20mm antitank rifles with HEAT rounds?

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Glimmerman

I see. Bazookas' backblasts need bigger sniper nest and shots are more easier to see. So 20mm sniper rifle with AP rounds works against armored cars, but not against tanks.

Bazookas' were better as a bunker buster. They were better then nothing when tanks were around (heck Molotovs were-courteous bow to your native land) but they weren't ideal. That's an example of the common theme of a weapon developed for one purpose and adapted for another.

One interesting story about a PIAT(the British version of RPG launcher) I read by the way was in Quartered Safe Out Here, during the Burma Campaign, where a Sapper was detached as an outlier with some Burmese mercenaries and was ambushing fleeing Japanese along river barges. He apparently heard that there was a PIAT in camp and wanted it for his job. It was the writers job to deliver it. When he arrived at the outpost there were two sahibs, the sapper and his aide; and a bevy of local mercs, I can't remember how many. The sapper was something of a berserker, and seemed to rather enjoy his trade of blowing things up. For this job the PIAT proved perfect as all they had to do was wait on shore and blast barges as they came through. They did not have enough men to hold position so probably they would have to shoot the survivors, at least if they tried to swim toward the nearer bank (they could leave them to the doubtful mercy of malaria if they went the other direction or downstream). I can't remember the writer mentioning it though.