Why This 'Clumsy' British Anti Tank Gun Was Still Destroying Tanks 40 Years After WWII Ended
The L6 Wombat was the largest-calibre recoilless rifle ever mass-produced. At 308 kg and nearly 4 metres long, it looked like an oversized drainpipe bolted to a Land Rover. When it fired, the blast registered at 184 decibels — among the loudest weapons ever fielded. Everyone assumed guided missiles would replace it within a decade. The British Army kept it for over twenty years. In this video, we examine why this "clumsy" Cold War weapon outlasted the missiles meant to replace it, from its origins in Sir Dennistoun Burney's wartime recoilless rifle experiments to its final service with the Berlin Brigade as the Wall came down. Sources and further reading: This video draws on the Ministry of Defence User Handbook (1964), Cordesman and Wagner's "The Lessons of Modern War: Volume III" (Routledge, 1991), records from the Airborne Assault Museum at Duxford, the Imperial War Museum collection, and veteran accounts. The Tank Museum at Bovington has produced excellent content on the BAT family — search "Anti-Tank Chats: MOBAT, WOMBAT, CONBAT" for Chris Copson's presentation.
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