The most secret military developments. Secret German weapon of the Second World War Principle of creating an artificial tornado

The greatest technological progress can be observed during armed conflicts. The added motivation to win, as well as research in some areas, is making extraordinary progress that could take decades to achieve in peacetime. World War II was no exception. Some of the most famous successes, such as the Russian and American space projects in the 60s, arose with the start of German exploration during World War II.

Most of us have already watched programs about the secret weapon of the Nazi regime, which, if used at another time, could turn the tide and change the outcome of the Second World War. Previously, Germany considered itself a nation that stood above others in scientific development, and made considerable progress in military technologies used in the early stages of the conflict. Then Hitler - perhaps believing that he had already won the war - began to place little emphasis on military development during the war. And for some periods, this was crucial. When the situation changed, Germany returned to its search for high-tech weapons in a desperate attempt to return to the old state of affairs.

This extraordinary weapon, or "wunderwaffe," arrived too late on the scene - but what if it had come sooner?

WunderWaffe 1 - Vampire Sight

The Sturmgewehr 44 was the first assault rifle similar to the modern M-16 and AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle. Snipers could use the ZG 1229, also known as the Vampire Code, also at night, due to the infrared night vision device. It was used during the last months of the war.

WunderWaffe 2 - Super Heavy Tank

German engineers worked on many designs for the heavy tanks. The Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was the heaviest model ever built as a prototype during the war. This tank weighed about 180 tons.

The 1,500-ton Bear version carried 2,800mm cannons, as well as 2 150mm additional rotating turrets at the rear. To propel this giant into motion, 4 diesel engines from German submarines were required.

WunderWaffe 3 - The world's first cruise missile

The V-1 was powered by a turbojet engine. Its launches began immediately after June 13, 1944, the day of the landing of the allied forces in Europe..

V-2, the successor to V-1, was the first human-made object to complete suborbital space flight. At 4,000 km / h, the V-2 was impossible to intercept; she could also reach her goal at a speed exceeding the speed of sound.

The V-2 missiles were too advanced for their time, which made them expensive in comparison with the destructive power of their small standard warheads. They were launched from mobile launch sites; when used against civilians, they spread fear and panic among Londoners.
Approximately 3,000 V-2 missiles were fired at Allied positions, killing approximately 7,000 civilians * and military personnel; they were not fired until the Reich forces were forced to retreat beyond the reach of these weapons. If the German forces had had more time, the course of the war would have been completely different, because their military program included nuclear warheads (in development), or chemical and biological options that were never used.
* In reality, the Nazi ICBMs were more of a psychological weapon, since the combat effectiveness was extremely low compared to the cost

WunderWaffe 5 - Turbojet aircraft

The applicability of a turbojet engine to a military aircraft was also one of the lines that ran through the German war machine. Engineers developed the model and prototype. They also created the conditions for this aircraft to enter service until the end of the war. But the number of these machines was not sufficient to change the course of the conflict in Germany's favor. The Messerschmitt Me 262 was strikingly advanced - but not extensively upgraded for combat use. However, despite this, Me262 scored more than 500 victories. 100 German aircraft were shot down.

Messerschmitt Me 163, propelled by solid rocket motors

The Ta-183 was designed to be the successor to the Me-262. At the end of the war, he was tested in wind tunnels. It is curious to note that a few years later, the Soviet Union designed a multipurpose combat fighter plane, the stunning MIG-15, whose resemblance to the German prototype is obvious - although this information was denied by the Soviet regime.

Ta-183, German prototype

MiG-15, Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau

WunderWaffe 6 - Suborbital bomber

"Silbervogel" or "Silver Bird" is the name of a tactical suborbital bomber, propelled by missiles. It was tested in wind tunnels, but no prototype was ever produced. However, it is a big step forward in engineering excellence and vision for the future. So a whole line of spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, was predicted. German scientists believed that the "Silver Bird" with a load of 4000 kg would be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach the American continent. The flight was supposed to take place in a non-stop mode, with a landing in the Pacific Ocean in Japan.

WunderWaffe 7 - Flying Wing

A flying wing is a spacecraft with fixed wing geometry and no fuselage. All equipment and crew were housed inside the main wing structure. In theory, a wing is the most aerodynamic and weight-efficient aircraft, mainly due to the absence of any external components and also due to the lift of the structure. However, as was proved later, the complexity and cost of such a configuration is enormous, which reduces its practical applicability for a modern civilian aeronautical vehicle. Horten H1 made its first flight in 1944. After the war, there were many prototypes based on German research.

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During its existence, the USSR was a world superpower, where innovative and sometimes very unusual types of weapons were developed. Many of them were so secret that it became possible to find out about them only recently. In our review of 10 once secret types of Soviet weapons.

1. VVA-14

Nuclear submarines were a key part of the Cold War strategy for both the Soviet Union and the United States. Because of this, both sides developed sophisticated countermeasures to locate and destroy such vessels. One of the best ways to destroy submarines has been specially designed anti-submarine aircraft (ASW) equipped with torpedoes and sonar systems.

The strangest of all anti-submarine aircraft during the Cold War was the VVA-14, which combined the functions of a seaplane, ekranolet, bomber and torpedo bomber. VVA-14 could take off vertically from the surface thanks to a system of 12 lifting turbojet engines. Near the surface of the water, the device could use the screen effect, and at high altitudes it flew like an ordinary plane.

In 1974, VVA-14 made its first flight, but soon it was decided to freeze the project due to the excessive complexity of the aircraft. All prototypes were dismantled and destroyed. The only surviving specimen without wings and engines is kept at the Central Air Force Museum in Monino.

