The Bazooka

[MrBern]

Edward Uhl, Who Helped Invent Bazooka, Dies at 92

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/business/17uhl.html?

“One day I was walking by this scrap pile, and there was a tube that was five feet long and 60 millimeters in diameter, which happened to be the same size as the grenade that we were turning into a rocket,” Mr. Uhl told Maryland Cracker Barrel Magazine in 2007. “I said, ‘That’s the answer! Put the tube on a soldier’s shoulder with the rocket inside and away it goes.’ ”

 

[Corto]

Well...who knows where we'd be without Mr. Uhl's moment of serendipity. Not that I'd credit the device with winning the war, but I'm sure it helped. A lot.

 

[Silver Dollar]

It sure made some nice holes in some of the tanks.

 

[MrBern]

ike

from wiki as well as the obituary:

General Dwight Eisenhower later described it(bazooka) as one of the four "Tools of Victory" which won World War II for the Allies (together with the atom bomb, Jeep and the C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft)

BTW, the germans copied it:

Yank Magazine1944:Sgt. R. D. Shelton, of New Castle, PA., demonstrates the German version of a bazooka, which he found in a slit trench. It's larger than ours, he tells the other three GIs, but not quite as effective.

 

[Zemke Fan]

Bern...

You're sure a font of WWII knowledge and a man who reads the obits WAY too often. Thanks for this tid-bit!

 

[Stoneface]

BTW, the germans copied it:

The next time you buy adidas or Puma you will know who built them :
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-611400.html

Luckily this article was also available in english so I don`t had to do a rough translation.

 

[MrBern]

I wouldve posted in the Notable Passings thread...but figured it might get more interest here.

A U.S. soldier fires an M9 bazooka at a German machine gun nest, Lucca 1944

BTW,Korean Conflict bazookas:

 

[Chas]

The Panzerschreck was a superior weapon, overall. At least until the M9 came out (1944).

 

[FinalVestige79]

The picture above is the M20 Rocket launcherin comparison to the M1A1 Bazooka which fired a 2.36 inch projectile the M20 fires a 3.5 inch projectile and has a bipod capability. But it alsobreaks into two halves like the late war model of the bazooka which designation I do not recall right now.

I bought an M20A1 rocket launcher when I was 15 years old when my father took me to the Long Beach Veterans Stadium swap meet for the first time. it was $175 we split it between he and I. It was "properly" de-militarized by hacking holes into it, but it still had all the markings and the awesome part it was manf. by Kraft Corps in 1952! I had it restored to "working order" and it sits on the rack I made for it on my wall.

 

[DutchIndo]

I believe the early models were battery powered. Later on before D-Day they had small generators. This was according to Don Burgett in his book " As Eagles Screamed ". The Germans first captured them in North Africa and copied them.

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Panzerschreck was a superior weapon, overall. At least until the M9 came out (1944).

I was wondering about that. The caption seemed kinda fishy to me. I had always thought the bazooka was considered not quite up to par against heavier German armor. I guess we sometimes we forget that even the allies weren't above making shall we say...less than truthful...claims in the interests of morale.

I remember once reading an article in a 1942 issue of Life Magazine touting the virtues of a plane that was regarded, even at the time, as an utterly deficient aircraft...I wish I could remember what it was.

 

[p51]

I was wondering about that. The caption seemed kinda fishy to me. I had always thought the bazooka was considered not quite up to par against heavier German armor. I guess we sometimes we forget that even the allies weren't above making shall we say...less than truthful...claims in the interests of morale.

You are quite correct. I spent a lot of time researching these when I was stationed at Aberdeen proving Ground for a book I never got to writing (the odd thing is that there are next to NO really good reference books on US bazookas for some reason). The German rockets had much better penetration than the US ones. You’d be lucky to take out a Sherman with an American rocket, forget the frontal or side armor on a German main tank. Many airborne troopers would often try to get their hands on a PIAT, which was a spring loaded launcher that had far better penetrating power and was fool-proof (but had much shorter effective range).
M-1A1 tubes were battery powered. No battery, no boom. Simple as that. You’d be amazed how few of these launchers exist today. Here I am getting ready to “fire” (loading a expended restored rocket for the camera, anyway) my M1A1 tube.