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German Secret Weapons of WWII
by Emmanuel Gustin

Contents:

Surface-to-Surface Missiles

A-4

The A-4, also known as the V-2, was a ballistic missile. Its rocket engine used liquid oxygen and alcohol, pumped in the thrust chamber by specially developed turbopumps. The V-2 could carry its 910kg warhead at distances up to 320km. Once launched it could not be intercepted. The launchers were mobile, including a so-called Meillerwagen to carry the missile itself. Slave workers in underground plants produced about 10,000, but less than half were actually fired, primarily at London and Antwerp. Planned developments included the winged A-4b and the intercontinental A-10. The A-4 was extensively tested by the allied after the war, and the engineers who developed it contributed to later ICBM and space programmes. However, the V-2 was probably a failure as a weapon, because its cost was too high compared to the damage it did.

Fieseler Fi 103

Also known as the V-1 or FZG 76, this was the first practical cruise missile. The Fi 103 was a small aircraft, with a wing span of 5.3m or 4.87m depending on the model. It was powered by a pulse-jet engine, the noise of which lead to the nickname of buzz-bomb. To bring the V-1 up to the working speed of the engine, the Fi 103 was launched from a ramp or carried into the air by a launch aircraft. A compass controlled the course, and the travelled distance was measured by a small propeller. At the end of the range, the V-1 was steered into a steep dive. The acceleration then caused the engine to stop, but because this gave prior warning of the impact later V-1s were modified to prevent this. The V-1 flew at low altitude, and its speed just allowed the fastest allied fighters to intercept it. This, and the use of proximity fuses by the AAA, made an effective defence against it possible. London was hit by 2419 V-1s; Antwerp by 2448.

See also the V-1 Page.

Rheinbote

The Rheinbote was a four-stage, unguided long-range artillery missile. It was a solid-fuel missile with very slim proportions. It was 11.4m long, weighed 1715kg at launch, and had a range of 215km. Its warhead was only 44kg. About 200 were fired at Antwerp in late 1944.

V-3

The V-3 or Hockdrückpumpe was not a missile system, but an advanced gun. The concept was to accelerate a fairly conventional, big projectile by detonations of charges in multiple chambers that were spaced out along the barrel.

Air-to-Surface Missiles

Blohm und Voss Bv 143

The Bv 143 was a glide bomb for anti-ship use, accelerated by a rocket engine. It was a primitive sea-skimming missile. A feeler arm was designed to keep the Bv 143 about 2m above the water, but it did not work properly, and the missile was cancelled.

Blohm und Voss Bv 246 Hagelkorn

The Hagelkorn was an unpowered long-range glide bomb. It had an excellently streamlined fuselage, and wings with a very high aspect ratio. Construction of the wings was unusual: The aerofoils were made of concrete, around a steel core. Range was up to 200km if released from 10,000m. Several guidance systems were tried, including the Radieschen radar homing system. This made Hagelkorn one of the first anti-radar missiles. Over 1100 were produced before the project was cancelled.

Friedensengel

The Friedensengel was a set of wings and tail surfaces, designed to extend the range of a standard 765kg air-launched torpedo. The onboard control system also freed the launch aircraft from the need to maintain the exact speed and altitude required by the torpedo. About 450 were produced.

Fritz-X

Fritz-X, also known as FX-1400, was the first successful guided bomb. It consisted of a 1400kg armour-piercing bomb, fitted with four wings in a cruciform arrangement, and a tail ring with spoilers for control. It was usually carried by specially equipped Do 217 or He 177 bombers. In the launch aircraft, an operator steered the bomb to its target using a radio command link. Two hits with Fritz-X sank the Italian battleship Roma. Others seriously damaged the Italia and the British battleship Warspite, sank the cruiser Spartan, and damaged the cruisers Savannah and Uganda. Production of Fritz-X was limited to about 1400.

Henschel Hs 293

This was the first guided missile that entered service in large numbers. The Hs 293 was a glide bomb of aeroplane configuration, with a underslung rocket engine. It was carried by bombers like the He 111, He 177, Do 217 or Fw 200. A radio command link was standard, and a flare in the tail burned to help the operator sighting. There were also versions with wire guidance, and the experimental Hs 293D had TV guidance. The sloop HMS Egret, on 27 August 1943, had the dubious honour of being the first ship sunk by a guided missile. Many other victims followed, including five destroyers. Over 2300 Hs 293 missiles were fired.

Henschel Hs 294

Derivative of the Hs 293. It was intended as a anti-ship weapon, travelling to final trajectory to its target underwater.

