By Seth Nadel

The threads that weave the modern world sometimes make interesting connections. Here is one unlikely set of connections in our history that touches on fascinating, but unlikely spots.

First, the bazooka – it’s official name was the M6 rocket launcher, but a popular comedian of the 1940’s had a homemade ‘musical instrument’ he called a “bazooka”, that looked vaguely like the rocket launcher, so the name stuck.

At the start of World War II, the United States did not have any portable anti-tank device. Tanks were opposed by other tanks or anti-tank guns, first of 37mm and later of 57mm. These were large, cumbersome, required a vehicle to tow them, and a crew to employ them. The 57mm gun and carriage weighed 2,810 pounds, and the gun without carriage was 117 inches long. Obviously, something smaller and lighter, that troops could carry, was needed.

With the advent of the German “Panzerfaust” ( tank fist) using a hollow or shaped charge, the Germans led the way. We developed an anti-tank hand grenade, which was too large and heavy to throw any distance. The danger zone was greater than the distance the ordinary troop could throw the device – obviously a negative outcome. A young 2nd Lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps at Aberdeen Proving Grounds was assigned the task of developing a way to launch the grenade to a useful distance.

That Lieutenant, Edward Uhl, is said to have found a piece of pipe in a scrap pile that fit the 2.36” diameter of the grenade. Uhl ’acquired’ a simple solid fuel rocket motor, which he attached to the grenade, along with some tail fins. Bent wires welded to the pipe served as sights, and he was ready to test his invention.

The legend is that Uhl was headed toward the ranges, and found a range where testing of other anti-tank devices was about to begin. The stands were filled with high ranking officers, all with high expectations that the Ordnance folks had something to show them. Uhl and his assistant joined the end of the line of test units with his pipe. One by one the other devices were tried – and they all failed either to hit the target, or to penetrate it. Finally, Uhl took his position, fired his first rocket, and hit the target – with complete penetration! He then fired his second (and last) rocket, with the same result! As the other test teams sulked off the range, Uhl was surrounded by the Brass, and the 2.36 inch rocket launcher was adopted with little delay.

Proof that a single, inventive mind could skip all the protocol and still be a hero.

The Bazooka stopped many German tanks, and blew up countless German, Japanese, and Italian bunkers. It was produced in a ‘takedown’ two part version for paratroops, and in Korea was scaled up to 3.5”, a size that would stop the Communist T-34 tanks. Incalculable numbers of American troops survived because of Uhl’s invention.

After World War II, Uhl left the military, and joined Fairchild Aircraft. He rose to be the President of Fairchild, which created a small division to apply “space age” technology to the manufacture of firearms. Their special interest was very light weight weapons, utilizing aluminum and plastics rather than steel and wood for low or no stress components. At a time when a standard infantry rifle weighed 9 to 12 pounds, they eventually dropped the weight to 6 to 7 pounds – a big difference when you have to carry the rifle long distances day after day.

The branch was called ArmaLite, and the principal designer was, of course, Eugene Stoner. They developed the AR-7 .22 survival rifle, the AR-10 (7.62 NATO), AR-15 (5.56) and AR-18 (5.56) rifles which reached mass production. The AR-7 has waxed and waned through several manufacturers; the AR-10 is in limited production, the AR-18/180 has faded from the scene but reappeared as the British SA80 series; but the AR-15 lives on as the M16 series, which has morphed into the M-4 and its clones. Today it seems everyone is making a semi-auto AR rifle, and it has been our service rifle, in various configurations, for 50 years!

So what does this have to do with the Man on the Moon? As President of Fairchild, Uhl lead the company into space related products, including design and manufacture of early satellites. In the process he became friends with a scientist, a naturalized American of German descent, a former Nazi (when you are “invited” to join the party by the head of the SS, you better sign up!). They went hunting in exotic locals together, and became close. When the scientist decided to leave Government service with NASA, Uhl convinced him to go to work for Fairchild.

The scientist was, of course, Wernher von Braun, the face of the American space program, and part of the team that put America on the moon!

So Edward Uhl became the link between the Bazooka, the M-16, and the man on the moon!      

New Caledonia, South Pacific, 24 September 1945. An Army bazooka team demonstrates loading the improved M6A1 rocket in the M1A1 launcher, easily identified by the absence of a SAFE/FIRE box on the top. Following safety guidelines in field and technical manuals, the “rocketeers” are wearing gas masks for eye protection, steel helmets, and gloves on the gunner. Credit: U.S. National Archives

By Robert Bruce

“Battlefield reports dictated a number of design changes, starting with deflectors to protect the gunner against backblast of slow-burning rockets in cold weather. This was followed by wrapping the rear section of the barrel with piano wire to reinforce it against detonation of rocket motors within the launcher, substituting a generator for batteries in the firing mechanism, eliminating the forward hand grip, and, in the fall of 1943, the most radical change of all, the take-apart launcher M9. Each design change posed its own problems, but, as the bazooka enjoyed such a high priority, nothing was allowed to stand in its way for very long. In fact, production schedules were met more consistently on the bazooka than on any other item of small arms manufacture.” [Procurement and Supply, see Ref. 2]

In the first installment of this two-parter, we closely examined the genesis of the “Bazooka,” a revolutionary addition to the infantryman’s arsenal. Now, let’s move ahead with a look at how combat experience exposed some flaws in the first production model launchers and rockets, forcing both life-saving and death-dealing modifications at a breakneck pace.

