Rocket Launcher

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Lore & Background

During World War II, the German armed forces captured several bazookas in early North African and Eastern Front encounters and soon reverse engineered their own version, 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'"). 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. During the Korean War, the M1 and M9 Bazooka series was replaced by the larger caliber M20 Super Bazooka. The term "bazooka" still sees informal use as a generic term 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.

In Their Own Story

Shortly after the first prototype launcher and rockets had been tested by firing into the Potomac River, U.S. Army colonel Leslie Skinner, and Lieutenant Colonel Edward Uhl took the new system to a competitive trial of various types of spigot mortar, at that time seen as the most promising way to deliver a shaped charge, which was held at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in May 1942. The new rocket launcher scored several hits on a moving tank while the five different mortars achieved none; this was a considerable achievement since the launcher's sights had been fabricated that morning from a wire clothes hanger bent with a broken nail. The trial was watched by various senior officers, among them the chief of research and engineering in the Ordnance Department, Major General Gladeon M. Barnes. Barnes was delighted by the performance of the system and fired it as well, but commented, "It sure looks like Bob Burns' bazooka."

Reader's Guide

The development of the bazooka involved the development of two specific lines of technology: the rocket-powered weapon and the shaped charge warhead. It was also designed for easy maneuverability and access. The rocket-powered weapon was the brainchild of Robert H. Goddard as a side project (under U.S. Army contract during World War I) of his work on rocket propulsion. Goddard, during his tenure at Clark University, and while working at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's magnetic lab and Mount Wilson Observatory (for security reasons), designed a tube-fired rocket for military use. He and his co-worker Clarence N. Hickman successfully demonstrated his rocket to the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, on November 6, 1918, but as the Compiègne Armistice was signed only five days later, development was discontinued. The project was also interrupted by Goddard's serious bout with tuberculosis. He continued to be a part-time consultant to the U.S. government at Indian Head, Maryland, until 1923, but turned his focus to other projects involving rocket propulsion. Hickman completed the development of the bazooka after becoming head of the National Defense Research Committee in the 1940s, where he guided rocket development for the war effort. Shaped charge technology was developed in the U.S. into a shaped charge anti-tank grenade for use by infantry, effective at defeating up to 60 mm (2.4 in) of vehicle armor. The grenade was standardized as the M10. However, the M10 grenade weighed 3.5 lb (1.6 kg), proving difficult to throw by hand and too heavy to be launched as a rifle grenade. The only practical way to use the weapon was for an infantryman to place it directly on the tank, a dangerous and unlikely means of delivery in most combat situations. A smaller, less powerful, version of the M10, the M9, was then developed, which could be fired from a rifle. This resulted in the creation of a series of rifle grenade launchers, the M1 (Springfield M1903), the M2 (Enfield M1917), the M7 (M1 Garand), and the M8 (M1 carbine). However, a truly capable anti-tank weapon had yet to be found, and following the lead of other countries at the time, the U.S. Army prepared to evaluate competing designs for a more effective man-portable anti-tank weapon. The combination of rocket motor and shaped charge warhead led to the Army's development of light antitank weapons. In 1942, U.S. Army Colonel Leslie Skinner received the M10 shaped-charge grenade which was capable of stopping German tanks. He gave Lieutenant Edward Uhl the task of creating a delivery system for the grenade. Uhl created a small rocket, but needed to protect the operator from the rocket motor's exhaust. According to Uhl: "I was walking by this scrap pile, and there was a tube that... happened to be the same size as the grenade that we were turning into a rocket. I said, That's the answer! Put the tube on a soldier's shoulder with the rocket inside, and away it goes." At the launcher's first firing test, Uhl wore a welding helmet, but discovered that there was not enough exhaust from the rocket to require protective equipment. The prototype launcher was demonstrated in May 1942 at a competitive trial of various types of spigot mortars at Aberdeen Proving Ground. On the morning of the trial Skinner and Uhl realised that the launcher had no sights, so they improvised some from a wire coathanger; despite this, it was the only weapon in the trial to be able to hit a moving tank. This led to the launcher being demonstrated to General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, who ordered 5,000 units on the spot. By late 1942, the improved Rocket launcher, M1A1 was introduced. The forward hand grip was deleted, and the design simplified. The production M1A1 was 55 inches (1.37 m) long and weighed 12.75 pounds (5.8 kg). The ammunition for the original M1 launcher was the M6 ("trials" code: T1), which was notoriously unreliable. The M6 was improved and designated M6A1, and the new ammunition was issued with the improved M1A1 launcher. After the M6, several alternative warheads were introduced. Many older M1 launchers were modified to M1A1 standards in July and August 1943. Batches of M6 rockets designated M6A2 were overhauled with the latest ignition systems and had been modified to be able to be fired from the upgraded M1 launchers. The M6A3 rocket featured a blunt, rounded nose to lessen the chances of it ricocheting off angled armor. The M6A3 was meant to be fired from the M9, and later M9A1, launchers. Late in World War II, the M6A4 and M6A5 rockets with improved fuses were developed. These rockets arrived too late to see service during the war, but were used post-war. The 2.36 inch (60 mm) smoke rocket M10 and its improved subvariants (M10A1, M10A2, M10A4) used the rocket motor and fin assembly of the M6A1, but replaced the anti-tank warhead with a white phosphorus (WP) smoke head. WP smoke not only acts as a visibility screen, but its burning particles can cause severe injuries to skin. The M10 was therefore used to mark targets, to blind enemy gunners or vehicle drivers, or to drive troops out of bunkers and dugouts. The 2.36-inch incendiary rocket T31 was an M10 variant with an incendiary warhead designed to ignite fires in enemy-held structures and unarmored vehicles, or to destroy combustible supplies, ammunition, and materiel; it was not often utilized. The original M1 and M1A1 rocket launchers were equipped with simple fixed sights and used launch tubes without reinforcements. During the war, the M1A1 received a number of running modifications. The battery specification was changed to a larger, standard battery cell size, resulting in complaints of batteries getting stuck in the wood shoulder rest (the compartment was later reamed out to accommodate the larger cells). The M1 and M1A1 used rear iron sights and front rectangular "ladder" sights positioned at the muzzles. The vertical sides of the ladder sight were inscribed with graduations of 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards, with the user elevating the bazooka so the rear sight lined up with the selected "rung" on the front sight. On the M9, the ladder sight was replaced by the General Electric T43 aperture sight. Ranging was accomplished by looking through the rear sight's peep hole while rotating the assembly (which had graduations of 100, 200, and 300 yards) so it lined up with the blade positioned.

Did You Know?

• The bazooka's 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.
• The prototype launcher's sights were fabricated from a wire clothes hanger bent with a broken nail on the morning of its first competitive trial in May 1942.
• The German armed forces reverse engineered captured bazookas into the Raketenpanzerbüchse "Panzerschreck", increasing the warhead diameter to 8.8 cm.
• Robert H. Goddard designed a tube-fired rocket for military use and demonstrated it on November 6, 1918, but development was discontinued five days later due to the Compiègne Armistice.
• The M10 shaped-charge grenade weighed 3.5 lb (1.6 kg), proving too heavy to throw by hand or launch as a rifle grenade, leading to the development of the bazooka.

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