Most of these developments could not be realized.
Called “wunderwaffe” or “wonder weapon”, was coined by the German Ministry of propaganda and was used by the Third Reich for a number of large-scale research projects aimed at creating a new type of weapon, its size, capabilities, and features the vastly superior of all the samples.
Wonder weapon or “Wunderwaffe”…
During the Second world war, the propaganda Ministry of Nazi Germany was so named their superweapon, which was created with the latest science and technology and in many ways was to be revolutionary in the course of warfare.
I must say that most of these wonders never went into production, almost never appeared on the battlefield, or were established too late and in too small quantities, to somehow influence the course of the war.
With the development of events and the deterioration of the situation of Germany after 1942, the claims about the “wunderwaffe” were to cause noticeable inconvenience to the Ministry of propaganda. Ideas ideas, but the reality is that the release of any new weapons requires long-term preparation: it takes years of testing and development. So I hope that Germany can improve their megaweapon by the end of the war, were in vain. And the samples that came into service, caused a wave of frustration even among devotees of the propaganda of the German military.
However, another surprise: the Nazis actually had a technological know-how for the development of many miracle products. And if the war lasted much longer, there was the possibility that they were able to bring the weapon to the perfection and mass production, changing the course of the war.
The forces of the axis could win the war.
Fortunately for the allies, Germany was unable to capitalize on their technological advances. And here are 15 examples of the terrible “love” Hitler.
Self-propelled mine Goliath
“Goliath,” or “Sonderkommando, kraftfahrzeug” (abbr. Sd.Kfz. 302/303a/303b/3036) — crawler self-propelled land mine. The allies called the “Goliath” is less romantic nickname — “Zolotonosha”.
“Goliath” was introduced in 1942 and was a caterpillar machine size 150 × 85 × 56 see This design carried 75-100 kg of explosives, which is a lot, considering its own growth. Mine was intended to destroy tanks, dense infantry formations, and even destroy buildings. All anything, but there was one detail that made Goliath vulnerable: wedge heel without a crew governed by the wire at a distance.
The allies quickly realised that in order to neutralize the machine — enough to cut the wire. Without the control of “Goliath” was helpless and useless. Although in total, it produced more than 5000 “Goliaths”, by its design, leading the modern equipment, weapons was not successful: the high cost, vulnerability, and low permeability played a role. Many instances of these “machines of destruction” survived the war and today they can be found among Museum exhibits throughout Europe and in the United States.
Cannon V-3
Like its predecessor the V-1 and V-2, “Reprisal weapon” or V-3 was another in a series of “weapons of retaliation” aimed to erase London and Antwerp with the face of the earth.
“English cannon” as it is sometimes called, the V-3 was mnogomernoi gun specially designed for the landscapes where Nazi troops firing into London via the English channel.
Although the range of the projectile of this centipede does not exceed the firing range of other German experimental artillery guns due to issues with timely ignition of the subsidiary charges its rate theoretically should have been much higher and achieve one shot per minute, which would allow the battery of these guns literally fall asleep London shells.
Tests in may 1944 showed that the V-3 can shoot at a distance of 58 miles. However, only two of the V-3 was actually built, and actually used in the conduct of hostilities is only the second. From January to February 1945 gun fired 183 times in the direction of Luxembourg. And proved to be a complete…failure. Of the 183 142 shells only landed 10 people were wounded, 35 injured.
London, against which created the V-3, was out of reach.
Guided bomb Henschel Hs 293
This German guided bomb was perhaps the most effective controlled weapons during the Second world war. She destroyed numerous merchant ships and destroyers.
Henschel looked like a RC glider with a rocket engine on the bottom and the warhead of 300 kg of explosives. They were designed for use against unarmored vessels. About 1,000 bombs were manufactured for use by German military aircraft.
Option for use against armored vehicles Fritz-X was made later.
After we dropped the bomb from the plane the rocket boost, clocked it to a speed of 600 km/h Then began the planning stage in the direction of the target, with the use of radio command control. Guidance Hs 293 on the objective was made with the aircraft co-operator with the handle on the remote control transmitter Kehl. Below the Navigator is not visually lost a bomb out of your sight, on her “tail” was mounted signal tracer.
One of the drawbacks was that the bomber had to keep a straight path, moving with constant speed and height, located parallel to the target to maintain some kind of visible line with a rocket. This meant that the bomber was not able to escape and maneuver when approaching enemy fighters attempted to intercept him.
The use of radio-controlled bombs was first suggested in August 1943, then the first victim of the prototype of the modern RCC was the British sloop “HMS Heron”.