New and Improved

A brief note of characteristics and improvements to the M1 launchers and M6 rockets:

M1 (fires M6 Rockets), fielded in June 1942: Closely resembling the T1 prototype, this first production model is a 54 inch long thin steel tube characterized by two handgrips and a rectangular SAFE/FIRE “control box” on top. To accommodate right- or left-handed gunners, it has ladder type front sights on both sides of the barrel and a notched bar rear sight on an arm that swings to either side. Electrical ignition of the rocket motor is accomplished by a firing circuit powered by a dry battery housed in a wooden stock. Electrical contacts on the M6 rocket are an unpainted conducting band around the warhead and a taped down wire running along its length to the fins.

M1A1 (fires M6A1 and A3 Rockets), fielded in July 1943: Simplified version of the M1, modified to launch the new M6A1 rocket with improved propellant, strengthened motor tubing and internal electrical wires that are less prone to damage and resultant malfunction. Retains battery ignition but eliminates control box in favor of twin wire contacts at the rear. Single handgrip/trigger as well as fixed front and rear sights for right-handed gunners only. Adds flash deflector screen on the muzzle and steel wire wrapping to reinforce the rear of the launch tube against rocket motor detonation. Mount points for a carrying sling.

M9 and M9A1 (fires M6A1 and A3 Rockets), fielded October 1943: Much-improved version, readily identified by its two-piece launch tube with quick coupling collar. Integral muzzle flash deflector and a single handgrip housing a squeeze-operated magneto electrical generator. Significantly better accuracy due to the T90 optical reflex sight. Wood stock replaced with a sheet metal ribbon type with two shoulder rest positions that allow more comfortable firing in all positions.

M6A3 Rocket: Essentially the same internally as the M6A1, the new A3 features a rounded nose to improve warhead detonation when striking targets at more extreme angles and drum-style fins for greater accuracy in flight. Interestingly, the “new and improved” nose shape and fin configuration were taken from combat-proven M9 rifle grenades that had long been used side by side with bazookas. Armor penetration increased some 30% (from 3 to 4 inches) by changing the steel cone in the shaped charge to copper.

Bazookas on Beachhead and Battlefront

These improvements were driven by battlefield experience, received with utmost seriousness and implemented with astonishing speed.

First combat use of the bazooka came in the North African campaign that began in November 1942. GIs, who first saw the new contraptions while en route aboard troop ships, were severely handicapped by the absence of instruction materials and no opportunity for live fire training prior to the actual assault landings.

Three months later (presuming that this interval allowed the training deficit to be overcome) it was unfortunate, but not inexplicable, that bazookas weren’t notable in stopping German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s armored forces in the disastrous rout of US II Corps at Kasserine Pass.

Likely contributing to this was poor reliability from an unfortunate combination of inherent flaws with hastily manufactured launchers and rockets coupled with mishandling by the rookie “rocketeer” teams. And when the rockets did launch and hit, the frontal and side armor on Rommel’s tough Tiger and Mark IV tanks was too thick to be penetrated.

It’s understandable that the radical new weapon’s performance as an effective anti-armor weapon was a disappointment to its Ordnance proponents, not to mention the unlucky GIs faced with latest-generation German tanks. This set in motion a determined and widespread effort to fix the chain of problems from factory to fighter that paid off in the next big Allied push.

“The work of the bazooka in the landings [Gila, Sicily, July 1943] and throughout the campaign was watched with great interest. One Ordnance observer claimed that bazookas accounted for Pzkw IV tanks on four occasions; another claimed a Pzkw VI Tiger, though admittedly the Tiger was knocked out by a lucky hit through the driver’s vision slot. On the other hand, many officers preferred the rifle grenade to the bazooka as a close-range antitank weapon. An interesting discovery made in Sicily was that the bazooka was effective as a morale weapon against enemy soldiers in strongpoints and machine gun nests.“ [On Beachhead and Battlefront, see Ref. 2]

While the bazooka got better and better as GIs pushed German and Italian enemy forces back into Europe, it was also showing both potential and problems in the Pacific Theater.

For Army and Marine infantrymen facing off relatively few and lightly armored Japanese tanks, the bazooka proved a particularly deadly weapon against far more numerous enemy bunkers and caves…when it worked. But failures to fire, as noted in North Africa, were even more common in the torrential tropical rains and steaming jungles of island-hopping warfare.

Corroded electrical contacts, battery problems and moisture-damaged rocket propellant were most often cited in battlefield reports, rapidly leading to improvements to the M1A1 and then the completely redesigned M9, best of the series. Most notable for replacing batteries with magneto ignition and separating the tube into two parts with a quick coupler, the M9 and M9A1 launchers with M6A3 rockets were highly effective in crippling the heavier model tanks and blasting bunkers and caves.

Damn good, but not nearly good enough.