2. Lipstick - pistol

During the Cold War, both sides of the conflict actively used spies. Quirky gadgets were invented almost every year to help spies carry out their missions. One of the most interesting examples of such devices is the Soviet lipstick pistol known as the "kiss of death".

Only one copy of the "shooting lipstick" was recorded, which was confiscated by border guards while crossing the border between East and West Germany in 1965. The Kiss of Death looked like a metal tube of lipstick and was loaded with just one 4.5mm round. It was impossible to recharge this device, so the operatives only used it as a last resort.

3.2B1 "Oka"

Since the most terrible weapon during the Cold War was the atomic bomb, the USSR and the United States invented many strange ways of delivering this destructive weapon to the target. At a time when nuclear missiles were still imperfect, unguided delivery systems were used. In the USSR, one of the largest artillery pieces in the world was created - the 420-mm self-propelled mortar 2B1 "Oka". For comparison, on the American Iowa-class battleship the caliber of the main battery of the battleship-class guns is 406 millimeters. The huge Oka cannon could send a 750-kilogram projectile over 45 kilometers.

One of the main disadvantages of this ACS was the lack of recoil devices - after firing, the mortar drove back 5 meters. On the march, only the driver-mechanic drove the Oka, and the rest of the crew was transported separately in an armored personnel carrier. Despite the fact that the 2By was originally created as a nuclear weapon, it could also fire conventional shells. In 1960, it was decided to abandon such huge non-format artillery pieces in favor of guided missiles, and all work on the Oka project was stopped.

4. Heavy tank T-35

On the eve of World War II, the world powers were racing to create super-heavy breakthrough tanks. For the first time such structures appeared in Great Britain, where they were called "landships". In industrialized countries, dozens of concepts for such tanks were created, but literally a few went into production. In the USSR, development on the creation of its own heavy tanks began in the late 1920s.

By 1932, the T-35 heavy tank was created, a distinctive feature of which were five turrets that could fire in all directions. A 45 mm (later 76 mm) gun was installed in the main turret, and machine guns in the other four. Although the tank was huge (9.7 x 3.2 x 3.4 meters), it was extremely cramped inside. Due to its large mass (50 tons), the T-35 could reach a maximum speed of only 28 km / h, which was very slow by pre-war standards. Also, despite all its armament, the T-35 was very weakly armored (20-30 mm). These two shortcomings led to the fact that the T-35 became obsolete by the time of its creation.

5. Tu-2SH "Fiery hedgehog"

Towards the end of World War II in 1944, the Soviet Union was experimenting with various weapon systems that could give the country a greater advantage over German forces. Since the advantage was already on the side of the USSR, the engineers had more time to experiment with different weapons systems.

On the basis of the highly efficient Tu-2s bomber, the Tu-2Sh assault aircraft was designed, which was equipped with anti-personnel weapons from a battery of 88 PPSh submachine guns. This system was named "Fiery Hedgehog". In battle, the pilot had to fly as low as possible over the enemy's positions, after which he opened the bomb bay and, with the help of a special sight, fired densely at the infantry.

6. Umbrella with poison

Another Soviet weapon for spies (the poisonous umbrella) was actually used for operational tasks and received the nickname "Bulgarian umbrella". From the end of the umbrella, using a button on the handle, a blade poisoned with ricin was thrown out. The most famous case of the use of this weapon was the murder of the Bulgarian writer Georgiy Markov in London. The special agent pricked Markov in the leg, after which the writer died of ricin poisoning three days later.

7. MiG-105

Although the idea of ​​space aircraft is becoming more and more popular these days, during the Cold War, both sides experimented with the creation of such devices in order to be the first to try to militarize space. The United States tested the X-20 Dyna-soar, and the USSR developed an experimental manned orbital plane, the MiG-105, nicknamed "Lapot" because of its remarkable appearance.

The orbital fighter planes were designed to provide complete control over near-earth space, as well as block any attempts by NATO to attack from the outer layers of the atmosphere. The aircraft was to be launched into orbit using a traditional solid-propellant rocket booster, which was then undocked from the MiG-105. The first test launch of the MiG-105 was carried out with the Tu-95 and ended in an accident during landing. Subsequently, the project was abandoned due to its high cost.

8. Submarine "Shark"

It was in the USSR at the end of the Cold War that the world's largest Akula-class submarine (or Typhoon according to NATO classification) was built. Despite the fact that the Shark carried fewer missiles on board than the American Ohio-class submarine (20 Bulava missiles versus 24 Trident missiles), the Soviet missiles were more powerful.

There are still no analogues of the Akula, the production of which began in 1976. Its length is 175 meters (the length of a football field is 105 meters, and the length of the largest aircraft in the world AN-225 is 84 meters), and its width is 23 meters (which is approximately equal to the height of an 8-storey building). In addition to 20 ballistic missiles, the Akula was also armed with six torpedo tubes. A giant submarine was set in motion by 2 nuclear reactors.

9. Dry T-4

In the 1960s, high-altitude bombers were considered the ideal vehicle for delivering nuclear warheads to their destination. The United States began developing the XB-70 Valkyrie, a massive Mach 3 bomber that was supposedly impossible to shoot down. In response, the USSR began developing its own T-4 bomber, capable of developing a similar speed. The T-4 and XB-70 had similar design features. Although the T-4 was slightly smaller than the XB-70, they both had an identical configuration: a delta wing and engines on the underside of the fuselage.

