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War of words – ‘Bazooka’
with Marc DeSantis
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.
Soldier holding an M1 Bazooka, 1943. IMAGE: U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph/Wikimedia Commons.
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 i
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