The Bazooka’s German Babies

“On the performance of the bazooka, opinions varied. The general feeling was that it was good but ought to be better. One assistant division commander complained that ‘we’re still using the same model we started with’ while the Germans have ‘taken our bazooka idea and improved upon it.’ The Germans had produced more deadly antitank weapons of this type in the Panzerschreck and Panzerfaust, both of which, however, were extremely dangerous to the user. The Panzerfaust, a recoilless weapon firing a hollow-charge grenade, would pierce seven or eight inches of armor plate. Some U.S. combat officers collected all they could get their hands on for their troops; one tank officer considered the Panzerfaust ‘the most concentrated mass of destruction in the war.‘” [On Beachhead and Battlefront, see Ref. 2]

As previously noted in Part 1, our British and Russian allies had urgently requested bazookas and both got some from the earliest production run in 1942. The Brits thought about it and then inexplicably clung to the woefully inferior PIAT.

The Soviets, while favoring marginally effective anti-tank rifles of native design, apparently tried bazookas in battle and therein lies another fascinating tale, necessarily abbreviated here.

American M1 launchers and M6 rockets in use by the Red Army were soon captured by the Germans, quickly evaluated and greatly improved, resulting in the Raketenpanzerbusche 54, better known as the Panzerschreck, which is literally translated as “tank terror.”

This was a bigger and better bazooka; a shoulder-fired launcher for a much larger and more powerful 88mm (3.5 inch) diameter rocket. Capable of defeating 100mm/4 inches of armor, it was first encountered by U.S. forces in 1943.

The ingenious Panzerfaust (tank fist) followed, changing the bazooka concept of a rocket, to a cheaply manufactured single shot recoilless rifle, firing a series of increasingly powerful shaped charge warhead tipped grenades from a skinny, throwaway launch tube. (See back issues of SAR online to understand the difference between rockets and recoilless launchers).

Bazooka Epilogue

While the American GI’s spunky little 2.36-inch bazooka was effective in many situations, its armor penetration was inadequate from the beginning and only marginally improved during WWII. The fact that examination of the much more powerful German 3.5-inch Panzerschreck didn’t result in a crash program that was successful in fielding beefed-up bazookas any time in the next two years of the war borders on criminal negligence.

Not to say that Ordnance didn’t try.

Bringing necessarily pragmatic “capture and copy” full circle, the enemy’s Panzerschreck birthed the U.S. 3.5-inch M20 “Super Bazooka,” beginning development in October 1944 but not completed before war’s end with the surrender of Japan eleven months later.

Worse, few M20s were available to luckless GIs in South Korea in June 1950, who were facing heavily armored Russian T34 tanks supplied to
the invaders.

Although the Panzerfaust didn’t seem to inspire U.S. ordnance personnel to pursue development, it certainly found favor with the Soviets, who refined and fielded it as the RPG-2 recoilless launcher, first encountered by American troops in Vietnam, and going on in various forms as the RPG-7 recoilless rifle using a rocket assisted grenade. The famous “RPG” has become almost as famous and recognizable worldwide as the AK-47 family.

Anti-Tank Rocket Launchers M1A1 and M9

Characteristics: “The 2.36-inch AT Rocket Launcher M1A1 is an electrically operated weapon of the open tube type. It is fired from the shoulder in the standing, kneeling, sitting, or prone positions. It is used to launch high-explosive rockets against tanks, armored vehicles, pill boxes, and emplacements. The rockets weigh approximately 3 ½ pounds and are capable of penetrating heavy armor at angles of impact up to 30 degrees. The weapon can be aimed up to distances of 300 yards. Greater ranges may be obtained by estimating the angle of elevation. The maximum range is 700 yards.” [FM23-30 and TM 9-294, see Ref. 3 and 4]

Length: M1A1.…54.5 inches; M9.…61 inches, disassembled 31.5 inches
Weight: M1A1.…13.26 pounds; M9.…15 pounds
Internal diameter: 2.36 inches (2.37 in. actual)
Ignition: M1A1.…Electric power supplied by dry cell batteries; M9.…Electric power supplied by trigger actuated magneto
Range: Point targets 50 to 300 yards; Area targets 300 to 650 yards
Elevation for maximum range: 40 degrees
Rate of fire: Approximately 10 rounds per minute
Sights: M1A1.…fixed aperture rear and ladder front (100, 200, 300 yards); M9. …Optical reflex sight T90
Ammunition: High Explosive Anti Tank Rockets M6A1 and A3, Practice Rockets M7A1 and A3, Smoke Rocket M10.
Accessories: Rocket carrying Bag M6, sling
Notes: M1 model fielded 1942, M1A1 fielded 1943, M9 fielded 1943. Approximately 490,000 of all models were manufactured by end of WWII. Primary contractor General Electric Corp for M1 and M1A1, with Cheney Bigelow Wire Works making the M9s.

Anti-Tank Rocket M6A1

Length: 21.6 inches
Weight: 3.4 pounds
Muzzle velocity: 265 feet per second
Penetration: 3 inches of homogenous steel armor to 30 degrees off perpendicular. 1 inch entry hole.

