Panzerwurfmine.
It's like anti-tank lawn darts...

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Seriously, all today is missing is free cotton candy and the annual Bay State Hooker Parade to make it any better.

The Molotov Cocktail.

Another fine invention from the creators of 'Mottis' You friendly neighborhood Finnish Army

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Errrr.... anti-tank lawn darts ??

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

CvM; did the Finns actually invent the molotov cocktail? I profess complete ignorance on that subject...

One of my favorite miscellaneous weapons is the goliath-those little radio operated bombs on wheels that the Germans tried to use to destroy tanks. Unfortunatley, using a wire is very obvious...it was still cool though.

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"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

Hey yeah, forgot about the Goliath. Originally intended to blow up pillboxes and such, but naturally if you're about to be over run by tanks you might as well try your own baby tank to get them.

Or how about those Tank dogs the Russians used. they trained them to fetch food from under their own tanks and then let them loose on the battle field in front of the german tanks. Hey, to a dog all tanks look the same especially where food is concerned. Unfortunately nobody told the dogs they were carrying a few pounds of explosives on their backs.

And for us who like the stg44 how about the krumlauf (I think it's spelt like that) attachment that let you fire around corners. Neat.

Yes dasreich, thie finns did invent that excellent device. Thats why its call 'molotov' cocktail. They were expressing their 'abhorance' of him.

CVM

[ 17 August 2002, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: Carl Von Mannerheim ]

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Yes Carl,

we did invent the Molotov cocktail. Even our precious national alcohol factory system produced these items..

But I must say this, please don´t use the Swedish flag. We hate them! The shortest book in the world: Swedish war stories!!

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Yes, Sniper, I've read somewhere about the Russian dogs ( 'minenhunde' I think the Germans called them ).
It may have been in Carell somewhere - I remember that it said that, even amidst all the other horrors of the Eastern front, German soldiers were particularly appalled by this practice.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Im late to enter this discussion (as usual) but here is my 2 cents worth.

German:
Pistol: P-38.
Submachinegun: MP-38/40.
Assault Rifle: MP-43/STG-44.
Rifle: My K-98 Sniper
MG-34.
MG-42.
Antitank Gun: 4.5?cm PAK.
Artillery Piece 88mm FLAK.
Tiger II tank.
Fighter: ME-109. (Hey if its good enough for Erich Alfred Hartmann, then its good enough for me)
M-1924 Stick Grenade w/frag sleeve or multi warhead.
Antitank Weapon: Panzerfaust (with Peter Kiesgen or Gunther Viezenz behind the sights).
Uboat: Type IX-D2 (of course).

American:
Pistol: Colt .45.
Submachinegun: Thompson .45 and the M2-Greasegun as a close second.
Rifle: M-1 Garand.
Browning Automatic Rifle (even if it was prone to jamming--its a cool looking automatic rifle).
Lt. MG: .30 cal.
Heavy MG: .50 Cal.
Fighter: P-51 Mustang.
Bomber: B-17 Flying Fort.

British:
Fighter: Spitfire MK IV. Hawker Hurricane as a very close second.
Submachinegun: Sten.
Rifle: Lithgow Lee-Enfield.
Lt. MG-Bren.

Japanese:
Zero fighter.

Russian
PPsH Submachinegun.
T-34 tank.
Yak fighter: (What the heck--it reminds me of the P-51 Mustang)

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

My god thats alot of favourites... you got your own armoury there [img]smile.gif[/img] !

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

The Anti-Tank Dog (never thought i would write that)...

Anti-tank dog mine. The dog was affixed with a large demolition charge and conditioned through starving to run under tanks. The dogs would be starved for periods of time before "service" and then be fed only by putting food under a tank. The process was repeated until the dogs were conditioned to run under the tank when released, then they were starved again, fixed with the pictured harness and released on the battlefield when enemy tanks were present. When the dog went under the tank for "food", it triggered the fuze on the dog's back and well you can imagine the consequences.

And more...
The simplicity of the dog mine must have been appealing concept in 1942 when the Russian army was still hard pressed fighting to keep the German invaders in check. The basic idea was that the dog carried on it's back a wooden box or packets containing explosives strapped on with a harness. The dogs were then trained to run underneath enemy tanks and in doing so they would tip back a vertical wooden lever on their backs, which would detonate the explosives, much to the surprise of the German tank crews and the dogs.

