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James Gavin, commanding the 82nd Airborne in Normandy to the surrender, talks about anti-tank weapons available to his troops during the war in his memoir, "On to Berlin." He talks about how the bazooka would make a small hole in the front glacis plate of a Panther, not penetrating, not harming the Panther in any way, and that this hole was just the size that the little finger would fit into it just past the first joint.

There is a Panther at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox with just exactly such a mark on the glacis. I hopped over the chain and stuck my left little finger in the mark, and it went in just past the first joint. Some young GI paid for that insignificant mark with his life, most likely.

Anyway, Gavin talks about holding the line during the Bulge, and how hard it was to stop German tanks with Gammon grenades.

Gammon Grenades were explosive charges too heavy to throw far, being a couple of pounds of one of the C compositions thrown up onto the back of the tank behind the turret, where the armor was thin. The Gammon Grenade had a shock triggered fuze, going off on impact. Got to be careful with one of those puppies.

Anyway, the Airborne troopers captured a German truck carrying a load of Panzerfaust hand launched anti-tank weapons, which worked fine and did not waste so many of our people. Gavin was very interested after the war in improving US anti-armor weapons for the infantry, probably too much so, at least for his career. Maxwell Taylor of the 101st was of another sort of man, but that is another story!

2.36 INCH ROCKET LAUNCHER M9A1 "BAZOOKA"

The 2.36 inch rocket launcher was developed at the beginning of World War II and distributed to units in 1942. The launcher was essentially a tube, about 60 inches long, with a rocket propelled shaped charge in the back. A magneto sends an electrical current that ignites the rocket motor and the projectile is propelled out the tube. Shown below are the two types of ammunition used. The upper projectile is the early war version of the shaped charge munition while the lower example is the later version.

The launcher was nicknamed the "bazooka" after a musical instrument used by the entertainer Bob Burns. The bazooka was advantageous in that it was light in weight, yet had plenty of punch for armor and other hard targets such as bunkers. Lightly armed infantry significantly increased their fire power using the bazooka. Disadvantages included a dangerous back blast and limited range, making the bazooka team vulnerable to counter attack. The first version of the bazooka was the M1A1, which was a continuous tube design. The M9A1 design was a tube that came apart in two sections making it easier to transport.