Primary References:

1. The author acknowledges with great appreciation the cooperation and assistance given by the director and staff of the US Army Ordnance Museum, recently relocated to Fort Lee, Virginia. Most notably some of the rare photos accompanying this feature as well as the September-October 1944 issue of ARMY ORDNANCE magazine with by-then Colonel L.A. Skinner’s article “Birth of the Bazooka: The Genesis of a Powerful Portable Antitank Weapon.“

2. Three volumes from the United States Army in World War II series, The Technical Services, Office of the Chief of Military History, US Government
Printing Office:

Ordnance Department: Planning munitions for War
Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply
Ordnance Department: On Beachhead and Battlefront

(Many large municipal and university libraries in the U.S. are likely to have these and others in the United States Army in World War II series in their Reference sections. It is well worth the time and effort to find and examine them.)

3. War Department Basic Field Manual FM 23-30, HAND AND RIFLE GRENADES, ROCKET, AT, HE, 2.36-INCH, 1944

4. Ordnance Department Technical Manual TM 9-294, 2.36-inch AT ROCKET LAUNCHER M1A1, 1944

5. War Department Training Film T.F. 18 1166 “The Antitank Rocket M6”
(see YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRPsxgOozqk or search “Bazooka Rocket Launcher”)

6. U.S. Infantry Weapons of World War II, by Bruce N. Canfield, Mowbray Pub. 1994-96

Washington, DC, 25 June 1942. This is the first production model Launcher, Rocket, 2.36 in. M1, along with its sharp nosed and long finned M6 high explosive, anti-tank rocket. Distinctive features from front to rear include ladder type front sights on both sides of the launch tube, a swinging rear sight that moves to the left or right side as dictated by gunner preference, two wooden grips and shoulder stock, a SAFE/FIRE Control Box on the top, and rocket retaining clip. This first model rocket has an electricity-conducting copper band around the warhead that, when properly loaded in the launcher, is touched by a spring loaded plunger extending down from the Control Box when the selector lever is moved to the FIRE position, completing the firing circuit. (National Archives)

By Robert Bruce

“In September of 1942 a ship from America docked at Suez with some highly secret cargo – 600 bazookas, the first the men in the theater had seen. Then known only under the code name THE WHIP, the bazooka (so called because of its resemblance to a musical instrument improvised by a popular radio comedian of the time) was a shoulder projector launching an effective 2.36 inch antitank rocket. For the first time in history a foot soldier had a weapon specifically designed to penetrate armor.” (On Beachhead and Battlefront)

While RKIs (reasonably knowledgeable individuals) contend that the WW1 German 13mm/.53 caliber T-Gewehr 1918 antitank rifle likely holds this specific “first time in history” distinction, THE WHIP went far beyond its Prussian predecessor’s tank-punching prowess.

Readily carried and fired by one man and utilizing a demonically effective anti-armor warhead, the American “Bazooka” as it was oddly and colorfully nicknamed, was loved by GIs, feared, hated and copied by enemies, and officially acclaimed as the “only really revolutionary new American weapon that got overseas in time for widespread use…”

The fascinating story of how this shoulder fired stove pipe and its revolutionary rocket came into being in record time is one that includes many worthy men but is centered on the dogged determination of one extraordinary individual.

One Man Rocket Research Bureau

“In 1933 the U.S. Army created a one-man rocket unit by assigning Capt. Leslie A. Skinner to study the possible use of rockets. Skinner was handicapped by limited funds to expend on research and by the indifference of his fellow officers. Hence, before 1940, the project made little headway.” (Planning Munitions for War)

While this type of benign neglect is all too sadly familiar to weapon design visionaries past and present, the turning point for Captain Skinner’s quest came with Germany’s rearmament and subsequent aggression against its European neighbors.

Blitzkrieg – literally “lightning War” – was Hitler’s enormously effective tactic, using large concentrations of tanks to consistently overwhelm and defeat defending armies. This was first proven successful in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and repeatedly afterward.

Anti-tank artillery was well developed at the time but Germany’s fast-moving armored formations repeatedly defied attempts by defenders to effectively position the heavy guns. Conventionally armed infantry units, too often alone at the point of Blitzkrieg strikes, were essentially defenseless.

Thus necessity, it has been so sagely observed, is the mother of invention of the first man-portable weapon that would enable American foot soldiers to stop Hitler’s tanks when the U.S. was inevitably drawn into the Europe’s war.

Munroe, Mohaupt and Moore

“The principle of the shaped charge was promulgated by physicist C.E. Munroe as early as 1880, when he discovered that shaping high explosive with a hollow cone at its forward end focused the explosive waves on one point and thus gave greater penetration per unit weight of the explosive. The innovation embodied in the bazooka lay in the combination and adaptation of these well-known principles and basic inventions, which imagination and skill converted into a practical new weapon.” (Planning Munitions for War)

Munroe’s shaped charge – also called “hollow charge” – lay dormant for decades before Henri H. Mohaupt, a clever young Swiss engineer, refined Munroe’s 1911 patent and began attempting to sell his anti-armor
explosive concept.

British tests of his offering, handily packaged in the form of a prototype rifle grenade, caught the eye of American Ordnance personnel. The U.S. M10 rifle grenade soon followed in 1941, with Mohaupt’s improved shaped charge warhead proving remarkably effective for armor penetration.

Alas, it was way too heavy at three pounds, with excessive, weapon-mangling recoil resulting from powerful blanks required to launch it to suitable distances doomed it as a practical infantry arm.