This however, was one simple idea that did not work terribly effectively in combat. As the dogs were trained by placing food under Soviet tanks they would run to the familiar smells and sounds of any Soviet tanks in battle rather than the strange smells and sounds of the German tanks, and with hindsight, one would also expect that in battle a dog would run anywhere but towards a moving tank firing overhead, and in doing so become a menace to everyone else on the battlefield.

The German army quickly learned of the Soviet hundminen and so spread throughout the ranks information that all Russian dogs likely to be encountered were probably rabid and so should be shot on sight. As a result all dogs virtually disappeared from the Eastern Front in the ensuing few days, making the use of dog mines all the less feasible.

Dog mines did have some success, but once their dangerous drawbacks were realised they were not used after 1942. Some reports on the Soviet Army after 1945 still contained references to dog mines however, and there were also reports of dog mines as having been used by the Viet Minh (fighting in Indo-China) in the late 1940s.

One of the most bizarre weapons...

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

Sorry, Martin (and all)! Few too many by that point...
But... there is the glimmer of sense, or at least humor, there. The panzerwurfmine worked kind of on the same principle as lawn darts... lawn darts are big heavy tipped "darts" with plastic stabilizing fins on the back (really, really, dumb. I mean REALLY dumb looking game...I've never actually played with them)... principle being, the weighted head is guided by the fins towards the target. Panzerwurfmine used a cloth streamer-type thing to achieve the same effect, but with a large hollow-charge warhead. Much more impressive than lawn darts...

(anytime you see posts of mine from friday or saturday night, well, dave's not here, if you get my drift... )

But then again, if you gents are claiming dog mines to be your "favorite" weapon, then I'm definetely not the craziest one here...

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Seriously, all today is missing is free cotton candy and the annual Bay State Hooker Parade to make it any better.

Well, actually I don't know if Anti-tank dogs is my favourite weapon but definitely one of those "Wow, who thought that one up ?" weapons.
Like the balloon bombs that the Japs sent over to the US with Incendiery bombs attached to set fire to the forests.

Imagine walking into your superior officers' conference and saying "hey, I've got a great idea, let's bomb the americans with balloons!!"

They'd either court-martial you or promote you to somewhere you couldn't do any harm.

Many thanks for the 'A/T Dog' info, RedBaron. Definitely in the 'truth is stranger than fiction' category.

Er, favourite weapon ??? No thanks, I'll stick to the MP44, thank you very much !!

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I think I'll stay with the Gustav myself.

...but very interesting about "minenhunde"

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"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

One of the weapon systems that amazed me was "schräge musik", cannons on the back of the aeroplane like Me 110, and as you in nachtjagd flew under the allied bomber you shot it in the stomach. This was often dangerous to the german pilot as well, as the bomber might fall on the german plane. Yet this is quite ingenious stuff as the allied pilots wouldn´t see you easily as you were under it ( B17 one of the exceptions? ).

See one site covering this:http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...n/fgun-uf.html

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http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...n/fgun-uf.html

This one works?

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It works, and thanks for the link, Kai.

Schrage Musik was was indeed simple but very, very deadly. Few bomber crews survived to tell the tale of a Schrage Musik attack.

One also has to admire the cool nerve and precision of the Nachtjagd aces.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I think ww2 is perhaps the best time period to find examples of the "who thought of that one?!?!" category.

The Krumlauf (sp?)- the curved barrel attachment for the StG44...

The British Archer tank destroyer- mounted it's gun facing backwards, to (in theory) allow for ambushes, then a quick getaway...

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Seriously, all today is missing is free cotton candy and the annual Bay State Hooker Parade to make it any better.

I think Britain was probably the best at dreaming up unlikely 'secret weapons'. One that springs to mind is 'Panjandrum' - a sort of giant explosive rocket-propelled Catherine-wheel which is legendary for almost wiping out a group of VIPs and attendant film crew when being tested !

'Back to the drawing board....'

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

As we're starting to drift off topic a little, I thought I'd have some fun and tot up the WWII Forums Top 3 Fave Weapons chart. Starting with...

Number Three : Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress ( 4 votes )

Number Two : Tiger II ( King Tiger ) ( 5 votes ) [img]smile.gif[/img]

and at Number One : MP/STG 44 ( 7 votes ).

Come on down !

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Boeing B17 flying fortress, P-40 Warhawk

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