Continuing in a series of recent British secret weapons of WW2, the PIAT (Projector Infantry Anti-Tank) was the British answer to the US Bazooka and German Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust weapons against tanks and obstacles. It was started in 1942 largely due to the failure of the Boys AT rifle to penetrate German armor. The Ord. Dept. again passed it over to MD1 and it went through several variations before becoming a portable spigot mortar shot horizontally. Even though 115,000 were manufactured from 1943-45, the PIAT was very troublesome for British infantry. It weighed 32 lbs by itself and required a 2-man team to load and fire. It was 3.3 ft long and fired a 5 lb spigot bomb to 100m to kill 4" of enemy armor. The coil spring needed 200 lbs to cock the weapon from a vertical position (exposed to enemy fire). If loaded in a trench the PIAT was almost uncockable and therefore useless. When cocked and armed, the recoil was sometimes insufficient to re-cock the weapon and firing it from a prone position was uncomfortable while the flimsy monopad was unstable. However, the British soldiered on with the weapon and some even made it to Korea!

http://www.bayonetstrength.150m.com/Weapons/infantryantitank/PIAT.jpg http://wwii.ca/photos/italy/piat_ortona_10jan44.jpg