The Rocket Propelled Grenade

By Gordon Rottman

Osprey's new Weapon series provides a highly-detailed yet affordable overview of the development, use, and impact of small arms throughout history - from the sword to the machine gun.Learn the surprising truths behind one of modern warfare's most popular and controversial firearms. Developed immediately after World War II, the RPG-series have proved to be simple, flexible, and powerful devices, which have had an impact far beyond original expectations. Track its development and deployment firsthand, from the Vietnam hills to the streets of modern Baghdad.Gordon Rottman provides a detailed analysis of perhaps one of the most important weapons to be developed in the 20th century. He has been at the receiving end of the RPG-2 and RPG-7 as well as firing them himself, providing personal testament to the effectiveness with which they accomplished their missions. This in-depth coverage is well-accompanied by Ramiro Bujeiro's battlescene artwork and Tony Bryan's cutaway illustrations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781849086554

Gordon Rottman

Gordon Rottman lives outside of Houston, Texas, served in the Army for twenty-six years in a number of “exciting” units and wrote wargames for Green Berets for eleven years. He’s written over 130 military history books, but his interests have turned to adventurous young adult novels—influenced by a bunch of audacious kids, Westerns owing to his experiences on his wife’s family’s ranch in Mexico, and historical fiction focusing on how people lived and thought—history does not have to be boring. His first Western novel, The Hardest Ride, garnered three writing awards and was a USA Today and Amazon best seller.

Reviews for The Rocket Propelled Grenade

[jcbrunner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Osprey's The Rocket Propelled Grenade is a truly outstanding introduction to this great battlefield equalizer, solving many puzzles, such as its name RPG. "Rocket Propelled" never made much sense, what other purpose than propulsion could a rocket have? RPG actually is the Russian abbreviation of Reaktivnoi Protivotankovii Granatomet. The Russians have a real talent to develop sturdy, cheap and simple weapons. These weapons deliver bang for the buck in asymmetric warfare, offering the modern Davids a chance against today's Goliaths. It just happens that today's Davids are the enemies of the West. Thus, like the Kalashnikov, the Soviet designed RPGs are the weapon of choice of rebels, insurgents and terrorists. Flexible light infantry forces which try to survive on a highly mechanized battlefield. Defensive measures against RPGs further increase the sticker price of weapon systems and reduce their flexibility, thus making them less suitable in an asymmetric conflict. Rottman is highly knowledgeable about this topic and has personally experienced the RPG's power during his service in Vietnam, which results in a condensed and excellently illustrated booklet. On the strength of this title, I will probably pick up Rottman's other title in this series about the Browning gun. The only thing not working in the Osprey Weapon series are the amateurish, out of place paintings. Give the authors those four extra pages to work with.