Editing Nazi Equipment (section)

====Anti-Tank Infantry Weapons====

* '''''Hafthohlladung'':''' In English, "Attachable Shaped Charge" (get used to this very literal naming scheme, it continues below). Very soon into the war, the Germans realized they would never have enough tanks and antitank guns to go around, so they developed weapons that would allow an infantryman to (in theory, at least) deal with a tank. The Hafthohlladung was such an early attempt. A big AT grenade with three magnets that allowed it to stick to any metallic surface, it would make a nice hole into any tank it was attached to... Which makes the weapon's main drawback immediately clear: [[Tankbustas|running up to an operational tank to slap a bomb on its side wasn't exactly safe]]. In theory, you could also try to [[Genestealer#Genestealer_Cults|wait and hide in ambush]] for the tank to pass close by since visibility from inside a tank wasn't that great, but that would require being able to anticipate the path of the tank (without accidentally getting run over), and tanks were often supported by infantry anyway. At the very least, they were less suicidal than the Japanese "lunge mine." (A mine on a stick to be used [[Tankbustas]]-style) The Hafthohlladung wasn't really a successful weapon and saw only limited use, but it paved the way for the next item on the list:  

* '''''Panzerfaust'':''' "Armor fist", or, more literally, "tank fist". A disposable one-shot anti-armor weapon for use against tanks and entrenched positions. Really cheap to produce, lightweight, and able to do a lot of damage to tanks at close range (maximum range being at most 150 meters for the later models). And it was really easy to use: hold in crook of the arm, flip a switch up that becomes an iron sight (and also arms the weapon), aim, squeeze the firing lever, and enjoy the fireworks. The basic idea of how they were used was to give one guy in every squad (or more) one of them so that if a tank ever did get close, there was a chance they'd be able to take it out or do some damage. This, among other things, made Allied generals wary about sending tanks to clear out German infantry forces, especially among the ambush-friendly hedgerows of Normandy. That said, Panzerfausts were useless for trying to snipe at tanks from a distance (with an effective range of about 60m of the most produced versions) and could not be reloaded with another rocket, preventing most troops from carrying more than one shot on their person. In the last days of the war, the Nazis gave these to grannies and kids on the off-chance that they could destroy an Allied tank when they rolled into town. In fact, it was so cheap to produce that every member of the late-war Volkssturm was generally issued one, while every third person was lucky enough to be issued a rifle. Looked like a fist in a tube, hence the name. Its general design was later copied by the Russians, eventually used in the RPG-2 and RPG-7 rocket launchers. The concept of the Panzerfaust is still very much alive in the form of many light anti-tank weapons (M72, AT4, MATADOR,...) in use today.

* '''''Panzerschreck'':''' "Armor terror", or "tank fright". A reusable anti-tank rocket launcher based off captured American bazookas, and you can almost imagine the Nazi scientist getting one and saying "[[Ork|Bigga is Betta!]]"! (Although the actual reaction was probably also: "VHY DIDN'T VE ZHINK OF ZHAT!!!", see next item on the list.) The Panzerschreck was larger than the bazooka, with an 88mm muzzle size (where the first bazooka was only 60mm)—in fact, it is still larger than most rocket launchers and mortars in use today. Like the bazooka, but unlike the Panzerfaust, it could be reloaded, and had a longer range than the 'Faust bar the latest version. The Panzerschreck has a distinctive steel blast shield in front, which has to do with the larger rocket blowing hot exhaust into the users face. Early models without the shield ended up requiring the operator to wear a gasmask and protective poncho (which must have sucked for the first person to test it, before they figured that out). The Panzerschreck was more useful as an offensive weapon than the Panzerfaust, since it was capable of easily penetrating the armor of any tank they faced (and at better ranges) thanks to the bigger rocket. But on the other hand, it was very much a temperamental weapon that required trained operators, so its use was restricted to dedicated tank hunter teams (unlike the Panzerfaust, which was simple enough that a 10-year old kid could handle it).

*'''''Sturmpistole'':''' An early attempt at making a lightweight antitank weapon, the Sturmpistole was little more than a modified flare gun equipped with a stock and sighting system, and fired oversized warheads out of the muzzle like the Panzerfaust. Unlike the Panzerfaust, it didn't see much success due to the small size of the warhead.

*'''''Raketenwerfer 43'':''' By the time Germany [[Blood Ravens|acquired]] the bazooka and refined it into the Panzerschreck, they had their own version of a rocket-firing antitank weapon: the Raketenwerfer 43 a.k.a. the "Puppchen" or "Little Doll". Why such a weird nickname? Because it was, for all intents and purposes, a miniature artillery piece: wheeled and towed and working from a a closed breech exactly like the rest of the German field guns and howitzers (except it fired rockets). Despite its better range and accuracy it was more expensive and harder to make then the Panzerschreck or the bazooka, so not nearly as many of them were made compared to the 'schrecks.

