The Bazooka (/bəˈzuːkə/)[8] is a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II.

Featuring a solid-propellant rocket for propulsion, it allowed for high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge warheads to be delivered against armored vehicles, machine gun nests, and fortified bunkers at ranges beyond that of a standard thrown grenade or mine.

The universally applied nickname arose from the weapon's M1 variant's vague resemblance to the musical instrument called a bazooka invented and popularized by 1930s American comedian Bob Burns.

During World War II, the German armed forces captured several bazookas in early North African[9] and Eastern Front encounters and soon reverse engineered their own version,[9] 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'").

[9] 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.

[11] The name "bazooka" comes from an extension of the word bazoo, which is slang for "mouth" or "boastful talk", and which probably stems from the Dutch bazuin (buisine, a medieval trumpet).

[16] The trial was being watched by various senior officers, among them the chief of research and engineering in the Ordnance Department, Major General Gladeon M. Barnes.

This 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.

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.

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 at the muzzle.

[27] In 1943, field reports of rockets sticking and prematurely detonating in M1A1 launch tubes were received by Army Ordnance at Ogden Arsenal and other production facilities.

However, reports of premature detonation continued until the development of bore slug test gauges to ensure that the rocket did not catch inside the launch tube.

[31] Following Operation Overlord in 1944, the military version of the slow-flying Piper J-3 Cub high-wing civilian monoplane, the L-4 Grasshopper, began to be used in a light anti-armor role by a few U.S. Army artillery spotter units over France; these aircraft were field-outfitted with either two or four Bazookas attached to the lift struts,[35] against German armored fighting vehicles.

[39] During the critical late-September Battle of Arracourt, Carpenter managed to achieve disabling hits on several German armored cars and two Panther tanks, along with killing or wounding a dozen or more enemy soldiers.

In a demonstration to British commanders, a Bazooka penetrated the frontal armor of a captured Panzer III; however it was decided that the desert terrain lacked the concealment required for such a short range weapon and it was not deployed in that theater.

[42] In November 1942 during Operation Torch, early production versions of the M1 launcher and M6 rocket were hastily supplied to some of the U.S. invasion forces during the landings in North Africa.

A U.S. general visiting the Tunisian front in 1943 after the close of combat operations could not find any soldiers who could report that the weapon had actually stopped an enemy tank.

[30] When the existence of the Bazooka was revealed to the American public, official press releases for the first two years stated that it "packed the wallop of a 155 mm cannon"—a great exaggeration.

'[45] The M1 Bazooka fared much better on the rare occasions when it could be used against the much thinner armor typically fitted to the lower sides, undersides, and tops of enemy tanks.

Even the heavy King Tiger tank only possessed hull and turret top armor of 44 mm (1+3⁄4 in) thickness at best, able to be pierced by the Bazooka's shaped-charge rocket.

During the 1944 Allied offensive in France, when some examples of liaison aircraft with the U.S. Army began to be experimentally field-armed, and were already flying with pairs or quartets of the American ordnance[35]—and most notably used during the Battle of Arracourt—Major Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter mounted a battery of three M9 Bazookas on the wing-to-fuselage struts on each side of his L-4 Grasshopper aircraft to attack enemy armor, and was credited with destroying six enemy tanks, including two Tiger I heavy tanks.

The team managed to do this by positioning themselves to get a shot at the massive vehicle's thinner side armor, scoring a direct hit on the ammunition bustle and causing a catastrophic kill.

The battery-operated firing circuit was easily damaged during rough handling, and the rocket motors often failed because of high temperatures and exposure to moisture, salt air, or humidity.

With the introduction of the M1A1 and its more reliable rocket ammunition, the Bazooka was effective against some fixed Japanese infantry emplacements such as small concrete bunkers and pillboxes.

[48][49] Against coconut and sand emplacements, the weapon was not always effective, as these softer structures often reduced the force of the warhead's impact enough to prevent detonation of the explosive charge.

[45] General Dwight Eisenhower later described it 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).

On July 5, 1950, during the Battle of Osan, Task Force Smith tried to stop North Korean tanks with 2.36-inch rocket launchers and 75 mm recoilless rifles but was overrun by 33 T-34-85s.

[58][59][57] On July 8, Colonel Robert R. Martin, commander of the 34th Regiment of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division, was killed while operating a 2.36-inch rocket launcher to prevent North Korean tanks from advancing.