The dry T-4 was made almost entirely of titanium and stainless steel. Remarkably, to achieve such speeds, the aircraft did not have an open cockpit section. While on the ground and during takeoff, the nose of the T-4 was lowered down to open the pilot's view. And after reaching the flight altitude, the plane "lifted" the nose, because of which the pilot had to navigate only by instruments.

10. Snowmobile

Due to the peculiarities of climatic conditions (long and cold winters), special vehicles were developed in the USSR during the Second World War. Some of the more unusual and efficient means of transport were the snowmobile, which was essentially a conventional sled with a propeller engine mounted on it. Lightly armored snowmobiles could move at a speed of 25-140 km / h in the snow. The most widespread and successful were the NKL-26 machine gun snowmobiles, which were used in the Soviet-Finnish war.

For those who are fond of history, it will be interesting to see and - a vivid embodiment of the pre-war USSR. A whole era is captured in them.

World War II became the cradle of almost all military technologies of the second half of the 20th century, including missile and nuclear weapons. Here are just some of the amazing weapons developments of WWII.

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Amazing WWII Weapon: Glide Bomb

The anti-ship bomb Glide Bomb was developed in the United States. It was equipped with an active radar homing system. With the help of these weapons, at the end of the war, the Americans destroyed several Japanese ships. In the US Army, these gliding bombs were nicknamed "Grapefruit".

The bomb was attached to a small glider that was attached under the wings of a B-17 heavy bomber.

The idea was to strike enemy targets from afar without endangering the bombers themselves.

After taking off from the B-17, the Grapefruit accelerated to a speed of 250 miles per hour and could fly 20 miles.

Weapons of World War II: Bacteriological Research

Photo: Landsberg, Germany, May 28, 1946. Execution of 74-year-old bacteriologist Dr. Klaus Karl Schilling. Schilling was convicted of war crimes.

In the Dachau concentration camp, he conducted experiments on prisoners, infecting them with tropical diseases (mostly malaria). More than 1,200 concentration camp prisoners took part in the inhuman experiments. Of these, thirty died directly from vaccinations and 400 later from complications. Schilling began his experiments on prisoners in 1942. Before the war, Dr. Klaus Schilling was one of the world's leading experts on tropical diseases. Prior to retirement, Dr. Schilling worked at the prestigious Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. In 1942, Heinrich Himmler asked him to continue his research on the treatment of malaria, because German soldiers began dying of the disease in North Africa. Schilling used various types of drugs as a cure for malaria. Most of those infected in Dachau were young Polish priests whom Dr. Schilling infected with mosquitoes from the swamps of Italy and Crimea. The priests were chosen for the experiments because they did not work like ordinary prisoners at Dachau.

Schilling, 74, was convicted and hanged. In his last speech at the trial, Dr. Schilling asked for the results of his experiments to be published after his death and said that all his experiments were for the benefit of humanity. According to him, he made a real breakthrough in science.

After the war, Dr. Schilling was arrested, charged with crimes against humanity, and hanged.

Weapons of World War II: Nuclear Weapons

Japan, March 11, 1946. New buildings (right) rise from the ruins of Hiroshima. On the left you can see the buildings whose foundations survived the atomic bombing.

Another US test of the atomic bomb was carried out on Bikini Atoll (Marshall Islands) on July 25, 1946. The nuclear explosion took place under the code name "Baker". An atomic bomb with a capacity of 40 kilotons was detonated at a depth of 27 meters below the surface of the ocean, 3.5 miles from Bikini Atoll. The purpose of the tests was to study the effect of nuclear explosions on ships and electronics. In the area of ​​the atoll, 73 ships were assembled. Both obsolete American and hijacked vessels, including the Japanese battleship Nagato. The participation of the latter in the tests as a target was symbolic. In 1941, the Nagato was the flagship of the Japanese fleet. From him was the leadership of the famous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the explosion "Baker" the battleship "Nagato", which was in very poor condition, received severe damage and sank 4 days later. Currently, the wreck of the battleship "Nagato" is located at the bottom of the lagoon of Bikini Atoll. It has become a tourist attraction and attracts numerous divers from all over the world.

Amazing WWII Weapons: Acoustic Devices

One of the giant acoustic bugs deployed around Berlin to pick up even the slightest noise from an aircraft engine.

The Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E12007 aircraft detection device was developed by German engineers during the First World War. It was a kind of acoustic radar. It consisted of four acoustic transducers: two vertical and two horizontal. They were all connected by rubber tubes like a stethoscope. The sound was output to stereo headphones, which were used by techniques to determine the direction and altitude of the aircraft.

Analogs of acoustic devices were also in service with the Soviet army.

Amazing WWII Weapons: The First Computer

This 1946 photograph shows the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first general purpose electronic computer. It was developed and created by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania by order of the American Ballistics Laboratory. The main task of this computer was to calculate the ballistic trajectories of projectiles. ENIAC was secretly launched in 1943.

The device weighed 30 tons. The secrecy with ENIAC was lifted only in 1946. It was then that these photographs were taken. After the project was declassified, ENIAC designers developed the mechanics of building electronic digital computers. This system was a breakthrough in the development of new computer technology.

Amazing WWII Weapon: Jet Aircraft

Hyde Park, London, September 14, 1945. A new, experimental technique captured from the Germans was shown at an exhibition in London. In particular, the German jet Heinkel He-162 (Volksjaeger) could be seen here. A BMW-003 "Shturm" turbojet engine is installed above the aircraft fuselage.

