-
Description
By Gordon L Rottman
One of World War II's most distinctive weapons, the Panzerfaust was a low-cost, simple, single-shot, throwaway weapon that offered infantrymen the ability to destroy enemy tanks at close ranges.
Germany had begun World War II with several inadequate antitank weapons for infantry use, supplemented by improvised and captured weapons and, from 1942, a hand-delivered 3kg antitank shaped charge. As the fortunes of war turned against Germany, what was desperately needed was an antitank weapon that allowed the individual soldier to destroy a tank. Such a weapon needed to be light, low cost and rapidly producible in large numbers, simple to operate and maintain, and capable of killing tanks at short ranges. The weapon that emerged was unlike any previous weapon, and it worked.
