The L2 BAT (Battalion, Anti-Tank) was a 120 mm calibre recoilless anti-tank rifle used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It was also produced in the MOBAT version without a gun shield, and the ConBAT version with a new spotting rifle attachment. The L6 Wombat version was greatly lightened through the use of magnesium alloys. The Wombat was used by mobile units such as paratroopers and marines. BAT was developed from the wartime

Ordnance, RCL, 3.45 in The 3.45 inch RCL was an 88mm British recoilless rifle, recoilless weapon, designed by Dennistoun Burney, Sir Dennis Burney during the Second World War. Delayed by problems due to breach wear because of gas erosion upon firing, it did not ...

, replacing it and the Ordnance QF 17-pounder to become the standard anti-tank weapon of the Army in the post-

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 opposin ...

era. The BAT and MOBAT were used until

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

s, such as Vigilant and

MILAN Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, took their place. WOMBAT remained in anti-tank platoons in Berlin to supplement MILAN until the late 1980s, due to the expected engagement ranges should the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

have ever attacked. The wire guidance of MILAN would also have been problematic in the built up areas of Berlin. It was envisioned that Wombat would be used in '

shoot-and-scoot Shoot-and-scoot (alternatively, fire-and-displace or fire-and-move) is an artillery tactic of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location from where the shots were fired to avoid counter-battery fire (e.g. from enemy a ...

' attacks mounted on the back of stripped down

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

vehicles. The Wombat was a development version which was adopted and replaced the earlier BAT and MOBAT weapons. It was in turn replaced by anti-tank guided missiles. The L6 Wombat itself comprised the L12A3 BAT gun, but mounted on a new lightweight carriage. The vertically sliding breech of the BAT and MoBAT was replaced by a lighter horizontally hinged breech. The Wombat was mounted on a small two wheeled carriage, which was removable in order to be moved over obstacles and then locked to the carriage again. The weapon was normally carried in the rear of a specially adapted Land Rover ( Portee). The Wombat could also be mounted on the FV432/40

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

. The usual round for Wombat was a HESH, which it could fire out to around 1,800 m. The HESH round could defeat of armour. Other ammunition types include the canister and modified canister rounds. The latter released

flechette A flechette ( ) is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French , "little arrow" or "dart", and sometimes retains the acute accent in English: fléchette. They have been used as ballistic weapons sinc ...

s, or small darts, giving a "shotgun" effect. These rounds could be used against infantry in the open. The base of the BAT cartridge case was frangible, the reaction gases venting directly backwards through a single large venturi. This was in contrast to the US recoilless designs, which used a frangible sidewall to the cartridge case and multiple venturi. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

era,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and British

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

forces used the Swedish made

Snow Trac The Snow Trac is a small personal Snowcat that is roughly the size of a modern compact car. Origins and description In 1954, Lars Larsson, the chief design engineer for a Swedish farm equipment company, AB Westeråsmaskiner, decided to develop a tr ...

as a carrier for the L6 Wombat in the snow-covered mountains of Norway. Wombats were among the anti-tank weapons taken by the Parachute Regiment to the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

in 1982, but they were not off-loaded from the transport ships.

Variants

*L2 BAT, Battalion Anti Tank :The original towed gun complete with a heavy armoured shield and wheeled mount. Accepted for service in 1953. *L4 MoBAT (Mobile BAT) :A BAT with the shield removed to lighten it (even though it still weighed some and a spotting weapon (a

Bren light machine gun The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also use ...

) added. It could be towed by an

Austin Champ The Austin Champ was a military and civilian jeep-like vehicle made by the Austin Motor Company in the 1950s. The army version was officially known as "Truck, 1/4 ton, CT, 4×4, Cargo & FFW, Austin Mk.1" however the civilian name "Champ" was un ...

or, later, a Land Rover. *L6 WOMBAT In ''Men against Tanks'', author John Weeks states the name "Wombat" was a reference to the animal and had nothing to do with magnesium. :A new build weapon with a lightweight carriage, which meant that it was usable by all air Mobile (Infantry Battalions) plus mobile troops, such as the Parachute Regiment and

Royal Marine Commandos The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marines ...

. It was also fitted to vehicles, such as the

FV432 The FV432 is the armoured personnel carrier variant in the British Army's FV430 series of armoured fighting vehicles. Since its introduction in the 1960s, it has been the most common variant, being used for transporting infantry on the battlefie ...

or a 3/4 ton portee

. When fitted with an M8C .50 cal

spotting rifle A spotting rifle or ranging gun is a small-calibre rifle used as a sighting device for artillery. The ballistics of the spotting rifle are matched to those of the artillery piece, so that if a shot from the spotting rifle lands on the target, it m ...

, which fired a zirconium-tipped spotter tracer round visible past 2,000 yards, it could engage targets out to . The strike was observed by the No. 1, who called the fall of shot. The No. 2 maintained the spotting rifle and observed the back blast area. The WOMBAT entered service in 1964, rapidly replacing earlier versions in service with the regular army; but it never fully replaced MOBAT and CONBAT with infantry units of the Territorial Army. *L7 CONBAT ("Converted BAT") :A conversion of the L4 MoBAT or L2 BAT utilizing a L40A1 12.7 mm

. (The American designation was the .50-cal M8C spotting rifle. It used a shorter cartridge than the .50-cal machine gun.) Image:WombatL6-on-Snow-Trac.jpg, L6 Wombat being prepared for firing during winter training Image:Wombat-carrier-variant.jpg, Royal Marines Wombat outfitted Snow Trac on patrol in Norway

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Norris, J., ''Anti-tank Weapons (Modern Military Equipment)'', Brassey's (UK) Ltd, 1996.

External links

Pictures of Mobat and ammunition
{{externalimage , topic=BAT guns , align=right , image
BAT gun
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MoBAT gun
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ConBAT gun
Recoilless rifles of the United Kingdom Cold War weapons of the United Kingdom Military equipment introduced in the 1950s