Fortunately, Colonel Gregory J. Kessenich, chief of the Ordnance Department’s Patent Section, had been closely following the project and reportedly had a brainstorm. He persuaded Colonel Wiley T. Moore, head engineer of Ordnance’s Small Arms Division, that putting the M10’s warhead on a suitable rocket would solve both recoil and distance problems.

So far so good, but how would this theoretical anti-armor rocket get launched?

Skinner and Uhl

“American designers who meanwhile were developing small-size missiles that, by embodying the shaped-charge principle, would penetrate great thicknesses of steel plate, likewise failed when they tried to launch them. The recoil induced in weapons based on the conventional principle of internal combustion severely damaging the launching device even when it rested on the ground; firing it from the shoulder was obviously out of the question. The search for a practicable means of getting a shaped-charge missile on its way to the target finally ended when recourse to rocket propulsion eliminated recoil altogether. The launching device, the bazooka, was merely a tube, open at both ends, that fired an electrically triggered rocket. While the new weapon has less accuracy and range than a rifle or machine gun, it lent the individual soldier hitting power heretofore possible only with artillery guns.” (Planning Munitions for War).

Colonel Moore gave Kessenich the green light to turn over his preliminary work to Skinner, soon promoted to Major, whose one man rocket research bureau had grown twofold in June of 1941 with fortuitous addition of Lieutenant Edward G. Uhl, quickly proving to be gifted, intelligent, energetic and resourceful.

Skinner and Uhl, working closely with specialists at the Navy’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) and Bell Laboratories, carried out a series of increasingly encouraging tests using crude experimental rockets made by Skinner in his basement workshop.

One of these was configured to use a Springfield rifle’s long bayonet as a launching rail, apparently before Dr. Robert Goddard’s steel pipe “recoilless gun” from 1918 was reinvented as the best way to contain and guide the rocket without stunning or frying the gunner.

In the spring of 1942, Lieutenant Colonel W.T. Moore, another key mentor in the quest, presented the team with the T1 launcher, hastily built at Frankford Arsenal based on Skinner’s sketches and a rough prototype that Uhl, recently awarded the rank of Captain, had made.

The T1 was a slim steel tube with its 54 inch length dictated by the usual ignition-to-burnout time of the experimental rockets, featuring a wooden stock and electrical triggering grip, all closely resembling what was to follow. Along with the launcher came a supply of factory built parts to convert existing supplies of the 2.36 inch diameter M10 shaped charge grenade into a rocket.

The stage was set for what was soon to prove to be a wildly successful debut performance.

Do or Die?

As Skinner tells it in his 1944 article for the professional journal ARMY ORDNANCE and repeated in the Army‘s official history of the Ordnance Dept. in WWII, first firings of the new T1 launcher and its rocket grenade combo took place just one day ahead of a make-or-break demo in May 1942.

We learn from these that no small amount of courage was required on the part of the junior member of the team as premature detonations had no doubt been observed in earlier testing of the various rockets. Horrible injury or even death were very real possibilities.

Wisely, Uhl apparently improvised and donned some necessarily serious but comically appearing safety apparel before touching off the rudimentary rig.

Also, the arsenal-built launcher had everything needed except for a sight…

“Captain Uhl, dressed like ‘The man from Mars,’ fired the first rocket from his shoulder at the test ground of NDRC, and the next day demonstrated launcher and rockets at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He improvised a sight by using a piece of nail found on the ground. The new weapon was christened that day: its resemblance to the comedian Bob Burns’ bazooka led the colonel who fired some of the rockets to dub the device the ’bazooka.’ The name stuck.” (Planning Munitions for War)

Interestingly, Skinner doesn’t name “the colonel” who gave the weapon its colorful, immediately adopted and soon universally known nickname that was based on a zany musical instrument of the time. But our bet is on Colonel W.T. Moore who had facilitated building the T1 that was fired that day.

The ranking attendee at the Aberdeen event was Ordnance Major General G. M. Barnes, who was said to have been understandably impressed by Uhl scoring repeated hits with dummy warhead rockets on a moving tank. It is likely that Barnes’ favorable report quickly led to the newly-christened Bazooka’s next hurdle, a command performance for the U.S. Army‘s Chief of Staff, a four star General.

“A few days later a formal demonstration was held at Camp Sims, D.C., when high-ranking officials of the War and Navy Departments, Allied governments, and NDRC witnessed the real thing in action against a medium tank. British observers now opened negotiations for samples and Russian military staff members present at this trial immediately requested that they be supplied with some of the new launchers even though development was still in progress. General Marshall at once issued verbal orders that 5,000 launchers and 25,000 anti-tank and 5,000 practice rockets be procured.” (Planning Munitions for War)

While this kind of fast tracking is every armaments inventor’s dream, it must have been a nightmare for contract writing bureaucrats and for the “lucky” companies that got the super rush orders to build the damn things.

Fortunately, the very large and fully capable firm General Electric got the nod for launchers to fire freshly standardized M6 rockets being made simultaneously by the E.G. Budd Company. At a frenzied pace dictated by desperate wartime necessity, GE got only 30 days to prototype, test and manufacture the full order, delivering the final batch with just eighty-nine minutes to spare.

