The Nazis were a feared, murderous regime - but their science and
industry teams created inventions that far outlived their government.
In fact, the military still uses some of its weapons today.
And you might use some every day too.
Heck, you might even drink some of them.
Here are some of the most surprising weapons and inventions developed by the Nazis.
The Germans had been trying to develop the perfect machine gun for years,
and they finally settled on the perfect model with the MP43. Later renamed the StG44,
it solved one of the biggest problems of arms design - how do you combine the accuracy of a
rifle with the firepower of a machine gun? This gun would come to be known as the first
assault rifle, would be equally effective from a distance and at close range, and would influence
guns for decades. While it’s not technically still in use today, it remained the model
for future gun designs - including the powerful, deadly Soviet AK47 used by countless militaries.
And for those who want the original, it’s now being produced in the United States!
And it wasn’t just guns that the Nazi war machine produced.
During World War II, most bombs still had to be carried by planes and dropped.
This led to mass attacks like the Blitz, and even the first atom bombs were dropped the
old-fashioned way. But warfare was changing, and all the world powers were trying to develop the
first rocket-powered missiles. The V2 was a powerful weapon, weighing fourteen tons
and having a range of two hundred miles. It would plow into its target at up to 3,500
miles an hour and was deployed against London and Antwerp. It’s considered the very first ballistic
missile - and many of the kings of Nazi Germany’s rocket program later went to work for the US.
And it wasn’t just the technology - it was how to use it.
It’s a common sight today - paratroopers floating down from planes en-masse, launching a sneak
attack. But parachute regiments were unheard of until 1935 when Hermann Goring created the first
unit for use in German sneak-attacks. A surprise attack on an Austrian airfield in 1938 was a key
part of that conquest, and German paratroopers played a major role in the Nazi war strategy.
While the Nazi war machine eventually fell and the paratroopers often took major losses, armies
around the world noticed how effective they were - and started putting together their own units.
But Hitler was a fan of big, showy weapons - and the Nazis had some that stood the test of time.
Early tanks tended to be small, but German engineers were hard at work on
tanks that would plow through enemy lines. This culminated in the Tiger Tank, a pair of models
that dominated the latter years of the war. It weighed in at a massive fifty-four tons,
had powerhouse armor and a large main gun that could blow holes in enemy tanks while
taking heavy punishment. They were organized into battalions and deployed strategically to
anywhere that heavy firepower was needed. While most modern tanks are smaller, the engineering of
the Tiger Tank continues to influence modern tank design - and one model is still in working order!
Germany built tanks - and it also built the way to stop them.
As tanks became the go-to weapon of war, Germany’s weapons masters developed one
of the first specially designed anti-tank weapons - the Panzerfaust. It didn’t look
like much - almost like a plunger that shot an oversized ball - but it delivered a powerful
payload that could penetrate heavy tank armor. While it was only used during the
war by Germany and other countries, it became the test case for future anti-tank weapons that would
be more powerful - while using the same basic principles on how to break through tank armor.
Some Nazi weapons were too deadly for even them to use.
The discovery of the deadly nerve agent Sarin was actually an accident - Germany was dealing
with a weevil infestation, and Nazi scientists were searching for a more effective pesticide.
What they created was powerful enough to kill pesky bugs - and a whole lot of people. After
the race to create the deadliest poison gas in World War I, even Hitler was hesitant
to unleash chemical weapons again. The Nazis produced 12,000 tons of the gas,
but it was never used in combat - at least by the Nazis. Even today, rare uses of Sarin
occur and are considered war crimes, like the 2017 attack on Idlib by the Syrian Air Force.
Sometimes, it’s just a race to see who gets there first.
The sea was becoming a bigger and bigger part of warfare,
and being able to sink an enemy ship faster could make the difference between winning
and losing the war. That led Germany to develop the acoustic torpedo in 1943,
only a short time before the United States introduced their own. These torpedoes would
be equipped with sensors that would pull them towards a sonic frequency - usually, one emitted
by the enemy ship - hitting their target head-on. This changed the naval warfare game and became
one of the go-to weapons against both surface ships and submarines, and remains in use today.
Targeted weapons were the future - and the future was here.
Imagine if you could direct a bomb right at its target instead of just hoping it
hits? It sounded like science-fiction in 1943, but it was about to become
reality. The Fritz X bomb was one of the most innovative weapons deployed by the German Air
Force - a bomb that could be driven once launched by an operator in the aircraft,
using radio waves. The Fritz X successfully sank an Italian battleship - but it would
soon be undone by the radar-powered Bat bomb from the United States, and thus began the
arms race that would eventually allow warfare to be conducted by remote-controlled drones today.
And for every innovation, there was a way to counter it.
