Given that Major Cain at Oosterbeek in September 1944 allegedly destroyed/knocked out several German Tanks/AFVs with the PIAT in the battle, does anybody know if anything similar was done by another soldier. I'm talking now about using a PIAT to konck them out and not something like the Wittman episode.
Also were guys given many rounds in training against rusting hulks?

Niall, I take it you're just referring to Market-Garden ? I immediately thought of Fusilier Jefferson, the Cassino PIAT VC, but for Arnhem I'll have to dig around a bit.

I'm sure I've read of others than Cain claiming to have disabled tanks/Stugs with PIATs but I can't think where....

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No I meant anywhere where the PIAT was used. Only ever having picked one up and not seen it fired, I feel anyone who got a tank with one deserved a medal of some sort..tell me more about the guy at Cassino??

This famous incident happened at Cassino on 16th May, 1944 when Fusilier F.A. (Frank) Jefferson of the 2nd Bn., Lancashire Fusiliers picked up a PIAT when his Battalion's position was threatened by a local German counterattack.

Dashing into the open under direct fire, he loosed his PIAT at the lead tank which burst into flames, killing the crew ( Fusilier Jefferson reportedly fired from the hip...).

He then advanced on a second tank, but before he could get within effective range, reinforcements arrived and the counterattack was repulsed.

Fusilier Jefferson was embarrassed by the award, and barrack-room gossip at the time reckoned he deserved the VC simply for firing a PIAT from the hip, regardless of whether he knocked anything out....

There is a deeply tragic ending to this story. In 1982, his VC was stolen from his home by a sneak thief and has never been recovered to this day. Frank Jefferson was deeply depressed by this incident, and some time later took his own life. [img]graemlins/vc.gif[/img]

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Smokey Smith got a VC for knocking out 2 german tanks with the PIAT.
One of the PIAT's was his and the other was his buddy's. His buddy got wounded and Smokey Smith stayed with him and fought off the German attack using both of the PIAT's, their tommy guns and anything else he could shoot.

There are many actions where the PIAT was effective. Arnhem Bridge is probably the most famous but if you research enough you are sure to find a few.

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If dogs don't go to heaven, I'd like to go where they go.

Hmmm.

Speaking recently to a veteran in the Legion, he told me he had been trained to dig in his toes whenever firing a new weapon. When he first fired the PIAT, the recoil was the worst of any weapon he had fired. firing from the hip sounds like fiction. But then truth is sometimes stranger..........

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If dogs don't go to heaven, I'd like to go where they go.

Sound strange i know but probably did happen there was an incident during the taking of Pegasus bridge when one soldier took his PIAT up to the wall of a church and aimed from the shoulder to take out a church steaple that was being used as an OP. I forget the guys name but that must have taken some strength.

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Corporal Killeen fired the PIAT at Le Port church (near Pegasus bridge) by resting it on the wall.

Wally PArr knocked out a tank on the night of the invasion with the PiAT. He claims that the weapon possessed no accuracy over 10 yards and was a bugger to use. He feels that luck was the main factor when using the weapon.

The weapon was able to be fired from a kneeling and in some cases standing position, but the recoil from the spring was horrific and troops were instructed to only fire the weapon from the prone position. There was a practice piat round used for training. It also took two men to easily pull down the spring to reload the weapon, having tried and failed to do it on my own, I have great respect for those that used such a terrible weapon.

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Strictly speaking the recoil wasn't from the spring; the projectile was fired using a special blank cartridge. To keep the recoil bearable, the initial kick was absorbed by a powerful spring, which transmitted it to the firer as a more even push. The spring was cocked before firing as a further aid in reducing recoil; when the trigger was pulled, the spring shot forward first, then the cartridge was fired, so the first wallop of recoil was used up in stopping the forward motion of the spring before pushing it back again.

However, there is only so much you can do to counteract the equal-and-opposite force of recoil, and the PIAT was still a beast to fire compared with the recoilless Panzerfaust or the rocket Bazooka. It did have some advantages, though; there was virtually no firing signature (unlike the visible rocket or the backblast of an RCL) so the firer was harder for the tank crew to detect. It could also be fired safely from inside a small room (not something to try with most RCLs!)

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
forum

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website

Good points, Tony. I've read that the lack of back-blast was one of the reasons that the PIAT was so useful at Arnhem ; it could be fired from within houses without setting fire to the contents of the room....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson