Wunderwaffe

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Wunderwaffe is German for "wonder weapons" 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 completely 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. With the exception of the gigantic tanks, almost every single one of the Wunderwaffen was developed into sophisticated weaponry by the United States, Soviet Union, and other Allied Powers in the following decades.

Contents 1 Naval vessels 1.1 Oceangoing U-boats 1.2 Littoral U-boats 2 Armored vehicles 2.1 Anti-aircraft weapons 2.2 Anti-tank weapons 2.3 Tanks 2.3.1 Super-heavy tanks 3 Gliders 4 Piston engine aircraft 5 Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft 6 Helicopters 7 Bombs and explosives 8 Artillery 9 Missiles 10 Rifles 11 Support equipment 12 In fiction 13 Notes

[edit] Naval vessels

[edit] Oceangoing U-boats

• Type XVIII U-boat - a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion
• Type XXI U-boat "Elektroboote" (Electric boat) - the first U-boat designed to operate completely submerged
• Type XXIV U-boat - a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion
• Type XXVI U-boat - a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion

[edit] Littoral U-boats

• Type XXII U-boat - a planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion
• Type XXIII U-boat - a U-boat designed for littoral missions
• Type XXV U-boat - a planned all-electric U-Boat designed for littoral missions

[edit] Armored vehicles

[edit] Anti-aircraft weapons

• Flakpanzer "Kugelblitz" (Ball Lightning) - a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun

[edit] Anti-tank weapons

• Sturer Emil - an experimental tank destroyer

[edit] Tanks

• Panzer IX and Panzer X - planned tanks

[edit] Super-heavy tanks

• Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (Rat) - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 metric tons and armed with two 280mm cannon
• Landkreuzer P. 1500 "Monster" - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1500 metric tons and armed with an 800mm cannon
• Panzer VII "Löwe" (Lion) - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 90 metric tons and armed with a 105mm cannon
• Panzer VIII "Maus" (Mouse) - a super-heavy tank, weighing 180 metric tons and armed with a 128mm cannon
• Panzerkampfwagen E-100 - a planned super-heavy tank, weighing 140 metric tons and armed with 170mm cannon

[edit] Gliders

• Junkers Ju 322 "Mammut" (Mammoth) - a flying wing heavy transport glider

[edit] Piston engine aircraft

• Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 - a planned tilt-rotor VTOL fighter
• Focke-Wulf Ta 400 - a planned Amerika Bomber with six radial engines and two jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration
• Heinkel He 111Z - a five engined 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
• Junkers Ju 390 - an Amerika bomber with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km
• Junkers Ju 488 - a heavy bomber with four radial engines with a range of 3,395 km
• Messerschmitt Me 264 - an Amerika bomber with four radial engines and a range of 15,000 km
• Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" (Giant) - a heavy transport with six engines

[edit] Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft

• Arado Ar 234 - the first operational turbojet bomber
• Arado E.555 - a planned jet-powered Amerika bomber
• Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" (Adder) - a rocket-powered vertical takeoff interceptor
• Blohm & Voss P.178 - a turbojet dive bomber
• DFS 194 - a rocket-powered experimental aircraft
• DFS 228 - a rocket-powered high altitude reconnaissance aircraft
• DFS 346 - a rocket-powered research aircraft
• Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg" - a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb
• Focke-Wulf Fw "Triebflügel" (Powered Wings) - a planned ramjet tailsitter interceptor
• Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein" - a planned swept wing turbojet fighter
• Focke-Wulf Ta 283 - a planned swept wing ramjet and rocket-powered fighter
• Heinkel He 162 "Volksjäger" (People's Fighter) - a turbojet fighter
• Heinkel He 176 - a rocket-powered experimental aircraft
• Heinkel He 178 - the first turbojet aircraft
• Heinkel He 280 - the first turbojet fighter
• Heinkel He 343 - a planned four engined jet bomber based on the Arado Ar 234
• Henschel Hs 132 - a planned turbojet dive bomber and interceptor
• Horten Ho 229 - a turbojet flying wing jet fighter/bomber
• Horten H.XVIII - a planned flying wing jet bomber based on the Horten Ho 229
• Junkers EF 132 - a planned turbojet bomber
• Junkers Ju 287 - a forward-swept wing turbojet bomber
• Lippisch P.13a - a planned ramjet delta wing interceptor
• Lippisch P.13b - a planned ramjet delta wing interceptor developed from the Lippisch P.13a
• Messerschmitt Me 109TL - a turbojet fighter designed as an alternate/back-up for the Me 262
• Messerschmitt Me 163 "Komet" (Comet) - the first and only operational rocket-powered fighter
• Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" (Swallow)- the first operational turbojet fighter/bomber
• Messerschmitt Me 263 - a rocket-powered fighter developed from the Me 163
• Messerschmitt Me P.1101 - a variable-sweep wing ramjet fighter
• Messerschmitt Me P.1106 - a jet fighter based on the Messerschmitt Me P.1101
• Silbervogel (Silverbird) - planned sub-orbital antipodal bomber

[edit] Helicopters

• Flettner Fl 184 - a night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro
• Flettner Fl 185 - an experimental helicopter
• Flettner Fl 265 - an experimental helicopter
• Flettner Fl 282 "Kolibri" (Hummingbird) - a reconnaissance helicopter
• Focke Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" (Dragon) - an anti-submarine, search and rescue, reconnaissance, and freight helicopter
• Focke-Wulf Fw 61 - an experimental helicopter

[edit] Bombs and explosives

• German nuclear energy project

[edit] Artillery

• Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav) - an 800mm railway gun
• V-3 cannon "Hochdruckpumpe" - "High Pressure Pump" a supergun

[edit] Missiles

• A1 - the first German experimental rocket
• A2 - an experimental rocket, gyroscopically stabilized
• A3 - an experimental rocket with an inertial guidance system
• A4 (V-2 Rocket) - the first ballistic missile and the first human-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight
• A4-SLBM - a planned submarine-launched ballistic missile
• A5 - an experimental reusable rocket
• Enzian - the first surface-to-air missile to use infrared guidance
• Fi 103 (V1) - the first cruise missile
• Fliegerfaust "Pilot Fist" or "Plane Fist" / Luftfaust "Air Fist" - the first man-portable air-defense system
• Fritz X
• Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling - a manually guided surface-to-air missile or air-to-air missile
• Henschel Hs 293
• Henschel Hs 294 - a guided air-to-sea missile/torpedo
• Rheinbote - the first short-range ballistic missile
• Rheintochter - a manually guided surface-to-air missile
• Ruhrstahl X-4 - a wire-guided air-to-air missile
• Taifun "Typhoon" - an unguided surface-to-air missile
• Wasserfall - a supersonic surface-to-air missile

[edit] Rifles

• Jagdfaust - an automatically firing airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle for use on the Me 163
• Mauser MG 213 - a 20 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
• Mauser MG 213C - a 30 mm aircraft mounted revolver cannon
• Sturmgewehr 44 - the first assault rifle
  • "Krummlauf" - a curved barrel for the StG44
• Sturmgewehr 45 - prototype

[edit] Support equipment

• Zielgerät 1229 "Vampir" - active infrared for the Sturmgewehr 44
• FG 1250 Tank Mounted night-vision equipment

[edit] In fiction

• The video game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.
• The Battlefield 1942 expansion Secret Weapons of World War II
• The video game "Secret Weapons Over Normandy"
• The video game "Call of Duty: World at War"

[edit] Notes