The 15 Worst Anti-Tank Weapons Ever Built (One Rifle Needed Nine Horses)
Bold History
2,673 views
In 1940 Britain had 167 anti-tank guns left, and Winston Churchill ordered a million grenades that would not stick to a dirty tank. For thirty years every army tried to give the soldier in the trench something that could stop a tank. These are the fifteen worst attempts, from the first anti-tank rifle of 1918 to the end of the Second World War: rifles that needed nine horses, a gun that had to be tipped over before it could fire, glass bottles of phosphorus, a mine on a pole designed to kill the man who used it, and dogs that ran back to their own trenches.
The photographs in this film are more than eighty years old and have been restored and colourised with AI.
0:00 Intro
0:38 How They Are Judged
2:12 15. Mauser Tankgewehr
4:17 14. Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
6:33 13. Type 97 Automatic Cannon
8:41 12. RPG-40
10:35 11. M1 Bazooka
12:38 10. Sticky Bomb
15:36 9. Ampulomet
17:30 8. Grenade No. 73
19:29 7. Goliath
21:42 6. Blacker Bombard
23:53 5. Grenade No. 76
26:05 4. Northover Projector
28:10 3. Smith Gun
30:34 2. Lunge Mine
32:52 1. Anti-Tank Dog
36:27 What Finally Worked
Sources:
Wikipedia (English): Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr, Anti-tank rifle, Boys anti-tank rifle, Type 97 automatic cannon, RPG-40, Bazooka, Sticky bomb, No. 73 grenade, No. 76 special incendiary grenade, Northover Projector, Blacker Bombard, Smith Gun, Goliath tracked mine, Lunge mine, Anti-tank dog, PIAT, Home Guard (United Kingdom)
Wikipedia (Russian): Ampulomet; Anti-tank dog
US War Department, Intelligence Bulletin, Vol. III No. 7, March 1945 (lunge mine), via Wikipedia
Photographs: Imperial War Museum; Bundesarchiv; US National Archives; Library of Congress; RIA Novosti archive; Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive (SA-kuva); Nationaal Archief (Anefo); waralbum.ru; Wikimedia Commons
Film: "Stop That Tank!" (Walt Disney Productions for the National Film Board of Canada, 1942); "The Antitank Rocket M6" (US War Department training film TF 18-1166, 1943); Die Deutsche Wochenschau, March 1944; US National Archives 111-ADC-1347 (Italy, 1944); "Männer gegen Panzer" (German Army training film, 1943); all via the Internet Archive
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The 15 Worst Anti-Tank Weapons Ever Built (One Rifle Needed Nine Horses)
Bold History
2,673 views
In 1940 Britain had 167 anti-tank guns left, and Winston Churchill ordered a million grenades that would not stick to a dirty tank. For thirty years every army tried to give the soldier in the trench something that could stop a tank. These are the fifteen worst attempts, from the first anti-tank rifle of 1918 to the end of the Second World War: rifles that needed nine horses, a gun that had to be tipped over before it could fire, glass bottles of phosphorus, a mine on a pole designed to kill the man who used it, and dogs that ran back to their own trenches.
The photographs in this film are more than eighty years old and have been restored and colourised with AI.
0:00 Intro
0:38 How They Are Judged
2:12 15. Mauser Tankgewehr
4:17 14. Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
6:33 13. Type 97 Automatic Cannon
8:41 12. RPG-40
10:35 11. M1 Bazooka
12:38 10. Sticky Bomb
15:36 9. Ampulomet
17:30 8. Grenade No. 73
19:29 7. Goliath
21:42 6. Blacker Bombard
23:53 5. Grenade No. 76
26:05 4. Northover Projector
28:10 3. Smith Gun
30:34 2. Lunge Mine
32:52 1. Anti-Tank Dog
36:27 What Finally Worked
Sources:
Wikipedia (English): Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr, Anti-tank rifle, Boys anti-tank rifle, Type 97 automatic cannon, RPG-40, Bazooka, Sticky bomb, No. 73 grenade, No. 76 special incendiary grenade, Northover Projector, Blacker Bombard, Smith Gun, Goliath tracked mine, Lunge mine, Anti-tank dog, PIAT, Home Guard (United Kingdom)
Wikipedia (Russian): Ampulomet; Anti-tank dog
US War Department, Intelligence Bulletin, Vol. III No. 7, March 1945 (lunge mine), via Wikipedia
Photographs: Imperial War Museum; Bundesarchiv; US National Archives; Library of Congress; RIA Novosti archive; Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive (SA-kuva); Nationaal Archief (Anefo); waralbum.ru; Wikimedia Commons
Film: "Stop That Tank!" (Walt Disney Productions for the National Film Board of Canada, 1942); "The Antitank Rocket M6" (US War Department training film TF 18-1166, 1943); Die Deutsche Wochenschau, March 1944; US National Archives 111-ADC-1347 (Italy, 1944); "Männer gegen Panzer" (German Army training film, 1943); all via the Internet Archive