Panzerfaust

1. Lead

The Panzerfaust was the German disposable anti-tank weapon of the Second World War — a cheap, single-shot, recoilless launcher that gave an ordinary infantryman the power to destroy a tank. Introduced in 1943, the Panzerfaust was little more than a steel tube, a simple firing mechanism and a large hollow-charge warhead on a stick.

It was so simple that it could be mass-produced by unskilled labour, so cheap that it could be issued in enormous numbers, and so effective at short range that it became one of the most feared weapons of the last two years of the war.

About six million Panzerfausts were produced in 1944–45, and they were used by regular soldiers, by the Volkssturm militia and by the Hitler Youth in the defence of Germany. The weapon’s principle — a shaped charge that focuses explosive energy into a jet capable of penetrating thick armour — influenced anti-tank weapons around the world after the war, and the name “Panzerfaust” became a byword for the desperate, close-range fighting of 1945.

2. Key Facts

Type	Disposable single-shot anti-tank launcher (recoilless)
Origin	Germany
Designer	Dr Heinrich Langweiler, Hugo Schneider AG (HASAG), Leipzig
Manufacturer	HASAG and other German firms
In service	1943–1945
Produced	About 6 million (all versions, 1943–1945; estimates vary from about 5 to 7 million)
Weight	About 5.2 kg (Panzerfaust 30); about 6.5 kg (Panzerfaust 100)
Length	About 1.0 m (Panzerfaust 30); about 1.04 m (Panzerfaust 100)
Calibre	44 mm launch tube; warhead diameter 100 mm (Panzerfaust 30), 150 mm (Panzerfaust 60/100)
Warhead	Shaped charge (hollow charge), about 1.6 kg of explosive
Armour penetration	About 140 mm (Panzerfaust 30); about 200 mm (Panzerfaust 60/100)
Effective range	30 m (Panzerfaust 30); 60 m (Panzerfaust 60); 100 m (Panzerfaust 100)
Muzzle velocity	About 30 m/s (Panzerfaust 30); about 60 m/s (Panzerfaust 100)
Crew	1 soldier
Sights	Simple flip-up rear sight and front post

3. Background and Development

The Infantry’s Anti-Tank Problem

The Panzerfaust was born of Germany’s growing fear of enemy tanks. By 1942 the German infantry’s anti-tank weapons — the 3.7 cm PaK 36 anti-tank gun, nicknamed the “door-knocker” by its crews because it could not penetrate the armour of the Soviet T-34, and the early anti-tank rifles — were no longer adequate.

The German Army needed a weapon that a single infantryman could carry, that could be produced in huge numbers, and that could destroy a tank at the short ranges of street fighting and forest fighting. The answer came from Dr Heinrich Langweiler of the Hugo Schneider AG (HASAG) company in Leipzig, who had been working on a recoilless weapon that fired a hollow-charge warhead.

Langweiler’s design used the principle of the shaped charge, which had been demonstrated by the Swiss engineer Henry Mohaupt and by German researchers in the 1930s: a cone of explosive with a metal liner, when detonated, collapses into a jet of metal travelling at very high speed, which can penetrate armour many times thicker than the diameter of the warhead.

From Faustpatrone to Panzerfaust

The first version, the Faustpatrone, was issued in small numbers in 1943, but it was the Panzerfaust 30, introduced in late 1943, that became the standard weapon. The name was changed from Faustpatrone to Panzerfaust — literally “armour fist” — and the weapon was redesigned with a larger warhead and a simpler firing mechanism. The Panzerfaust 30 could penetrate about 140 mm of armour at a range of 30 metres.

The Panzerfaust 60, introduced in 1944, had a larger propellant charge and a range of 60 metres, and the Panzerfaust 100, introduced late in 1944, had a range of 100 metres. The final version, the Panzerfaust 150, with a reusable tube and a two-stage propellant, was tested in early 1945 but never entered mass production before the war ended.

The weapon’s simplicity was its genius: the launcher was a thin steel tube with a trigger, a firing pin and a simple sight, and the warhead was a cone of explosive on a wooden stick that fitted into the tube. The soldier aimed, pulled the trigger, and the propellant charge in the tube fired the warhead at the tank.

