THE BAZOOKA

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 10, 12 July 1943, Page 3

THE BAZOOKA

MYSTERY ROCKET GUN

The solenoid gun, the centrifugal force machine-gun, and the death-ray seem to have faded out as master inventions in this war, but the American "bazooka," credited with almost equally miraculous powers of sudden death and destruction, declines to fade away, and, while remaining quite mysterious, yet gets into the news as something new and devastating. The "New York Times," which does not run to wild stunt stories, recently published an article describing the new anti-tank gun—bazooka being the soldiers' term of endearment for it— as a weapon which makes the soldier using it the "master of any tank which may attack him."

The new weapon, said this article, was described by Major-General L. H. Campbell, the ordnance chief, as a rocket gun, revolutionary in design, the projectile from which will penetrate armour, brick, and rock walls, will shatter bridge girders and perform other seeming miracles. Yet the "bazooka" is fired from the shoulder by a single man, usually after it has been loaded by another man. It is the explosive and penetrating power of the projectile that makes the difference.

General Campbell said the new weapon, "carried in the hands of a soldier, can destroy any enemy tank on the battlefield today. This weapon has been successfully used by our forces in Africa to destroy fortifications and tanks. It is so simple and yet so powerful that any foot soldier using it can stand his ground with the certain knowledge that he is the master of any tank which may attack him."

General Campbell, in an address prepared for a meeting of the Cincinnati Post of the Army Ordnance Association, continued: "During recenfc operations in Africa a small but strong fort gave considerable trouble to the Americans. One lone American soldier detached himself from the landing party, waded ashore, and, with one shot from his gun effected surrender of the fort. That will be known as the saga of one American soldier and his 'bazooka.' "

"Bazookas" have long been in mass production and are being supplied in quantity to both American and Allied forces. The new weapon is not considered as a substitute for a.:y existing guns, but was designed as a supplemental means of battering tanks., smashing pill boxes, and blowing holes in fortifications. Primarily, it is for iise at extremely short range, and is light enough to be carried at a run by two soldiers.