

"Open-bolt spigot mortar" was my nickname in college.

My father used one of these in Normandy, until he nearly lost his right arm and was shipped home. It was interesting to hear the Pros and Cons to this weapon and to see how it was operated. Apparently, sometime you had to have both men pulling on it to reset it. Standing up to cock it under the circumstance described is not good for your health. My dad died when I was 14 and was very reticent about talking about his time in France.

my dad actually tested the piat as a volunteer. he was in the 48th highlanders. attached to the British 8th army. he said they were captured after using it but were freed quickly when the jerries were overrun . he was on the Bren thru most of his tour in Italy. had a shell around the house growing up.

The British have always been good at 'funnies': often cobbled together in a shed by some maverick inventor. Sometimes they are surprisingly effective.

A lovely piece of work from the group called “Churchill’s Toyshop”, also omitted it was rated as one of the best AT weapons in use by the Canadian Army during WW2

My grandfather used the PIAT during the Indonesian war. He got quite proficient and was nicknamed Petey. He said that the best spot to aim for was the gap between the hull and the turret. His confirmed count was 31 tanks.

One of my favorite things is watching and enthusiast go from "try to look scholarly" to "oh boy is this cool!" on a video like this. It really brings things to life when that energy comes out.

6:05

Mental British shed engineering! Awesome.

You are in command now, Admiral PIAT...

if anyone wants to hear about the PIAT in action, check out Jeremy Clarkson's fascinating documentary on Major Cain who won what was described as the "finest Victoria Cross of the whole war" during the Battle of Arnhem. 1 man, a PIAT and multiple Tigers.

Robert Henry Cain won the VC at Arnhem using a PIAT. Wikipedia - 'On 20th September (1944) a Tiger tank approached the area held by his company and Major Cain went out alone to deal with it armed with a Piat. Taking up a position he held his fire until the tank was only 20 yards away when he opened up. The tank immediately halted and turned its guns on him, shooting away a corner of the house near where this officer was lying. Although wounded by machine gun bullets and falling masonry, Major Cain continued firing until he had scored several direct hits, immobilised the tank and supervised the bringing up of a 75 mm. howitzer which completely destroyed it. Only then would he consent to have his wounds dressed.'

"Bloop" -Ian McCollum

Always a delight watching your evaluations of past weaponry!

My dad dislocated his shoulder laying on the sand and trying to hit a stuker dive bomber with a boyes rifle, apparently they were useless on tanks,,

6:05, i need a ten hour version of that

Great as always, except for the common misnomer that shaped charges "burn" their way through armour. They cut using the immense pressure of the plasticised copper jet instead. See Walters, "Introduction to Shaped Charges", P.31, 2007. Army Research Lab

I had never heard of the PIAT until yesterday, when I saw it in a short quoting the diary of one of the British paratroopers for D-Day. And not 24 hrs later, Ian delivers like a Boss.

The PIAT projectile did not use a shaped charge warhead. It used a squash head explosive charge, basically a large glob of plastic explosive that splatted out sideways when it hit, and stuck to the armor before the fuse detonated it. It did not penetrate the armor at all, but sent a concussion wave into it which caused chips and shards of the other side of the armor to fly off ("spalling"), wrecking things inside the tank. In British terminology of the time, this was called a "H.E.S.H." (High Explosive Squash Head) warhead.

A study was done in Normandy amongst Canadian officers returning from the front on the most effective weapon they had and among the majority of officers they said the PIAT followed by the bren gun. The white stripe along the back of the PIAT was put on it for indirect fire and was aimed in that capacity like the 2" mortar line up the white line and fire later in the war the Canadians realized that when held at a high angle the range improved the range somewhat so in a pinch could be used like a mortar. If used properly the PIAT's recoil was harsh but manageable.

"So how do you want to accelerate that huge projectile mr engineer?" "*A REALLY BIG SPRING*"

In all seriousness it seems like a good weapon for fighting in cities, no backblast to worry about which enables you to fire from inside buildings unrestricted etc.

Excellent narration and very thorough insight, thank you.

Is this the kind of gun I can get ammo for at Walmart or am I gonna have to go all the way to Cabelas?

Now fire it! I want to hear that "Blooop"

Thanks so much! That was a brilliant short presentation. Very informative.

3:08 just how aggressively he mentions the stock made my day

This is, by far, the most interesting weapons related channel. Good work, sir.

To give some perspective to it's range, it's 115 yard range is almost 3 times the effective range of the most common model of panzerfaust

Dear Ian, thank you for your very interesting videos! :) I am not a big weapons fan, more interested in mechanics an so on, but your style, how you present and talk is very nice and plesant to watch and listen. You are the Bob Ross of Weapons, and of course i mean this as a compliment! :) With best regards, Tim

PIAT training provided excellent “ammo” for slingshots. The inert round was balanced with small lead discs, these were recovered from the training location and proved to be very useful.

