This week in the war, on 27 March 1943, the US War Department added another such item to the list by revealing a new weapon: the bazooka.
Named after the musical instrument, the bazooka was designed as a portable anti-tank weapon. Unlike the PIAT, which was the nearest British equivalent and which fired its projectiles by means of a powerful spring (!), the bazooka was essentially a tubular rocket-launcher. Once loaded into the tube, the rocket was ignited electrically and then propelled itself forward at high velocity. The bazooka could knock out most enemy tanks within a range of 100 yards.
Almost half a million bazookas were manufactured during the course of the war. The Germans captured some during the North Africa campaign and copied the design for their own Raketenpanzerbüchse.