Henschel GT 1200

The GT 1200 was a powered glide bomb for use against ships. It was designed to dive into the water at the end of its trajectory.

Mistel

The Mistel combinations consisted of a twin-engined bomber, in practice almost always a modified Ju 88, with a fighter (Bf 109 or Fw 190) mounted on top. The bomber was unmanned, its cockpit replaced by a large (3500kg) shaped-charge warhead, and additional tanks were installed to transfer fuel to the fighter. The combination was controlled by the pilot of the fighter. He would aim the Mistel at a target, then uncouple his fighter to fly back home. Over 250 were built. Plans for large scale operations, e.g. against Soviet power stations, were abandoned.

Schneewittchen

This was an improvement of Friedensengel. Few were delivered.

Zitteroschen

Zitteroschen was the first supersonic, winged, and guided missile. Intended for use against ground targets, it had small triangular wings and two rocket motors. It did not enter production.

Surface-to-Air Missiles

Enzian

The design of Enzian was inspired by the Me 163 rocket-powered fighter aircraft. Its delta-wing layout and relatively fat fuselage were similar. It had four boost engines and a sustainer. A small number was built, but problems with the engines and the guidance system were never resolved.

Feuerlilie

Anti-aircraft missile. It had a streamlined body and twin tail fins. It was powered by a rocket engine and had radio command guidance. Although development continued until the end of the war, it was never ready.

Hecht

Surface-to-air missile, in development until it was replaced by more promising designs in 1941.

Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling

Of all experimental surface-to-air missiles, this one came closest to an operational weapons system. At the end of the war it was in production, but it was never operationally used. With a length of 4.29m, it was a relatively small missile. Its shape was that of a small aircraft, with a sustainer rocket engine in its body, and two boost engines, mounted above and below its fuselage. Range was about 32km, and it could be used against targets up to 10,000m high, although in such cases guidance problems were considerable: Aiming was visual, by means of a radio command link. There were also experiments with air-drops, with the use of radar for guidance, and with proximity fuses.

Rheintochter

This was a large anti-aircraft missile, rather crude in design. It had four tail fins, six fins on the center body, and four canard control fins. It had a boost engine in the tail, and a sustainer in the front fuselage. Control was again visual aiming with a radio command link. Rheintochter III was smaller than Rheintochter I, but had better performance. The project was abandoned in December 1944.

Taifun

This was an unguided anti-aircraft weapon. It was a simple, 1.93m long, spin-stabilized rocket with a 0.5kg warhead. Taifun was accelerated to Mach 3+, and could reach altitudes up to 15000m. It was intended to fire salvos of 30 missiles. At the end of the war it was in mass production.

Wasserfall

The Wasserfall SAM was developed at Peenemüde, and was based on experience with the A-4, also known as V-2. It was smaller, but of similar shape and also powered by liquid fuels. The operator used input from radars tracking both the target and the missile to steer it, using a radio command link. A proximity fuse would ignite the 235kg warhead. The program was cancelled in February 1945, when it was close to the production stage.

Air-to-Air Missiles

Henschel Hs 298

This was the world's first AAM, but it never entered production. It had the shape of a small aircraft. Like other German missiles, it used radio command guidance, although a wire-guided version was also developed. It was planned to fit a proximity fuse for the 25kg warhead. Over 300 were fired in tests. Range was about 9km.

Kramer X-4

The X-4, also known as RK 344, was probably the first practical AAM. It had four wings, arranged in cruciform shape, and four small control fins. Two guidance wires were unrolled from spools on the wings. Range was about 3.5km, with the missile preferrably fired from about 1.5km distance. It had a 20kg warhead. Hundreds were test fired, and in some occasions test missiles seem to have been fired in anger. But no X-4 missiles reached operational units.

R4M

This was a simple unguided rocket, with a diameter of 55mm. They were stabilized by eight folding fins. Fighters such as the Me 262 could carry wooden racks with twelve R4M missiles under the outboard wing panels. With a range of 1500m and a warhead of 0.5kg, they were very effective against allied bombers. There was also a version with an armour-penetrating shaped-charge warhead. The R4M was not used on a large scale, but after the war many airforces introduced folding-fin aircraft rockets (FFAR) based on the R4M.

Anti-tank Missiles

Kramer X-7 Rotkäppchen

This was a wire-guided anti-tank missile. The X-7 had a short, fat body, large twin fins, and a trailing arm carrying the guidance wire spool. It had a 2.5kg shaped-charge warhead. Small numbers of pre-production missiles were used in combat. There was also a Steinbock version with IR homing guidance.