However, a very short time the allies were looking for an opportunity to connect to the radio frequency missiles to knock her off course. Needless to say, that the opening frequency control Henschel significantly reduced its effectiveness.
Silver bird
Silver bird — high rise project partially-orbital bomber-spaceship Austrian scientist Dr. Eugen Sanger and physicist and engineer Irena Brett. Originally developed in the late 1930s, “Silbervogel” was an Intercontinental space plane, which could be used as a long-range bomber. He was considered for the mission “Amerika Bomber”.
It was designed to carry on Board more than 4,000 kg of explosives, equipped with a unique video surveillance system, and as suggested, could be invisible.
Looks like the ultimate weapon, isn’t it?
However, it was too revolutionary for its time. The engineers and designers in connection with the “bird” had all kinds of technical and other difficulties, sometimes insurmountable. For example, prototypes overheated, but cooling has not yet been invented…
In the end, the whole project was abandoned in 1942, and money and resources were invested in other ideas.
Interestingly, after the war, senger and Brett was highly appreciated by the expert community and participated in the creation of the French national space program. And their “Silver bird” was taken as an example of the design concept for the American project X-20 Dyna-Soar…
So far for regenerative cooling of the engine is used a design, which is called the “senger-Bred”. Thus, the Nazi attempt to create a deep space bomber to attack the United States ultimately contributed to the successful development of space programs around the world. It’s for the best.
Assault rifle of 1944, the StG-44
Many consider an assault rifle StG 44 as the first example of the automatic weapon. The design of the rifle was so successful that modern assault rifles such as M-16 and AK-47 borrowed it as the basis.
Legend has it that Hitler himself was very impressed with the weapon. StG-44 had a unique design, which used the characteristics of a carbine, machine gun, and submachine gun. The weapon was equipped with the new inventions of his time: on the rifle mounted optical and infrared sights. Last weighed about 2 kg and was connected to the battery about 15 kg, which the shooter wore on his back. It’s not compact, but very cool for the 1940-ies!
Rifle could be equipped with “curved barrel” to shoot around the corner. Nazi Germany was the first who tried to realize this idea. There were different variants of the “curved trunk”: 30 °, 45 °, 60 ° and 90 °. However, they had short life. After the release of a certain number of rounds (300 for version 30 ° and 160 rounds for the 45 °), the barrel can be thrown away.
StG-44 was a revolution, but too late to be able to have a real impact on the course of the war in Europe.
Thick Gustav
“Fat Gustav” — the largest artillery gun that was built during the Second world war and used for the purpose intended.
Developed in the factory of Krupp, Gustav was one of two heavy railway guns. The second was “Dora”. Gustav weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes, and could fire 7-ton projectile (a bullet the size of two oil drums) at a distance of 28 miles.
Impressive, isn’t it?! Why the allies gave up and conceded defeat as soon as this monster was released on the warpath?
It took 2,500 soldiers and three days to build a double railway track to maneuver that thing. For transporting “Fat Gustav” is broken down into several components and then assembled on site. Its size prevented the gun going fast: only half an hour left to only one barrel was loaded or unloaded. As reported, Germany was attached to a “Gustav” a whole squadron of the Luftwaffe, to provide cover for its Assembly.
The only time when the Nazis successfully used this mastodon for battle, was the siege of Sevastopol in 1942. “Fat Gustav” produced a total of 42 shells, nine of which were in located in the rocks, the ammunition depots, which were completely destroyed.
This monster was a technical miracle, so awful and impractical. “Gustav” and “Dora” were destroyed in 1945 to prevent them from falling into the hands of the allies. But the Soviet engineers were able to restore the “Gustav” from the ruins. And his traces are lost in the Soviet Union.
RC bomb Fritz-X
Managed radiobomb “Fritz-X”, like its predecessor, the Hs 293 was created for the destruction of ships. But, in contrast to Hs, the “Fritz-X” could hit the heavily armored targets. “Fritz-X” had excellent aerodynamic properties, 4 small wings and a cruciform tail.
In the eyes of the allies, these weapons were evil. The father of modern controlled bomb “Fritz-X” could be carried with them 320 kg of explosives and was controlled with a joystick, making it the world’s first high-precision weapons.
This weapon very effectively used in close proximity to Malta and Sicily in 1943. On 9 September 1943, the Germans threw several bombs on the Italian battleship “Roma”, claiming that killed all on Board. They also sunk the British cruiser “HMS Spartan”, the destroyer “HMS Janus”, the cruiser “HMS Uganda” and the hospital ship Newfoundland.
One only this bomb led the American light cruiser “USS Savannah” out for the year. There were manufactured more than 2000 bombs, but only 200 were dropped on purpose.
