America Tried To Beat German Tanks With The Bazooka — And Gave Soldiers Weapons That Wouldn't Fire Discover how a revolutionary concept faced a baptism by fire and nearly failed before becoming an icon of the infantry. Explore how the M1 Rocket Launcher, famously known as the bazooka, was rushed from the drawing boards of Aberdeen Proving Ground to the front lines of North Africa in 1942. Developed by Edward Uhl and Leslie Skinner, the weapon utilized a shaped charge rocket designed to give a si