Panzerfaust
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German soldiers distributing Panzerfausts
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| photo from Webmaster's collection |
In German, "Tank Fist", the Panzerfaust was a shoulder-fired antitank grenade launcher that has been a standard German infantry weapon since World War II. The first model, the Panzerfaust 30, was developed in 1943 for use by infantry against Soviet tanks. This very simple weapon consisted of a steel tube containing a propellant charge of gunpowder. The grenade, which consisted of a small bomb attached to a wooden stem and fins, was inserted into the front end of the tube. When a firing pin on the outside of the tube was tripped, it set off a percussion cap that ignited the propellant charge. This in turn propelled the grenade a short distance to the target, where it exploded. The hollow-charge head of the grenade contained enough high explosive to penetrate even the thickest tank armour (up to 200 millimetres). The exhaust from the propellant charge exited the rear end of the tube, making the Panzerfaust a recoilless weapon.
The Panzerfaust 30 was a one-shot, disposable weapon. Its range was only 100 feet (30 metres), but a determined operator could nevertheless destroy a tank with it. The next two models of the weapon employed during World War II were given larger propellant charges in order to drive grenades to distances of up to 200 and 350 feet (60 and 100 metres), respectively. The Panzerfaust 100, which entered service in November 1944, weighed 11 pounds (5 kilograms), was 41 inches (105 centimeters) long and approximately 2 inches in diameter, and launched a grenade containing 3.5 pounds of high explosive. A fourth model, ready by early 1945, could fire 10 grenades in succession before exhausting its propellant.
Besides the Soviet Red Army in the east, the Panzerfaust was also used against American and British tanks on the Western front. The weapon was extremely easy to load, aim, and fire, and so it was widely distributed to untrained conscripts and the Volkssturm (local defense militias) in the closing phases of the war. Captured models contributed to the design of the Soviet RPG series of rocket-propelled antitank grenades, and during the Cold War the West German army, facing Soviet tanks of increasing size and power, issued its own series of rocket-propelled Panzerfaust launchers. The Panzerfaust 3, designed in the 1980s, features a pistol grip and telescopic sight and enough propellant to be fired effectively at up to 1,200 feet. Its grenade can penetrate 700 millimeters of armor.
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