Wunderwaffe

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 some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect.[1]

V-2 rocket at Peenemünde Museum
H.IX V3 flywing reproduction at the San Diego Air and Space Museum

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] Historian Michael J. Neufeld has noted that "the net result of all these weapons, deployed or otherwise, was that the Reich wasted a lot of money and technical expertise (and killed a lot of forced and slave laborers) in developing and producing exotic devices that yielded little or no tactical and strategic advantage".[4] However, a few weapons proved to be successful and have had a large influence in post war designs.

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.

Aircraft carriers
  • Graf Zeppelin – a 33,550 ton aircraft carrier laid down in 1936; never completed.
  • Flugzeugträger B – planned sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin; scrapped before launching.
  • I (1942) – a planned 56,500 ton aircraft carrier, converted from a transport; cancelled before work started.

Battleships

U-boats

Oceangoing U-boats

Littoral U-boats

U-Cruisers
  • Type XI – a U-boat designed to carry the Arado Ar 231 collapsible floatplane and have 128mm turrets; four were laid down but canceled at the outbreak of World War II

Armoured vehicles

Anti-aircraft weapons

Anti-tank weapons

Heavy tanks

Super-heavy tanks
  • Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (Rat) – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 tonnes and armed with two 280mm cannons, one 128mm anti-tank gun, 8 20mm flak guns and 2 15mm heavy machine guns; cancelled in early 1943
  • Panzer VII "Löwe" (Lion) – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 90 tonnes and armed with a 105mm cannon; cancelled in March 1942 in favor of the Panzer VIII Maus
  • Panzer VIII "Maus" (Mouse) – a super-heavy tank, weighing 180 tonnes and armed with two cannons of 128mm and 75mm calibre; five were ordered but only two operable prototypes completed - lone survivor currently on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum.
  • Panzerkampfwagen E-100 – a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 140 tonnes and armed with either 128 or 150 mm cannon, one prototype hull nearly completed, the hull was later captured and evaluated by the British before being scrapped in the 1950s

Reconnaissance tanks
  • Kugelpanzer (ball tank), a prototype spherical reconnaissance/cable-laying tank with a mysterious history. Sent to Japan and captured by the Soviets in 1945. Currently on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum.

Gliders

Piston engine aircraft
  • Dornier Do-335 – a heavy fighter with the push-pull configuration
  • Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 – a planned tilt-rotor VTOL fighter
  • Focke-Wulf Ta 152 – a high-altitude interceptor
  • Focke-Wulf Ta 400 – a planned Amerika Bomber candidate with six radial engines and two jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration
  • Heinkel He 111Z – a five engined Zwilling (twin)-fuselage aircraft created by combining two He 111s and designed to tow large gliders
  • Heinkel He 274 – a high altitude heavy bomber with four in-line engines with a range of 3,440 km, two completed by France after the war
  • Heinkel He 277 – a planned, advanced long-range bomber design, designated by RLM by February 1943, inheriting many He 219 prototype design features during its evolution but never built as a complete aircraft, evolved to be an Amerika Bomber candidate, to be powered with four BMW 801 radial engines and up to 11,000 km range
  • Junkers Ju 390 – an Amerika Bomber candidate with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km, two airworthy prototypes built and flown
  • Junkers Ju 488 – a heavy bomber with four radial engines with a range of 3,395 km
  • Messerschmitt Me 264 – an Amerika Bomber candidate with four inline or radial engines and a range of 15,000 km, three airworthy prototypes built and flown
  • Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" (Giant) – a heavy transport with six engines, adapted from the Me 321 giant troop glider

Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft

Helicopters

Bombs and explosives

Artillery

Missiles

Orbital
  • Sun gun – a parabolic mirror in orbit designed to focus sunlight onto specific locations on the Earth's surface

Rifles

Mission equipment

Purported

Similar developments in minor Axis powers

Romania
  • 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 - an anti-tank gun with a muzzle velocity of over 1 km/second which could also elevate enough to double as a field gun, reported to have outperformed its Western, German and Soviet counterparts to become arguably the most versatile gun in its class during World War II (at least 375 produced)[5]
  • Self-propelled 75 mm Reșița Model 1943 - 2 prototypes completed and tested (reportedly, this vehicle served as the inspiration for the Hetzer, or as a significant influence in the latter's development)[6]
  • IAR 81C fighter aircraft fitted with the Werfer-Granate 21 air-to-air rocket (1 prototype)[7]

Hungary
  • 44M Tas - a local attempt to replicate the heavy Panther tank (2 incomplete prototypes produced, including 1 complete hull)[8]

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.
  4. Neufeld, Michael (13 April 2020). "The Myth of the German "Wonder Weapons"". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  5. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 235-237 and 149
  6. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, pp. 228-235
  7. Mark Axworthy, London: Arms and Armour, 1995, Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941–1945, p. 265
  8. Dénes Bernád, Charles K. Kliment, Helion and Company, Magyar Warriors: The History of the Royal Hungarian Armed Forces 1919-1945, Volume 1, p. 371

Works consulted
  • Merkel, Reiner (2010). Hans Kammler – Manager des Todes. Frankfurt am Main: August von Goethe Literaturverlag. ISBN 978-3-8372-0817-7.
  • Tooze, Adam (2007). The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. London: Penguin. ISBN 9780141003481.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
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