The PIAT did indeed use a spring as part of its action, as do virtually all firearms. It did not, however, use the spring to push the bomb in the general direction of Germany. The PIAT was a spigot launcher. This means that rather than having a barrel or tube through which you launch your infernal machine against whomsoever is displeasing you at a particular moment in time, you launch said offending article off a stick or spigot. This stick acts like a big firing pin and launching post. One cocks the weapon by twisting the butt and pulling. This was usually done by grabbing on to the front of the weapon and pushing the butt away from you with your feet. A bugger of a job apparently. Imagine doing it in combat. Anyway... A bomb/projectile is laid in the tray at the front end. One points the weapon towards Hitler and pulls the trigger. The spring drives the spigot forward at a great rate of knots. It hits the propellant in the base of the bomb and it goes bang, not boing. This blows the bomb off the spigot. Hopefully the recoil has recocked the weapon and your target is a smoking wreck. The hollow tail of your projectile performs the role of barrel or tube and your spigot, with launcher (and presumably the operator) become the bullet. Because the operator weapon and spigot are heavier than the bomb, they stay in one spot and the bomb sails off toward oblivion. The bomb was not pushed off by the spring like a matchstick out of an old Britains toy cannon from HG Wells' time. The bomb was definitely not a rocket propelled thing that had its motor kick in after the spring had popped it out of the launcher. Bazookas and Panzerschreks were true rocket launchers with the rocket motors burning all the way up the tube and out of the end. That's why some photos of operators using said weapons have a gas mask on (to protect their faces) and the later Pz Shk models had a shield at the front. The Panzerfaust was a one shot throw away thing. A precursor in principle to the 66mm LAW, the Carl Gustav AT-4 and (I think) the German Armbrust. It used a charge in the tube to fire the big bomb off the end. The bottom end blew out releasing a lot of the explosion to counteract the recoil of the bomb flying off. It was not a rocket, but rather a fin stabilised bomb. Unlike the PIAT these other weapons were recoilless. To make them recoilless one had to throw enough smoke, flame and blast out the back to equal the weight of bomb heading the enemy's way. This means that they cannot be used inside safely. Sure you could squeeze the trigger on any of them in the comfort of your own home, but anyone behind you would be toast and you would probably have bleeding eardrums from the explosion in a confined space. You may also set fire to your dwelling, not to mention upset the decorations on the mantlepiece. I hope I have not shattered any illusions or lost anyone any bets. For a good look at PIAT stuff (and I'm sure everyone is dying to have a look) look at the following http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/AdamWilliams2/piat.htm http://www.wwiitech.net/main/britain/weapons/piat/ http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/6498/t2000ww2britishsupportweapons.html Or you could read The Bazooka: Hand-held Hollow-charge Anti-tank Weapons by Terry J. Gander ISBN 1 90261 615 4 Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 3 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Rolfe Hedges This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com