During 1944, Heinkel was intensively engaged in the development of jet fighters. Having worked out at least 20 projects of single-seat aircraft with different engines and layout, the designers settled on the simplest solutions. Designed as a turbojet interceptor, the He-162 was built primarily of wood to make production easier and cheaper. The turbojet unit was installed directly on the fuselage, behind the cockpit "on the back" of the aircraft.

After the surrender of Germany, the British got eleven Non-162s, the Americans - four, and the French - seven. Two cars got into the Soviet Union. An absolute revelation for Soviet designers was the pilot's catapult, operating from a squib.

Amazing WWII Weapon: Flying Wing

Northrop (flying wing). This experimental heavy bomber was developed for the United States Air Force by American designers during World War II. Known as XB-35. The aircraft used both turboprop and jet engines. The picture was taken in 1946.

The project was closed shortly after the war due to technical difficulties. However, many of the developments introduced in the creation of the XB-35 were used to create the stealth aircraft.

WWII Weapons: Chemical Weapons

June 28, 1946, St. Georgen (Salzburg, Germany). German workers decontaminate toxic bombs containing mustard gas. The plant disposed of 65,000 tons of chemical warheads. The gas was burned, and empty shells and bombs were then dumped in the North Sea.

The study of natural poisons and toxins, begun during the Second World War, led to the emergence of the so-called toxin weapon - a type of chemical weapon based on the use of the damaging properties of toxic substances of a protein structure produced by microorganisms, some species of animals and plants. In the course of research, various types of botulinum toxin, staphylococcal enterotoxin, and ricin have been isolated and characterized.

Flooding of containers with chemicals in the North Sea.

After World War II in the United States, in the field of chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, the greatest attention was paid to organophosphate nerve agents such as sarin and soman, which were far superior in toxicity to all previously known substances.
In the post-war years, the US Army adopted new substances, CS and CR, to replace old irritants. Both substances were the result of joint Anglo-American research. There are known facts of the use of chemical weapons by the US army against the DPRK (1951-1952) and Vietnam (60s).

Amazing WWII weapons: Katyusha rocket launchers

By the way, a chemical war could start on the Soviet-German front.

At the end of 1941, near Kerch, the Germans fired at the Soviet positions with chemical shells from Nebelwerfer-41 rocket launchers. This was done in response to the use of the RZS-132 incendiary missiles by the Soviet troops. This ammunition was filled with termite and was intended for firing from "Katyusha".

In one salvo, the Katyusha fired 1,500 such incendiary elements. When the RZS-132 was blown up in the air, many fires were created at enemy positions, which could not be extinguished. The thermite combustion temperature reached 4000 ° С. Getting into the snow, the burning termite decomposed water into oxygen and hydrogen, forming an "explosive mixture" of gases, increasing the already strong combustion. When termite hit the armor of tanks and gun barrels, alloy steel changed its properties and military equipment could no longer be used.

By firing chemical shells at the positions of Soviet troops near Kerch, the Germans demonstrated to the Soviet command their readiness to violate the Geneva Protocol of 1925 if the use of RZS-132 shells continued.

Until the end of the war, Soviet troops did not use this type of shells.

It is known that the Germans hunted for Katyushas in the hope of getting at least some information about the new Soviet weapon. The fascist troops had their own rocket launchers, which had a high accuracy of fire, but they were effective only in close combat, while the Katyushas could be effectively used at ranges over 8 kilometers. The secret was gunpowder, which was developed by Soviet gunsmiths.

WWII weapons: rockets

Active rockets (ARS) are usually considered an invention of the 60s of the twentieth century. But this is not the case. In particular, Germany entered the war against the USSR armed with small missiles - rocket artillery ammunition of calibers 150, 280 and 320 mm. The most successful development of the German designers was the Wurfgranate 42 Spreng high-explosive fragmentation missile.

In its shape, the rocket was similar to an artillery shell and had a very successful ballistic shape. The combustion chamber was loaded with 18 kg of fuel - gunpowder. The neck of the chamber was screwed with a bottom with 22 inclined nozzles and a small central hole, into which an electric fuse was inserted. A case with a primer igniter was attached to the front of the warhead. The required ballistic shape was provided by a casing that was put on the front of the warhead.
The missile guides were mounted on the chassis of the Sd Kfz 251 armored personnel carrier, three on each side. The shells were fired using an electric remote fuse from the cockpit of the installation. As a rule, the fire was fired in volleys, alternating in each high-explosive shells and incendiary shells. In the jargon of German soldiers, this installation was called "Mooing Cow".

So the 280-mm high-explosive missile Wurfkorper Spreng was loaded with 45.4 kg of explosives. The effective area of ​​destruction by the fragments of this missile was 800 meters. With a direct hit of ammunition in a brick building, it was completely destroyed. The warhead of a 320-mm incendiary rocket was filled with 50 kg of incendiary mixture. When firing in a dry forest, a mine rupture caused a fire of up to 200 square meters. meters with a flame height of up to two to three meters.

These mines were also called turbojet mines, as they rotated in flight due to the special design of the jet engine nozzle.

WWII weapons: radio-controlled self-propelled guns

April 12, 1944. A British soldier examines a radio-controlled tracked platform seized from the Germans, which was loaded with a bomb and was used to undermine enemy defenses.

Rides of an American soldier on a German radio-controlled self-propelled platform.

Hitler's engineers secretly developed some of the most ambitious projects of their time. In the gloomy basements of engineering institutes, the "weapon of victory" was forged: the best minds from all over Europe worked for the good of the lethal machine of the German fascist troops.

