War is often portrayed in films as very straightforward and well-structured, at least in terms of how it's planned and executed. Things get terrifying and tense on the battlefield, but behind the scenes, it seems like there's a well-oiled machine orchestrating the force.
In reality, war is surprisingly unpredictable, and nothing is set in stone. Being smarter than your enemy requires a lot of thinking outside the box, and this has led to some incredible and almost unbelievable innovations, such as these from World War II.
10. Kaiten-class suicide torpedoes
The first successful test of a torpedo dates back to In 1866 , and torpedoes have been a staple of naval warfare ever since. Over the years, they've become smarter and more powerful as technology advances, but the basic idea of an underwater missile has remained largely the same.
During World War II, the Japanese developed the Kaiten class torpedo, which was radically different from a conventional torpedo in one very important way - they were guided manually .
Essentially a very small submarine piloted by one man, they meant death for that pilot because, well, obviously. The poor sailor was stuck inside the torpedo. Like the more famous kamikaze pilots who sacrificed their lives in the sky, kaiten torpedo pilots were sealed in a pipe , and then, as they approached the target, they would surface to adjust direction if necessary.
They could arm their warheads and make a run at an enemy vessel. If successful, the pilot would blow himself up along with the enemy. If unsuccessful, they could make a second attempt. If this run also failed, they could initiate self-destruction, which would kill them as well. Early prototypes had an escape mechanism, but later versions did not. Death was the only option.
9. Rescue buoys
We've all probably seen a World War II movie about a dogfight in which a plane is shot down, and then, moments later, the parachute opens and the pilot slowly descends to the ground. In most movies, the action continues, and we rarely see what happened. But in real life, if that pilot had been shot down over water, they might have attempted to find the Retteungsboje buoy.
Part of the German war effort, Retteungsbojen were emergency rescue buoys located in the English Channel. If a German pilot was shot down and survived, he could attempt to reach one of the 50 or so buoys the Luftwaffe had anchored there.
Essentially a life raft anchored in the English Channel, pilots could enter the buoy and find a small living space of about 43 square feet with food, water, blankets, and dry clothes. There were even games and a cooking area. The buoy could accommodate four people, and a radio transmitter allowed them to call rescuers.
The British had similar life buoys , which offered similar amenities to allies awaiting rescue.
8. Camouflage spotters for colorblind people
Natural camouflage has probably been around as long as hunting. After all, animals use it, and humans have likely realized that sometimes it's better to hide than to stand in the open. But military camouflage has a long history. by 1914 , meaning that by the start of World War II, it was widespread, but still quite unique to most people who fought in the war. Finding a way to overcome this required innovative thinking.
People who are colorblind, as it happens, are remarkably good at spotting camouflage. Because they were more prone focus on the outlines и patterns , which distinguish objects rather than color, were used during the war to help spot German positions from spy planes. It has even been suggested that color blindness is not necessarily a disability, but an evolutionary one. an advantage for hunters since the days when the key to survival was the need to detect both predators and prey in the world.
7. Earthquake Bombs
Every bomb is designed to cause some kind of damage, and the larger they are, the more destructive they can be. The Tallboy was intended to be the most destructive bomb in the British arsenal, not because it operated above ground, but underground. It was designed as a seismic bomb, a weapon that would literally cause an earthquake and destroy everything around it.
The original plans called for the bomb to weighed 20,000 pounds , It was heavier than any other bomb, and no aircraft could carry it. It would also have to be dropped from 40,000 feet, which, again, no aircraft could do. The designer changed his methods and came up with a somewhat more reasonable bomb, weighing 12,000 pounds, to be dropped from 18,000 feet.
The bombs were used to destroy underground targets such as railway tunnels, submarine pens, and weapons factories. The British dropped 854 of them during the war, including one discovered in 2020, exploded while being recovered from the Baltic Sea in Poland, where it had been dropped on a German ship during a 1945 raid.
6. Black Widow Silk
If you had to come up with a way to make war more horrific, what would you include? If you suggested spiders, perhaps the infamous black widow spider, you're in luck. They actually made a significant contribution to World War II, one most of us never read about in history.
Even if you've never used a firearm, you've probably seen crosshairs in pictures or movies. And while it may seem like crosshairs are simply lines drawn on the sight, that's not the case. These sights were made with crosshairs made from black widow silk.
As early as 1943, the US military used several spiders that produced up to 180 feet of thread , which was then used to produce rifle scopes. They chose the black widow because, despite its dangerous reputation, it's a very slow spider, making it easier to handle. They're also not as deadly as people think, although you're still best off avoiding bites.
