Jump to content

Wunderwaffe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ClamDip (talk | contribs) at 14:27, 9 September 2010 (fixed {{Reflist}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Wunderwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊndɐˌvafə]) is German for "wonder weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by the German propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons reached the combat theatre too late, and in too insignificant numbers (if at all) to have a military effect. A derisive abbreviation of the term emerged: Wuwa, pronounced "voo-vah".[1]

The V-weapons, which were developed earlier, and saw considerable deployment especially against Great Britain, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts which surpassed anything the Allies could field at that time. Therefore, they are also included here.

Although the Wunderwaffen failed to meet their strategic objective of turning the tides of World War II in Nazi Germany's favor at a time when the war was already strategically lost, they represented designs and prototypes that were extremely advanced for their time.


Aircraft carriers

Battleships

  • H class battleship - a series of proposals for battleships, culminating in the H-44, a 110,696 ton battleship with eight 20 inch guns

U-boats

Oceangoing U-boats

Littoral U-boats

Submarine aircraft carrier

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

Armored vehicles

Anti-aircraft weapons

Anti-tank weapons

Tanks

Super-heavy tanks

Gliders

Piston engine aircraft

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

Other

See also

Notes

  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).
  • Reiner Merkel: Hans Kammler - Manager des Todes, 2010 August von Goethe Literaturverlag, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-8372-0817-7.