Fortunately, the pace of research was still not enough for scientists, otherwise the outcome of the Second World War could have been completely different. Many machines invented by 1944 were the opening of a new milestone in the arms industry of entire countries. It's scary to think what would have happened if the German command still had time and resources at its disposal. Specialized print magazine Weapons of WWII in its autumn issue shared a selection of pictures of amazing weapons developed by Nazi designers. We invite you to take a look at some of the more interesting samples.

1. Flying wing Horten Ho 229

The Horten Ho 229 bomber, which is often called a flying wing, was able to climb to a height of 15 thousand meters, carry almost a ton of weapons and fly at a speed of over 600 kilometers per hour.

Powered by two turbojet engines, the bomber made its maiden flight in 1944. By that time, he was the first and only unobtrusive aircraft in the world. Subsequent tests of the aircraft were not successful. For example, during the third flight, a catastrophe occurred: one of the engines caught fire, the pilot tried to save the car, but he failed. Horten crashed.

2. Guided gliding bomb Fritz X

The design of the first guided gliding bomb Fritz X (SD-1400) in Germany began in 1938 at the Aviation Experimental Institute under the leadership of Professor Kramer. The main tasks of the novelty were the defeat of the enemy's large ships. The first bomb tests were carried out in Italy at the Foggia test site in 1942.

At first, the potential of the new weapon was highly valued, but later it was abandoned. There is a version that this happened due to the fact that only a few aircraft were adapted to carry bombs of this type.

There is another version, according to which the guided bombs were abandoned due to the effective use of radio interference from the enemy. The new weapon was removed from production in 1944.

3. Rocket "Wasserfall"

It was the world's first surface-to-air anti-aircraft guided missile. It was designed in the period 1943-1945. The total mass of "Wasserfall" ("Waterfall") was less than 4 tons. She could hit targets at an altitude of 20 kilometers. It was assumed that one such missile could destroy an entire squadron of aircraft. According to some experts, among all the weapons that Nazi Germany had at the time, the Wasserfall missile was the only weapon that could change the course of the war in the West.

However, Hitler considered defensive weapons, in particular the Wasserfall, to be defeatist. Therefore, the surface-to-air missile never entered production.

4. Mini-tanks Goliath with remote control

Tiny tracked vehicles (size - 150x85x56 centimeters), powered by two electric motors, were remotely controlled by wire. Inside the mini-tanks was a long cable that connected them to the controller. The task of the goliaths was to transport explosives and blow up buildings, infantry and enemy tanks. Later, electric motors were replaced by gasoline ones, since the former were more expensive. The German troops had up to 7,000 Goliaths by the end of the war - we can say that these are the first combat robots in the world.

This is what the mini-tank was like in action.

5. Missile interceptor Messerschmitt Me.163 "Comet"

By the late 1930s, Germany had developed a rocket fighter that could reach speeds of up to 960 kilometers per hour. For comparison, the American P-51 Mustang, which was in operation at the time, could fly at a maximum speed of 708 kilometers per hour.

The fighter made its first combat flight in May 1944. Despite the superiority in speed over other aircraft, the operation of the "Rocket" was not successful. For all the time, these machines made only a few flights, while 10 (according to another version - 11) units were lost.

6. Cannons "Dora" and "Gustav"

The super-heavy rail-mounted Dora and Gustav cannons, designed to destroy fortifications, were developed by the Nazis in the late 1930s.

Giant cannons were placed on special railway platforms. Their total weight was over 1,300 tons. To service the guns in the field, it was necessary to attract about 5 thousand people. "Dora" and "Gustav" could shoot at a distance of more than 45 kilometers.

The largest shells for the guns weighed about six tons. The explosion of one shell could wipe out an entire city block from the face of the earth. During World War II, super-heavy guns were used only a few times, in particular, on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union. In June 1942, the Nazis used the Dora during the siege of Sevastopol.

7. Tanks "Mouse" and "Ratte"

Hitler's megalomania led to the creation of yet another gigantic weapon - the huge "Mouse" tank. The largest tank in the world (at the time) was designed between 1942 and 1945 under the leadership of Ferdinand Porsche. Its combat weight was 188 tons.

Although Hitler's "mouse" pleased him, it could not satisfy his growing appetite. So another giant tank appeared, several times larger than the "Mouse". His code name was the word "Ratte" ("Rat"). The weight of the new gun, developed under the guidance of engineer Edward Grotte, exceeded a thousand tons, the length was 35 meters. By the way, in the USSR in 1931 a project of a similar super-heavy tank TG-5 was created. The author of the project was the same Grotte. It is believed that the "Rat" was created on the basis of early drawings of the designer.

The main advantage of the giant was the destructive ability of the shells, and the main disadvantage was poor maneuverability (he could not move, for example, on roads and bridges). This tank was not so much a military weapon as something from the realm of fantasy.

This is what the "Rat" and regular-sized tank models look like.

Towards the end of the war, Nazi weapons programs began to take on an increasingly phantasmagoric character. So, in 1945, Hitler, still not losing hope for a different outcome, demanded to produce a fundamentally new fighter.

8. Fighter "Heinkel-162"

The car developed a speed of up to 900 kilometers per hour and was the fastest for that time. However, the Nazi German Air Force lacked pilots to operate such a fighter. Therefore, it was decided to put young men from the Hitler Youth at the helm of the Heinkel, and the plane eventually began to be called the "People's". The implementation of this idea (the boys at the helm of a super-fast fighter) was Hitler's last crazy trick.

However, this idea was not successful. The aircraft were produced hastily, many mistakes were made. Due to manufacturing defects, there have been many accidents in which young pilots died.

