Ever since the invention of the tank, various weapons have been used to destroy or neutralise them. These have ranged from the extremely simple - including dinner plates, mixtures of flammable or explosive household chemicals - to highly sophisticated and computerised weapons of today.

Artillery Anti-Tank Weapons

An anti-tank gun is a specialised artillery piece designed to accurately hit and destroy an Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV). They are designed to fire armour-piercing rounds only, rather than the full panoply of shells a dedicated artillery piece would use (high explosive, smoke, anti-aircraft, etc).

At the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, governments in 1939 put their faith in the cheap, infantry weapon, the Anti-Tank Rifle (see below). Many armed forces had faced disagreements as to which branch of the military should have control over anti-tank guns: the infantry or the artillery. However, as the war progressed, and tanks grew heavier, anti-tank guns grew to match. Anti-tank rifles could not match this (see below), while the small, light artillery weapons grew from being initially light enough to be moved by two men to become longer, larger and heavier in step with the tanks. This culminated in the British 17 pounder, the American 3", and the German 128mm PaK48¹: any of these monsters weighed over three tons and was between twelve and fifteen feet in length. Indeed, the British were developing an even larger 32-pounder anti-tank gun as war ended.

In practice, most artillery pieces could be pressed into the anti-tank role with varying degrees of success: the German Flak 88 is the iconic example, although their standard 105mm infantry howitzer also had dual capability and may in the end have destroyed more tanks. The British 25 pounder standard issue field gun was also pressed into the anti-tank role in desperation². What distinguished an anti-tank gun was a necessarily fast reload capacity combined with a range of specialist rounds designed to defeat face-hardened steel armour, such as APDS³, HESH⁴ and the German tungsten-cored rounds.

Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons

While bullets capable of piercing armour existed before the invention of the tank, anti-tank weapon development began during the Great War shortly after the first use of the tank in combat. Such was the demand in Britain for tanks to be used in combat that when no true tanks were available, unarmoured training tanks were rushed into combat in 1917. These had 'soft' steel sides rather than heat-treated armoured plate. 26 participated in the failed attack at Arras and some were captured and thoroughly studied. This, combined with the attacks' failure as well as the failures of the French Schneider tank design led the German High Command to underestimate the true tank's abilities. Consequently their anti-tank weapons programme as well as tank development programme were considered unimportant and in May 1917 they disbanded their anti-tank artillery batteries.

In the Winter War the Molotov Cocktail was developed. This was developed by the Finns against the invading Soviets during the Winter War (1939-40), consisting of a bottle of petrol and a lit wick. This was named after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, of Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact fame.

Other anti-tank devices of the Second World War included Britain's sticky-bomb hand grenade and German magnetic grenade. Worst of all was a suicide technique developed by the Japanese in which a soldier would hide equipped with a percussion-capped aircraft bomb and a hammer. When spotting an enemy tank he would approach it and hit the top of the bomb with the hammer, thus detonating it.

Anti-Tank Rifle

During the Second World War it is believed only approximately 4% of tanks destroyed were destroyed by enemy tanks. At the start of the Second World War, most infantry anti-tank weapons consisted of an ATR – Anti-Tank Rifle. This was a single-shot infantry weapon firing rounds of up to 20mm calibre, designed to penetrate tank armour. Weighing three or four times as much as a conventional rifle and up to eight feet long, against armoured vehicles they were virtually useless after 1941. Britain's anti-tank rifle at the start of the war was the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, but despite its name it was a weapon intended for use by adults not children, male or otherwise. This didn't stop Walt Disney making a cartoon all about it, though, titled, Stop That Tank! (1942).

Anti-tank rifles could not easily get any longer or heavier, for example the Russian PTRS 1941 was almost eight feet long and weighed just under fifty pounds, and dwindled into obsolescence. While ineffective against tanks, they could (for instance) penetrate brickwork and concrete and have a demoralising effect on Germans in fortified infantry positions.⁵

Following the obsolescence of the ATR, experiments continued in providing infantry with mortars as well as cheap and effective anti-tank solutions. While the British created the Sticky Bomb, essentially an anti-tank mine covered in glue, as well as the grenades that could be fired from rifles. and the Germans used a more-effective magnetic principle to make mines stick to tanks.

Cry 'Havoc!' And Let Slip the Dogs of War

The Soviets adopted a more controversial approach, involving the deaths of dogs. They trained dogs to carry explosives to tanks and armoured vehicles between 1941 to 1943. The dogs were trained to associate tanks with food and were taught to run towards tanks and other targets while carrying bombs and on contact with the tank it would explode, potentially destroying both the enemy vehicle and killing the dog. This plan was a continuous failure and involved the worst military judgement since the invention of Australia's Russell Boomerang Grenade⁶.

Firstly, to save both fuel and ammunition, the dogs had initially been trained with static tanks, which did not fire their guns. The first time they were used the dogs refused to run beneath the moving tanks. Many were scared by the gunfire and ran straight back to their handlers, killing many Soviet soldiers in the process while others were shot by those who had trained them. A few of the bravest dogs simply waited around for the tanks to stop rather than approach them on the move, with many of these also shot, leading to the capture and study by the Germans of many intact bombs.

The next time the dogs were deployed, the Soviets had trained them using moving and firing tanks. However, the tanks that they used were their own, diesel-engined vehicles, while the Germans used petrol-engined tanks. When used on the battlefield, the dogs used their sense of smell to find and run towards the closest Soviet tanks. Even ignoring the ethics involved of so many pointless dog deaths, which as well as the trained dogs led to the Germans killing every dog they saw in case it carried a bomb, the plan was a disaster.

