10 Strange World War II Weapons You've Never Heard Of

Arguably one of the most influential events in human history, World War II has been studied countless times by both historians and curious knowledge seekers alike. Despite this, some aspects of World War II are not well known to the populace and some details can by downright bizarre. With stakes so high, both Axis and Allied nations strove to do whatever it took to gain the upper hand in the six year conflict. Some attempts at developing weaponry illustrate both the desperation and the desire to emerge victorious as quickly as possible. Here are ten of the weirder weapons nations concocted between 1939 and 1945.

1. Bat Bombs

Wikipedia

Concocted by dentist and friend of Eleanor Roosevelt Lytle S. Adams, the idea of using bats as incendiary bombs was taken seriously enough to get the stamp of approval from Franklin Roosevelt and the technical contributions of Louis Fieser, the inventor of napalm. Adams noted that Japanese structures were typically made of flimsy, flammable materials including paper and bamboo and figured, hey, let's strap bombs on some bats, stuff them in a bunch of containers and fly them out from Alaska. Once there, the containers would parachute down and unleash at least a million bats over industrial cities around Osaka Bay and these bats turned flying, flaming death machines would burn Japanese cities to the ground. The plan wasn't too hare brained at the time. Bats are common enough where acquiring them would be easy, they could carry more than their own weight, didn't need to be fed when they hibernated, and flew under the cover of darkness.

Although testing this new strategy led to some hiccups, bats were accidentally released and subsequently burned down an airbase, the Navy took over the project and renamed it Project X-Ray. Although it was concluded that bat bombs were more effective than regular incendiary bombs, the project was eventually scrapped when the Manhattan Project finished up and the United States had a brand new bomb all set to go. In total, this idea cost the government $2 million in research and a whole bunch of wasted time.

2. Exploding Rodents

Via military-history.org

The United States wasn't the only Allied power to consider utilizing small mammals in warfare. Under the guidance of Charles Fraser Smith, the inspiration for Q of James Bond fame, the British Special Operations Executive or SOE was tasked with thinking of unique tools to use against the Germans and thus the Exploding Rodent was born. A rat would be skinned with the skin stuffed with explosives and a pencil attached to a fuse in case the British wanted the rat to blow up at a timed moment. This macabre stuffed animal would then be left next to a boiler where the flames would set off the explosives and cause a German facility, base, or ship to turn to smithereens.

Unfortunately, the plan didn't get very far after the Germans found a large batch of the dead rat booby traps and conducted wide searches to find any more rodent carcasses to be deactivated. This was good enough for the SOE who considered the effort of German soldiers crawling around looking for vermin to be worth the effort.

3. Suicide Bomb Dogs

Another point for creativity and probable animal cruelty goes to the Allies, specifically the Soviet Union. Kamikaze dogs were being trained as early as 1935 to carry pouches or containers of timed explosives to their intended targets and drop the bombs by pulling a cord with their teeth. The plan hit a snag when the dogs opted to run back to their trainers instead with the still ticking bombs strapped to their backs so a simpler plan was devised so the Red Army soldiers wouldn't be killed by canine friendly fire.

Instead, the dogs were trained to crawl under enemy tanks so that a lever protruding from their packs would be triggered and the tank, occupants, and obedient dog would be destroyed. All in all, the weaponized dogs only carried out their mission successfully several times while others were shot by Germans or ran under the more familiar Soviet tanks instead.

4. 4. Project Habbakuk

Via mysteriesofcanada.com

What do you get when cross a ship with a hunk of ice? It's not the sinking of the Titanic. It's another idea the British invented to gain an advantage against the Axis! In an almost poetic sense of irony in history, Britain's once great Navy wasn't doing very well against the German U-boats. Since steel and aluminum was in such short supply (in such short supply that children were encouraged to collect tin cans and foil for the war effort), the British were hard pressed to find an alternative material that could withstand German torpedoes.

Enter Geoffrey Pyke, a scientist of unconventional ideas which included mounting microphones on balloons to locate aircraft. His solution to Britain's sinking ship problem was simple- build a two million ton ship made out of ice. The idea of a fighting iceberg is fascinating enough, but under Pyke's watch, this icy barge would include 40 gun turrets and an airstrip so up to 150 planes could make a safe landing. Winston Churchill dug the idea, gave it a thumbs up, and gave the plan top priority to be completed.

In honor of Pyke himself, a solution named Pykerete made up of ice and wood pulp was developed to frame the ship. As strong as concrete and easily cut, the floating ice ship was seeing great promise. The material could even withstand a torpedo and come out with only about 10 feet worth of damage to the hull.

Like all novel ideas, however, the floating iceberg idea was eventually shelved after the British noticed that the investment of wood pulp would impact paper production, the ship was crazy slow, and airplanes got so great they didn't need a place to land. To Pyke's credit though, the prototype of the ship took three years to completely melt.

