Ever wonder how crazy World War 2 was?
Well, here’s some world war 2 weapons so crazy, you probably never heard of them before!
#10.
Krummlauf Curved Barrel Rifle
In war, you often have seconds to react to an enemy.
You turn around the corner - and you’re met with a barrage of fire that can gun you
down before you have time to pull the trigger.
But what if there was a way to shoot without turning the corner?
The German war machine thought it was possible when they created the Krummlauf, an attachment
for the Sturmgewehr 44 rifle.
Featuring a periscope viewing device and a curved barrel, the goal was to allow soldiers
to see and shoot around corners while shielded.
The idea was sound - but there were a lot of issues with the final product.
The bent barrel attachments underwent enormous stress every time the gun was fired, as the
barrel had to withstand the pressure of a speeding bullet as it curved.
They would wear out after only three hundred rounds - far from ideal for a tense firefight.
Even worse, the bullets underwent pressure as well and could shatter, leading them to
come out of the barrel in shrapnel - possibly injuring the shooter or their allies.
The mirror of the periscope was also vulnerable to fogging.
The designers tried to adapt the attachment with shields and vent holes, but ultimately
the Krummlauf was just...crummy.
But it was better for the user than this next weapon.
#9.
Kamikaze Bomb
Kamikaze pilots were a key part of Japan’s war strategy, using pilots who deliberately
crashed their planes into enemy targets and sacrificed themselves.
But they were only as strong as their planes - so the Japanese army decided to give them
deadlier weapons.
The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka was the first plane designed for one-way trips - a rocker-piloted,
human-guided flying bomb that would be aimed at aircraft carriers.
It was one of the fastest Japanese planes ever designed, and delivered a much bigger
punch than a standard Kamikaze plane.
But it sacrificed function for strength.
Because the planes weren’t intended to come back, they didn’t have the range of other
planes.
They needed to be brought near their target by bomber planes - which could then be picked
off by American forces before the MXY-7 could hit its target.
When they did hit their target, they did serious damage - but rarely enough to sink major US
vessels.
They were mostly used in the attempt by the allies to retake Okinawa, and their impact
was minor.
The Japanese tried to refine it to make it stronger and more effective - but time ran
out and the war ended.
This next item struck fear into the enemy - but that’s about all it did.
#8.
Gustav Rail Cannon
The soldiers defending the French maginot line hear a massive rumble, and soon - over
the hill - a monstrosity appears.
It’s a rail cannon, almost impossibly large.
A hundred and fifty feet in length, with a barrel of a hundred feet alone.
It looks like a metal dinosaur - and it roars like one as well.
It fires the heaviest artillery shells around, and its range can hit targets from far larger
distances than other guns.
This is the Schwerer Gustaf railway gun - and its image struck terror into the hearts of
the Allies.
But the reality was far more complicated.
Hitler liked big, menacing weapons, and was quickly won over by the Gustaf’s impressive
design.
The military command was less impressed.
Yes, the Gustaf delivered a powerful punch, but the effort needed to operate it was massive.
It needed to be transported in parts and assembled and mounted on site - which took four thousand
soldiers.
And it was so expensive to build that the Nazis deployed anti-aircraft units to defend
them.
It’s not a surprise that only a few were ever created - the investment wasn’t worth
the result.
But the Nazis had another weapon that was much smaller - but no less deadly.
#7.
Goliath Tracked Mine
Land mines are one of the most feared weapons of war, being buried and waiting for an enemy
soldier or tank to go over them - and then blowing them to bits.
But what if the mines weren’t sitting ducks?
What if they could come for the enemy?
Research was ongoing since World War I, as German engineers experimented with small tracked
vehicles that could be remote-controlled to deliver bombs.
Early attempts failed, but later versions were equipped with high explosives of up to
220 pounds and could be sent to target tanks.
But there were some major downsides to these new weapons.
First, they were single-use devices - similar to kamikaze planes but without the living
pilot.
Second, remote-control technology was still rudimentary and steering wasn’t particularly
accurate - meaning the best strategy was simply to aim them and hope for the best.
Third, they were expensive to produce, and while over 7,500 were produced, they were
too big and unwieldy to be effective weapons.
They’re an interesting artifact of the war, but armies found it much more effective to
stick to traditional land mines.
Other attempts to replace land mines were much more controversial.
#6.
Mine Dogs
One of the most vicious battlefronts of the war was Russia, where German tanks were invading
after betraying their former ally.
The Russians were suffering heavy casualties and were outgunned by the Nazis’ superior
firepower - so they turned to an unconventional method of anti-tank warfare.
There was no shortage of dogs in Russia, and so the army tried to turn them into unique
kamikaze weapons.
They would hide food under German tanks, strap small explosives to the dogs’ backs, and
send them to trigger their bombs under the tanks.
Heck of a way to treat man’s best friend.
But it wasn’t just animal lovers who found problems with this plan.
Dogs are living beings, and that means they can be unpredictable.
While the basics of the plan worked - and even took out a few German tanks - it’s
impossible to ensure accuracy with animals.
Some dogs simply ran off - and worse, some got spooked and ran back to their Russian
handlers and detonated the explosives there.
But the success rate was enough that the program continued through the war, with other countries
training dogs too.
Russia even had a program for training bomb-equipped dogs through 1996.
It wasn’t the only plan to use animals as bombs - but this next one had an unexpected
ending.
#5.
Explosive Rats
France had fallen, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill was desperate to prevent Great Britain
from following suit.