The main difficulty was that if they could not dramatically change the direction of flight. As in the case of the Hs 293, the bombers were to fly directly over the object, making them easy prey for allied aircraft of the Nazis suffered heavy losses.
Mouse
The full name of this fully enclosed armored vehicle — Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus, or “Mouse”. Designed by the founder of Porsche, it is the heaviest tank in the entire history of tank: German super-tank weighed in at 188 tons.
In fact, its mass and ultimately was the reason why the “Mouse” was not put into production. It was not powerful enough engine to get this beast to run at acceptable speeds.
According to the characteristics of the designer, “Mouse” was supposed to be running at a speed of 12 miles per hour. However, the prototype could only reach 8 miles per hour. In addition, the tank was too heavy to cross the bridge, however, he had the opportunity in some cases to place under the water. The primary use of the “Mouse” was that she could just push the enemy’s defenses without fear of any damage. But the tank was too impractical and expensive.
When the war ended, there were two prototypes: one was completed, the second was in the development stage. The Nazis tried to destroy them so the Mouse does not fall into the hands of the allies. However, the Soviet army saved the wreckage of both tanks. At the moment in the world remained only one tank Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus, assembled from parts of these instances, in Armored Museum in Kubinka.
Rat
You thought that tank “Mouse” was big? Well… compared to projects Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte it was only a toy!
Rat Landkreuzer P. 1000 is the largest and most heavy tank developed Nazi Germany! According to the plans, this land cruiser was supposed to weigh 1,000 tons, to be in length of 40 meters width — 14 meters. It was a crew of 20 people.
The huge size of the machine was a cause of constant headache designers. It was too impractical to be armed with such a monster, because, for example, many bridges would not stand it.
Albert Speer, who was responsible for the birth of the idea of “Rats”, thought this tank was funny. Thanks to him, the construction has not begun and was not even created a prototype. Even Hitler doubted that a Rat can actually perform all their functions without special preparation of the battlefield to its appearance.
Speer, being one of the few who was able to draw in the fantasy of Hitler’s land battleship and high-tech miracle machine, was cancelled in 1943. The führer was satisfied, as was supposed in their fast attacks for other weapons. Interestingly, during the collapse of the project, plans were made for even more land cruiser “P. 1500 Monster”, which would be carrying the heaviest guns in the world — the 800-mm gun “Dora”!
Horten Ho 229
Today it is referred to as on the world’s first stealth bomber, while the Ho-229 was the first flying device with a jet engine.
Germany desperately needed a solution for aviation that was formulated by Hering as “1000х1000х1000”: planes that could carry 1000 kg bombs at a distance of 1000 km with speed 1000 km/h Jet plane was the most logical answer is subject to some tweaks. Walter and Reymar Hortani, two German inventor-Aviator, has offered his solution — Horten Ho 229.
Outwardly it was smooth beshvostye machine, resembling a glider with two jet engines Jumo 004C. Brothers Hartini argued that the mixture of charcoal and resin that they use, absorbs electromagnetic waves and makes the plane invisible to radar. This also contributed to the small visible area of the “flying wing” and it is as smooth as a drop design.
Test flight successfully took place in 1944, just in production at various stages of production were 6 aircraft, as well as for the needs of fighter aircraft the Luftwaffe was ordered components for 20 cars. In the air up two cars. At the end of the war, the allies discovered the only working prototype at the factory where was made Horany.
Reymar Horten went to Argentina, where he continued his design work until his death in 1994. Walter Horten became a General of the air force of West Germany and died in 1998.
The only Horten Ho 229 was taken to the US where he studied and was used as a model for today’s stealth. And the original is on display in Washington, the National Museum of air and space.
Acoustic cannon
German scientists tried to think trivial. An example of their original approach — developing a “sound cannon”, that their vibrations could literally “break man”.
Sound cannon project was the brainchild of Dr. Richard Valousek. Was this device of a parabolic reflector, the diameter of which was equal to 3250 mm, and the injector with the ignition system, with a flow of methane and oxygen. Ignition of the explosive gas mixture produced by the device at equal intervals of time, creating constant crashing of the desired frequency 44 Hz. Sound effect was supposed to destroy all life within a radius of 50 m in less than a minute.
Of course, we’re not scientists, but it is difficult to believe in the plausibility of such a directional device. It was tested only on animals. The huge size of the device made it an easy target. And any damage parabolic reflectors would make the gun completely unarmed. It seems, Hitler agreed that the project was never released.
