WWII Weapons

As the war developed, so did the weapons used throughout it. From the straight forward rifle, right down to the development of the nuclear bomb, weapons were developed to try to gain an advantage over the opposition.

The Second World War is normally credited for bringing into being the stable version of the hand held machine gun. While used in the World War I, the machine gun, otherwise known as the Gatlin gun, was very inaccurate and couldn’t be moved about. Yet with the need for development in World War II, machine guns were manufactured smaller and the creation of submachine guns meant that they could be carried by even infantry troops.

Another weapons development in world war 2 were the infamous V1 and V2 rockets. The V1 was more commonly referred to as the Doodlebug. It was the first ever guided missile and was fired with the aid of ramps from Germany in 1944 and 1945. Developed by the German Luftwaffe, these “vengeance” weapons were feared throughout the entirety of the blitz. Not only were these the first pilot less missiles to be created, they had an sound mechanism on them that made them make a high pitched noise as it dropped from the sky so civilians knew when one was coming. The V2 rocket was later created and did not require the large ramps to launch from. These are far more like the heavy guided missiles we have today, launching from a standing up position and are accredited for the first steps of putting man on the moon.

The final most significant weapon development of World War 2 was the nuclear bomb, created by the USA and dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is normally referred to as the weapon that ended the war. Bombs were used in great numbers throughout the 6 years, yet none of them were anywhere near as powerful as the atomic bomb that the USA used. People to this day still argue whether or not it was ethically correct to have even used it to end the war, yet it accomplished its purpose and goes to show how far technology can advance through times of war.