As sonic-tracking weapons became commonplace, everyone searched for
a way to hide their ships from detection. The Nazi solution? Tha anechoic tile,
a tile made of rubber or synthetic polymers placed on the outside of military ships and
submarines. This absorbs and muffles the sonar sound waves, making it harder for weapons to hit
their target. They made their debut on a German U-Boat in 1940 and have been in use ever since,
as effective as ever - except for the ongoing problem of them sometimes falling off.
The Nazis didn’t just create powerful weapons - they created
tools of war that provided essential support.
For soldiers on the battlefield, getting enough water safely can be tricky. Any body of water you
come across could be contaminated, but most containers would be vulnerable in the heat
of battle. Enter the Jerrycan, originally called the Wehrmacht-kanister. Designed in
1937 for fuel distribution, it was a simple and lightweight steel design that could be
carried safely on the battlefield thanks to its durable design. As soon as it was seen in combat,
American and British designers began trying to duplicate it, and it was soon mass-produced.
Even today, you can see soldiers around the world toting the familiar can.
And the Nazi scientists even found ways to expand the battlefield.
Few things make warfare harder than darkness, which is why even during the most pitched battles,
nightfall often means a break. But the Nazis wondered - what if their troops could see in
the dark? In 1939, the first night-vision devices were introduced - in the form of
gun accessories that shined a bright light powered by tungsten. It was filtered to only
show infrared light and quickly led to Allied forces being hunted down in the night. Its name?
The ZG 1229 Vampir. This was the ancestor of today’s high-tech night-vision visors that
are lighter and more effective at creating a clear picture of the world in the dark.
And sometimes, the Nazis thought their soldiers needed a little pick-me-up.
As the war raged on and the Nazis took heavy losses,
the commanders decided the troops needed an edge. That led to the introduction of Pervitin,
an addictive new drug that was thought to make more effective soldiers. German psychologist Otto
Ranke observed pilots on the drug and noticed that they were more alert on little sleep and
felt euphoric and energized at all times. It became commonplace to give to soldiers,
even as they became dependent on it, and it was soon brought to market for the average citizen.
While its wartime use soon ended, similar drugs would have a long legacy - being marketed as
diet pills in 1950s America and eventually becoming the illegal drug crystal meth.
Some Nazi innovations had a long legacy - but weren’t intended for war.
As the war in Europe raged on, the Americans hadn’t entered the war yet, but they did impose
a trade embargo on Nazi Germany. That led to a shortage of many products - including,
most terribly, Coca-Cola. The company’s German branch was desperate to maintain their business
in the country, so they put together a new recipe using available rations. The first
recipe consisted of beet sugar, whey, and apple pulp. They called it Fanta,
it was a hit - and it evolved into the neon-colored orange, grape,
and pineapple beverages you can still get out of soda machines around the world today.
Prefer a drink with a little more kick? Germany had you covered.
Curt and Wilhelm Mast had just taken over their father’s vinegar business,
and their newest recipe was about to turn them into superstars. It was an after-dinner digestive
aid, a potent drink that made a perfect mix-in for alcohol and had a strong flavor due to its
secret mix of fifty-six herbs and spices. It was called Jagermeister, and while it wasn’t
designed by the Nazis, prominent citizens in the party began drinking it and it grew
in popularity. But long after the war, it was introduced to the larger world by liquor importer
Sidney Frank - and the German drink popular with blue-collar hunters became an iconic party drink.
But some German innovations had a much bigger impact that continues to this day.
Few names in Germany were more feared and revered than Wernher Von Braun. The Nazi scientist headed
up the German rocketry division, and his rockets were the most advanced in the world.
Germany was on the verge of creating an unbeatable military defense force - if
it wasn’t for the fact that they were already on the verge of losing the war due to Hitler’s
military mismanagement. The advanced German rockets, some complete and some almost there,
became the subject of the first big battle of the Cold War as American and Russian
forces competed to get their hands on Nazi scientists. And as for Von Braun? He wound
up joining the Americans and became one of the architects of the space program.
But one Nazi innovation can be seen in more places than any other.
The Helicopter had been an invention in development for a very long time, going
back to Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketches of flying machines. But no one had perfected it - until
1937 when German engineers created the Focke Achgelis FA-61. This small plane looked very
different from today’s helicopter, with two large rotors instead of one, but it handled itself
well in bad weather and soon the Nazi war machine was placing orders for a thousand
models. While construction stopped after an Allied bombing raid destroyed the factory,
its chief designer would immigrate to the US after the war and become a designer for Kaman
Aircraft - and would become one of the biggest influences in aviation history.
For some of the strangest inventions of the war,
check out “Weirdest World War 2 Weapons You Never Heard Of” or watch this video instead.