Heavy weapon
Researcher aerodynamics, Dr. Mario Tippermuir was an Austrian inventor and a member of the Austrian national socialist party. He worked on projects of futuristic guns. In his research he came to the conclusion that “hurricane” air under high pressure is capable of destroying much in its path, including enemy aircraft. The result was the development of “hurricane gun” — a device supposed to produce vortices due to the explosions in the combustion chamber and the direction of shock waves through special tips. Vortex flows were a blow to shoot down planes.
The gun model was tested with wooden boards at a distance of 200 m from hurricane vortices, the boards flew into splinters. The gun was found to be successful and put into production in full.
It was built for two cannon hurricane. The first tests of weapons were less impressive than the test models. Fabricated samples are unable to achieve the required frequency to be quite effective. Tippermuir tried to increase the range, but it didn’t work. The scientist did not have time to complete development before the end of the war.
Allied troops found the rusty remains of one hurricane guns on the ranges Hillersleben. The second cannon was destroyed at the end of the war. Doctor Tippermuir lived in Austria and continued his studies in Europe, unlike many of their compatriots, who happily began to work for the Soviet Union or the United States after the Second world war.
Space gun
Well, time was acoustic and a hurricane gun, then why not make a space gun? The development itself was carried out by Nazi scientists. Theoretically it was supposed to be a weapon capable of focusing the directed solar radiation onto a point on the Ground. The idea was first announced in 1929 by the physicist Hermann Oberth. His project of a space station with a 100-meter mirror that could capture and reflect sunlight, sending him to the Ground, was taken on Board.
During the war the Nazis used the concept of Robert’s, and started developing a slightly modified sample of “Sunny” guns.
They believed that the tremendous energy of the mirrors can literally boil water in earth’s oceans and burn everything alive, turning into dust and ashes. There was an experimental model of the space gun — it and captured American troops in 1945. The Germans declared the project a failure: too avant-garde was technology.
V-2
Not so fantastic as many inventions of the Nazis, the V-2 was one of the few samples of ice, which has proved its worth.
“Weapon of retaliation”, the V-2 rocket was developed fairly quickly, went into production and successfully used against London. The project started in 1930, but was finalized only in 1942. Hitler was not initially impressed with the power of the missiles, calling it “simply an artillery shell from long range and enormous value.”
In fact, the V-2 became the world’s first ballistic long-range missile. An absolute novelty, it used an extremely powerful liquid ethanol as fuel.
The missile was a single stage, run vertically, on the active trajectory in effect Autonomous gyroscopic control system, equipped with software mechanism and the devices for measuring speed. It made her virtually invisible, to intercept such a device on the way to the goal for a long time nobody could.
After the start of the descent, the rocket was moving at a speed of 6,000 km per hour, until it penetrated several feet below ground level. Then she blew.
When the V-2 were aimed at London in 1944, the number of victims was impressive — killed 10 000 people, was demolished areas of the city almost to ruins.
Missiles were developed at the research center and manufactured at the underground factory Mittelwerke under the supervision of the project leader, Dr. Wernher von Braun. In Mittelwerke used forced labor of prisoners of concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora. After the war both the Americans and Soviet troops tried to capture as many samples V-2. Dr. von Braun surrendered to the US and played an important role in the creation of their space program. In fact, the rocket, Dr. von Braun was the beginning of the space age.
Bell
It was called “Bell”…
The project started under the code name “Chronos”. And had top secret. This is a weapon, proof of the existence of which we are still looking for.
According to its characteristics, it was like a huge bell and 2.7 m in width and 4 m in height. Created from an unknown metal alloy and was at a secret plant in Lublin, Poland, near the Czech border.
The bell consisted of two clockwise-rotating cylinders, which are accelerated to high speeds purplish substance (liquid metal), called by the Germans “Xerum 525”.
When the Bell was activated, it influenced the territory within a radius of 200 m: all electronic equipment failed, almost all the experimental animals died. Moreover, the fluid in their bodies, including blood, disintegrating into factions. The plants were bleached, they were gone chlorophyll. Saying that many scientists who worked on the project, died during the first tests.
The weapon could penetrate into the earth and act high above the earth, reaching the bottom layers of atmosphere… Its horrendous radiation could cause the death of millions.
The main source of data about this weapon is considered to Igor Witkowski, a Polish journalist who told me that he read about the Bell in the secret transcripts of the KGB, whose agents took the testimony of SS officer Jakob Sporrenberg. Jacob talked about the fact that the project was conducted under the leadership of General Kammler, an engineer who disappeared after the war. Many believe that Kammler was secretly taken to the US, possibly even a working prototype of a Bell.
The only tangible proof of the existence of the project — concrete structure called “the Henge” preserved in three kilometers from the place where you’ve created the Bell, which can be considered as a test platform for experiments with weapons.
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