Bazooka emplacements from the Corps of Engineers’ field manual FM 5-15: Field Fortifications, U.S. War Department, February 1944.
43. ROCKET LAUNCHER EMPLACEMENT.
There are two types of emplacement for this weapon, the pit-foxhole type and the pit type.
a. Pit-foxhole type (fig. 33 (1)). This emplacement is a circular pit, 3 feet in diameter and about 3½ feet deep, large enough for two men. It permits the assistant rocketeer to turn with the traversing weapon, so that he is never behind it when it is fired. The emplacement is shallow enough to permit the rear end of the rocket launcher at maximum elevation to be clear of the parapet, thus insuring that the hot back-blast from the rockets is not deflected to the occupants. This emplacement is not tankproof. Therefore foxholes for the crew are dug nearby. As the antitank mission of this weapon requires that it be kept in action against hostile tanks until the last possible moment, these foxholes will be occupied only when a tank is about to overrun the emplacement.
b. Pit type (fig. 33 (2)) . In firm soil the diameter of the circular pit (fig. 33 (1)) can be increased to 4 feet and an additional circular pit 2 feet deep and 2 feet in diameter excavated in the center. This leaves a circular fire step 1 foot wide and about 3½ feet below the surface. When tanks appear about to overrun the position, the rocketeer and assistant rocketeer crouch down into the lower pit. When the tanks have passed, the rocket launcher quickly is returned to action.
