AT Rifle Platoon (SU738)

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (WWII) the Soviets had very few Infantry portable anti-tank weapons apart from the humble Molotov cocktail. It was initially believed by the Soviet authorities that the German tanks were too heavily armored to warrant the introduction of a anti-tank rifle, but when the German invasion came it was discovered that the German Panzers weren’t as heavily protected as first thought and development was started on anti-tank rifles.

In July 1941 design teams were sent off to come up with a suitable anti-tank rifles. In a very short time two designs were available, the V. A. Degtyarev single shot PTRD and the S. G. Simonov designed 5 shot PTRS, both in 14.5mm caliber.

Both designs were adopted and put into production, but it was the less complicated PTRD that first saw service on the front line in late 1941.

In Flames Of War

Soviet Anti-tank Rifles are an important asset in any Strelkovy Batalon and are available as an additional platoon with the Battalion HQ or as a separate Anti-tank Rifle Company.

What makes the Anti-tank Rifle Company so useful is the Anti-tank Rifles-Tank Killers special rule, which allows you to detach Anti-tank Rifle teams from their company and attach them to your other companies to give them anti-tank protection.

With a ROF2, AT5 and a Range of 16”/40cm they can be quite effective at making the enemy tanks think twice about attacking too deeply into your positions.