Well, we have a thread on the dumbest, and on the most worthless, how about a discussion of the most clever / inventive? This has to be a weapon that when introduced the enemy never saw it coming and that had a good positive impact for the inventing nation. Choices?

Without a doubt the British invented Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) round!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first sabot rounds (the ones used by the 17-pounder) the basic cup sabots?

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I have a feeling Tony Williams would have some great insights on this topic.

As for my opinion I'd have to say the US development of the proximity fuse. It made anti-ground and especially anti-aircraft artillery much more deadly. To my knowledge the Japanese had no idea that this technology even existed until after the war.

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"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Socrates

Wallis' damn buster bomb, platform and drop.

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OK, I'll admit that my immediate emotional response to the question is 'Upkeep/The Dam Busters Bomb'.....

But , after sitting here thinking about it a little, and reading TA's original question, my reaction becomes : 'Upkeep / The Dam Busters Bomb'.....

There are so many other worthy contenders : those mentioned above, the V2, etc etc.

But the timing of Upkeep is the clincher for me. A clever piece of lateral thinking which the enemy literally didn't see coming allied to brilliant design/development work with numerous minor problems overcome in a very short space of time. But in early '43 nothing much seemed to be going right and 'war-weariness' was being felt in Britain. Although, as we now know, the physical result of the Raid was nowhere near as decisive as had been hoped, the emotional/PR impact in Great Britain was huge - it created a feeling that Britain in general, and the RAF in particular, could 'achieve the impossible'.

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the Churchill crocodile! Even the sight of one would make the Germans surrender!

All of Hobart's funnies where very useful. If the Americans had more of them, Omaha would of been easer

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Caption reads: Laxatives caused an elephant called Stefan to release an out-pouring of poo, burying it's pitiful trainer alive.

Fritz X guided bomb for Germans.

T-34 for Soviets.

Mosquito/ Tall boy for the Western allied.

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This fits TA's description.............Blitzkreig. Not really a weapon, but a combination of all weapons.


Or Germans's use of "shaped charges". First used to bust through the concrete emplacements of Eben Emael. Later use........the panzerfaust.

With out a doubt the T-34 for the Soviets, later upgraded to the T-34/85.

The MG42 for the Germans.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

V-2 = forerunner of the arms race as well as the space race

Agree with MG42 = forerunner of the US M-60

Sturmgewehr = forerunner of todays assault rifle

Spam = Weapon against hunger

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Spam is a great answer.

The A-Bomb was pretty clever & inventive.

Peppy >>> knowns that the PanzerPenguin is the most clever/inventive weapon on the WWII Forums

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Phear der PanzerPenguin!
HellFish love teh

thank you sir. Didn't you know, SPAM won the whole war!

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Spam fritters, roast spam, spam sandwiches, is there nothing it can't do? The only thing better is corned beef!

I reckon among the most inventive weapons are the Soviet dog mine (you didn't say it had to work) and the German wooden/glass mines.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

The German "Goliath" remote controlled tank killer.


Looks kind of like modern day bomb disposal robots.

Forgot this one

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

It would be quite fun being a German soldier watching Allied soldiers being chased by a golioth.
And it may look like a bomb disposal robot, but it certainly isn't!

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Caption reads: Laxatives caused an elephant called Stefan to release an out-pouring of poo, burying it's pitiful trainer alive.

Not as fun as watching the Germans run from the Katyusha!!

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

True! Though I would personally want to find myself under attack from regular Artillery, like most of us.

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Caption reads: Laxatives caused an elephant called Stefan to release an out-pouring of poo, burying it's pitiful trainer alive.

Now for the 1st dumb answer of the thread:

My vote is "Ultra" Not a weapon but the Germans didn't see it comming that's for sure!!

In the years running up to the war Poland had worked on various techniques for cracking Enigma. Shortly before the German invasion of Poland, they shared their work with their British allies. Poland's government was the first to employ mathematicians as code-breakers, and the mathematicians' logical minds proved to be just what was needed to tackle Enigma.

That 1 "weapon" or secret shortened the war by at least 2 years..and could of been the turning point, or the deciding factor in winning the war.

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Facta non verba. "Deeds, not words"

I doubt that too much. It was on a tether[wire] so the operator couldn't be too far away. An infantryman could shoot or at least toss grenades at it.LOL
I think it was for close quarters or buttoned up tanks that can't see a whole lot.

As I understood it, it was designed to move towards and blow up static defences (barbed wire, bunkers and so on) which troops could not approach.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

I like all the above answers, Spam was really good ! Powdered eggs to go with it.

I would add to the list the German helmet. It was better than anything the allies had and the Japanese and most countries use helmets that look like it today but made with kevlar. The British pie pan helmet does not look like it was worth the metal it was made of.

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