Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "PIAT: Britain's Answer to the Anti-Tank Rifle Problem" video.

  1. Years ago I worked with someone who used one in WW2. Most of what he said about it is repeated here. But the thing he hated the most is having to re-cock it, especially it the enemy about. In that case they had to do it laying down. Its best use was in house to house to house fighting. If you had a row of houses you blow a hole in the end wall with the PIAT and entered through it. When you wanted to enter the next house you would just go the the top of the house you have just cleared and blow a hole through the connecting wall. And so on until you had cleared the row. Of course this was not very popular with the Germans defending these houses, suddenly having the wall erupt. The spigotted mortar did get used elsewhere. The anti submarine Hedgehog was the spigotted mortar. And when you watch all those rockets being fired out of the landing craft onto the beaches on D-Day they to are spigotted mortars. The PIAT did have a big brother in the form of the 290mm Petard Mortar mounted on the Churchill Tank and used by the Royal Engineers. I believe it was capable of knocking a hole in five foot of reinforced concrete and would be used on German bunkers. Just thought. Maybe they should have used that for house to house fighting. You would only need the one.
    1