Peipenkopf

This anti-tank missile used electro-optical guidance.

Pinsel

This anti-tank missile used electro-optical guidance.

Radar and Electronics

FuG 200 Hohentwiel

Anti-ship radar, installed on large maritime patrol aircraft such as the Fw 200.

FuG 202 Lichtenstein BC

Nightfighter radar. Lichtenstein operated on 409MHz, had a maximum range of 4km, and a minimum range of 200m. The aerials had four masts on the nose of the aircraft, each with an X-frame on top that carried four tandems of vertical dipoles.

FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1

Nightfighter radar, a simplified and updated FuG 202. It had longer masts, with a small streamlined cap over the nose of the mast.

FuG 218 Neptun

Airborne radar. Frequency could be set between 158 and 187MHz, its maximum range was 5km, its minimum range 130m. Its aerials were arranged as a single nose mast with a large X-cross, or as four masts, and a tandem set of dipoles on each tip of the cross. A small mast on top of the vertical fin was fitted for tail-warning. A version with four sets of three antennas was fitted to the Fw 190.


FuG 218 Neptun radar on a Ju 88G nightfighter.

FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2

Nightfighter radar. The first version operated at 91MHz, and had a maximum range 5km, with a minimum range 500m. It was often combined with FuG 202 and FuG 212 because of the large minimum range, until this was cured. Later sets could use different frequency bands and also had a switchover capability for short ranges. Typical for the SN-2 radar were four large curved masts, each carrying a tandem set of vertical dipoles. Later sets had the dipoles not vertical but at 45 degrees. Some sets also had a tail-waring antenna, fitted under the tailplane or on the rudder.

FuG 227 Flensburg

The Flensburg was a passive homing device, tracking the allied Monica tail-warning radar sets. Antennea were fitted to the outer wing panels, projecting from the leading edges. The allied reacted by removing Monica from their aircraft.

FuG 240 Berlin

Centimetre-wave airborne radar. Berlin used a wavelength of 10cm and was based on captured examples of the British cavity magnetron. The parabolic dish antenna was installed inside a streamlined nose cover. Between 30 to 50 were issued to service units, mostly on the Ju 88G-6.

FuG 350 Naxos Z

Naxos detected the emissions of the H2S ground-mapping radar sets of allied bombers. It was installed in a teardrop-shaped cover. The use of Naxos caused a scare among allied bomber crews, but it was not actually capable of tracking H2S-equipped bombers with sufficient precision for an intercept. It did guide nightfighters to the bomber stream, detecting them at a distance of 60km.

Other versions of Naxos were used by U-boats to warn them against the approach of allied aircraft with ASV radar.

FuGM 80 Freya

This was a long-range ground radar. It is little known that the Germans had operational radar in the beginning of the war, and used it effectively against British bomber raids. Freya had a range of 120km. It operated at a frequency of 125MHz. Range precision was 125m, angle precision 0.5 degrees.

FuGM 402 Wassermann

Long-range ground detection radar. Range 190km, frequency between 120 and 158MHz. Range precision 300m, angle precision 0.25 degrees.

Knickebein

The Knickebein was the radio navigation system used by German bombers in the first phase of the battle of Britain. It was based on the Lorentz landing aid system: A ground station transmitted two overlapping beams, coded with Morse pulses. By listening to the receiver, the pilot could determine whether he was in the left beam, the right beam, or in the overlapping area that would lead him to the target. The receiver was just a more sensitive version of the standard blind landing aid, and therefore was not identified by the British. However, when the 30MHz beams were finally detected, they were easily jammed. The rumour that the British were able to "bend" the beams is baseless.

Wurzburg, FuGM 39/62

Short-range ground radar. Range 170km, frequency 560MHz, range precision 100m, angle precision 0.2 degrees. This type of radar was most frequently used to guide nightfighters to their targets.

FuMO 51 Mammut

Long-range ground detection radar. Range up to 300km, frequency between 120 and 138MHz. Range precision 300m, angle precision 0.5 degrees.

Kiel

IR detector.

Metox

Also known as the Biscay Cross because of its shape, this was a radar warning receiver carried by U-boats. It warned them against the presence of aircraft with long-wavelength ASV radars. It was ineffective against centimetric radars, for which the Naxos receiver was developed.

Morgenstern

Alternate antenna arrangment for the Lichtenstein (or Neptun?) radar. A single mast carried three crosses of antennas, decreasing in size towards the tip. This reduced drag. Sometimes fitted in a conical nose cover, with the tips of the anttenas protruding from it.

