World War 2 Strange Weapons
were designed to be towed to the target area by a full-sized “mother” submarine. The X-craft would then be detached and infiltrate the target, laying down two side charges, each containing 2 tonnes of amatol. They would then make their escape and rendezvous with the “mother” submarine to be towed home. The first attack was launched against the German battleship Bismarck. Six X-craft were designated for the operation, but two were lost to accidents en route, and a third suffered mechanical problems. The fourth X-craft was believed to have been sunk by German fire during the attack. The remaining two managed to lay their charges and seriously damage the Bismarck. Other X-craft played an important role with regards to the D-day landings. One surveyed the invasion beaches beforehand and collected soil samples, and two others acted as lightships during D-day itself to guide landing craft to the correct beaches.
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V-3 Supergun
Developed as a so-called vengeance weapon in order to strike back at London, as Allied bomber fleets pounded German cities to rubble, the V-3 cannon was capable to delivering a 140kg (1310lb) shell to a range of more than 161 km (100 miles). The secret to this enormous range was a number of side channels attached to the 460ft (140m) barrel. These channels each contained an electrically fired propellant charge which helped to accelerate the finned shell to a muzzle velocity of 1500m/s (4920 feet per second). Hitler was most impressed by the prototype, and ordered 25 of them to be built at a site at Mimoyecques, in France. However, this site was heavily bombed by Allied bombers, which forced the Germans to abandon it. Two shorter-barreled versions (164ft) were later built and used against Luxemburg, where they fired a total of 183 shells, only managing to kill 10 civilians and injure 35. Shortly afterwards, both guns were captured by American troops.
8
Sonderkommando “ELBE”
During the later part of the war, Germany became
9
V-3 Supergun
Developed as a so-called vengeance weapon in order to strike back at London, as Allied bomber fleets pounded German cities to rubble, the V-3 cannon was capable to delivering a 140kg (1310lb) shell to a range of more than 161 km (100 miles). The secret to this enormous range was a number of side channels attached to the 460ft (140m) barrel. These channels each contained an electrically fired propellant charge which helped to accelerate the finned shell to a muzzle velocity of 1500m/s (4920 feet per second). Hitler was most impressed by the prototype, and ordered 25 of them to be built at a site at Mimoyecques, in France. However, this site was heavily bombed by Allied bombers, which forced the Germans to abandon it. Two shorter-barreled versions (164ft) were later built and used against Luxemburg, where they fired a total of 183 shells, only managing to kill 10 civilians and injure 35. Shortly afterwards, both guns were captured by American troops.
8
Sonderkommando “ELBE”
During the later part of the war, Germany became