GE’s success with the initial M1 model and subsequent M1A1 was rewarded by follow-on contracts totaling more than 450,000 of these by war’s end.

(Editor’s Note: Part 2 will pick up the saga with urgently necessary improvements to the 1st production model Bazookas and how rocket launched shaped charge warheads were cleverly adopted, first by the Germans and then by the Soviets.)

By Robert Bruce

“The introduction of the 3.5 inch bazooka in Korea occurred at a time when the main objective was to stop enemy armor. It proved effective in this use during a critical period. So the troops were won to it, and so being, tended to discount the worth of the 2.36 rocket launcher. Then came the phase when enemy armor was no longer a problem, and the prevailing tactical situation required the frequent destruction of large numbers of enemy personnel at close range as they attacked our hilltop perimeters. The 2.36 would have been a valuable adjunct of the infantry line at this point if used mainly as a man-killer.” Operations Research Office Report R-13, Oct 1951

The highly innovative “Bazooka” proved invaluable in the Korean War against enemy tanks and defensive emplacements. Introduced in a crash program during WWII, it had served exceptionally well as a remarkably effective weapon for infantry fighting in a variety of situations from anti-personnel to anti-tank engagements. When the initial 2.36 inch model proved inadequate against German armor, Army Ordnance essentially copied the bigger rocket from a captured enemy 8.8 cm PANZERSCHRECK (itself an improved version of one of the first American bazookas captured in Tunisia) and the M20 3.5 inch Rocket Launcher was born. What goes around, comes around….

At the end of WWII production of this new “Super Bazooka” was curtailed and, tragically, it was not available in sufficient numbers some five years later when Soviet-supplied T34 tanks first made their appearance in the Korean War. Numerous American units were overrun by these formidable battlewagons that, with the exception of a hit in the tracks or from above, were unstoppable by the little 2.36 in. launcher. The Army began a crash program to send all available 3.5’s to Korea and emergency contracts were signed to manufacture additional launchers and rockets.

“Sitting a little way up the slope from Watchel and the machine gun was Sgt. Paul West, with a 3.5 launcher in his lap…he raised the launcher and let go one rocket. His first round hit the Chinese mortar dead-on – at 225 yards range. It was the luckiest kind of a fluke shot. That cooled off the enemy force attacking up the draw.” ORO-R-13

Targets of Opportunity

Interestingly, combat reports showed that troops who had considered themselves highly fortunate to get the bigger bazooka, rarely used them against enemy infantry. This is puzzling, given that the standard high explosive anti-tank round was more powerful than that of a 60mm mortar, and the spectacularly effective white phosphorous rockets were in plentiful supply. Instead, the most common use of the 3.5 was mainly against machine guns, buildings where enemy skirmishers had taken cover, and occasionally for bunker-busting.

Recoilless Rifles

“…the basic idea of the recoilless rifle, which ranks with the bazooka as one of the most impressive ordnance developments of WWII…put artillery fire power in the hands of the individual foot soldier, for it required no ponderous carriage or recoil mechanism.” The Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply

Only a hundred or so 57 and 75mm recoilless rifles had reached GIs in Europe in the last several weeks before Germany’s surrender, robbing these extraordinary weapons of honors they most surely would have won. Another bit of American reverse-engineering of an enemy weapon, in this case the 75mm L.G. 40 Recoilless Airborne Gun, it is similar in profile and employment to the bazooka, but operates on a completely different principle.

Instead of serving as merely a tube to point a rocket in the right direction, the recoilless rifle is a highly novel artillery piece that is light enough to make it readily man portable, yet fires powerful conventional projectiles. This bit of physics-defying magic is accomplished by perforating the walls of the cartridge case with large numbers of holes and placing the round in a partially open chamber with venturi tubes that allow escape of carefully calculated amounts of propellant gas.

On firing, sufficient pressure is built up to kick the round downrange at a serviceable velocity, but simultaneously, the rest is vented rearward. Thus, Newton’s Third Law Of Motion is not violated so the weapon does not recoil. The 57mm version can be readily shoulder fired, and the bigger 75mm is handled nicely on an ordinary machine gun tripod. Spin-stabilized by rifling inside the barrel, the projectile is fast and accurate both for direct fire and high angle employment at remarkable range.

No Free Lunch

On the negative side, this rearward venting of gas is extremely energetic and has some nasty side effects. First, there is a highly dangerous backblast area that must be kept clear of friendly troops and disallows firing from a bunker or backing up against a hillside. Also, its noise is painfully deafening and the nighttime firing signature is spectacularly bright. Finally, the weapons and their ammunition are significantly heavier than the bazooka, increasing the burden of the infantry unit struggling up and down the jagged ridges that characterized much of Korea’s terrain.

Balancing the equation, high explosive, anti-tank, and white phosphorous smoke ammunition was made for these unusual weapons, giving them roughly the same capabilities as the bazooka, mortar, and pack howitzer. The efficiency of this system was such that, in the peaceful years following WWII, recoilless rifles were thoroughly integrated into infantry tactical training and operations. And, most importantly to the scope of this article, both types were on hand and ready to go when the war in Korea began.

