The 2 pdr anti tank gun was the standard anti tank gun of British and Australian forces at the beginning of the Second World War. Australia manufactured a quick firing 2 pounder anti tank gun mounted on a Mark II carriage. As I have only one artillery slot in the Bolt Action list for the “Jungle Division ” I have opted for the “short 25pound howitzer” already posted on. Given the lack of enemy tanks the anti-tank shells were rarely used if at all.

From a game perspective I have painted both a Boys anti-tank rifle team and a PIAT team. This is a significant weakness of the Australian list as most others have an option for standard troops and often inexperienced troops to carry anti-tank grenades. There are two units that regularly carried these – Commandos (but not in all sectors) and Engineers. This means that an Australian player needs to purchase additional specialised troops to deal with tanks that he might encounter at a considerably higher points cost,

This weapon system was developed in the mid 1930s by the British Small Arms Committee and was one of the principal designs of Captain Boys. The Boys rifle is an enlarged bolt action weapon feeding from a top mounted magazine.

VX18855 Gunner Jeffrey John Coombe of Launceston, Tasmania, behind his Boys anti-tank gun.

The barrel was permitted to recoil in the stock and the butt was heavily padded – both measures to reduce the heavy recoil. The rifle fired a steel cored and later a tungsten cored armour piercing projectile.

It was basically obsolete at the beginning of the Second World War in Europe as the armour protection of tanks had outpaced the penetrative ability of anti-tank rifles and was replaced by the PIAT. The Australian Army continued to use the Boys against Japanese armoured vehicles with some effect.

In the absence of much enemy armour they were more often deployed as “bunker busters”. From a game perspective they are a cheap dice option that can be useful against light tanks and as a “sniper’ to cause casualties and pins on enemy infantry.

They were universally disliked by all Commonwealth forces due to the large recoil,

The Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank (PIAT) replaced the Boys after 1942, a green painted open trough affair with a spring rather like the suspension spring on a car that re-arranged the shoulders of soldiers but certainly did sterling work.

So, was this the end of the Boys? In theory, yes, in practice, no. There are some splendid photographs taken of British Commandos at the end of the war, one of them holding a Boys rifle.

Australians using a PIAT in Borneo

Maintenance work on the PIAT

In 1945 when 3 years of supposed obsolescence would have swept the thing into the scrap bin, there were these incredible troops posing with this rifle. British Commando’s still continued to use the Boys as they were brilliant for blowing holes in walls without applying for planning permission!

This Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank, Mark I (PIAT) was issued to Australian troops during the Second World War. The projector was designed as a light self cocking anti tank weapon which is fired from the shoulder and projects a bomb with considerable armour piercing effect.

Four types of ammunition are used with this weapon. 1. bomb H E A T (high explosive anti-tank) colour green. 2. bomb, practice inert/ A T (anti-tank) colour black. 3. bomb, drill/ A T (anti-tank) colour black with a yellow band. 4. shot, practice/ A T (anti-tank) colour white.

Only a few more support weapons teams to complete before I can start on the PBI.