Military-technical incidents of the mid-twentieth century
War and preparation for it always stimulates the development of not only conventional weapons, but also contributes to the creation of unusual inventions by military designers that can unexpectedly change the course of the battle and lead to victory over the enemy.
In the forties of the last century, after the victory over the French army, the Germans created a well-fortified defense system with a length of more than 5 thousand kilometers, which ran along the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean through the territory of Norway, Spain and Denmark. The system was created to protect against attacks from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. Construction, which began in 1942, was completed in record time - in 1944. The fortification line was constantly improved: reinforced concrete pillboxes were erected to accommodate guns, machine guns, minefields and anti-tank barriers and devices were installed to protect against landing from the air and from the ocean. The Germans gained experience in erecting such fortified areas much earlier - when they created in 1940 in the west of Germany a system of long-term protective military structures (called the Western Wall or the Siegfried Line). This bastion had more than 16 thousand structures. It was assumed that the Western Wall would have 60 anti-aircraft batteries, which would make it possible to create a practically impenetrable air defense system.
And, finally, another German system of fortifications on Finnish territory in the area of the Kola Isthmus - the Mannerheim Line. It was created in 1930 with the aim of containing an attack from the USSR. It got its name from Marshal Karl Mannerheim, who initiated the construction of this defense line back in 1918.
Built with the latest technology, these fortified lines of defense created a great obstacle to the advance of Soviet troops and military units of the Allies. Therefore, it is not surprising that the military design thought created projects that would allow the destruction of these fortifications with minimal losses for the advancing troops.
So, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition have designed a device capable of destroying the concrete barriers of the Atlantic Wall. It consisted of two huge wheels connected by a drum, equipped with explosives. To accelerate this insane vehicle, rockets were attached to the wheels, which gave the "destroyer" a speed of up to 60 miles / hour. The designers expected that the drum would destroy the defensive structures of the fortified line. Tests, in turn, showed that when this device moved, the missiles flew off the wheels, as a result of which the direction of movement, rushing with a high speed of the "destroyer", becomes unpredictable. I must say that he repeatedly rushed towards his own creators. For this reason, this project did not receive its development and was closed.
American military designers have created their own version of the "destroyer" of fortified defensive structures. The device was a hybrid of some kind of engineering structure and a tank. The basis of the new armament was the M4A3 tank, which received a powerful and massive bottom and a wider tracked system for greater stability. Four of these "destroyers" were produced. However, this project did not receive its development either.
Germany also developed systems for breaking through defenses and destroying enemy equipment and manpower. So, German engineers designed a tank ("Goliath"), which was used as a self-propelled "live mine". It had a small (miniature) size and rather low speed, was controlled from a distance and carried about 100 kg of explosives. It was mainly used to eliminate enemy tanks, infantry units and destroy structures.
In addition to miniature tanks, German designers have designed a giant tank ("Rat"). He weighed about a thousand tons. The length of the hull was 35 meters. This super-heavy tank was intended to break through enemy defenses and provide fire support for its units.
The giant tank had very low mobility, was invulnerable to artillery fire and had good protection against anti-tank mines, but had poor protection against air attacks. The Germans considered it their "miracle weapon", but this tank was never created in metal and did not affect the course of the war. Now this "miracle" is viewed only as a military-technical incident.
Soviet designers also did not lag behind the Germans in terms of creating projects for unusual types of weapons. One of them was the idea of an unusual hybrid design, called "Behemoth".
The system was a tracked armored train. Instead of gun turrets, parts of tanks were used; a Katyusha-type rocket cannon was also installed on a common gun carriage. In reality, no one saw this Soviet miracle weapon, but as a propaganda project, it may have worked.
The British were not inferior to their allies in the anti-Hitler coalition in the field of amazing designs.
An unusual aircraft carrier project was developed on the instructions of the British leadership during the Second World War. Since, due to attacks by German submarines, the British fleet had large losses of supply ships, the planned aircraft carrier was supposed to be made from a mixture of frozen water and sawdust (pykerite). The length of the vessel was assumed to be 610 meters, with a width and height of 92 m and 61 m, respectively, the displacement of the vessel was supposed to be 1.8 million tons. The battleship could hold up to 200 fighters. However, the project was not implemented, because after the end of hostilities, it lost its relevance.
Along with conventional weapons, great attention has always been paid to the development of chemical weapons. In most cases, these projects were fairly generously funded. But here, too, there were some curiosities. So, during the Second World War, the Americans considered the project of the "stinking bomb". They suggested that dropping containers containing gases, the aroma of which consisted at the same time of the smell of a latrine, rotten meat and a huge dump, on the German positions, would force the enemy to leave their positions. But this project, most likely, was a psychological weapon, since American soldiers who were near the zone of dropping containers could also be affected by this "chemical" weapon.
Throughout the war, German engineers worked to develop weapons of great destructive power. Some projects were so out of the ordinary that the ideas seemed to come from fictional genre literature.
For example, the "solar cannon" project was actually developed by German engineers. The essence of the project is that a device equipped with a huge mirror is put into the near-earth orbit of the earth. Its task was to focus the sunbeam and transfer its power to the ground in order to destroy enemy targets. The difficulty was that at that time there were no spacecraft, which, moreover, could be controlled by a sufficiently large crew. Also, the mirror must be truly enormous - the technology of that time had not yet reached the required level for this task. Therefore, the idea remained unrealized.
Also, the Germans created another project of an amazing cannon. So, during the war, Germany tried to create a cannon capable of creating artificial tornadoes. Although the "tornado cannon" was designed, it did not create the necessary powerful vortices at high altitude. As a result, the project was closed.
To achieve victory over the enemy, the Germans used not only technical devices, but also carried out developments in the field of parapsychology. The Americans, subsequently, not only used the experience of these studies, but also continued to work in this direction. They were seriously engaged in developments in the field of telepathy, trying to influence a person or objects at a distance. It was supposed in such a non-standard way to obtain not only the secret information of a possible enemy, without leaving their laboratories, but also to destroy specific persons from the enemy's army.
But, not only the technique was used to defeat the enemy. Man has also repeatedly used animals for reconnaissance and sabotage operations. Moreover, some episodes are not inferior to fantastic plots from films.
So, during the war years, American experts considered a project to create an army of bats. They were supposed to be used for military purposes due to their ability to carry a small load and easily penetrate buildings. The Yankees planned to "equip" these kamikaze mice with small charges of napalm and drop these troops from bombers over Japanese territory. However, this project failed. So, during the test, mice, which behave very unpredictably, flew into one of the buildings of the American air force base, where the fuel was stored. As a result of the fire, all the property of the base burned down.
Also, in the 60s, the Americans considered the project of using stray cats as carriers of eavesdropping devices. Miniature equipment was implanted into the body of the animals, and the antenna was placed on the tail. Since cats walk wherever they want, the developers believed they would have a wide range of information. But, at the first test, the spy cat fell under the wheels of a jeep belonging to the American army. If this had not happened, perhaps Soviet boys would have had the opportunity to catch meowing "bugs".
It is difficult to say how non-trivial methods can lead to victory over the enemy. But, undoubtedly, the winner is the one who can more skillfully and decisively apply his knowledge and skills in combat operations, as well as use ingenious technical and psychological solutions that are non-standard and unexpected for the enemy.
