2.36in rocket launcher

M9A1 2.36in Rocket Launcher (Bazooka), with sling and practice rocket

TM 9-297: 3.5-In Rocket Launcher, M20 and M20B1 8/50


M20 3.5-inch team awaiting the Chinese north of Tanyang

Specifications for the M9A1:
Weight: 15 pounds, 14 oz.
Overall Length: 61 in assembled, 21.5 in disassembled.
Muzzle velocity: 265-275 f.p.s.
Sight: T90
Rate of Fire: 10 rounds/min
Rocket: M7A1 shaped charge,rocket motor ignited electrically
3.5-pound (1.6-kilogram), length 19 inches.
Range: Range up to 400 yards, effective to about 120 yards
Charge: 8 ounces of pentolite, could penetrate up to 5 inches of armour
Note: The heavy armor plating on the T-34 ranged from 0.79in to 3.54 in

The M20 Super Bazooka:
Similar tube, aluminum, launching 3.5-in, 8.5lb rocket
Carried a 2 pound charge of combined RDX/TNT
Penetrated up to 11 inches of plate armour.

As against the heavier German tanks, the 2.36 in bazooka was not sufficiently effective against the rugged T34, arguably the best tank developed in WWII. The 2.36 could penetrate the T-34 armor, but only marginally, and could be defeated by the sloping, heavy armor surfaces. Unless firing from a flanking ambush, or catching the T-34 rounding a corner, the infantryman was faced with the 3.5in sloping frontal armor, and an 85mm gun. Actually, the 2.36 should never have been deployed in Korea, as the M9A1 and other 2.36 inch models had been withdrawn from service shortly after WWII, and nominally replaced with the M20, of similar design but with a larger rocket. The M20 was deadly against the T34.

To escape backblast, the operator held the bazooka on his shoulder with about half the tube protruding behind him. The chief defects of both bazookas were their unwieldy weight and length, their short effective range, and their cumbersome two-man operating team. Beginning with Vietnam the Army switched to light antitank weapons, or LAWs, such as the M72, a one-shot, disposable weapon that weighed 5 pounds fully loaded yet could launch its rocket with reasonable accuracy out to 350 yards.

Both the 2.36 inch and the 3.5 inch bazookas were deadly effective against dug-in troops, as a short-range anti-pillbox and anti-personnel weapon. They were also effective against mobile machine gun and mortar crews who moved forward with the second assault, or submachine gun, platoons, to support them at close range.
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About Vietnam Protesters

A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for

 A SOLDIER DIED TODAY

© 1987 A. Lawrence Vaincourt


© Kortegaard Engineering ©

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