The back-blast — the jet of hot gas that escaped from the rear of the tube — was dangerous to anyone standing behind the firer, and the firer had to make sure that no one was behind him before he fired.

A Weapon for Everyone

The Panzerfaust was designed to be used by anyone, with almost no training. A soldier could be taught to use it in a few minutes, and it was issued to units that had no other anti-tank weapon — above all to the Volkssturm, the militia of older men and boys called up in the last months of the war, and to the Hitler Youth.

The weapon was also supplied to Germany’s allies, including Finland, Hungary and Italy, and captured examples were used by the Soviet Union. The German propaganda of 1944–45 presented the Panzerfaust as a wonder weapon that would stop the Allied tanks; it was not, but it was a real and dangerous weapon, and Allied tank crews learned to fear it.

The weapon’s issue was not limited to the front line: it was given to railway guards, to factory workers and to the Hitler Youth, and by the spring of 1945, when the Allies entered Germany, they found Panzerfausts in almost every town they occupied, in houses, in cellars and in the hands of men and boys who had never fired a weapon before.

4. Design

A Steel Tube and a Trigger

The Panzerfaust’s design was deliberately primitive. The launcher was a steel tube about one metre long, open at both ends, with a pistol grip, a trigger and a folding sight at the top. The warhead was a bulbous cone, about 150 mm in diameter on the later versions, mounted on a wooden shaft that was inserted into the tube. Inside the tube was a small black-powder propellant charge.

When the soldier pulled the trigger, the firing pin struck a primer, the propellant ignited, and the expanding gas pushed the warhead out of the tube at a low velocity — about 30 metres per second for the Panzerfaust 30, and about 60 metres per second for the Panzerfaust 100.

Because the tube was open at the rear, the gas escaped backwards and the launcher had almost no recoil, which is why a single soldier could fire a weapon that could destroy a tank. The low velocity meant that the warhead flew in a pronounced arc, and the soldier had to aim high at longer ranges — a skill that took practice, and that was difficult under fire.

The Shaped-Charge Warhead

The shaped-charge warhead was the heart of the weapon. It contained about 1.6 kg of explosive, formed into a cone with a copper or steel liner, and a simple impact fuse in the nose. When the warhead struck the tank, the fuse detonated the explosive, and the liner collapsed into a jet of metal travelling at about 8,000 metres per second.

The jet punched a small hole through the armour and sent a spray of molten metal and spalled armour into the tank’s interior, killing or wounding the crew and often igniting the ammunition or fuel. The warhead’s effectiveness did not depend on the speed of the projectile, so the Panzerfaust’s low velocity did not matter — what mattered was that the warhead hit the tank squarely, and that it was large enough to penetrate the armour.

The Panzerfaust 60 and 100, with their 150 mm warheads, could penetrate about 200 mm of armour, which was enough to defeat the frontal armour of the Soviet T-34 and the American Sherman, and the side armour of almost any tank of the war.

Limitations and Dangers

The weapon’s limitations were severe. Its range was short — 30 metres for the first version, 100 metres for the last — and at those ranges the firer was exposed to the tank’s machine guns and to the infantry that accompanied it. The warhead’s low speed made it difficult to hit a moving tank, and the weapon was almost useless against a tank at more than 100 metres.

The back-blast gave away the firer’s position with a flash of flame and a cloud of smoke, and the firer had to fire and then move immediately, or he would be killed. The Panzerfaust was also dangerous to its user: the propellant charge could misfire, the warhead could detonate prematurely, and the back-blast could injure the firer if he fired from inside a building or a trench.

German training manuals warned soldiers to fire only from the open, or from a large room with the rear clear, and to keep their head well away from the rear of the tube.

