Wunderwaffe

V-2

Wunderwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊndɐˌvafə]) is German for "Wonder Weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by the Nazi Germany propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, then too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect.[1]

The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts. Therefore, they are also included here.

As the war situation worsened for Germany from 1942, claims about the development of revolutionary new weapons which could turn the tide became an increasingly prominent part of the propaganda directed at Germans by their government.[2] In reality, the advanced weapons under development generally required lengthy periods of design work and testing, and there was no realistic prospect of the German military being able to field them before the end of the war. When some advanced designs, such as the Panther tank and Type XXI submarine, were rushed into production their performance proved disappointing to the German military and leadership due to inadequate pre-production testing or poorly planned construction processes.[3]

In the German language the term Wunderwaffe generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.

Naval vessels

Aircraft carriers

Battleships

U-boats

Oceangoing U-boats

Littoral U-boats

U-Cruisers

Armored vehicles

Anti-aircraft weapons

Anti-tank weapons

Super-heavy tanks

Reconnaissance tanks

Gliders

Piston engine aircraft

Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft

Helicopters

Bombs and explosives

Artillery

Missiles

Orbital

Rifles

Directed-energy weapons

Rheotron/betatron

Among the directed-energy weapons (DEW) the Nazis investigated were x-ray beam weapons developed under Heinz Schmellenmeier, Richard Gans and Fritz Houtermans. They built an electron accelerator called Rheotron (invented by Max Steenbeck at Siemens-Schuckert in the 1930s, these were later called betatrons by the Americans) to generate hard x-ray synchrotron beams for the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Ministry of Aviation). The intent was to pre-ionize ignition in aircraft engines and hence serve as an anti-aircraft DEW and bring planes down into the reach of flak. The rheotron was captured by the Americans in Burggrub on April 14, 1945.

Röntgenkanone

Another approach was Ernst Schiebolds Röntgenkanone (x-ray cannon), developed from 1943 in Großostheim near Aschaffenburg. The Company Richert Seifert & Co from Hamburg delivered parts.

Mission equipment

Fictitious

See also

Notes

Citations

  1. ↑ Willy Ley, "V-2: Rocket Cargo Ship" Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945, repr. Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space, (ed. J. Francis McComas, Raymond J. Healy, [1946], 1957), p. 359.
  2. ↑ Tooze 2007, p. 611.
  3. ↑ Tooze 2007, pp. 612-618.

Works consulted

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