5. Japanese Balloon Bombs

Via wikipedia.org

The ingenuity of the Japanese is well known, so it should come as no surprise that they developed a weapon harnessing the weather to make another land based attack on the United States. Nicknamed Fugo, the plan was to make a whole bunch of air balloons made out of paper and weighted by sandbags to float across the Pacific by jetstream to the Pacific Northwest. From there, the Japanese hoped that the fragmentation bombs attached to the balloons would set fire to the dense forests that make up the region and impact both morale and wartime production.

These blimps from Hell did manage to make their way across the Pacific. Witnesses even claimed that they looked like jellyfish floating in the sky. Some of the balloons did succeed and civilians observed the explosion of mines. A pregnant woman and five children also lost their lives when a balloon exploded in Oregon. Other countless balloons made their landing in Montana and Washington.

American scientists quickly deduced the Japanese origin of the balloons and the media was instructed to not report on any sightings or explosions from the weapons to prevent any sense of satisfaction from the Japanese side. To this day, countless balloons are unaccounted for and the exact damage the balloons caused remains unknown.

6. Fukuryi Suicide Suit

Via wikipedia.org

Japanese suicide fighters taking to the skies is well known, but the Japanese also sent suicide fighters to walk the ocean as well. Also known as 'fukuryu' or 'crouching dragons', these suicide divers were armed with a special suit, a couple of canisters of air, and a really big 33 lb mine attached to a bamboo pole. These 'kamikaze frogmen' as they were also called were able to walk an average depth of 20 ft for six hours. After they would find an enemy hull, they'd stick the bamboo rod into its side, subsequently blowing up the ship and themselves in the process. The extent of the use of these suits is unknown, but there are reports of the kamikaze frogmen successfully attacking an American gunboat and survey ship in 1945.

7. Ku-Go Death Ray

An ambitious attempt at science fiction that went nowhere, the Ku-Go Death Ray was a far reaching attempt by the Japanese at recreating Nikola Tesla's proposed prototype after reading an article about him in the paper and thinking it was a really swell idea. Work on the project began in 1943 and included Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, a future Nobel Laureate. This wasn't the first time Japan was inspired by a news article to create a death ray. In 1930, an article claimed that Germany invented a weapon utilizing electric waves to be used as air defense but technology was not evolved enough at the time to make the project a reality so the Japanese figured they could give it the old college try.

By 1939 the Japanese started tinkering with microwaves to make death rays a reality. The Ku-Go project was eventually full steam ahead to create a weapon that could stop an airplane in its aerial tracks. However, after an exhaustive amount of resources were poured into the ambitious project, the best the death ray could do was nuke a rabbit at a distance of 1,000 yards in five minutes...as long as the rabbit stayed perfectly still. The details of the project are still hazy, as all records were destroyed before Japan surrendered. And thus, the bunny killing machine became history.

8. Japanese Flying Tanks

If explosive rats, bats, and weaponized icebergs weren't bizarre enough, enter the flying tank. Developed by the Japanese and given the designated name of Special number 3 light tank Ku-Ro, this prototype was seen as an ideal solution to Japan's lack of specialized military gliders with enough capability to carry anti-tank and other heavy equipment to the battlefield.

Designed by none other than Mitsubishi, this aerial feat of wonder would be towed on a glider by a powered aircraft and then float down escorted by paratroopers to the battlefield. The tank would then shed its wings like a termite and provide much needed heavy weapon support to the Japanese infantry.

Like many pie in the sky ideas, the plan was scrapped after a single prototype was made. The Japanese conceded that it could not compete with the air supremacy of the United States and that its rapidly dwindling resources were better spent domestically as the United States made advances to Japan's outer islands in 1945.

9. The Nazi Jetcopter

The Nazis finally make a cameo on the list! As seen on Captain America, this hodge podge piece of engineering barely made it past the drafting table. Officially known as the Focke-Wulf Triebflügel, it was designed to achieve a vertical lift off like a UFO in order to defend industrial areas in the Reich that had no airfields present. Flying vertically, the rotors would spin like a helicopter. If the unit was turned to it's side, the rotors would act like a propeller. Unfortunately, it never saw use as it was developed in the late stages of the war when the Germans hit the abort button and were busy burning all their evidence. Plus the thing couldn't even land properly, giving it next to no utility.

10. 10. One wheel tank/ball tank

Via modernmechanix.com

One of the most mysterious pieces of World War II weaponry, the ball tank or 'Kugelpanzer' is only documented because the Soviets were able to seize one and only one unit in Manchuria. Other Kugelpanzers have never been found and documentation of its development is nonexistent. What we can gather is that it was manned by a single person as a reconnaissance AFV, the armor on the hull was only 5 millimeters, and it doubled as an armed shelter when it wasn't in motion. The Kugelpanzer found by the Soviets was in perfect condition and it was concluded that the tank never saw battle. That's it. That's all we know. This orphan piece of machinery can still be viewed in the Kubinka Museum where speculation still circles about the history of the vehicle.