Spider thread was the ideal material because its diameter was about one-fifth that of a human hair, yet it was extremely strong and difficult to break. Its elasticity ensured that stretching it for use in crosshair production worked like a charm. The Army actually took over the job. silk harvesting , and for some people it became a side hustle long before anyone used the term.
5. Remote-controlled tanks
Remote-controlled war machines are something we're all too familiar with in today's world, with the proliferation of drones. But unmanned vehicles aren't as new as you might think, and the Soviets actually had unmanned tanks back in the 1930s.
The Soviets were inspired by a 1915 French project, which envisioned a kind of unmanned tank that could carry a 200-kilogram (441-pound) payload of explosives to a target. In the early 1930s, the Soviets launched their own the first teletanks , made from a modernized T-18 tank that could be controlled by radio, though it proved painfully slow, with a top speed of less than three miles per hour. It could move forward, backward, left, and right. But this proved to be the basis for later models that could operate faster and do more.
In combat, another tank controlled the teletank from behind. But a remote-controlled tank must be very well armed and is capable of using flamethrowers, smoke grenades and even time bombs.
4. Anise Balls Candy Mine Timers
The concept of a time bomb is quite simple. You have an explosive charge that is triggered by a timer set to go off after a certain amount of time. A mine with saucers was such a device, and its design was legendary. After all, who needs an electronic chronometer when a lollipop will do?
The idea behind the mines was that they could be easily attached to the hull of an enemy ship by a diver in the water. They were supposed to detach after a certain amount of time, allowing the diver to escape. They also had to be safe for use in the water.
The idea of a spring-loaded trigger was developed, and a water-soluble ball would be used to hold the spring. It turned out that anise balls were hard enough to hold the spring, but they dissolved like a clock in just a few minutes. 30 minutes .
3. Glider Rescue Mission in New Guinea
Rescue missions are often delicate and precarious even at the best of times. When a plane crashed in New Guinea in 1945, the rescue effort had to venture into unknown territory, literally and metaphorically, to bring the survivors back.
At that time, most of New Guinea was unexplored by anyone outside. The native population was very primitive and isolated By Western standards, the way of life, and access to the unknown jungle from the outside was literally impossible.
The three survivors reached a clearing, where they were found by rescue aircraft and local residents. Believing the locals to be cannibals, the plane crash survivors found themselves in a dangerous place. Until they met a local tribal leader, they smiled at each other, and despite the obvious language barrier, became friends.
The paratroopers and the documentary filmmaker parachuted, although there was still no escape route, and it was decided that gliders would be the best and only solution to the problem. Planes dropped small gliders to which survivors could strap themselves, and then they latched onto other planes making low passes, pulling them all to safety. And, amazingly, it worked.
2. Jetpacks
Few things foreshadow the future as easily as the jetpack. They've been a staple of science fiction for years, especially in tales like "The Rocketeer" and even "Iron Man," which essentially uses jetpacks for flight. A personal flying machine, requiring no large machine or wings, has the enticing quality of science conquering nature. But in reality, it's also proven far more elusive. Managing fuel, propulsion, lift, navigation—there are a host of factors that, until recently, made jetpacks largely impractical. Or so it seemed.
It turns out the Nazis had jetpacks. Or at least one jetpack. Known as Himmelstürmer , it used a pulse jet engine and was designed to allow Nazi soldiers to overcome enemy defenses such as minefields or fences. The soldier could jump onto distance 180 feet from a height of 50 feet. However, it was never intended for long-term flight.
The device was never used on the battlefield, as the war had already ended by that time.
1. Stinking War
Not all weapons are meant to kill, and sometimes non-lethal weapons can decimate an enemy even more effectively than lethal ones. This is part of the thinking behind psychological warfare, the use of tools to break the enemy's spirit and, in some cases, force them to flee in desperate panic to escape the worst scent.
In 1943, chemists were recruited to develop something that would later be called "« "Who, me?". It would be such a foul stench that it could cleanse buildings and make people sick. But ideally, it would undermine the enemy's morale, turning them into stinking debauchees shunned by their non-smelly peers, and causing terrible embarrassment . Based on these clues alone, it becomes abundantly clear that the goal was to create a weapon that would convince people the enemy had lost control of their intestines and was carrying a stench with them. But the reality was even worse.
The team came up with a mixture that smelled like "vomit, rancid butter, urine, rotten eggs, foot odor, and excrement." Unfortunately, the war ended before it could be deployed on the battlefield, so we'll never know how effective it might have been.