A signature piece of kit for American GIs in World War II, the bazooka was a tubular, shoulder-fired, 2.36-inch rocket launcher. It fired a projectile bearing a shaped-charge warhead, which contained a hollow cavity lined with metal.
On contact with a target, the shaped explosive detonated, sending a slender jet of plasma screaming in a single, highly focused direction. This 36,000ºC blowtorch instantly melted its way through armour. The bazooka would, it was hoped, enable American infantry to stop German Panzers on their own.
Beginning in 1942, the US Army adopted the rocket launcher in several models, including the M1, M1A1, M9, and M9A1. The popular name for the weapon, ‘bazooka’, derives from its supposed resemblance to the bazooka, a musical instrument invented and played by Bob Burns, an American comedian of the 1930s.
