| M1 Bazooka | |
|---|---|
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | USA |
| Type | Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher |
| Effective range | 30-150m |
| Ammunition | M6 HEAT
Mk.2 Frag HC Smoke T27 Improved HEAT 12 |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Debut in FHSW | Debut in Forgotten Hope mod |
| Used by | USA Japan France |
| Used in vehicles | Piper L-4 Cub |
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The M1 Bazooka was introduced in 1942 and was the first of its kind. Which in response led to the German Panzerschreck and the Japanese Type 4 rocket launcher. While primarily made to destroy armored vehicles, different rockets gave it different uses. The M18 recoilless rifle later complemented but never replaced it during the war. Its direct replacement would have been the M9 Bazooka, which was longer but could be disassembled into two parts, units tended to hold on to their old M1 bazookas which increased the amount deployed on the field.
The M1 Bazooka was provied to most of the Allies during WWII including the Soviet Union. The Soviet were unimpressed by the M1 Bazooka, if they were going to replace their anti-tank rifles that could be effective against targets hundreds of meters away a rocket launcher would have to have a similar effective range. But a hundred meters was quite far away to hit with the Bazooka and the low velocity made it hard to hit moving targets.
Rockets[]
M6 HEAT Rocket[]
The most common rocket is the M6 which was the standard anti-tank rocket throughout the war. The M6 it functions very similar to the one rocket used in the Hungarian 44M rocket launcher. Different rockets may also be available but the user will always have a HEAT type rocket like this for their M1 Bazooka. All rockets will consume ammo from the same "ammo pool". The captured rocket launchers in Japanese and German (called RPzB788(a) by their army) kits only have this rocket with them.
T12 HEAT Rocket[]
After the introduction of the improved M6A3 rocket with its rounded head further development started. One suggestion was to attach folding wings for a more stable flight. It was designated as T12 and tested in 1944 but newer saw widespread use.
In FHSW this weapon is a decent improvement over the regular M6A1 rocket which it replaces as it can penetrate up to 127 mm of armour instead of 100 mm. It is available occasionally on maps from 1944 and later.
MK II Frag Rocket[]
In 1943 a special fragmentation warhead consisting of two Mk II hand grenades was developed. The pin of the top grenade was pulled and the rocket loaded into the launcher with the arming lever riding against the bore. When fired the lever flew off and the grenade exploded after the fuse detonated after 4 to 5 seconds creating an airburst. It saw little use in combat and never standardized.
This projectile is similar to "Timed HE" rounds that can be used with the Kampfpistole. It can be useful on urban maps where it's often tricky to lob regular hand grenades into an upper-story window for example. With time people will probably figure out other creative ways to use this special ammunition. On some maps it appears as part of pick-up kits.
T27 HC Smoke Rocket[]
The T27 was a rocket where the anti-tank warhead was replaced with a type of smoke grenade which saw limited combat testing.
Similar to the Mk II rocket the T27 is basically an improved smoke grenade which lets you create smoke screens from great distance with good accuracy.
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