“Still, the companies will persist in carrying the 57mm [recoilless rifle forward in the hilltop fighting and will continue to use it futilely against targets which it cannot neutralize because of the distance, until at last they have one happy experience with the 75 on lower target ground against the same type of target. Then they adopt the weapon for good.” ORO-R-13

While there are numerous instances of recoilless rifles being used successfully against enemy armor, their most effective employment in Korea was undoubtedly in a long-range direct fire role against enemy defensive positions. North Korean and Chinese machine gun bunkers were a particular thorn in the side, hard to spot and even harder to take out.

Typically, these were deeply dug and reinforced with heavy timbers front and overhead so that only a direct hit from mortars or artillery would be sufficient to put them out of operation. Indeed, combat reports are full of frustrating instances where extended barrages, aerial delivery of bombs and rockets, and even smothering with napalm wouldn’t kill the dugout’s occupants.

But they were no match for the flat-trajectory and hard-hitting recoilless rifle firing on a line of sight from one ridgeline to another. Documented combat reports in ORO-R-13 unequivocally state that, “At ranges between 1000 and 1200 yards, the 75 recoilless is the only piece which can take them out under direct fire, with a relatively good chance of hitting dead on and destroying the object in one round; pack artillery might do it if it were available, but in its absence, the recoilless weapons are the main hope.”

Primary References

FM23-81 and FM 23-32 Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall, “Commentary on Infantry Operations and Weapons Usage in Korea; Winter of 1950-51.” Johns Hopkins University, Operations Research Office Report ORO-R-13, Oct 27, 1951

Developed and fielded in record time on a shoestring budget in the dark, early months of WWII, the bazooka was the first practical device to give the infantryman a fighting chance against most tanks of the period. A clever combination of centuries-old rocket propulsion and newly-fielded explosives technology, it proved equally useful in dealing with many commonly encountered field fortifications such as log bunkers.

Rockets and Warheads

A US Army Ordnance officer by the name of Skinner is widely credited with invention of what was to become the bazooka, beginning work at Aberdeen Proving Ground in the early 1930’s. The young captain apparently achieved some success with firing various types of rockets from a variety of troughs and tubes. However, since this sort of thing had been a staple of warfare since the Middle Ages, the real challenge was how to maximize effectiveness of the rocket’s warhead.

But, according to Terry Gander in his highly entertaining and informative new book, The Bazooka, Skinner’s eventual triumph of engineering owes much to the work of both US Navy Lieutenant Uhl and a Swiss fellow named Henri Mohaupt. As the legend goes, Mohaupt’s innovative hollow-charge anti-armor rifle grenades had been demonstrated for the British and the principle was appropriated for the warhead of the infamous PIAT spigot launcher. Soon afterward, he came to America with his wares only to be politely told that his “secret” new design actually dated back to German experimentation in 1911.

The essential element of Mohaupt’s ammunition comes from the astonishing efficiency of the so-called “shaped charge” where the explosive filler is formed into a hollow cone with its rim facing the target. Detonated from the base of the cone, the resulting shock wave and superheated jet are concentrated into a small area, simultaneously burning and blasting through thick steel armor. This phenomenon gives unsurpassed punch to relatively small and light warheads, making an individually man-portable antitank weapon practical for the first time.

Rifle Grenades and Rockets

The M9 rifle grenade, a muzzle-launched munition, was the first American use of shaped charge design. Aerodynamically efficient with its rounded nose and cylindrical tail, the 1.31 pound minibomb was propelled by a special high pressure blank to a maximum range of some 215 yards. Although it could penetrate about four inches of common armor plate, it wasn’t suitable against most enemy tanks other than for blowing off the tracks. However, the M9 proved very useful for many other challenges including house-to-house fighting and was used throughout WWII on all fronts.

The M10 antitank rifle grenade, a considerably more powerful version fielded at about the same time, was found to be impractical for general issue because it was too heavy to be launched from a rifle. But Captain Skinner recognized that its size and weight would be no real liability as the self-propelled rockets that he was experimenting with on rudimentary metal tube launchers. This soon proved correct on the test range and in June of 1942 — just a couple of months since America had entered the war — General Electric Corp. delivered 5000 of the new top-secret weapons code named “The Whip.”

Formally designated as “Launcher, Rocket, Anti-Tank, 2.36 inch, M1,” (60mm inside diameter) and firing the “Rocket, High Explosive, Anti-Tank, 2.36 inch, M6,” the first of these brand-new weapons were immediately sent to beleaguered American troops in North Africa in September, 1942, and to our Soviet allies. Unfortunately, some soon fell into German hands and emerged a short time later in bigger, better form as the 88mm Panzerschreck.

The Spike Jones Connection

Wisecracking GI’s immediately began calling the new weapon “The Bazooka,” because of its obvious resemblance to a bizarre musical instrument created by Bob Burns, a member of the zany and very popular musical comedy group Spike Jones and the City Slickers. Soon afterward, Burns did his bit for the war effort by posing for an Army publicity photo with his “music-destroying bazooka” in comparison to the high-explosive version. The nickname has become so thoroughly ingrained in popular culture that virtually every man-portable rocket launcher since then is known by this colorful designation.

