Armoured Fighting
Vehicles in the Second World War fell victim
to anti-tank mines and projectiles fired from
anti-tank guns. Most of the latter relied
upon kinetic energy to penetrate a tank's
armour. As such, the velocity of the shot
was of crucial importance and methods were
evolved throughout the war to raise a projectile's
muzzle velocity, some by modifying the projectile,
some by modifying the gun. When a tank was
hit by any of the variety of armour-piercing
rounds, much of the kinetic energy of the
shot would be converted to heat upon penetration,
raising the internal temperature of the tank.
Aside from striking crew members, the projectile
would frequently ignite the fuel and ammunition
carried inside the tank, causing it to catch
fire, or "brew up". Historian Donald
Graves states that crew members had, on average,
about 15 seconds to get out once hit. The
destruction of their tank did not remove them
from battle, however, as it was "common
practice on both sides to fire at tank crews
who evacuated shot-up vehicles" (Donald
E. Graves, South Albertas: A Canadian Regiment
at War, 1998, p. 104).
Larger tanks with heavier armour led to more
powerful anti-tank
guns, as well as the development of a
new type of projectile.
Instead of kinetic energy resulting from high
velocity, shaped- or hollow-charge projectiles
relied on explosive chemical energy. When
such a projectile struck, "a fuse detonated
explosive at the end remote from the shaped
cavity at the front of the round and . . .
created a jet of molten metal that would penetrate
armour plate and spray a mass of flame and
melted metal fragments into the interior of
a tank. Hollow charge projectiles were ideal
for low-velocity, hand-held anti-tank weapons"
such as the British PIAT
(Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank), the
American bazooka, and the German Panzerfaust
and Panzerschreck (Graves, p. 365).
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Canada in WWII