Giant and super-powerful weapons ahead of their time were not the only fruits of the Nazi dictator's wild fantasy. At one time, Hitler was also overwhelmed by urban thoughts. For example, the Fuhrer once came up with the idea to build a giant city on the site of modern Berlin, which, according to his idea, was to become the capital of the "world empire".

Review of projects of super weapons of the third Reich. Both crazy and fantastic, and real, almost realized.

From lasers, super tanks and sonic cannons, to a Nazi orbital station with a solar mirror incinerating cities.

Secret weapon of the Third Reich

In this post I propose to get acquainted with the samples of weapons of the Third Reich, as well as with the projects of such weapons. Look at how sophisticated the thought of fascist scientists and engineers worked in inventing new ways to destroy and enslave humanity.

I think that if the Nazis had time to finalize and put on stream at least something of the following, then the course of history would have gone in a completely different direction. And, perhaps, you and I would not be sitting in front of a computer now, but standing at a machine in some Nazi factory as free labor, giving our whole life without a trace in the name of the prosperity of the Great German Empire!

Super-heavy tanks

In June 1942, secret projects of super-heavy tanks were brought to Hitler for consideration. "P1000 Ratte" and "P1500 Monster". These were real mobile fortresses weighing 1000 and 1500 tons. A conventional Tiger tank, by comparison, weighed only 60 tons.

P1000 Ratte

The project of a tank for the fascist army P1000 Ratte ("Rat"). Weight - 1000 tons. Dimensions: 35 x 14 m, height: 11 m. The crew is a whole platoon of twenty people. The movement was to be driven by two 24-cylinder engines from a submarine of 8400 horsepower each. Speed ​​on level ground - up to 40 km / h.

Armament: two main guns - 280 mm naval cannons, rear - a tower with a 126 mm gun, 6 anti-aircraft guns for protection from air attacks, plus several anti-personnel machine guns.

P1500 Monster

Another project is a 1500 ton "Monster" with a length of 42 meters. One and a half times more massive than the "Rat". The crew is over a hundred people. In fact, it is a self-propelled artillery unit (ACS) with a main gun of 807 mm caliber, firing 7-ton shells. The shells were to be transported by trucks and delivered "on board" by cranes. More weapons: two 150-mm howitzers, and of course many, many machine guns.

The heaviest SPG in the world is the Dora. Shot range - 39 km.

Both of these projects, upon detailed consideration, were rejected, since for all their menacing appearance, such huge machines would be ineffective due to their low mobility (especially in rough terrain), and are too vulnerable to attacks from the air and anti-tank mines. In addition, finalizing projects, testing prototypes and setting up serial production would take a lot of time and money, and would greatly burden the German defense industry.

Although the projects of these tanks were not implemented, the 807-mm cannon developed for the P1500 Monster was actually created in two copies and used in combat operations.

Ultra Long Range Cannon v3

One of the projects of the "Weapon of Vengeance" ("Vergeltungswaffe") V3 - a gun codenamed "High Pressure Pump". A very unusual artillery gun in its principle of operation - a projectile fired into the barrel of the gun, as it advanced in the barrel, was accelerated by a successive series of explosions in the side chambers. The total length of the barrel was 140 meters, there were several dozen side chambers. For its appearance, such a weapon received the nickname "Centipede".

The test of the prototype of this 20mm cannon, which took place in May 1943, was successful. Then Hitler, by all means wanting to bomb London, ordered to build a battery of five "Centipedes" caliber 150-mm on the shores of the English Channel, from where to London was "only" 165 km.

Construction was carried out under constant air raids by British aviation. At the same time, the design of the gun and shells was being finalized - during the tests, the Centipede links periodically burst, it was also not possible to achieve the required initial speed of the shells (1500 m / s), which is why they did not want to fly further than 90-93 km.

By the summer of 1944, the Nazis almost completed the construction of one single super-cannon, the rest of the sites were completely destroyed by aviation. However, on July 6, an end was put to this "Centipede" - one gallant British pilot was able to throw a bomb directly into the main bunker. The bomb exploded inside the bunker, all personnel died, and it was no longer possible to restore this weapon complex.

Sound cannon

In the bowels of Hitler's war machine, research was conducted on a variety of methods of killing a person. One of the ways to harm a person is to influence him with a strong low frequency sound (infrasound). The first experiments were carried out, of course, on prisoners - under infrasound, they panicked, they began to feel dizzy, pain in internal organs, and diarrhea.

The Nazis tried to embody this effect in the Acoustic Cannon. However, the damned infrasound stubbornly did not want to spread by the beam in a given direction, because of which all its influence was experienced primarily by the personnel of the sonic gun - they themselves began to have attacks of panic and severe diarrhea.

Nowadays, every schoolchild knows that low-frequency sound waves cannot be directed by a beam, a kind of directionality can only be given to a very high-frequency sound (ultrasound), but unfortunately (or fortunately) it does not have such a negative effect on our body.

German engineer Richard Valauszek, who invented this type of weapon, apparently did not know much about it and stubbornly continued to improve his invention. But, as they say, "perseverance and work will grind everything" - in January 1945, that is, already at the end of the war, he presented his infernal machine to the "Research and Development Commission". After testing the device, the members of the commission reasonably stated that a conventional machine gun is much more effective, and it costs less. As a result, the sound cannon somehow did not take root in the German army and did not become a formidable "Weapon of retaliation" of the Wehrmacht.

