Hafthohlladung

The Hafthohlladung (German, lit. "adhesive hollow charge"), also known as the "Panzerknacker" ("tank breaker", an analogy to "safe cracker"), was a magnetically adhered, shaped charge anti-tank grenade used by German forces in World War II, and was sometimes described as a mine.

==Details== The Hafthohlladung was primarily used by Wehrmacht tank killer squads. Designed with three magnets at the base, each with a pair of poles creating a strong magnetic field across their gap, an infantryman could attach it to an enemy's tank no matter the angle of the surface. As the blast axis should be flush and perpendicular to the plane of the armour at the point of placement, and armed by pulling the igniter on the rear of the mine, the degree of a tank's sloped armour was irrelevant for the device's penetration. However, since this required direct placement on an enemy tank by an infantryman, using the device was very dangerous, since the deploying infantryman placing it on an enemy fighting vehicle would be highly vulnerable to enemy fire.