Chapter 734: The Bazooka is gone, replaced by the Great Wall Cannon
How did the bazooka come about?

Many people would say that this thing looks like a weird homemade musical instrument made by comedian Bob, hence the name;
Some people also say that this thing was designed by Robert Goddard under contract.

But in fact, before the birth of the bazooka, there was a series of evolutionary processes of research and development. This is a product born under a complete system of technological advancement.

In the 20s, Swiss immigrant Henry Mohaupt designed an anti-tank grenade with a conical charge while researching explosives for the U.S. Army Department (the predecessor of the Department of Defense). This thing could penetrate 30 inches of tank armor, or 2.4 mm.

This thing was the best individual weapon at the time, but it also had its own flaws, which was that it could not be thrown far.

The M10 grenade weighs 1.6 kilograms. You know a two-liter bottle of Coke? The big one, that thing weighs 2 kilograms.

If you let an ordinary soldier throw this thing out as a grenade, wouldn’t that cause trouble?
The weight of this grenade is not suitable for launching as a rifle grenade. The only feasible way is to load it into a gun barrel and let the soldiers fire it, such as a tank gun. But if you do this, the multi-step operation loses the original intention of being simple and practical. Therefore, after secondary research and development, a weaker version of the M10 appeared, which is the M9 rifle grenade.

Yes, it is the M9 rifle grenade, which is known as the anti-tank weapon in World War II.

The emergence of this weapon did not promote the development of anti-tank grenades, but instead promoted the development of rifle grenades. The subsequent M1, M2, M7, and M8 were all born on this basis.

With the development of the times, when the armor of tanks became thicker and thicker, the weakened version of the M9 could no longer cause substantial damage to the tanks, especially after the T26 showed its prowess in the Battle of Nomonhan, which almost made all individual weapons lose the qualification to fight against tanks.

At that time, that is, in 1940, Lieutenant Edward Uhler under Leslie Skinner of the old US Army suggested using the bazooka he invented to fire the M10 equipped with a rocket propeller. This was the prototype of the bazooka.

This thing was finally successfully developed at the University of Washington. This M1 prototype has a metal launch tube, a wooden buttstock, a handle and a sight. It fires 60.07mm rocket launchers. The rocket has a trailing fuse at the tail and a cast steel warhead on the top. After pulling the trigger, the two dry batteries on the wooden buttstock will ignite the rocket fuse, which can then be launched.

Didn’t their thing collapse?

what?
The thing that exploded was the detonator, right?

what?
It’s so shocking!
This is the main reason why Xu Chaoyang got angry!
In other words, the Arsenal had no intention of conducting this experiment on him at all. Apart from Professor Xiao Wang’s “sky-high monkey”, it might have something to do with it, but how could it have anything to do with the bazooka?

Besides, this broken iron pipe is not as smooth as the abandoned heating pipe he carried in his hand when he played war games with his friends when he was a child in another era, except that it can be blasted out for a distance. What is the difference between it and a person carrying a detonator and rushing up? It is even more dangerous than letting a soldier rush up with a detonator!

But Professor Xiao Wang’s words “sky-high monkey” made Xu Chaoyang’s eyes light up.

What if this thing could be propelled by gunpowder?

Even if it’s like a sky-high monkey, it can only control the general direction. If thousands of arrows are fired at the same time, wouldn’t it be enough to cause trouble to the Japanese?

Just imagine, when the Japanese invaded Shanxi, the 217 soldiers who stood up on the hilltop did not throw grenades down frantically, but each of them carried a metal tube launcher on his shoulder…

Don’t think about it for now, it’s a bit too much.

“Professor Wang, is this possible?”

Professor Xiao Wang was still very calm and responded with a smile: “Give it a try. Science is a difficult thing to explain.”

It’s not hard to explain. Didn’t Xu Chaoyang tell you that he was researching dry cell battery igniters? How reliable is that?

Wait a minute!

Xu Chaoyang remembered that when he first traveled to this era, he used a flashlight, which had batteries in it. In other words, batteries were not rare in this era, so using the power of batteries to make dry cell igniters should not be too difficult for these experts…

“Professor Wang, how about this? We use batteries to ignite the fire, completely abandon ‘propellant’ and replace it with ‘thrusters’. This will greatly improve safety.”

Professor Wang immediately looked at Xu Chaoyang: “This is a good idea, we can try it.”

Xu Chaoyang explained in detail to Professor Wang his impression of the ‘Bazooka’, from every link to every step, and then to the M10 anti-tank grenade. After he finished talking about all these things, Professor Wang finally understood Xu Chaoyang’s anger. He looked at the broken iron pipe and said, “This thing is really too dangerous…”

“Commander, this is the cast steel warhead you mentioned…”

“Try it first. If it doesn’t work, try using a copper bullet. Remember, you must pay attention to safety.”

Tong Meng and Xiao Wu were stunned when they heard this. Xiao Wu stared at him, unable to understand the leaping thinking: “No… How did they jump directly from ‘propellant’ to ‘gunpowder propelling’? How come they came up with ‘dry cell battery’ ignition before the ‘gunpowder propelling’ method has been tested yet?”

He turned his head and looked at Tong Meng: “Didn’t you say that my uncle never studied abroad?”

Tong Meng was amused, and smiled helplessly: “Until now, I have said that your uncle has never studied abroad, but when he took out his conscienceless cannon, even I, who have been abroad, was stunned. Now when I see him taking out something, I don’t find it new anymore.”

“Who told you not to listen to my advice to say hello to him first?”

Xiao Wu felt a sense of powerlessness. He was a rising scientist who graduated from a regular school and traveled around Europe, but he never expected to be outdone by the old-fashioned guy. If I had known that you had these two skills, why would I have spent more than half a month calculating in the laboratory?
How could they understand the difference in vision?
For a contemporary person who has never seen all of this, if he wants to study something, he has to follow the steps and cross the river by feeling the stones. But Xu Chaoyang doesn’t need to do that. He has seen all these things, and as long as the time is right, he can speak out!

In fact, Xu Chaoyang has a lot of things in his mind, but he can’t say them out due to the current manufacturing technology. Even now, he doubts whether the Xin County Arsenal can produce qualified gun barrels. If this thing is not up to standard, wouldn’t it be a waste of people?

“Commander, could you please come up with a name?”

Professor Xiao Wang looked up at Xu Chaoyang. After all, the whole concept was planned by him.

Xu Chaoyang thought about it for a long time before he gritted his teeth and said three words: “Great Wall – Cannon!”

At that moment, everyone was solemn!

The ‘Great Wall’ they heard was full of patriotism, but when Xu Chaoyang said this name, he was really jealous that there was a woman who got a car from the manufacturer just because she shouted something… He was so angry at the time, because he spent several years’ savings and had to pay off the loan to buy this car!

“Shouldn’t I be the one to name it?” Xiao Wu Kabakaba looked at Tong Meng and said, “Have you forgotten that I was the one who invented this thing?”

“Hey!”

“I’m talking to you!”

Bazooka, no more.

Changed to ‘Great Wall Cannon’.

(End of this chapter)