Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
From Battleground Europe Wiki
| |
| Boys Anti-Tank Rifle | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Type | Bolt-Action Anti-Tank Rifle |
| Caliber | .55 cal |
| Feed system | 5-round box |
| Length | |
| Weight | |
| Muzzle velocity | 990 m/s |
| Maximum effective range | 300 m |
The .55-caliber Boys Anti-Tank Rifle was an early war effort to increase the ability of infantry anti-tank teams to disable tanks, or at least render tanks vulnerable on the battlefield. While the thinly walled tanks of 1939 and even 1940 were somewhat vulnerable to an ATR team that had crept extremely close to its target, only tiny, specific areas of German tanks' external armored shell would be thin or weak enough to award the ATR team a kill. The guns just were not very effective against most tanks they faced.
The French Army received a large shipment of the Boys ATR in exchange for a shipment of 25mm guns offered to Britain at the start of the war. Many would say that Britain got the better end of the deal as the Boys ATR was not as successful as some would have hoped it would be against the majority of the armor it would face in battle.
The Boys was not a complete failure, however, for it could penetrate and knock out the thinner skinned vehicles that supported German tank movements.
See Also
- "Stop That Tank!" (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), a 1942 training film from Walt Disney Productions, the National Film Board of Canada, and the Canadian Department of National Defence on the use of the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle.