Orient Express

“The bazooka turned out to be fairly useful against Japanese bunkers, mostly for concussion effect against the occupants; but battery failure was frequent because of jungle moisture.” US Army Technical Intelligence Report 473, 2 Oct 44

With German tanks as Priority One for the first batches of bazookas, troops in the Pacific had to wait awhile for theirs. Although there were relatively few Japanese tanks and most of these were lightly armored, there was much other work that could be done quite well by their high explosive warheads and 600 yard maximum range.

The Japanese were skilled at building well protected bunkers of concrete, earth and logs. These were almost impossible to take out with mortars, so soldiers and marines had to inch their way up close enough to use hand and rifle grenades, flamethrowers and satchel charges. But when the stovepipe launchers finally arrived the flat-shooting, fast moving bazooka rocket was just the ticket for putting one right through the firing port from a relatively safe distance, or into the mouth of a hillside cave.

Inevitably, the humid and fungus-friendly environment of jungle warfare was particularly hard on electrical connectors. This played havoc on all sorts of equipment including radios, but was particularly tough on the dry-cell battery powered firing circuit of the M1 bazooka. This was helped somewhat by introduction of the M9 version, featuring a magneto ignition. Portability also got a boost when the two section, quick-coupling M9A1 was fielded in response to requirements of the paratroops.

Get the Point

Ammunition for the weapon system also got the product-improvement treatment during the war, including changes to motor and fuzing, based on sometimes tragic incidents. While the pointed-nose M6 rocket was a very streamlined design for efficient flight, it tended to be deflected when hitting armor at sharp angles. Accordingly, the “ogive” or nose, was changed to a blunt dome and the straight fins were discarded in favor of a cylindrical stabilizer. Interestingly, the new rocket, first designated M6A3, looks like a beefed-up version of the Army’s original rifle grenade, the M9.

While the WWII American bazooka started a trend in antiarmor weaponry that continues even today, its 2.36 inch/60mm rocket was only barely effective. Despite German fielding of the bigger Panzerschreck, this bad situation wasn’t substantially corrected until the opening months of the Korean War when GI’s were being overrun by Soviet-supplied T34 tanks. The resulting 3.5 inch launcher was eventually replaced by a 90mm Recoilless Rifle in Vietnam and the one-shot, throwaway 66mm Light Antitank Weapon.

Primary Reference Sources: The Bazooka by Terry Gander, PRC Publishing, London, 1998 and FM 23-30, US War Department, 1944.

The U.S. Rifle Caliber .30 M1903- We have them only because we had no other vehicle on which to mount the anti-tank launchers and the remarks with regard to that weapon are the conventional ones-utterly dependable, extremely accurate, very valuable.

The Carbine- My organization being parachutist was equipped with the carbine folding stock, and we found it to be a most effective weapon. It is of sufficiently high velocity to drive its way through the heavy jungle foliage. It is accurate, and most of all, it is light and comfortable, 75 rounds of it on your person leaves you entirely free to carry anything you wish. You don’t even know you have it. The men have confidence in it and it works well. It works extremely well under arduous conditions. I understand that there have been adverse comments on this weapon from the European Theatre to the extent that it lacks precision at ranges in excess of 400 yards. I am entirely ignorant of such circumstances because I have never seen one fired at over 50 yards, at which range they are a splendid weapon. There is a need for carbine tracer ammunition, at first I was required to arm all squad leaders with rifles so that they could use .30 tracer for target designation. If we had carbine tracer, they would have naturally been armed with a carbine, thereby giving them a good deal more mobility. I am told such a thing exists but that the requirement has been rather low, I cannot see why, and I only urge that some thought be given to the distribution. You know that people in the field sometimes do not know what is going on. I didn’t know such a thing existed; and therefore never asked for any. If it had been even hinted that such a thing existed, I dare say, many jungle units would ask for caliber .30 carbine tracer ammunition.

The Bazooka- We used it as an anti-barge weapon against Jap landing barges. I reckon you look upon that as makeshift, but it did an extremely credible job. One round of bazooka ammunition in a Jap landing barge and its all over. Unfortunately you have to get pretty close as they are armed with twin 50’s and on some occasions with twin 20’s, and they take effective measures sometimes to prevent you from getting close. We also use it against pill boxes and bunkers in the embrasure attack, and it is, as you may guess, quite as effective as the M9A1 Grenade and a bit more accurate at ranges exceeding 50 yards. But we condemned it in principal for that particular task for the reason that when do not use it as a bazooka you do not use it at all. Now with the anti-tank grenade on the rifle you still have an effective small arms weapon. We used them (bazookas) but the next time we will leave them behind.

At this moment I would like to interject that weight, even down to ounces, is a critical thing. The men are taxed to their physical utmost to the extent unless they are highly disciplined they will throw essentials away. On occasion it is pretty hard to set yourself to the task of coercing a man to hang onto something that you yourself feel he is not going to use.

It has come to my mind at the moment that I have done Mr. Browning a dreadful injustice in omitting one of the finest pieces of ordnance that has ever been designed, and that is the 1919A4 Light Machine Gun, which we used to prodigious effect. It is the most dependable weapon that ever came down the road. My only comments are those of humility. I am a member of the determined and belligerent school, which says, I repeat, which says we have no need for a water-cooled machine gun so long as we have that splendid weapon (1919A4) in our possession”.

General Barnes: “Any comments, questions? (None) Thank you very much Colonel Krulak”.