5. Variants

The Faustpatrone and the Panzerfaust 30

Variant	Years	Key features	Production
Faustpatrone	1943	First version; small warhead; range about 30 m	Small numbers
Panzerfaust 30	1943–1944	Larger warhead (100 mm); penetration about 140 mm; range 30 m	Large numbers
Panzerfaust 60	1944–1945	Larger propellant charge; 150 mm warhead; penetration about 200 mm; range 60 m	Very large numbers
Panzerfaust 100	1944–1945	Still larger propellant charge; range 100 m; heavier, about 6.5 kg	Large numbers
Panzerfaust 150	1945	Reusable tube; two-stage propellant; range about 150 m; not mass-produced	Prototypes and small numbers only
Panzerfaust 250	1945 (planned)	Reloadable; pistol grip and improved sight; never completed	None

The Faustpatrone of 1943 was the ancestor of the family, but it was the Panzerfaust 30, with its larger warhead and simpler mechanism, that became the weapon the German infantry knew. The Faustpatrone had a warhead of only about 100 mm and a range of 30 metres, and it was issued in small numbers for trials.

The Panzerfaust 30 kept the same short range but increased the warhead’s penetration to about 140 mm, which was enough to defeat the side armour of the Soviet T-34 and the American Sherman, though not always their frontal armour. The change of name — from Faustpatrone, “fist cartridge”, to Panzerfaust, “armour fist” — was a piece of propaganda in itself: it presented the weapon as a punch that could smash armour, and the name stuck.

The Panzerfaust 30 was issued to the infantry in the autumn of 1943, and its first large-scale use was on the Eastern Front, where German soldiers, who had been defenceless against Soviet tanks, welcomed a weapon that could destroy a tank at close range.

The Panzerfaust 60, 100 and 150

The Panzerfaust 60, introduced in the summer of 1944, was the most widely used version of the weapon. It doubled the range to 60 metres by increasing the propellant charge, and it enlarged the warhead to 150 mm, which raised the armour penetration to about 200 mm — enough to defeat the frontal armour of almost any Allied tank of the war.

The Panzerfaust 100, introduced late in 1944, doubled the range again to 100 metres, but it was heavier and its larger propellant charge produced a bigger back-blast, which made it more dangerous to fire from enclosed positions. The final version, the Panzerfaust 150, was a more sophisticated weapon: it had a reusable launch tube, a two-stage propellant charge and a range of about 150 metres, and it was the direct ancestor of the post-war Soviet RPG-2 and RPG-7.

It was tested in the spring of 1945 but never entered mass production, because the war ended before its factories could be tooled up. The planned Panzerfaust 250, a reloadable weapon with a pistol grip, was never completed.

6. Operational History

The Eastern Front, 1943–1945

The Panzerfaust first saw large-scale use on the Eastern Front, where the German infantry faced the massed tank attacks of the Red Army. In the defensive battles of 1943 and 1944 — above all during the Soviet summer offensive of 1944, Operation Bagration, which destroyed the German Army Group Centre — German infantry armed with Panzerfausts fought Soviet tanks at close range in villages, forests and ruined towns.

The weapon was most effective in broken terrain, where tanks could not use their speed and where the infantry could approach to within 30 or 60 metres without being seen. Soviet tank crews learned to fear the Panzerfaust, and Soviet doctrine was changed to deal with it: tanks were ordered to advance with infantry support, to fire high-explosive shells into buildings and woods before advancing, and to keep their distance from cover.

The Soviet Union also captured large numbers of Panzerfausts and used them against the Germans, and after the war the Soviet RPG-2 was directly modelled on the Panzerfaust 150.

Normandy and the West, 1944

In the west, the Panzerfaust was used in Normandy after the Allied landings of June 1944, and in the fighting in France, Belgium and the Netherlands that followed. The bocage country of Normandy — small fields enclosed by thick hedgerows — was ideal ground for the Panzerfaust, because tanks were confined to narrow lanes and could be ambushed at short range.

American and British tank crews reported that the Panzerfaust was the most feared German weapon after the 88 mm gun, and Allied infantry were ordered to clear hedgerows and buildings with artillery and small arms before the tanks advanced. In the Ardennes offensive of December 1944, German infantry armed with Panzerfausts fought American tanks in the forests and villages of the Ardennes, and in the fighting around Bastogne the weapon was used by both sides.

By the end of 1944 the Panzerfaust was standard equipment for every German infantry unit, and millions had been issued.