His weapons design team came up with a bizarre plan - turning rats into plastic explosives.
Rats would be killed and skinned, with their empty carcass then being filled with plastic
explosives and shaped to resemble an actual rat before being sewn up.
They would then be placed near German boilers, where they would be thrown for disposal - triggering
a massive explosion that could devastate German factories.
It didn’t work out quite like that.
The first shipment of explosive rats were sent out - and quickly discovered by the Nazis.
The British dropped the plans and didn’t make any more rats, but the Germans didn’t
know that.
They were shocked by the carefully hidden explosives, and ordered an extensive search
for dead rats at every military school and facility.
They spent so much time examining dead rats that the British military authorities said
the plan actually succeeded, because they caused more trouble to the Germans than if
the rats had actually exploded.
But that wasn’t the most bizarre plan to use animals as weapons.
#4.
Bird and Bat Bombs
It was only a short time after Pearl Harbor, and a Pennsylvania dentist named Lytle S.
Adams was outraged.
He wanted revenge, and he wrote to FDR with a plan - train bats as bombs.
But instead of calling the authorities, military officials looked at his plan and thought there
might be something to it.
Hibernating bats would be attached to timed explosive devices, and dropped over Japan
at dawn.
The bats would settle in the upper levels of buildings and the devices would go off
while they slept - turning Japanese cities into firestorms.
While demonstrations were carried out, the plan never went into effect - maybe because
some bats got away and blew up a General’s car.
But it wasn’t the only flying bomb plan the military had - and the next had a major
mind behind it.
BF Skinner was a pioneer in the field of psychology, but he also was passionate about training
pigeons.
He believed they could be a weapon of war, even more so than as messengers.
He had trained them to pull levers, and believed this system could be rigged to deliver a kamikaze
bomb to its target.
The pigeons would be trained to recognize a target and would peck to guide the missile
towards it.
A successful demonstration was pulled off - but like the bat project, as the war went
on the military shifted their focus to more traditional weaponry, and both pigeons and
bats breathed a little safer.
But in 1944, terror came from the skies in a different way.
#3.
Fu-Go Balloon Bomb
Aside from Pearl Harbor, very few attacks during World War 2 hit the United States directly
- but in 1944, a bizarre Japanese attack changed that.
It was one of the lowest-tech attacks imaginable - paper balloons that would be guided not
by any engine, but by the Pacific Ocean’s jet stream.
But the payload they held would be anything but low-tech - they carried incendiary bombs
designed to kill anyone nearby and create dangerous wildfires.
They were actually the first weapons ever to have an intercontinental range.
And when they landed, chaos ensued.
Initially, the bombs caused little damage, but as they surfaced around the West Coast
of the United States, people panicked.
Reports of balloons landing around the country spread, and the government created a press
blackout to avoid widespread fear.
That ended on May 5th, 1945 when a bomb landed in Southern Oregon and blew up - killing a
woman and five children from a nearby church.
An investigation revealed that the bomb had been sitting there, untouched for weeks until
the picnicking group disturbed it and set off the lethal explosion - believed to be
the only WW2 death on mainland US soil.
But not all WW2 weapons were meant to be deadly.
#2.
Who, Me?
Private Ernest Crocker came into the military as a trained chemist, and that gave him a
unique position - designing poison gas for possible military use.
But the military had another mission in mind for him.
Remember those exploding stink bombs you used to play with as a kid?
What if they could be mega-sized and create a scent so horrible it would send the enemy
forces fleeing?
Well, some might say this plan stinks - but the US government didn’t think so, and funded
the project that would be nicknamed the US military’s fart bomb.
But to develop this weapon, Private Crocker had some unpleasant times ahead.
He needed to create a bomb that would deliver the worst smells imaginable - and that meant
testing.
He combined smells including vomit, urine, rotten eggs, human feces, and rancid dairy
into a single package - and the workers at Maryland Research Laboratory who had to mass-produce
it were no doubt smelling it for years.
The German army was ultimately spared its effects, because the war ended before the
stinky spray could be deployed.
But this valuable work led Private Crocker to become a pioneer in the field of sensory
science.
But one weapon delivered in every way - but the one that mattered most.
#1.
The Great Panjandrum
The final years of World War II saw a lot of experimentation in the British ranks, as
they created increasingly outlandish designs for weapons - most of which never saw the
light of day.
But one, the Panjandrum, would go down in history as one of the most bizarre weapons
ever created.
To the untrained eye, it didn’t look like much - a big pair of interconnected wheels.
But it was actually a highly sophisticated weapon - a massive rocket-propelled rolling
cart designed to deliver an explosive payload to the Nazis.
But reality doesn’t live up to the hype sometimes.
The Panjandrum would have been the fastest weapon of its size ever created, designed
to penetrate ten-foot walls by traveling at sixty miles per hour right through them.
This British super-weapon became famous before it hit the battlefield, with citizens attending
tests to witness their newest war machine in action.
But it never quite lived up to its potential.
Sometimes it's rockets went off unexpectedly, sometimes it went in the wrong direction - a
problem when you’re dealing with a massive destructive rolling tank.
It was never used in combat, but it maintained a fanbase among military buffs.
On the 65th anniversary of Normandy, a replica was designed and tested - and that too, failed
miserably.
Alas, Great Panjandrum, you were maybe too spectacular for the real world.
Check out “Most Badass New Weapons of the Year” for what weapons designers are creating
now, or watch “Most Advanced and Deadly Weapon on the Planet” for a look at maybe
the most successful ever designed.