PTRD-41 14.5mm

At the beginning of the WWII the Soviet infantry did not have portable anti-tank weapons and had to depend on whether any gun was nearby to provide defense against enemy armored vehicles. In 1939, after the German attack on Poland, the Soviet Union captured some 7.92mm Wz.35 anti-tank rifle manufactured secretly by the Polish. In July 1941, Vasily Degtyaryov was asked for a similar but larger caliber model, and the PTRD-41 was born. This rifle was a 14.5mm caliber and fired a heavy cartridge of 14.5 x 114mm of more than 15cm in length that could penetrate until 40mm of armor at 100 meters distance. Its design was enormously simple, which facilitated its mass production, which reached almost half a million units until its completion in 1945.

PTRD-41 gallery and more info