The Defence of Germany, 1945

In 1945, the Panzerfaust became the weapon of Germany’s last defence. The German Army was retreating on all fronts, its tanks were gone, its fuel was gone, and its soldiers were old men and boys, but it still had millions of Panzerfausts, and it gave them to everyone who could hold one. The weapon’s story in 1945 is the story of the Volkssturm and the Hitler Youth, of the street fighting in Berlin, and of a regime that armed its people with a weapon that cost almost nothing to make and that could kill a tank at thirty metres. It is the darkest chapter in the Panzerfaust’s history, and it is the chapter for which the weapon is best remembered.

The Volkssturm and the Hitler Youth were the last soldiers of the Third Reich, and the Panzerfaust was their weapon because it was the only weapon that Germany could still make in large numbers. The men and boys who carried it had almost no training, and many of them had never fired a weapon before, but the Panzerfaust needed almost no training, and it could kill a tank at thirty metres. The weapon’s story in 1945 is therefore the story of a regime that armed children with a weapon that could kill, and that sent them to die with it.

The Volkssturm and the Hitler Youth

In the last months of the war, the Panzerfaust became the weapon of the Volkssturm — the militia of men aged 16 to 60 called up in October 1944 — and of the Hitler Youth, boys as young as 14 who were sent into battle in the defence of Germany.

The Volkssturm was armed almost entirely with Panzerfausts, because the weapon was cheap, simple and required almost no training, and because Germany had little else to give them. A Volkssturm man with a Panzerfaust was expected to hide in a ruined building or a roadside ditch, wait for a Soviet or American tank to come within 30 metres, fire once, and then run.

Many were killed doing so, and the weapon’s reputation as a “suicide weapon” comes from these last months, when old men and boys were sent against tanks with a single-shot weapon and no support. The Hitler Youth divisions, above all the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend in Normandy and the Hitler Youth units in Berlin, also used the Panzerfaust extensively, and their fanaticism made them dangerous opponents even when their training was minimal.

Berlin, April–May 1945

The Panzerfaust’s last great battle was Berlin, where in April and May 1945 Soviet tanks fought their way through the streets of the German capital against defenders armed in large part with Panzerfausts. In street fighting, the weapon’s short range was no disadvantage, because the tanks and the infantry were often only tens of metres apart, and the defenders could fire from cellars, from upper floors and from behind rubble.

Soviet tank losses in Berlin were heavy — estimates of the number of Soviet tanks destroyed in the battle vary widely, from about 800 to about 2,000, and many were destroyed by Panzerfausts and by other close-range anti-tank weapons — and the Soviet command ordered its tanks to advance only with infantry support and with artillery preparation.

The battle of Berlin showed both the power and the limits of the Panzerfaust: it could destroy any tank at close range, but it could not stop an army, and the defenders of Berlin, for all their courage and their Panzerfausts, were overwhelmed in less than two weeks.

When the city surrendered on 2 May 1945, the streets were littered with discarded Panzerfaust tubes, the signature debris of the last battle of the war in Europe.

7. Performance and Specifications

Penetration and Range by Version

Specification	Panzerfaust 30	Panzerfaust 60	Panzerfaust 100
Warhead diameter	100 mm	150 mm	150 mm
Armour penetration	About 140 mm	About 200 mm	About 200 mm
Effective range	30 m	60 m	100 m
Muzzle velocity	About 30 m/s	About 45 m/s	About 60 m/s
Weight	About 5.2 kg	About 6.1 kg	About 6.5 kg
Length	About 1.0 m	About 1.04 m	About 1.04 m
Explosive in warhead	About 1.6 kg	About 1.6 kg	About 1.6 kg
Production	1943–1944	1944–1945	1944–1945

The figures in the table show the trade-off that governed the Panzerfaust’s development: every increase in range and penetration made the weapon heavier and produced a larger back-blast, and the soldier who carried it paid for the improvement with weight and with danger.

The penetration figures — about 140 mm for the Panzerfaust 30 and about 200 mm for the 60 and 100 — are the figures given in German manuals and in most modern reference works, but they were measured under ideal conditions, against flat armour plate at right angles, and in combat the effective penetration was often less, because the warhead rarely struck the armour squarely.

Against sloped armour, such as the glacis plate of the Soviet T-34, the shaped charge was less effective, and German manuals advised soldiers to aim at the sides and rear of the tank, where the armour was thinner and flatter.

