Panzerfaust
- This article is on the German disposable rocket launcher of World War II. For alternative meanings, see Panzerfaust (disambiguation)
The Panzerfaust (lit. armor fist [also means gauntlet] or tank fist) was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consisted of a disposable launcher preloaded with a rocket-propelled grenade. It replaced the earlier Faustpatrone in service, and survived to the end of the war in various versions. Parts of the Panzerfaust concept can be considered to be the pattern on which the M72 LAW and RPG-7 were designed.
Development began in 1942 on a larger version of the Faustpatrone. The resulting weapon was the Panzerfaust, a very simple weapon weighing only 5-10 kg. The body was a tube of low-grade steel, around a meter long and a 4-6 cm in diameter. Attached to the upper-side of the tube were a simple rear sight and trigger. There was no front sight, the edge of the warhead was used. Inside the tube was a small charge of black powder for propellant. Fitted to the front of the tube by its wooden tail stem and metal fins was an oversized warhead, 15 cm in diameter and weighing 3 kg. It contained around 800 grams of explosive.
The Panzerfaust often had warnings written in large red lettering on the upper rear end of the tube, the words usually being "Achtung! Feuerstrahl!" (Beware! Fire Jet!). This was to warn soldiers to avoid the backblast. After firing, the tube was discarded, making the Panzerfaust the first expendable anti-tank weapon. The weapon was often fired from the crook of the arm and the shaped charge could penetrate up to 170 mm of steel, enough to defeat any US or British tank, and all but the largest late-war Soviet designs.
In an urban setting where the short sight lines allowed the weapon to be easily used it proved particularly deadly, and knocked out large numbers of Soviet armored vehicles during the Battle of Berlin. The construction was so simple that they could be made in the city while it was under siege, allowing wheelbarrow loads of Panzerfausts to be delivered to the defenders.
It was produced in several versions as the technology improved.
Panzerfaust 30
The "Panzerfaust 30" was the original version, first delivered in August, 1943. The "30" was indicative of the nominal maximum range of 30 meters. It had a 4.4 cm diameter tube containing 95 g of propellant which launched a 2.9 kg projectile carrying 800 grams of explosive. The projectile travelled at just 30 meters per second. The complete weapon weighed 5.1 kg. Panzerfausts were extremely simple to produce, but could only be fired once, then discarded.
Panzerfaust 60
This was the most common version, and production started in August, 1944. It had a much more practical range of 60 meters, although with a muzzle velocity of only 45 meters per second it would take a second and a half for the warhead to reach a tank at this range. To achieve the higher velocity, the tube diameter was increased to 5 cm and 134 g of propellant used. It also had an improved sight and trigger mechanism. The weapon now weighed 6.1 kg.
Panzerfaust 100
This was the final version produced in quantity, from November 1944 onwards. It had a nominal maximum range of 100 meters. 190 g of propellant launched the warhead at 60 meters per second from a 6 cm diameter tube. The sight had holes for 30, 60, 80 and 150 meters, and had luminous paint in them to make counting up to the correct one easier in the dark. This version weighed 6.8 kg.
Panzerfaust 150 and 250
A Panzerfaust 150 was deployed in limited numbers near the end of the war, and was a greatly modified design. It had the same amount of propellant as the Panzerfaust 100 but a redesigned warhead and two stage propellant ignition gave it a higher velocity of 85 meters per second and the increased armor penetration. It was intended to be reused for up to ten shots, and production started in March 1945, two months before the end of the war.
A Panzerfaust 250 was planned to enter production in September 1945 but the war ended before development had been completed.
A related weapon is the Bazooka-like Panzerschreck, which could be reloaded.
During the Cold War, the West German army was issued with a completely new rocket propelled grenade launcher which was named a Panzerfaust 3.
Panzerfaust in popular culture
The Panzerfaust features as a weapon in several first-person shooter computer games, notably Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory; though in multiplayer it is often derided as a weapon that can achieve a high number of kills with little or no skill on the part of the player wielding it, leading to it being nicknamed the "n00b stick".
See also
- Shoulder-launched missile weapon
- List of common World War II infantry weapons
- List of Axis firearms of WW2