At the end of the war, a prototype of this acoustic weapon ended up in the hands of the Americans. The secret documents of those times say that ".. the captured acoustic gun sample makes such a loud sound that people who are closer than 50 meters from the source lose consciousness, and at a closer distance, death is possible .." The Americans thoroughly examined all the captured samples of the secret weapons of the fascists, but as for the sound cannon, they also recognized here that a simple machine gun shoots more than 50 meters, and in general, it is easier to handle it, although it does not have such a formidable psychic effect.

Artificial tornado and vortex cannon

Installation for the production of an artificial tornado to destroy enemy aircraft.

A device that actually worked, although tornadoes were only 300 meters high, which is clearly not enough to effectively destroy aircraft, since they can fly much higher. On tests, this device successfully created tornadoes that carried wooden sheds within a radius of 100-150 meters from the unit.

The principle of creating an artificial tornado:

• a large pipe is filled with flammable gas;
• from it, gas is directed into the combustion chamber, there is also a turbine that spins up the burning gas;
• then, through the nozzle, the incandescent rotating gas is released into the atmosphere;
• atmospheric air is drawn into the rotation process and an artificial tornado is produced.

This type of weapon also did not take root in the Nazi army, since a small tornado could really shoot down only an airplane flying at low altitude, and even then with difficulty. But the idea itself is valid!

The principle of operation is similar, only this gun shoots small, but very powerful portions of rapidly rotating gas. Such “mini-vortices” retain stability, energy and direction of their motion for a long time.

But, again, the effectiveness of such "gas shells" is not great. Their energy quickly weakens with increasing distance, the speed of movement is an order of magnitude lower than the speed of a bullet, the accuracy of shots is also very low, especially in strong winds.

With such a vortex cannon, you can have a lot of fun breaking plywood houses and even small brick walls, as in the video below. But an aircraft flying quickly in the sky will be more damaged by a shot from an ordinary gun.

We continue to review the secret weapons projects of the Third Reich ..

Underground boat - "Subterrina"

Project of a real underground cruiser called "Serpent of Midgard", which remained a project. The idea of ​​the German engineer Ritter, the author of the project, was as follows ..

A train capable of traveling underwater, on land, and underground. The main purpose is to drill through the earth's thickness to discover and destroy secret underground bunkers of the enemy, lay mines under fortifications, and land troops behind enemy lines.

The length of the carriage of such an underground train was 7 meters, the number of cars varied depending on the task and could be several dozen. The project assumed the presence of a field kitchen (something like a dining car), periscopes, a radio station, repair shops, bedrooms for staff. The air had to be stored compressed in cylinders. Of course, a large number of weapons and mines. The estimated speed of movement of this "subterrine" through soft ground was 10 km / h (!!!), through hard rocks - 2 km / h, on the ground - 30 km / h.

The project dates back to 1934. In 1935 it was reviewed by German military experts who made a number of critical comments. Their resolution was: "Lack of sufficient calculation data." It looks like Ritter sucked his idea out of his thumb without bothering himself with serious scientific calculations.

But another German engineer, von Werner, calculated everything more accurately. Accordingly, his project of an underground boat looks more modest, but at least remotely realistic.

"Sea Lion" - Engineer von Werner's submarine

Engineer Horner von Werner patented his project called "Sea Lion" back in 1933. His "subterrina" was supposed to move first under water imperceptibly to reach enemy shores, and then, drilling underground, plant bombs under enemy military targets or land saboteurs.

For 10 years this project has been gathering dust in the archive. However, with the advent of the war, the Nazis began to consider all the interesting ideas for new weapons. So the turn came to the "Sea Lion".

Specifications: length - 25 m, crew - 5 people. + 10 people landing, speed underground - 7 km / h, warhead - 300 kg of explosives.

In 1943, Hitler was asked to use the Sea Lions to infiltrate British territory. But the German military industry was already working at the limit of its capabilities and the development of another super-weapon simply would not have pulled it. Therefore, Hitler made a choice in favor of improving and using the already existing Fau ballistic missiles, with the help of which, as is known from history, he still managed to damage London and some other British cities.

And what about "Sea Lion"? Has not a single real underground boat ever been created in the world? Did such a beautiful idea, originally described by Jules Verne in his science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, remain a fantasy or an unrealized secret project of Hitler?

After the war, the Soviet Union took up the baton, which, among other trophies, received the drawings of the "Sea Lion", on the basis of which the Soviet engineer Trebelev designed the subway.

This subway was actually created and tested somewhere in the Urals in the post-war years. But this no longer applies to the secret weapon of the Nazis, so its description is beyond the scope of this post. I will give only a photo from Wikipedia.

As for the weapons of the fascists, after considering a number of its ridiculous and fantastic projects, I propose to pay attention to at least one successful one - the "Fau" missile.

Rockets "Fau" - "Hitler's weapon of retaliation"

"Fau"- German letter name "V", the first letter of the word "Vergeltungswaffe"- "Weapon of retaliation". The chief designer is Wernher von Braun, the father of the German rocket industry.

The most successful Nazi missile designs were the V-1 and V-2 missiles, which were used primarily to strike London.

V-1 cruise missile

Cruise missile, or unmanned projectile aircraft.

Length - 8.32 m, maximum speed - up to 800 km / h, maximum flight altitude - 2700 m, weight - 2150 kg, range - 270 km. Launched by a 45-meter catapult or from a bomber.

The first combat use of the V-1 took place on June 13, 1944, when 15 of these missiles were launched on London. In total, almost 10,000 V-1s were fired to England, of which only 2,500 flew to the target - about 4-5 thousand were shot down by British air defense, 2,000 or more fell into the sea due to engine failures.

