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Bazooka

This article is about the weapon. For the namesake musical instrument, see Bazooka (instrument). For other uses, see Bazooka (disambiguation).

Bazooka
M1 bazooka
TypeRecoilless rocket anti-tank weapon
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1942–present
Used bySee § Users
Wars
Production history
DesignerEdward Uhl[3]
Designed1942
ProducedJune 1942 – May 1945 (2.36 inch bazookas)
No. built
  • 112,790 (M1)[4]
  • 59,932 (M1A1)[5]
  • 6,087 (M9)[6]
  • 277,819 (M9A1)[6]
  • unknown (M20)
  • 1,500 (M25)[7]

A bazooka (/bəˈzuːkə/)[8] is a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the first generation of rocket-propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat. Featuring a solid-propellant rocket for propulsion, it allowed for high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge warheads to be delivered against armored vehicles, machine gun nests, and fortified bunkers at ranges beyond that of a standard thrown grenade or mine. The universally applied nickname arose from the M1 variant's vague resemblance to the musical instrument called a bazooka invented and popularized by 1930s American comedian Bob Burns.

During World War II, the German armed forces captured several bazookas in early North African[9] and Eastern Front encounters and soon reverse engineered their own version,[9] increasing the warhead diameter to 8.8 cm (among other minor changes) and widely issuing it as the Raketenpanzerbüchse "Panzerschreck" ("rocket anti-armor rifle 'tank terror'").[9] Near the end of the war, the Japanese developed a similar weapon, the Type 4 70 mm AT rocket launcher, which featured a rocket-propelled grenade of a different design.[10]

The term "bazooka" still sees informal use as a generic term[11] referring to any shoulder fired ground-to-ground/ground-to-air missile weapon (mainly rocket-propelled grenade launchers or recoilless rifles), and as an expression that heavy measures are being taken.[11]

  1. ^ Rottman 2012, p. 71.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference israel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference UHL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Rottman 2012, p. 17.
  5. ^ Rottman 2012, p. 19.
  6. ^ a b Rottman 2012, p. 20.
  7. ^ Rottman 2012, p. 29.
  8. ^ "bazooka noun – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference MC 2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Rottman, Gordon L. (2014). Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1782007883.
  11. ^ a b "Has bazooka become a generic trademark?". genericides.org. Retrieved January 28, 2021.

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