*'''''Panzerwerfmine'':''' "Mine to be thrown at tanks" (don't say we didn't warn you about the names). Another attempt at allowing infantrymen to deal with a tank, this is basically a shaped charge with deployable stabilizing cloth fins that was thrown overhand to land on the top a tank and blow a nice, big hole through it. Cheap to produce and very efficient, but it required lots of practice to use, so it was only given to trained "[[Tankbustas|tank-hunter]]" teams. The Russians captured some of those, were duly impressed, and promptly refined the German concept into their own "RPG-6" antitank hand grenade that was just as cheap and efficient but way easier to use, and so good it was still part of their arsenal when the Soviet Union fell and can still be found all over the world in relatively low-intensity conflicts. Sure, it won't kill a modern tank, but it sure as hell will kill third-world militiamen in up-gunned Toyotas.

*'''Various antitank rifles''': Germany utilized a lot of antitank rifles at the very beginning of the war, just like every other major power at the time did, and just like their counterparts, they became obsolete really, really quickly, with only the USSR really committing to their use throughout the entirety of the war. Here are some of the antitank rifles the Germans used. 
**'''''Tankgewehr M1918''''': The daddy of the antitank rifle and, in a sense, most anti-materiel rifles to this day. Developed near the end of WWI by the German Empire in search of an reliable alternative to light or medium field guns in the role of antitank weaponry, it was essentially a Mauser Gewehr 98 on steroids firing a massive 13mm round that could penetrate up 20 millimeters of armour at ranges of 100 meters and below. It needed a lot of training to make it work right; the recoil was reported to be strong enough to dislocate a man's shoulder if used incorrectly and even if done right, the marksman would become nauseous after just 2 or 3 shots at maximum. To put it in perspective, imagine firing a gun whose recoil feels like a seasoned boxer just hit you in the nuts. The Wehrmacht used some of them that were still lying around in arsenals all over Germany and some they took from the Polish army. 
**'''''Panzerbüchse 39''''': Or "Tank Rifle Model 39". Whereas other nations like the British and the Soviets tried to improve their antitank rifles by using larger calibers with bigger powder charges (the British used a .55 cartridge, the Soviets 14.5x114mm), the Germans actually made their bullets smaller, using a 7.92mmx94 cartridge. The idea was basically to increase the kinetic force of the bullet through speed instead of mass, and it sorta worked. The PzB 39 was comparable to most other antitank rifles of the time. Its shortcomings mainly came from (as is tradition) overengineering; the PzB 39 was a breech-loading rifle (like an artillery gun) and the action was expensive and labour-intensive to produce. Additionally, unlike most of its contemporaries and even some of the other antitank rifles the Germans used, it was single shot only (the Brits' antitank rifle had a 5 round magazine, as did the Soviet PTRS-41).  The rifle proved barely effective already in Poland and France and was subsequently either phased out or converted into grenade launchers. 
**'''''Panzerbüchse SS41''''': An insanely complicated, impractical marvel of engineering developed specifically for SS troops. The need for alternative weapons for the Waffen-SS divisions arose when Himmler wanted to use the SS alongside the Heer, the regular German Army; however the Heer's generals were understandably not thrilled about the idea of a paramilitary force loyal only to the Nazi party, so they did some political lobbying that led to the Wehrmacht keeping its monopoly on all weapons produced by the German arms industry. This was a privilege the SS didn't have, so Himmler sourced weapons from all over Europe and took whatever he could get his filthy hands on (In spite of what /pol/lacks and Wehraboos might tell you, most SS units outside the first few panzer divisions were poorly equipped and used a huge variety of surplus or obsolete rifles, submachine guns and looted guns). The SS41 differs in this regard as it was developed in secret specifically for the SS in Czechia from prototypes the Czechs developed on their own before their annexation into the Greater German Reich. Cycling this monstrous contraption requires the soldier operating it to slide the entire forward assembly forwards and backwards, a process that looks as awesome as it was tedious. Speaking of looks, this gun really is a beauty, and a bullpup design on top of that. Gotta hand it to the Czechs. It fired the same 7.92x94mm cartridge the PzB 39 used, so it's fair to say that it didn't take long to become obsolete and surviving examples are exceedingly rare. 
**'''''Solothurn S18/1000''''': A ludicrously massive gun more akin to a cannon than anything else. Developed as part of the German schemes to gain access to modern firearms in spite of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. It was in fact so large that the Swiss put wheels on it and called it a cannon. It fired a FUCKHUEG 20mm round and needed 3 men to operate and carry it and built the basis of nearly all automatic cannons the German military developed and used through out the war.