Projectors and Launchers

In 1942 Britain issued its soldiers with the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank), which when used correctly was very effective against Panzers, with six Victoria Crosses being awarded to Allied soldiers using them. PIATs had vastly increased penetration power over anti-tank rifles, had no back-blast, thus allowing it to be used in confined spaces, and was short and simple. It was extremely difficult to cock the weapon under battle conditions, requiring a strong operator lying on their back and pull a 200lb/square inch spring into place. It had a powerful recoil and launched its bombs at the same velocity as an American M1 Bazooka.

In America the bazooka developed from two different weapons – the shaped-charge warhead and solid rocket propulsion. A shaped charge is a way to concentrate an explosive charge in a focused direction and Swiss engineer Henri Mohaupt developed a grenade that could penetrate thick armour, but needed a way to be launched. Spigot mortars were tried, but the accuracy was unreliable. Other researchers had been experimenting with rocket propulsion and it was discovered that by combining the grenade and solid-propellant rocket, then a propellant with a fast burn time could launch a projectile out a long tube with the rocket motor burnt out before exiting (to prevent scorching the operator) and it could be fired straight and true and level, like a bullet from a gun, at any intrusive tank. General Barnes, Chief of the Ordnance Technical Staff, said the launcher looked like Bob Burns' musical instrument the bazooka and the name stuck. Unlike the PIAT the Bazooka has potentially dangerous amount of back-blast which led to several injuries, and this also frequently identified exactly where a bazooka had fired from. To this day anti-tank weapons are often called by the generic term 'bazooka'.

Germany was also developing shaped-charge weapons of their own, with the one-shot disposable Panzerfaust being developed to replace their anti-tank rifle. Also in development was the Raketenwerfer 43 Püppchen anti-tank gun, which despite an effective warhead, was essentially a small but costly artillery piece and far too difficult for infantry to deploy. The decision was made to keep the Püppchen's rocket warheads but with a new, more portable firing mechanism, which resulted in the Panzerschreck, a rocket-propelled grenade similar to the bazooka manufactured in the hundreds of thousands and which killed many Russian tanks in the last year of the Second World War. While not as effective as the bazooka, it was heavy to carry and while it did not have back-blast, the muzzle emitted extensive smoke and flame, giving the firing position away. The Panzerfaust was easy to both conceal carry, with Hitler Youth boys on bicycles issued the weapon and told to attack tanks, and were a highly-effective disposable weapon capable of cutting through up to 200mm of armour, or virtually any Allied tank that came within range.

The Russians, the last country to rely on the anti-tank rifle, intensely studied the anti-tank weapons they encountered and chose to combine the best features of the bazooka and the Panzerfaust. This programme developed into the Russian RPG (rocket propelled grenade) which also use the shaped-charge principle. These continue to be used around the world.

Anti-Tank Mine

Since the invention of the tank, the biggest threat that tanks have faced is the anti-tank mine. These are usually much larger and more explosive than an anti-personnel mines. These are designed to take advantage of the fact that tanks typically have thinner armour at the bottom than the front, while a mine that destroys just the track can also disable the tank and prevent its effective use on the battlefield. The use of mines as a defensive weapon was also widespread during the Second World War, so much so that purportedly, during Britain's retreat to Dunkirk, one tactic used to buy the retreating army time from the pursuing German tank divisions included putting dinner plates across major roadways, with the Germans cautiously treating each plate as if it was an anti-tank mine.

During the Second World War, tanks developed differing techniques for dealing with mines. These included front-mounted equipment, such as ploughs to push any mines out of the way or flails intended to detonate any mines before the main body of the vehicle was over it. The Conga was an attempt to fire a hosepipe over a suspected minefield. The hose would then be filled with nitro-glycerine and exploded, destroying any mines in the area, however an incident in which a nitro-glycerine filled Conga was hit by enemy fire in a Dutch village resulted in the deaths of several Dutch villagers promptly ended its use.

Today mines are banned by many nations worldwide, having led to terrible civilian casualties, however they are widely used by both sides in the Russo-Ukrainian War. These include cluster munitions and artillery-fired mines where a target, such as a road, becomes an instant minefield after the firing of weapons that scatter mines across the intended site.

Top Attack Weapons

As tanks' armour is designed to be strongest at the very front, where traditional weapons have targeted, new anti-tank guided missiles have been developed to target tanks where their armour is thinner and they are more vulnerable. These, known as top attack weapons, are designed to fly above their target and then plunge down from directly above. They have proven themselves particularly effective in the War in Ukraine (2022+) against Russian tanks which traditionally have ammunition stored in their turrets.

The two most successful top-attack weapons are the NLAW and Javelin missiles. The NLAW (Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon) was designed for the British military and developed in Sweden. The NLAW is a short-range line-of-sight lightweight and easily portable weapon that can be deployed anywhere, including in confined spaces. With an effective range of 20m to 1km, it is ideal in extreme close combat such as found in urban warfare ambushes. It is easy to learn how to use, with an hour's training proving sufficient, and has been credited with between 30-40% of Russian tanks destroyed. The Javelin is more effective in open areas at longer ranges, up to 2.5km, but its minimum range is 150m so less effective in ambushes, is heavier and harder to learn how to use. They are far more expensive than NLAWs, but whereas the NLAW is a single-use weapon, the most expensive element is the Javelin's reusable body.