Spanner

IR detectors. Spanner I used an IR searchlight, Spanner II used passive detection only. Only Spanner I was of any use.

X-Geräte

Another radio navigation aid, this was far more sophisticated than Knickebein. Apart from a broad and narrow beam that guided the bomber in the direction of the target, three crossing beams were used, that allowed the calculation of ground speed and the timing of the bomb release. In this way blind bombing was possible. A disadvantage was that X-Geräte was a fully automated system, and more sensitive to jamming.

Y-Geräte

The Y-Geräte navigation system again used a single directional beam. A transponder in the aircraft retransmitted the signal to the ground station, thus allowing it to calculate the distance to the target. Like X-Geräte, it was used by elite "pathfinder" crews in specially equipped aircraft.

Aircraft Guns

G 104

The G 104 was an enormous recoilless gun, with a calibre of 365mm and 10m long. The idea was that the carrier aircraft would swing out the barrel, then make a diving attack on the target. The tube was open at both ends, and a weight was fired rearwards at the same time as the projectile. It never entered service. Muzzle velocity was 470m/s.

Gustloff Suhl Reichswerk HF 15

The HF 15 was a highly unusual gun. The round contained a single charge and seven or nine 15mm projectiles, fired in a single burst a at an extremely high (36000rpm) rate.

Hermann Goering Werke SG 116

The recoilless SG 116 used the barrel of the MK 103 high-velocity 30mm cannon. It fired a weight rearwards to cancel the recoil. Each barrel was a single-shot weapon, so a number were installed, triggered by a photocell.

Mauser MG 213C

This was a revolutionary design: The first revolver cannon. It used a five-chamber cylinder, with the firing split in three actions. The MG 213C was never produced in series, but after the war it inspired the American Pontiac M39, the British Aden and the French DEFA cannon. Both 20mm and 30mm versions were developed. The 20mm had a rate of fire of 1400rpm and a muzzle velocity of 1050m/s. The 30mm version fired at 1200rpm, but muzzle velocity was down to about 550m/s.

Rheinmetall SG 113

The SG 113 was a simple recoilless 77mm gun. Each barrel contained a charge, a projectile and a counterweight. A few were installed in service aircraft, firing downwards or upwards.

Rheinmetall SG 117

This was a seven-barrel recoilless gun. The barrels were fired in sequence when the gun was triggered by a photocell. The barrels of the MK 108 low-velocity 30mm cannon were used. The SG 117 remained experimental.

Rheinmetall SG 118

This was a 21-barrel version of the SG 117.

Rheinmetall SG 119

This was a combination of seven SG 117s, and therefore had 49 barrels.

U-boot warfare

Type XVIII U-boot

The XVIII was the first operational submarine design to use the Walter drive. The Walter engine used hydrogen peroxide for combustion, instead of outside air. Hydrogen peroxide is a liquid that can be stored in tanks aboard a submarine, but it also highly reactive and therefore dangerous. With the Walter engine the Type XVIII reached a speed of 24 knots underwater, but it was considered too dangerous. Orders for this type were cancelled in favour of the type XXI.

Type XXI U-boot

Derived from the hull of the type XVIII, the type XXI had a diesel-electric engine system comparable to that of older U-boats, but with greatly enlarged battery capacity. This earned it the name "Elektrik Boot". Together with the streamlined hull this allowed the type XXI to reach high speeds under water (17 knots submerged, 16 knots on the surface) and stay under water for up to three days. This made the 2100-ton type XXI U-boot a much more dangerous adversary than the older type VII, which had become far too vulnerable to allied aircraft. It carried 23 torpedoes for its six tubes, which were loaded hydraulically. Shipyards delivered 120 of this type to the Kriegsmarine, but it was too late. The type XXI was much copied after the war.

Type XXIII U-boot

The type XXIII was a 275-ton submarine for coastal operations. Like the XXI, it had an enlarged battery capacity. It was much smaller, and carried only two torpedoes. About 60 were delivered.

Acoustic Torpedoes

The T4, T5 Zaunkönig and T11 torpedoes were fitted with primitive acoustic homing devices. These were primarily intended for use against escort vessels. However, both the T4 and T5 were easily diverted by noisemaking decoys, which were towed by allied ships. The T11 did not enter service.

In a different category were the FAT and LUT devices. Fitted to standard torpedoes, these caused them to run in a preset pattern, instead of a straight line. They were intended for use against convoys.

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