What happens to a tank when hit? What happens to a tank when hit? 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).