enrique262:PanzerwurfmineGerman shaped charge hand-thrown anti-tank grenade of WW2, used primarily b
enrique262:PanzerwurfmineGerman shaped charge hand-thrown anti-tank grenade of WW2, used primarily by Luftwaffe ground personnel as a safer alternative to magnetic anti-tank grenades.For a shaped charge weapon to be effective, it must hit the armor squarely at a 90° angle so that the high-velocity jet of metal punches through with the least resistance possible, and this design tried to achieve this by deploying stabilizing canvas fins once throw, intended to ensure a correct contact with the enemy tank.However, this wasn’t as effective as intended, as the nature of a hand throw made for imprecise attacks that failed to achieve the optimal angle of denotation, and that couple with the inherent short range of the weapon gave the result of a design no more effective than the magnetic grenades it was supposed to replace.Ultimately, the development of cheap, disposable rocket launchers of the Panzerfaust series made this weapon completely obsolete, but nevertheless it was an interesting attempt at giving the everyday infantrymen the capacity to deal with tanks by themselves, and the fact that it was the Luftwaffe whom developed and fielded it, rather than the Heer or the Waffen-SS, makes it even more fascinating. -- source link