There was a range of warheads available for use with this weapon, out of which the H.E.A.T. (High-Explosive, Anti-Tank) warhead, weighing 1.3kg, could penetrate approximately 100 mm of steel at a range of 100 metres. That was by far not enough to force the round's way through the frontal plates of the latest German tanks, but as Private Ernest Alvia 'Smokey' Smith of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada proved, the rear armour could still be defeated. On 21st October, 1944, at the Savio River in Sicily, he crawled to get behind a Panther and then, from a range of just ten metres, destroyed it using a P.I.A.T. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for this courageous action.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of the P.I.A.T. was that it could be used in enclosed spaces, making it possible for use in close-combat and for hiding in houses, which proved rather useful as it often had to be used in street fighting. Also, the charge on the shell was small enough not to cause any unmasking smoke, noise or dangerous backblast. It was also possible to use it at high angles as a portable mortar, increasing the range to some 350 metres.

On the other hand, the direct range of about 90 metres (muzzle velocity was 100 metres per second) was quite short and the weapon tended to kick very violently when fired and thus very user-unfriendly, especially to beginners. It is worth noting that the service instruction book for the P.I.A.T. Mk.I quoted "limited recoil" as one of the weapon's main characteristics. This may have been caused by the fact that to those, who have tasted the use of the Boys rifle, the recoil of the P.I.A.T. must have seemed rather familiar - and perhaps also limited.

Also, it was a very strenuous work to load the weapon for the first time as the huge spring had to be compressed, requiring some strength. The massive recoil, though, compressed the spring after every shot, if the soldier was lucky enough. If not, they definitely had to object against the manual's insistence on a "self-cocking weapon".

One way or the other, the P.I.A.T. did perform well and it remained the main anti-tank weapon of the British infantry until 1950. Lieutenant Colonel Blacker patented the design and in 1944 received an award of 25,000 pounds for his part in the development.
Projector, Infantry,
Anti-Tank
Jan Hyrman
While the Americans were working on their bazooka and the Germans later replied with their answer to the development of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons, the Panzerschreck, basically a copy of the American design, the British started working on the successor of their main anti-tank weapon, the Boys rifle, in 1937.

When anti-tank rifles became obsolete in the very beginning of the Second World War, the British chose their own way, as usual. The reactive propulsion was, in its way, very revolutionary and efficient, however, when the new British design was being developed, it was far from finished.

Instead of working on their own rocket-propelled weapon, the British designers turned to an older, pre-war construction, called the Blacker Bombard, a small portable mortar named after its designer, artillery officer Lieutenant Colonel Blacker. Inside the barrel there was a large spring which drove a rod, or spigot, into the rear of the shell, igniting a small charge that sent the round flying out of the barrel.

Although this original design never saw action, it was chosen to be modified as an anti-tank weapon. To make it possible to reload while lying on the ground, part of the barrel was removed on one side, through which the rounds could be dropped into the resulting trough. On the lower side of the 99cm long barrel the spring required a strong support, which, together with the firing mechanism, added to the overall weight, reaching 34 pounds, or 14.5kg, unloaded.

The weapon was issued on the scale of one per infantry platoon (36 men) and carried usually by one of the soldiers of the platoon H.Q. Two men were required to operate the weapon, at least by the army practice standards - No. 1 firing and observing the flight of the bomb to see whether it registers a hit, No. 2 loading the next bomb.

At first, it earned a rather doubtful reputation, as early rounds which were issued to the British troops during the Sicilian campaign in 1942 often proved faulty as they required a square hit, or would not fire at all. Improvements were made and the P.I.A.T. soon matured.
The name of this weapon is the Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank, Mark I. The Projector has been designed as a light self-cocking anti-tank weapon which is fired from the shoulder and projects a bomb with considerable armour-piercing effect.

           Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank, Mk.I, The War Office 1943