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By Bob Cashner
When the first tanks appeared in World War One, they were
relatively lightly armored and protected the crews only against small
striking the exterior of the armor could pop off rivet heads or flake
armor from the internal surfaces, creating fragments that would fly
tank crews had to wear protective goggles and chain mail masks, to
vision slits.
creating and manufacturing the first anti-tank rifle in 1917. This was
line infantry within nine months of the tank’s first appearance on the
battlefield.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Musee-de-lArmee-IMG_1006.jpg
The weapon that started it all, the WWI German 13mm Mauser
The Mauser set the stage and ushered in the age of the Anti-
bore” route utilizing 20-mm weapons. The Germans and Poles used
instead the weapon received its name from the designer, Captain
Small Arms Committee. Captain Boys died only a few days before his
weapon was adopted into British military service in 1937 and the anti
Boyes.
http://www.wpclipart.com/armed_services/small_arms/guns_1/Boys_Anti_Tank
%20Rifle.png.html
flat muzzle brake, simpler fixed sights, and a Bren Gun bipod to
Bren light machine gun. Empty cartridge cases were ejected from the
bottom of the action rather than the top. Just the loaded magazine by
itself weighed some 2.6 pounds. Weight does not endear any weapon
to the infantryman.
feet per second in the Mark 2 load. Later, an even more effective
against a heavy shock absorber mounted in the butt. Finally, the butt
plate itself was heavily padded with rubber. A front bipod and rear
grip was also fitted. Still, recoil was quite significant, causing
the Bastard”.
http://www.freewebs.com/morris-recce/boys.jpg
kicked up a blast of dust and debris that could have given his
muzzle brake which vented all gases to the sides to correct this
manufacture.
The Boys’ first combat action was actually with Finnish forces
during the 1939-40 Winter War against the Russian bear. Great
Britain sent 200 examples of the Boys to Finland. In the hands of the
early Soviet tank designs. Tanks such as the T-26 and BT-5 had thin
armor and a distressing tendency to catch fire easily. The Finns were
Leicesters, who had been sent to aid in the defense of Norway after a
Taking up the unit’s .55-inch Boys, which he had never used before,
out of sight.
Success of the Boys, or lack thereof, was also noted during the
German invasion of France in May 1940. Despite the fact that the
vast majority of the German tanks in use at the time were small,
as nothing more than a training vehicle, the Boys was not a decisive
Sergeant Edward Doe of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps was not
impressed by the Boys: “The Germans had brought the tanks in and
they were blasting …I actually fired the Boys anti-tank rifle for the first
onto it, like grim death, because it would dislocate your shoulder if
you didn’t. I fired at a tank coming over the bridge that wasn’t blown—
and I couldn’t miss it from about 50 yards away. An officer was right
beside me, and I saw this hit the tank and all it had done was to just
about knock the paintwork off. It made a noise like a ping-pong ball.
The officer who was beside me said to me, ‘Leave the blasted thing
Anti-Tank Rifle which protected the rear of the Battalion during its
withdrawal into Boulogne on the 23rd May. For two hours this NCO,
tank, thus blocking a street down which the enemy were trying to
leave his Anti-Tank Rifle until it, and the Bren guns supporting it,
became jammed through over firing. Throughout the whole action Sgt
Gilchrist showed courage and bravery of a very high order and set
New and improved weapon designs were neglected for the moment;
industry concentrated on pouring out as many current weapons from
and some Italian tanks, such as the Fiat light tanks and the thin-
single engagement in the desert, the 7th Hussars knocked out five of
these CV tankettes in rapid order with their Boys anti tank rifles.
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/miller/miller.asp
In the North African campaigns the Boys also found use against
the stony Western Desert, where the ground was often too hard to
among the infantrymen from splinters and rock fragments. This trick
was used again to engage German paratroopers fighting amidst the
Again, in the desert, the ordinary infantryman did not give the
tanks with his Boyes anti-tank rifle, a feat that astounded everyone --
jeep. In addition to the Bren gun, early models were also armed with
lightly armored. A Boys anti tank rifle, firing from a simple slit in
CS9 Light Armored Car and Morris Light Reconnaissance Car, the
Cars.
use with Airborne troops, but it was just as ballistically ineffective and
recoil was even more brutal than the full-size model . A taper (or
same manner that the Littlejohn Adapter tried to extend the useful life
extremely high velocity. By that time, the Boys was already being
retired.
the very effective high explosive shaped charge warhead, the Boys
spring-loaded spigot mortar, the PIAT was also rather despised by its
users due to its nasty spring recoil and short range, but its powerful
Army training film about the Boys anti-tank rifle, produced by Walt
Disney, available for viewing on YouTube under the title of Stop That
Tank! http://youtube.com/watch?v=-kx4UgeNHfs
FOOTNOTES
1. Doe, Sgt. Edward, Forgotten Voices of WWII, p 63, Globe
Pequot, 2004.