SD:Bazooka (Fr)

 is a French Anti-tank unit. It is a two-man squad carrying the American-made bazooka, the American equivalent of the British PIAT and the German Panzershreck, the latter of which was based on captured bazooka designs and used a similar mechanism. Tank hunter teams were used to sneak up on enemy tanks and take them down at very close range, instantly destroying the tank if a hit is scored (penetration is nearly always guaranteed).

Overview
To develop the bazooka, two pieces of technology had to be acquired: the shaped-charge warhead and the rocket-powered weapon. The Rocket Launcher M1A1 was introduced in late 1942 and greatly improved upon over time. German troops managed to capture examples of this weapon fighting the inexperienced US troops in Tunisia and the red army on the Eastern front (who were supplied bazookas through lend-lease). The Germans quickly realised that to fire a shaped-charge warhead, the mechanism used in the bazooka was much more simple and easy than the one they used in the complex Puppchen, which was a in effect mini-artillery piece with a carriage and a breech. Germany soon came up with a powerful recoilless anti-tank weapon of their own, the infamous Panzerschreck. The US would eventually develop a much-improved weapon, the super bazooka, but the war was already over when this new weapon was introduced.

The bazooka's effectiveness decreased in the later stages of the war when confronted with the big cats and armour skirts on the sides of German tanks. The main drawbacks of the American man-portable were the large backblast, sure to expose the firer's position, and the fact that the bazooka team had to expose their bodies to obtain a clear field of fire. A variant of the US anti-tank weapon saw use as an aerial weapon, made famous thanks to the exploits of Rosie the Rocketeer, who managed to disable several German tanks in his outdated biplane armed with six bazookas in Northwest Europe.

The term 'bazooka' itself gained lasting popularity and is still informally used to designate any ground-to-ground shoulder-fired missile weapon.

Strategy

 * Bazooka teams complement anti-tank guns and tank destroyers in a French army, giving the French division good AT capabilities in areas hard to reach by cumbersome field guns or vulnerable M10's. They are good in urban terrain and on the outskirts of hedgerow terrain.
 * Also available to the French are the Fusiliers Marins, a slightly more expensive four-man squad with less stealth but better survivability.