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Panzerfaust

From the Call of Duty Wiki

The Panzerfaust (German for "Armoured/Tank fist") was a portable, inexpensive and disposable Anti-Armour weapon used by the military of Nazi Germany and her allies during WW2. It was the first disposable anti-tank rocket-launcher.

Contents

[edit] Design and Operation

The Panzerfaust consisted of a meter-long tube made of low-grade steel, a simple rear sight and trigger along the top of the weapon and a wooden tailed, steel-fin stabilized warhead, propelled by a black-powder charge inside of the barrel. The simple sights consisted of only a single rear-sight, with the warhead's edge used as the front sight. The warhead was oversized compared to the tube it was contained in, 15 cm in diameter and 3 kg in weight. It contained about 800 grams of explosive. This was enough to penetrate 200 mm of steel, which was enough to defeat any contemporary armored vehicles of the era.

Proper procedure when firing the weapon would be fired from the crook of the arm, as opposed to the typical practice of firing over the shoulder. On the weapon's warhead would typically be found instructions in German on how to fire the weapon, along with visual aids. On the rear of the weapon, painted in red were the words "Achtung! Feuersrahl!" ("Beware! Fire Jet!") to warn troops of the back-blast produced by the weapon when fired.

Due to where the detonator and explosives on the projectile where placed,it was highly effective against conventional armour.

After firing, the tube would be discarded and could not be reloaded.

[edit] History

The Panzerfaust was a development on a disposable, inexpensive, simple and highly powerful anti-tank weapon to replace or supplement the large and expensive Panzerschreck. The first development stage for this weapon was the Faustpatrone, which was similar to the Panzerfaust, though with a smaller warhead. The first Panzerfaust variants (Panzerfaust 30 "Klein") were first delivered to the front lines in the summer of 1943.

The Panzerfaust was soon proven to be a cost-effective, efficient weapon. It was capable of defeating the majority of Allied tanks, such as the M4 Sherman and the T-34 while at the same time being simple to operate and inexpensive to produce. This caused it to slowly replace the Panzerschreck in service.

During the Battle of Berlin, its inexpensiveness was such that the besieged city was capable of producing the weapons. It was not uncommon to find dozens of the portable recoilless rocket launchers being transported to German troops by the wheelbarrow.

By the end of war, the Panzerfaust had seen several variants. The designs of the last variants were a radical change from the others. The Panzerfaust 150 saw limited use at the end of the war, first produced in March 1945. It was reusable for up to ten shots and had used the same amount of propellant, but featured a redesigned warhead and two-stage propellant ignition. This gave it a greater range and penetrating power.

An upgraded version, the Panzerfaust 250, was scheduled for production by September 1945, but the war ended before production could begin.

After the war, the Panzerfaust 150 and 250 were used as a design basis for a Soviet Anti-Tank weapon. What was developed was the RPG-2, which would later evolve into the much more successful RPG-7. The United States, however, took the simple, throw away, design of the earlier models and developed it in to the M-72 LAWS rocket, the predecessor to the modern AT4. It's name in the new armies of West Germany would continue on in the Panzerfaust 3 series of weapons.

[edit] Call of Duty

In Call of Duty, the Panzerfaust is used as the primary anti-tank weapon in the game and is extremely accurate. It is not recommended to be used in close quarters as the blast may kill you.

Warhead

Iron sight

[edit] Call of Duty 2: Big Red One

In Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, it is used once by a trooper on the D-Day mission. If the trooper is killed before he drops it, the player is still unable to pick it up. In multiplayer Panzerfausts were commonly found around the maps. They were instant respawning leading to entire teams camping around the weapons spawns. Also on the D-Day mission when your tank is destroyed Brooklyn will shout Panzerfaust but when you kill the German and go over to him he is just holding the Panzershrek

[edit] Call of Duty: World at War

In Call of Duty: World at War, the Panzerfaust is seen in the videos before the level Downfall, but it isn't available to the player.

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