Wonder Weapons of World War Two[Heavy Graphics]

DRB ^ | 07 Apr 2009 | Simon Rose

[freedumb2003]

Veddddy Interestink!

(we were more fortunate to win the War than we realiize sometimes...)

[Steely Tom]

I once read a book by, IIRC, Willi Ley, who was Werner Von Braun's right-hand man. In it he told of how, during the last year of the war, as it became clear to the population that Germany's position was deteriorating, there were repeated rumors of "wonder weapons" which would soon turn the tide. The word "wunderwaffen" was so oft-repeated that it even spawned it's own portmanteau: "wuwa," which Ley said sounded as silly in German as it does in English. When these failed to materialize, another phrase entered the lexicon: "wo bleibt die wuwa?" which meant roughly "where are they keeping the wuwa?"

[Frantzie]

An Austrian usurper should never have been allowed to run for office. I have nothing against Austria but letting a non nativeborn run your country is a bad idea.

[donmeaker]

Don’t forget the other innovations:
Murder camps like Auschwitz
Great advancements in gas ovens.
Industrial developments in Zyclon B
Setting churchs on fire to incinerate the worshippers.

[seemoAR]

Bookmark

[SampleMan]

Most all of the NAZI super weapons were fanciful flops that ignored basic physics and costs. e.g. the V-2 cost 2-3 times as much as a U.S. heavy bomber to produce, yet could only deliver a fraction of the payload and with far less accuracy.

Their super heavy tanks were a complete waste of resources and should have been canceled when the basic calculations showed up front that they would barely be able to move and common sense dictated that they couldn't be transported.

The 80cm Gustav super cannon was really a major waste of resources. It took the resources of a battleship to operate and was only slightly more mobile than a brick building.

Then there is the issue that many of their amazing designs really weren't anything more than fanciful sketches.

Weapons like the Sturmgewehr 44 really were excellent, but a lack of focus resulted in a small percentage of troops actually getting them. Meanwhile the Americans locked onto the M-1 Garand and equipped most every front line soldier with one.

[PoliticsAndSausages]

Not really...the more clearer it became the war was lost, the more insane became the designs.

Now if Hitler hadn't insisted on designing the Jet as a bomber for so long, that would have made things even more messy.

In the end it's just never a good idea to start a war with the whole rest of the world.

[freedumb2003]

>>Now if Hitler hadn’t insisted on designing the Jet as a bomber for so long, that would have made things even more messy.

That and had the V2 hit the production line earlier things would have been messy, indeed.

Nowadays, it is easy to win a war — just make sure it is unpopular (for the opponents) to the public (and opposed by USA Democrats) and you will win with a minimum of muss and fuss.

[fso301]

Last time I checked, the Germans lost.

[hellbender]

Obviously their Austrian usurper did not cancel advanced weapons programs and scoff at “untested” breakthrough military technology, as does our Kenyan usurper.

[Doc91678]

That's okay for the past. But now we have Barack Hussein Obama the messiah and wunderkin.
He can lower the oceans and make money to feed the multitudes from the air with cap and trade.

[tanknetter]

I believe that there’s a group out there that’s building a new Ho-IX. Can’t remember where I read it, but iirc the group is made up from volunteers from one of the major US aerospace firms (Boeing, Lockheed or Northrup/Grumman).

[randomhero97]

Exactly. There has to be a mission for each one of these weapon systems.

The Sherman tanks were not the greatest but the US produced more than the Germans could kill.

[21twelve]

I think one of the big “wonder weapons” was Radar. (Not excatly a weapon, but...)

There was a guy at our church that developed some shipboard radar/range finder - named after him. His son gave a talk at some conference and some old guy came up to him afterwords and said “Are you any relation to the so and so radar/ range finder”? The son said “Yes”. The old guy shook his hand, asked if his dad was still around, and with a tear in his eye told the son to say thank you.

“With that radar we were able to get our first shot onto the Jap ships while they were still trying to get our range. Even in the dark. That gave us a huge edge. Your Dad saved thousands and thousands of our lives!”

I think Radar was the key factor in the Battle of Briton as well. And the Germans didn’t even know about it for the longest time. I seem to recall that the Brits held their fighters back a bit so it would seem like the German planes had been visualy spotted at the coasts.

[21twelve]

I can’t remember if it was an American or a German that said it, but it was about either planes or tanks “We shoot one down, they replace it with 10.”

And I recall photos of their fancy airplanes being “taxied” out to the runways with mules. Fuel was in such short supply.

[randomhero97]

The American industrial base won the war for the Allies IMO. Too bad it’s all gone now and it’s probably going to bite us in the ass someday.

[tcrlaf]

Hitler’s interference with BOTH the Messerschmidt and Arado programs, demanding that they be converted in to fighter-bombers for attacks against airfields in England slowed BOTH Programs.

Had Hitler not intervened, and allowed SPeer to prioritize the ME fighter version, the Germans would have had large numbers of them available in late-43, early 44, probably pushing Allied heavy bomber losses to an unacceptable level.

While Arado did have a purpose-built jet bomber, the a-234. The Arado 234’s were VERY effective as light Bombers in combat, they were fast, and thier manuverability could put most Allied fighters to shame. They were especially succsessful in the East, though you’ll find little about it in most research, as the Russians didn’t like admitting losses.

Thier were two operational units, KG76 in Southern Norway, and another in Hungry.

I notice you forgot to include the Heinkel He-162, a CHEAP, light jet fighter that wreaked havoc on the bombers, ESPECIALLY Soviet ones, late in the War. It even had an Ejection Seat, which gave pilots a higher survivability rate than many other aircraft.

[21twelve]

“Too bad it’s all gone now and it’s probably going to bite us in the ass someday.”

Not to worry. We don’t have wars any more - just criminal acts - and we have most of the lawyers! /s

[fella]

(we were more fortunate to win the War than we realiize sometimes...)

Looking around at Europe today and at what is going on in Washington now it would appear that in the long run the fascists are about to achieve a final and somewhat bloodless victory.