British Weapons

Anyone know what the destroyed vehicle is at the .05 mark in that clip? Bogies look a little Sherman-like.

 

The bogies on the left, which appear to be quite small, the rear door, the hinged hull top and the hoop for a canvas tilt, all put me in mind of a U.S. half-track.

 

I think you are right.

 

Does anyone know what the difference between the 425 and 426 fuze was for the PIAT? Must have been fairly significant as this turned up in correspondence in 36 Div HQ's War Diary in Feb 1945:

426 PIAT FUZES
Another essential item. As I've already told you, the 425 fuze is useless against the type of Jap bunker we are now meeting. Thank you for your prompt action in jogging ALFSEA over this. We really do want them and in a hurry too, and I'd be very grateful if you'd keep worrying ALFSEA until they do produce them.

The 'bunkers' they were encountering at this point were often groups of one-man foxholes with very thick timber headcover amongst dense jungle which stood up extremely well to 25-pounder and 3.7 howitzer fire. Can't find any other mentions about the PIAT's bunker-busting role in Burma though.

 

From Talk:PIAT - Wikipedia, about halfway down under ‘performance’.

The original fuse was fuse No.425 and only had a detonation rate of about 75%, but this was not because the fuse was 'faulty', the fuse performed exactly as designed, it was because it was the wrong type of fuse for the application. Fuse No.425 required a close to square impact in order to activate. In early 1944 the fuse was replaced by a graze fuse, No.426 in the Mark III bomb. The graze fuse was detonated by deceleration when the bomb struck something, even obliquely. There is official speculation that the graze fuse detonation rate would be about 90%.

Couldn’t see a source given but it seems to fit with your quote.

 

Thanks Richelieu, that would make sense. I imagine trying to land a shot square against one of those bunkers would be pretty much impossible.

 

Here is a link to the CMHQ file on PIAT bombs – scanned in reverse order, so page left.

It includes details of the nasty ‘blow-back’ and blind round issues; the adoption of the No.426 fuse and a trial against Japanese pillboxes.