The figures also show why the Panzerfaust was most effective in street fighting and in forests, where the ranges were short and where the firer could aim at the side of the tank, and why it was least effective in open country, where the tank could stay beyond its range.

Comparison with Other Anti-Tank Weapons

Compared with the other infantry anti-tank weapons of the war, the Panzerfaust was the simplest and the cheapest, and in many ways the most effective at short range. The American Bazooka was a reusable rocket launcher with a longer range — about 150 metres for the M1 Bazooka — but its warhead was smaller, its penetration was lower (about 75–100 mm), and it required a two-man crew and a supply of rockets.

The British PIAT was a spigot mortar with a similar warhead, but it was heavy, difficult to cock and had a short range. The German Panzerschreck, the larger cousin of the Panzerfaust, was a reusable rocket launcher with a range of about 150 metres and a penetration of about 160–210 mm, but it was heavier, more expensive and required a trained crew of two.

The Panzerfaust’s advantage was that it could be issued to anyone, in any numbers, and that it needed no training, no maintenance and no supply chain beyond the weapon itself. Its disadvantage was that it could only be fired once, and that the soldier who fired it was then unarmed against the next tank.

8. Operators

Germany and Its Allies

The Panzerfaust was used above all by Germany, and it was issued to every branch of the German armed forces: the Army, the Waffen-SS, the Luftwaffe’s ground troops and the Navy’s coastal defence units. It was also supplied to Germany’s allies, including Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Croatia, and it was used by the pro-German forces in the occupied countries.

Finland received large numbers of Panzerfausts in 1944 and used them against Soviet tanks in the Continuation War, where Finnish infantry, already skilled in close-range fighting in forests, found the weapon well suited to their tactics. Hungary and Romania used the Panzerfaust on the Eastern Front, and after Romania changed sides in August 1944, Romanian troops used captured and supplied Panzerfausts against the Germans.

The weapon’s simplicity meant that it could be used by anyone, and it was issued to units that had no other anti-tank weapon at all.

Captured and Post-War Use

The Soviet Union captured large numbers of Panzerfausts and used them against the Germans, and after the war the Soviet RPG-2, introduced in 1949, was directly modelled on the Panzerfaust 150, with a reusable tube and a shaped-charge warhead. The RPG-2 was in turn the ancestor of the RPG-7, which became the most widely used anti-tank weapon in the world and is still in service today in dozens of countries.

The United States, Britain and France also tested captured Panzerfausts, and the weapon influenced the design of post-war anti-tank weapons in several countries. In the post-war period, Panzerfausts remained in use in Finland, where they were kept in reserve stocks into the 1950s, and in other countries that had received them during the war.

The weapon’s design — a cheap, disposable, single-shot launcher — became the model for a whole family of light anti-tank weapons, from the American M72 LAW of the 1960s to the modern Panzerfaust 3 of the German Army, which still bears the name.

9. Legacy and Influence

The Ancestor of the RPG

The Panzerfaust’s most important legacy is the family of weapons it inspired. The Soviet RPG-2 and RPG-7, the American M72 LAW, the Swedish AT4 and the German Panzerfaust 3 are all descendants of the same idea: a light, cheap, single-shot launcher that gives an infantryman the power to destroy a tank.

The RPG-7, which has been produced in the millions and used in every conflict since the 1960s, is the most successful of these descendants, and its shaped-charge warhead, its simple sight and its back-blast are all features that the Panzerfaust pioneered.

The Panzerfaust also changed the way armies thought about anti-tank warfare: before it, the tank was opposed by dedicated anti-tank guns and by other tanks; after it, every infantryman was a potential tank-killer, and tank commanders had to treat every building, every hedge and every ditch as a possible hiding place for a man with a Panzerfaust. That change in thinking has never been reversed.

A Symbol of the Last Months of the War

The Panzerfaust is also remembered as a symbol of the last months of the Second World War in Europe: of the Volkssturm and the Hitler Youth, of the street fighting in Berlin, and of a regime that sent old men and boys against tanks with a weapon that cost almost nothing to make.

