Crazy Nazi inventions and schemes

[Mikko H.]

Welthaupstadt Germania and its projected colossal buildings should make on the list!

[phylo_roadking]

Don't forget....FANTA!!!

[manfred topfer]

Welthaupstadt Germania and its projected colossal buildings should make on the list!

Some architects say that the great dome Hitler planned to build would have collapsed as soon as the wood supports were taken away. What a sight that would have been.....

[bil]

Not if they filled it with hydrogen first!OOPS-tried that once.... ---bil Although the propoganda tours with zeppelins would make an interesting story-the tour was overshadowed by the Hindenberg disaster,the US has a postal stamp with one on it!

[Sewer King]

Surprisingly, no one yet put in the Vortex Cannon attributed to a Dr. Zippermeyer.

Can it be said that Nazi Germany came up with more outlandish grand schemes and secret weapons than other combatants did? The Japanese fielded their trans-Pacific bombing balloons; the Americans considered incendiary bat bombs; Winston Churchill was interested in Project Habbakuk, a mammoth floating airbase built from compounded ice.

-- Alan

[Karl]

Komet and volksturm

[phylo_roadking]

Komet and volksturm

Neither were unique. There were a number of rocket-powered and rocket-assisted Russian types drawn up during the war - Sergei Korolev produced at least two IIRC They were just....not very good And Dad's Army came a long time before the Volksturm...and from the point of view of the original poster are a LOT more celebrated in the media and public cionsciousness than the Volksturm.

[Karl]

nobody said they were - why we didn't bother with stupid schemes like concentration camps and killing jews....even less original (like smartassing but some just can't help it) but what is nowadays... :roll:

[King Rollo]

Guy,
I am not sure the title "crazy" is really suitable for a number of the projects listed, agreed the crypto-nordic & mystic aspirations of Himmler could be viewed as "nutty" but the reasoning behind it wasn't, control & order of the population.
The other stuff is fairly common throughout all the participants of the war, gather together the brains of the nation and come up with something, anything we can use. Think Maskalyne (spelling?), Turing, Hobart's funnies, iceberg aircraft carriers & anthrax on Gruinard Island and all nations could be tagged "crazy"!

In addition, a few of these crazy ideas bore ripe fruit, as others have pointed out - who headed the Mercury & Gemini space programmes, not an American? Surely a more balanced story would incorporate all nations "crazy" ideas? If you want a few they are out there, try landing on an occupied beach with a big record player to simulate a complete landing, Hollywood here I go!

[duke22]

The Nazi's also invented aids, cancer, and the bad parts of the internet - FACT.

[Eddy Marz]

Hi everyone;

Concerning Tibet, the Ahnenerbe did organize research expeditions, the major part of which were led by Sven Hedin and the Internal Asian Institute. Hedin's contact within the Ahnenerbe was Ernst Schäfer (N° SS : 138803 Stab Rfss Usf 15.12.35, Osf 20.3.37, Hsf 21.12.38, Sbf and Sbf der Reserve 20.4.42), in charge of Asian Research, and who eventually became responsable for all research projects within Ahnenerbe. His first visit to Tibet was in 1930 (financed by the Philadelphia Natural Science Academy). He returned to Tibet in 1931 (as well as China and Siberia) as a member of Brooke Dolan's american expedition. Schäfer joined the NSDAP after Hitler's coming to power, then joined the SS - reaching the rank of Stubaf by 1942.

According to Anton Pervushin, the 1938-39 Ahnenerbe expedition to Tibet was sponsered by a a german advertising company, not by the SS.

beger & SChäfer (Haupt)_10.jpg (65.69 KiB) Viewed 7209 times

The two men on the left are (respectively from left) Hauptsturmführer Beger and Hauptsturmführer Schäfer, in Tibet (source Bundesarchiv)

Cheers
Eddy

[uhu]

Recycling. Starting in Berlin there were three recycle bins, one for glass, one for metal, and one for fabrics and clothing.

[rackirise]

Sounds like a fascinating project.

What sort of tone to the piece are you going for? (Assuming you're still working on it, of course.) I'm afraid I can't offer too much in the way of 'not rubbish': as a student of folklore, the rubbish mill is what's churning out my daily bread! But WWII provided a treasure trove of weird and whimsical tales that have entered popular culture and are still going strong today.

If you want to focus strictly on matters military, you might check out the book 'My Tank Is Fight!' by Zack Parons. While it's not the most serious or well-researched or even detailed look at die Wunderwaffen, it's a fun little read with plenty of wacky-looking contraptions. In the same vein, look at the legends surrounding Werwolf, the supposed plan for continuing the war as a guerilla operation after the Allied advance. Secret commando units creeping through enemy lines to sow fear, confusion, and doubt; underground storehouses filled with Tigers like a Terracotta Army...the stuff of urban legends. (Werwolf itself was real at least, and may have been effective as propaganda, but not in practice.)

Then again, if you want to get Dennis Wheatley about it all, look into Heinrich Himmler's fascination with mythology and...I suppose the term would be Neo-Paganism? He seemed to be attempting to convert the SS at least into a sort of quasi-religious organisation by turning Wewelsburg Castle into a kind modern-day Arthurian court complete with Round Table. (There are also rumors that he believed himself to be the reincarnation of King Heinrich I, and that he claimed to converse regularly with his ghost!) But even discounting that, he was distinctly odd in his personal beliefs, to the point that Albert Speer made numerous disparaging remarks about it.