Major Robert Cain VC, won his Victoria Cross using one of these during the battle for Arnhem in 1944. He was reportedly directly or indirectly responsible for the destruction or disabling of six tanks, four of which were Tigers, as well as a number of self-propelled guns (one of which was a StuG III), not just using a PIAT, but a 2in Mortar fired horizontally and a damaged 75mm AT gun.

Whoever was on the company shit-list had to carry/fire the PIAT. That’s why those guys are the ones who win the VC.....🇬🇧👌🏻

A recent episode of the British TV show Combat Dealers had the hosts assistant live firing a PIAT at a skip. Those guys are currently renovating and rebuilding their 1944 Normandy Panther tank into an operating vehicle, very interesting and worth a watch!

In October '44 at the Savio River in Italy, Private Ernest "Smokey" Smith of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada used a PIAT and a Tommy gun to take out 3 Panthers, 2 self-propelled guns, a half-track, a scout car, and a bunch of dismounted Krauts...

It's kinda like the Fat man from Fallout; just a lot smaller.

“BRING UP THE PIAT!!”-first words in my brain when I saw this video in my recommended playlist...quickly followed by “puh-TOING!”

Having to let a Panther get to within 150 yards of you = “a bit nerve wracking”. I love Ian’s understatement.

I love the labored expression at 3:08 as Ian bears the weight of the PIAT

When you consider bazooka and panzershrek crews had the highest casualty rates then the fact there is no blast probably saved hundreds of lives and would allow you to fire more explosives before revealing your position. Still today rockets tend to get their crewmen killed.

The "Daisy" antitank gun. Who says BB guns didn't contribute to the war effort?

I remember when these hit the US surplus market in the late '60's. The initial price was $9.95 plus shipping. After a few months the dealer decided to adjust the price in the hope to move them a little faster the new price was two Piats for $9.95. :)

Worth the watch to see Ian go "bloop!"

PIAT, Point It Again Tommy!

all the same, still love this thing in Company of Heroes. the indirect fire capability gives it just that extra oomph particularly in urban environments.

My father in law was an instructor for this weapon in the build up to D-Day. He was lucky enough NOT to use it in action as he was classed as B2 in health terms and remained in the UK.

"Sir! The rifles aren't penetrating the German armor!" "use a mortar sideways" "The tube's too heavy!" "Take out the propellant and use a big spring" "The shell is no good!" " *use a hollow shaped charge that needs to hit a square surface at 70 yards* "

The springs role is not in giving it extra distance in firing but to act as a recoil reduction device. The black sight is for indirect fire when using the PIAT as an actual mortar. I guess I'll have to get my next video out so that the 3 people seeing this video who have enough drive to look up more info on the piat can eventually see how they were aimed and how to use the sight.

I remember being annoyed with this weapon in WWII sims, especially compared to the bazooka and the panzershrek(and even the panzerfaust to a lesser extent), it just performed miserably. Except when you actually landed a hit. Then it was quite devastating, but that is much easier said than done.

This man has a talent to explain things simply.

This channel is like the Red Letter Media of random, old weapons. Phenomenal.

Its almost as if the design of the PIAT painted it into a corner, so to speak. The way in which the projectile is fired/launched limits its effective range but since the is no muzzle flash and no backblast akin to the Carl Gustav or Mk 153 SMAW it allows the shooter to retain some concealment. The lack of any backblast is the single biggest advantage of this weapon besides the more effective projectile when compared to the Boys antitank rifle. With no backblast to speak of, one could fire the PIAT from inside some very confined spaces (for example from a basement window or in thick vegetation) and not suffer the consequences of overpressure. Backblast has been the bane of antitank infantry, as they say, “recoiless rifles, aren’t recoiless.” Thanks Ian for the video and keep up the great work!

So this is basically an anti tank spring loaded firearm?

Awesome! I was just watching A Bridge Too Far just the other evening and the PIAT was used in the movie.

Love your take on th8ngs, keep them coming Suri!

Nice video, interresting firearm but I have one litte complain; its a common mistake, but hollowcharges dont create molten metal to penetrate the armor, due to the speed the metal gets by the charge in the hollwocharge, its formed so fast that it doesnt get heated in time, its cold formed (dont know if thats the right word in english, in german it would be "kaltverformt"). That way its gets realy realy hard, just like hammering a sword to make it harder, and can penetrate the, in comparisson, soft armor quite easily. Just a thing to add from a tank fan, I enjoyed your video like always, keep up the great work :-)

They utilized the same technology Hasbro would eventually perfect. "NERF, or nothing!"

Hollow charge's jet of molten metal doesn't burn through armor, that would require way too much energy. The metal instead punches through armor with extreme speed and force, propelled by the explosion of the hollow charge's concentrated explosion.

A late friend of mine carried a scar on his back chin until the day he died. He received from a PIAT during a training accident. He turned his head as he pulled the trigger and the recoil knocked him right out of the slit trench and into the next week!