The photographs of Berlin in May 1945 — of discarded Panzerfaust tubes in the streets, of ruined buildings and of Soviet tanks advancing past them — are among the most famous images of the end of the war. The weapon’s story is therefore a cautionary one: it shows how a simple, effective technology can be used to prolong a war that is already lost, and how a regime that has run out of men, of fuel and of hope can still arm its people with a weapon that kills.

The Panzerfaust did not save Germany, and it could not have done so; but it killed many Allied tank crews, and it is remembered, above all, by the men who faced it.

10. Surviving Examples

Museums

Because the Panzerfaust was a disposable weapon, few complete examples survive in their original condition, but many are held in museums. The best collections are in Germany — at the Deutsches Panzermuseum in Munster, the Militärhistorisches Museum in Dresden and the Bundeswehr Museum of Military History — and in Britain, at the Imperial War Museum in London and the Tank Museum in Bovington.

The Imperial War Museum holds several Panzerfausts, including examples captured in Normandy and in Berlin, and the Tank Museum at Bovington displays a Panzerfaust alongside the Tiger I tank that it was designed to destroy. Other examples are held in the United States, at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the U.S.

Army museums, and in Russia, at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, where captured Panzerfausts are displayed as trophies of the victory over Germany. The Tank Museum’s Panzerfaust, which was captured in Normandy in 1944, is displayed with its warhead and its launch tube, and it is one of the museum’s most handled exhibits, because visitors are surprised by how simple the weapon is.

Replicas and Re-enactment

Original Panzerfausts are inert in most museum displays, because the warheads and propellant charges have been removed, and the tubes that survive are often corroded or damaged. Inert replicas, made for collectors and for re-enactors, are widely available, and they are used in films and in historical re-enactments of the battles of 1944–45, where the sight of a German infantryman with a Panzerfaust is one of the most recognisable images of the late war.

The German Army’s modern Panzerfaust 3, which entered service in the 1990s, is a different weapon in every technical respect — it is reloadable, it has a sophisticated sight and it can penetrate far more armour — but it keeps the name, and the sight of a German soldier carrying a tube on his shoulder is a reminder of how long the idea has lasted.

For most visitors, the easiest way to see a Panzerfaust is at the Imperial War Museum in London or the Tank Museum in Bovington.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Panzerfaust?
The Panzerfaust was a German disposable single-shot anti-tank launcher of the Second World War. It fired a large shaped-charge warhead from a simple steel tube and could penetrate about 200 mm of armour at short range.

How many Panzerfausts were built?
About six million Panzerfausts were produced in 1943–45, although estimates vary from about five to about seven million. It was one of the most-produced weapons of the war.

How far could a Panzerfaust shoot?
The Panzerfaust 30 had a range of 30 metres, the Panzerfaust 60 a range of 60 metres, and the Panzerfaust 100 a range of 100 metres. The numbers in the names give the effective range in metres.

How did the Panzerfaust work?
A small propellant charge in the launch tube fired a shaped-charge warhead at the tank. On impact, the warhead’s explosive collapsed a metal liner into a jet travelling at about 8,000 metres per second, which punched through the armour.

Was the Panzerfaust dangerous to its user?
Yes. The back-blast of hot gas from the rear of the tube could injure anyone standing behind the firer, and the weapon could misfire or detonate prematurely. German manuals warned soldiers to fire only from open ground or from a large room with the rear clear.

Is the Panzerfaust related to the RPG-7?
Yes. The Soviet RPG-2 of 1949 was directly modelled on the Panzerfaust 150, and the RPG-7, which is still used around the world today, is descended from the RPG-2 and therefore from the Panzerfaust.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia, “Panzerfaust” — production of about six million, variants, penetration figures.
2. Ian V. Hogg, German Hand and Small Arms (Greenhill Books, 1997) — design, specifications and the Faustpatrone.
3. Gordon L. Rottman, Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck (Osprey Publishing, 2014) — development, variants and combat use.
4. The Tank Museum, Bovington, “Panzerfaust” — the weapon in the museum’s collection and its use against tanks.
5. Imperial War Museum, “Panzerfaust” — captured examples and the fighting in Normandy and Berlin.
6. Steven J. Zaloga, Soviet Tanks in Combat 1941–45 (Stackpole Books, 1984) — Soviet losses to close-range anti-tank weapons.