Germany's Wonder-Weapons | Animated History

Transcript

[Music] [Applause] of them [Music] hi I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair historian beyond the realm of sensible history Nazi science and engineering conjures stories of thousand ton tanks flying saucers and even orbital space lasers fanciful tales that were sometimes detrimental to Germany's more productive designs today we see what separates fact from fiction with the German Wonder Weapons of the second World War special thanks to the sponsor of today's video Call of War a free online PVP strategy game that lets you choose a real country and Lead it to victory in the second world war Forge alliances declare war on your neighbors and engage in huge weeks-long 100 player matches on both PC and mobile devices using a wide array of units and weapons and multiple strategies I especially recommend building the secret lab which allows you to produce your own arsenal of award-winning Wonder Weapons like Railway guns flying bombs rocket Fighters and nuclear bombers to help you achieve ultimate Victory support our Channel and click the link in the description within the next 30 days to receive 13 000 gold and one month of Premium subscription for free in the world of research and development many Concepts that reach the wider public barely pass the Prototype phase much less the assembly line with some Concepts that came out of Germany however a few were downright conspiratorial perhaps the most famous of these make-believe Marvels was digalaka or the Bell described as an anti-gravity Flying Saucer made by the Nazis but never actually deployed credible research and evidence claims that no such device was ever proposed or even existed at all yet the myth stubbornly clings to the fringes of historical conspiracies since its first appearance in Igor vitkovsky's book The Truth About the vondervaffa back in 2000. veering out of pure fiction we step out into the less ridiculed but nonetheless amusing world of proposals here the most bizarre idea came in the form of the zoninga or sun gun this theoretical design was first proposed by German physicist Herman Obert in 1929 who drew up plans for a space station equipped with a nine square kilometer concave mirror which would concentrate reflected sunlight onto the Earth for a devastating effect obert's idea was adopted by a group of German scientists at the German Army artillery Proving Grounds at Hiller's Laban where the plans for this orbital death ray were seriously considered and the scientists in charge of the project believed that construction could be completed within 50 to 100 years in actuality the concept was flawed from the start given how light interacts with mirrors at certain focal lengths simply put the proposed distance of the zoningivea from the Earth would have produced a reflection from the Sun numbering around 64 kilometers in diameter too large to produce any kind of damaging Heat at worst the Allies would have to squint their eyes looking up at the sky the more realistic aspects of Germany's research and development delved into the capabilities of tanks on the battlefield these experiments were pushed to their limits through several projects one such vehicle was the kugupansa also known as the ball tank this small one-man armored vehicle is shrouded in mystery as no records or documentation have ever been found only one prototype was discovered and it was actually captured by the Soviets in 1945 after being given to the Japanese its design specifically its lack of armament suggested that the ball tank may have been envisioned for reconnaissance the Land Cruiser pay 1000 rata or rat was another experimental tank concept it was a proposed super heavy tank that would have weighed 1 000 tons and featured two 280 millimeter SKC 34 Naval cannons as its primary armaments the plans for the rat were approved by Adolf Hitler himself in 1942 but there is some debate among historians about whether the massive blueprints discovered after the war were ever truly intended for production contrasting the rather wild concepts of German armor like the kugelpanza more serious programs were established that looked to create a new type of super heavy class tank these tanks were intended to be superior to the tanks used by the allies with heavier armor and more powerful guns the initial idea of the rat's 1000 ton design was scrapped yet the core idea was never fully dropped as work began on the Panzer 8 mouse or Mouse weighing in at a more conservative 180 tons it was nonetheless monstrous in weight as well as Armament with its 128 millimeter and 75 millimeter cannons this way also led to a number of Technical and logistical problems ultimately only two prototypes were completed despite many of these projects beginning in the early War experimental weapon development began receiving serious attention around mid to late 1942 Albert Speer the minister of armaments and war production oversaw the establishment of the wunderfaffen program part of his effort to boost the legitimacy of Hitler's regime through propaganda based on arms manufacturing and leaned heavily into the promise of these incredible Miracle weapons as a means of turning the tide of the war the most notable of these projects were the V1 and V2 rocket programs while technically impressive the targeting capabilities of these weapons were extremely inaccurate launched from sites within access territory these Rockets were only viable for indiscriminate bombing of large Urban centers like London or Antwerp killing approximately 18 000 people during the war the V2 rocket was developed and assembled almost exclusively by slave laborers drawn from the inmates of the middle Mount Dora concentration camp in central Germany thousands of these laborers were subject to nightmarish conditions with many dying as a result in addition to the V weapons advancements in the German armored focus in heavy class tanks led to the adoption of the tiger 2 also known as the King Tiger it was heavily armed and armored weighing roughly 70 tons and required a crew of five to operate the tiger 2 was considered one of the most powerful tanks of the war with a powerful 88 millimeter gun and thick armor but its production was slow and costly and only saw limited use on the eastern and western fronts advancements in jet aircraft design led to the eventual creation of the heikel he-162 and Messerschmitt me 262 along with these was the me163 comet the world's first operational rocket-powered fighter which essentially used a rocket engine to take off at absurd speeds making it the first piloted aircraft to exceed 1 000 kilometers per hour in level flight overshadowing the frightening reputation of its highly volatile and corrosive rocket propellant which killed more than its fair share of Pilots outside vehicular development more productive and substantial projects to come out of the wonder weapon programs include the stg-44 the world's first operational assault rifle which some say inspired the Soviets AK-47 but the two guns did not share much in common on the technical level along with small arms breakthroughs support equipment was also devised like the idealgorate 1229 vampire an infrared gun sight for the stg-44 that served as one of the first night vision devices used in all Warfare while impressive these breakthroughs arrived during Nazi Germany's Perpetual crippling resource shortages which prevented any of these devices from being produced in significant enough numbers to make any real difference in the war notably among Germany's engineering Ventures the Nazis also had a nuclear weapons program known as the oran ferine or uranium club which made significant progress toward developing nuclear warheads to go on to the V2 missiles however the program was consistently held back by a lack of available funding and resources ultimately the allied-led operation gunnerside destroyed production facilities involved in the manufacturing of heavy water vital to the program at vimorg Norway which derailed the uranium club and ended any chance of German nuclear warheads becoming a reality after the war most of these weapons prototypes and testing grounds were captured intact by the Allies information picked out for Destruction was related to human experimentation and other crimes against humanity however many of these researchers involved in these wonderful projects were brought over to the United Kingdom Soviet Union and United States to continue their work well into the Cold War what other Wonder Weapons would you like to see next be sure to discuss them in the comments for a future video thanks again to our sponsor call of War enjoy rewriting history in this free online PVP strategy game by signing up using our Link in the description within the next 30 days and receive 13 000 gold and one month of Premium subscription for free