Since the targeting of the V-1 was very approximate, a manned version of such a cruise missile (with a small cockpit for the pilot in front of the engine) was developed, but was never used. After launching from a bomber, the pilot had to direct the rocket, for example, at an enemy plane and at the last moment jump out with a parachute.

Or not jump out - 200 kamikaze pilots were trained to destroy British military facilities, but they had to be used with aircraft, since the V-1 had already stopped being produced by that time.

Ballistic missile "V-2"

Height - 14 m, weight with fuel - 13.5 tons, maximum flight altitude - 188 km (!!!), speed - 6100 km / h, range - 360 km.

188 km flight altitude is not a typo. Although they reached an altitude of about 80 km when the V-2 was launched to London, 188 km is a record height achieved during the tests.

That is, the V-2 rocket is officially the first man-made object in history to have made all the post-war rocket and space developments of the United States from it, since the unemployed after the death of Hitler, Professor von Braun, the Americans attached to their NASA.

V-2s were launched from a stationary or mobile launch platform. 9 tons of its 13 launch mass consisted of fuel (liquid oxygen and ethyl alcohol), which burned out during the first minute of the flight, raising the rocket to an altitude of 80 km and giving it a speed of 1700 m / s. Further, the rocket flew by inertia, which was enough for more than 300 km.

On September 8, 1944, the first combat launch of the V-2 took place, target - London. British air defense systems could not intercept such a fast missile. By the way, they dealt with the V-1 quite easily - the English aces pilots could fly up to the cruise missile at the same speed, and hooking its wing from below with their wing, overturn the mini-plane into the sea.

With the V-2, such a trick would obviously not have worked. But the V-2s themselves exploded extremely amicably - out of more than 4,000 V-2s launched over the entire time, almost half self-destructed (exploded at the start or already in flight).

This type of Hitler's "Weapon of Vengeance" proved to be very ineffective. The accuracy of hitting the target of these missiles was plus or minus 10 km, the launch of 2000 V-2 from September 44th to March 45th resulted in the death of "only" 2700 people, that is, one huge 13-ton ballistic missile killed one - two people. Agree, it is very irrational, especially since one V-2 cost as much as a hundred V-1. So this weapon played more of a psychological than a practical role in World War II, frightening poor Londoners and destroying their homes.

But the next secret project of Nazi weapons, which will be discussed, if it were implemented, would put Hitler on the same level with God and the USSR, along with the Allied troops, would not have a single chance.

Space Station of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler

This idea is more like the intentions of villains from modern comic films than a real project. But the leadership of Nazi Germany discussed it quite seriously. Of course, it was clear that this was a very expensive program, so it took 50 years to implement it. Naturally, it was assumed that Germany would win the Second World War and then she would need a powerful argument to keep the whole world at bay.

What could be more terrible than a punishing fiery ray striking the recalcitrant straight from heaven ?!

That was exactly the plan - to build a space orbital station with a huge mirror with an area of ​​3 square meters. km, reflecting a sunbeam to a point on the surface of the Earth. According to calculations, the energy of such a beam would even be enough to melt armored vehicles in a given area!

All this, of course, looks like fantasy, but Nazi Germany during the war years had all the prerequisites for the rapid development of the space industry in subsequent years. The fact of the V-2 rockets going into outer space actually took place. There is even an unproven assumption that the first cosmonaut was not Yuri Gagarin, but a certain German test pilot who made a suborbital space flight on a V-10 rocket (True, he died in this case).

That is, if the Germans won the war, several decades would have been enough for them to develop launch vehicles capable of delivering cargo to Earth's orbit and creating an orbital station. As for the huge mirror that sends deadly sunbeams to Earth, it is difficult to judge how real this project is. One thing is for sure - if not a mega-mirror, then they would definitely come up with something no less deadly. Perhaps it would have been a powerful laser or some other "hyperboloid of engineer Garin", but the disobedient Fuhrer's authority would certainly not have been good!

Naturally, this project remained at the idea stage. Now, if you look at it from the height of the technical level of modern civilization, it seems naive on the one hand, but the thought creeps in on the other: “What a crazy son of a bitch was this Hitler and his associates! Give them, you see, world domination! "

But it could have happened! ..

Hitler's main mistake

Throughout the war, Hitler was looking for the only and powerful super-weapon - the "Weapon of Vengeance", which would dot the i's in World War II. All the samples described in this post are failed attempts to create it. As you can see, in their search, the Nazis went through many options, among them was another, discarded as unpromising - nuclear weapons.

It was the German physicist Otto Hahn who discovered in 1939 the fission of the atomic nucleus, in which enormous energy is released. After this discovery, the development of nuclear weapons began not only in Germany, but also in America and the Soviet Union. The development of the atomic bomb in Germany is a separate big topic, here I will only say that Hitler did not see any prospects in this direction, and perhaps this was his main strategic miscalculation.

He liked the idea of ​​ballistic missiles more, to the development of which he sent all the forces of the military industry. Work on the creation of the atomic bomb was poorly funded, and at the end of the war, although they already had some success, they were completely stopped.

And in conclusion, I present to you ..

The most terrible weapon of the fascists

This rifle allowed Wehrmacht soldiers to shoot without protruding from the trench, and even without looking around the corner! What a brilliant idea !!! They could hit the enemy while remaining safe themselves!

For some reason, such a rifle was not widely used, perhaps because of the same notorious short-sightedness of Hitler.

The logical development of this design could be the following:

It is a pity that the German engineers did not think of this. If such a pistol were given to every German soldier, the war would have ended much earlier ..