The PTRD-41 (Shortened from Russian, ''ProtivoTankovoye Ruzhyo Degtyaryova''; ''Противотанковое однозарядное ружьё системы Дегтярёва образца 1941 года''; "Degtyaryov Single Shot Anti-Tank Weapon System Model of 1941") was an

anti-tank rifle An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that can be carri ...

produced and used from early 1941 by the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was a single-shot weapon which fired a 14.5×114 mm round, which was able to penetrate German tanks such as the

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight ot ...

and early models of the

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Pan ...

. Although unable to penetrate the frontal armor of late-war German tanks, it could penetrate their thinner side armor at close ranges as well as thinly armored self-propelled guns and

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

History

RIAN archive 4408 Armor piercers on the Kursk Bulge

In 1939, in its invasion of Poland the USSR captured several hundred Polish Model 35 anti-tank rifles, which had proved effective against the German invasion of Poland from the West.

Vasily Degtyaryov Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov (russian: Васи́лий Алексе́евич Дегтярёв; 2 January 1880, Tula – 16 January 1949, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian engineer who specialized in weapons design. He was awarded the title ...

copied its lock and several features of the German Panzerbüchse 38 when hasty construction of an anti-tank rifle was ordered in July 1941. The PTRD and the similar but semi-automatic

PTRS-41 The PTRS-41 or Simonov anti-tank rifle (russian: ПротивоТанковое Ружьё Симонова) is a World War II-era semi-automatic anti-tank rifle firing the 14.5×114mm cartridge. Design The PTRS-41 was produced and used by the ...

were the only individual anti-tank weapons available to the Red Army in numbers upon the outbreak of the war with Germany. The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet had a muzzle velocity of . The 64g bullet had a 39g steel core and could penetrate around 30mm of armor at 500m, and 40mm of armor at 100m. During the initial invasion, and indeed throughout the war, most German tanks had side armor thinner than 40 mm (

Panzer I The Panzer I was a light tank produced in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Its name is short for ( German for " armored fighting vehicle mark I"), abbreviated as . The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was '' Sd.Kfz. 10 ...

and

Panzer II The Panzer II is the common name used for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' II (abbreviated PzKpfw II). Although the vehicle had originally been designed as a stopgap while l ...

: 13–20 mm,

and

series: 30 mm,

Panzer V Panther The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern Front (World War ...

(combat debut mid-1943): 40–50 mm). Guns captured by the Germans were given the designation 14.5 mm PzB 783(r). After World War II the PTRD was also used extensively by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n and Chinese armed forces in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. During this war, William Brophy, an American Army Ordnance officer, mounted a .50 BMG (12.7 mm) barrel to a captured PTRD to examine the effectiveness of long-range shooting. Furthermore, Americans also captured certain number of PTRD from

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

in Vietnam War. The weapon proved effective out to .

Users

Current

*: Used by pro-Russian militias in 2014. PTRD rifle at Great Patriotic War museum in Smolensk

Former

* : Equipped with 300 items (both PTRD & PTRS) by Soviet Union between 1944 and 1945, seen in combat operations. * : Used in Chinese Civil War, later by People's Volunteer Army during Korean War. * : Used by 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in the USSR. * : Captured and used by Wehrmacht under the title Panzerbüchse 783(r). * : Equipped by the USSR, saw extensive combat in Korean War against M24 light tanks. * : Used by

1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division The Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division ( pl, 1 Polska Dywizja Piechoty im. Tadeusza Kościuszki) was an infantry division in the Polish armed forces formed in 1943 and named for the Polish and American revolutionary Tadeusz Kośc ...

in 1943 then by other Polish divisions. * : In stockpile, used by Viet Cong in Vietnam War. * : Largely used in Eastern Front by the Red Army.

References

External links