Name: Raketenpanzerbüchse, AKA Panzerschreck
Type: Anti-tank rocket launcher
Caliber: 88 mm
Weight: 9,5 kg
Rocket weight: 3,25 kg
Barrel length: 1,35 m
Range: 180 meters
Muzzle velocity: 110 m/sec
Armour penetration: 230 mm
When the Wehrmacht encountered the cheap, light and effective bazooka, it immidiately abandoned their R-Werfer 43 in favour of their own version of the bazooka. Designated the Raketenpanzerbüchse 43, it consisted of a simple hollow-charge rocket and a steel tube fitted with a hand grip, trigger and sights. The rocket was inserted into the rear of the tube and fired electrically.
Because of the exhaust hazard, the Panzerschreck had to be fired at a right angle from a prone position. Troops only fired the weapon from a kneeling or standing position when good cover was available. Gas masks and fireproof clothing were used to remedy this problem until a shield with a viewport was placed in front of the trigger, although the force of the rocket would press it into the face of the user. By the end of 1944, a new rocket was designed which consumed all the propellant before it left the barrel.
While the Panzerschreck may not have been the most accurate of weapons, it was certainly effective when it did hit. None of the allied tanks on the western front were equipped with the kind of armour needed to withstand a hit from a panzerschreck. For example, the Sherman, without a doubt the most ubiquitous tank in that particular theater, had a mere 75 mm of frontal armour. The Russian tanks were an entirely different matter.
The Panzerschreck and its smaller cousin, the Panzerfaust, proved especially effective in the French hedgerow country in Normandy. In the closed confines there, tanks were vulnerable as they drove on narrow roads with deep ditches on either side or when they drove through the hedgerows. It was, among other things, thanks to superior anti-tank weapons like the Panzerschreck that the Germans could prevent the allies from breaking out from Normandy for as long as they did.
Note that the Panzerschreck was upgraded several times. The stats above are for the Raketenpanzerbüchse 54/1, the latest version built during the war.
According to Britannica and all other books and websites I've checked, the Panzerschreck was indeed developed after the bazooka, contrary to what doomyeti has written in his writeup