King Tiger! hit by a Panzerfaust...

[43rdRecceReg]

I'm sure we've all seen 'Fury', and the Sherman being dealt a killer blow by a Panzerfaust. WW2 footage of the lethal effects of this simple, yet amazingly effective weapon, is easy to find. However, given that we're all familiar with the sight of allied armour (including Soviet) being knocked out by the Panzerfaust (armour-fist). I wondered what impact the weapon would have had, say, on a Tiger, or a Panther.
Well, here's a clip of a G.I testing the fabled weapon against an abandoned Panther.

phpBB [video]

[Estnische]

Pretty cool. Must have raised some questions about projectile designs.

[jarndice]

Before the Carl Gustav became the issue anti-tank weapon the re-designed "Rocket Launcher" (From 2.36 to 2.75) was in service, it looked like a Bazooka but was a bigger weapon with a bigger rocket and warhead.
It had one advantage over the Bazooker, Piat etc, You could fire it further away from the target so that it was rather less an unwritten suicide note unlike its forbears,
The downside as with all recoiless rifles was you did need to note where you were prior to lighting the blue touch paper or you could find you and your number 2 burnt to a crisp and because the flight of the rocket was quite slow the enemy had time to search out where you were located and give you a bit of aggravation before impact.
The Soviets certainly cornered the market in anti-tank weaponry post WW2 the Western Armies lingering way behind.
The American multi-barrel anti-tank Ontos 106 system lightly armoured vehicles had a very short service life before the powers that be lost interest primarily because hand held launchers (RPGs) could be easily concealed unlike a jeep or similar.

[Zabretooth]

That's a King Tiger.

Would have been great to see what damage it did to the interior, but being abandoned it was probably already burnt out.

[c.rainford73]

You are correct, amazing what damage that little weapon could cause

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[Tiger6]

There are a series of photo's of that test, the 82nd airborne troopers fired a variety of hand held projectiles. From memory, I don't think any of them appeared to fully penetrate the frontal armour based on what is visible in photos taken afterwards.

[Kaczor]

That's a King Tiger.

Would have been great to see what damage it did to the interior

There was no penetration so probably not big.

[jhamm]

The Panzerfaust and bazooka are the most underrated weapons of WWII ...
Very easy to handle and great destructive power.

[jarndice]

The Bazooka and the German copy "The Panzerschreck" were two man operated recoilless rifles and could produce a rapid backlash upon the crew as both weapons identified their presence upon firing, (Lots of Smoke and a large flash of flame from the rocket) But they were a cheap way to destroy Armour and gain entry to blockhouses,
The one man operated Panzerfaust was even more flexible and even cheaper and very good against Armour,
It did not take riflemen away from the platoon unlike the dedicated crews of the larger weapon and being disposable meant the user could revert to his duties as a rifleman straight away or be on his toes as soon as he fired the weapon thereby gaining an advantage over the more cumbersome "Stovepipe"and its crew who had to carry it and its ammunition (USA 2.36 inch Rockets) (German 88mm Rockets) around the battlezone.

[Tiger6]

They were all rocket propelled grenades, a recoilless rifle works in a completely different way, using a high pressure explosive charge that requires a suitable pressure chamber to contain the blast and vent it rearwards. An RPG does not generate high chamber pressures, therefore can be much lighter in construction and man portable as a result.