(The story of Die Glocke would fit in with either of the above. The source (singular) on it is about as credible as photos of the Loch Ness monster, but it's just one more manifestation of the mythologizing of Nazi technological prowess. Hans Kammler especially looms large in these sorts of tales- he's commonly painted in folklore as a James Bond-ier version of Wernher von Braun, despite all evidence to the contrary. That accounts of his death show discrepancies, and have led some to believe he survived the war, only adds to it all. Die Glocke is variously supposed to have been anything from a perpetual motion device to a time machine to a teleporter to an anti-gravity engine to a reverse-egineered alien craft to...well, whatever the storyteller has decided it ought to be this time around.)

Real schemes and inventions were of course more prosaic- the planned redesign of Berlin with accompanying massive triumphal arch over the Brandenburg Gate is well-documented. As is the development of the speedball: pharmaceutical companies developed a pill they named D-IX, which was a mixture of already-widely-distributed Pervitin (an amphetamine) and an opioid which was suposed to function as a miracle drug that would allow Wehrmacht soldiers to remain awake and active long past the point of ordinary endurance and withstand the pain of injury to keep fighting.

I hope at least some of this has been helpful- I've got more info if you need it, but again, I'm unsure what the tone of the piece will be, and whether or not you'd want to focus on legend & folklore or concentrate on more substantial sources. In any case, good luck with the article, and congrats on the book!

[paolosilv]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDA6Elzs1os

Corrected: this History channel video claims that the Nazis detonated a "thermonuclear" device, more than once. I cannot vouch for its authenticity or lack thereof. The evidence is against it, but they did explode some kind of device Mar 3 and Mar 12, 1945.

THE MAGNETIC RAY

A similar device to the one operating below Ohrdruf finds a place in declassified literature as follows (I will supply full references for documents if requested):On 6 December 1944, the US Military Intelligence Service commenced Research Project 1217 “Investigation into German Possible Use of Rays to Neutralize Allied Aircraft Motors”. This resulted from “recent interference phenomena occasionally experienced on operations over Germany in the Frankfurt/Main area.” It was usually described as “freakish interference to engines and electrical instruments” over the north bank of the Main River, about ten miles from FHQ Adlerhorst.In a top secret report entitled “Engine Interference Counter-Measures” addressed to the Director, Air Technical Service Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, reference was made to OSS discussions about a German unit somewhere near Frankfurt/Main operating:
--------
IN CONCLUSION
The suggestion at this point is that by late 1944, Waffen-SS scientists in Germany had developed a catalyst or reagent, apparently a Waxy Substance, maybe a – of some kind, which when added to a —vastly magnified the effect, killing everything within a three mile radius by blast, tremendous heat and suffocation. It appears also to have had undesirable meteorological effects.....On 16 April 1945 the Type XB submarine U-234 (KL Fehler) departed Christiansand, Norway for Japan direct. She had loaded at Kiel in January and February, and besides a strategic cargo in the region of 260 tonnes carried ten German and two Japanese passengers, all of whom were specialists in the military field or scientists.On 17 May 1945, against his express orders, KL Fehler decided to surrender his submarine to the US Navy, and arrived two days later at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire.What is principally of interest is the cargo, and in particular ten cases of “uranium oxide” of 560 kgs weight, and several items which were not included on the Unloading Manifest.The Unloading Manifest (US NAT Arch, College Park MD, Box RG38, Box 13, Document OP-20-3-G1-A (Unloading Manifest) dated 24 May 1945) is a falsified document purporting to show the entire cargo aboard U-234. The true Manifests, both American and German, have never been declassified. —. From a declassified cable, it is evident that 80 cases of Uranium Powder have been omitted, as was also, from the statements of the U-boat crew members and KL Fehler, a two-seater Me 262 bomber aircraft brought from Rechlin and stowed in its component parts.Germany had 1200 tonnes of uranium oxide on hand at Oolen in Belgium throughout the war but made no strides towards making an atom bomb…..,evidence as exists points to this being a cover word for something else.—–

It does not appear that FKpt Falk or Falck survived his interrogation, for there is no record of his return to Germany, and the US authorities have not been able to account for his movements in their custody after interrogating him on 26 May 1945. There are other indications that the “uranium ore” was extraordinary. Lt Col John Lansdale, Chief of security for the Manhattan Project, wrote in a 1996 newspaper article published in Britain and Germany that he had personally handled the disposal of the ten cases. He stated that the American military authorities “reacted with panic” when they learned what the cases contained.

(2) The second document was found by researcher Joseph Mark Scalia, a former 12-year US Navy man, during a rummage through old boxes at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. It is a secret cable from CNO to NYPORT on the subject “MINE TUBES, UNLOADING OF” and states:

“Interrogation Lt Pfaff IIWO U-234 discloses he was in charge of cargo and personally supervised loading all mine tubes. Pfaff prepared Manifest List and knows kind cargo in each tube. Uranium Oxide loaded in …..dangerous….”

—-

On 30 May 1945, both Secretary of State Stimson and President Truman were agreed that NO ALTERNATIVE existed to deploying America’s atomic arsenal against Japan. They had NO ALTERNATIVE to using the atom bomb, and no satisfactory reason has ever been forthcoming why that decision was made. What was aboard U-234 might also be aboard other Japan-bound U-boats.

THE MIRACLE EXPLOSIVE The four items of literature appearing to relate to the explosive tested at Ohrdruf in March 1945 are as follows:(i) British Security Coordination (BSC) was the largest integrated intelligence network enterprise in history. ….: “One of the BSC agents submitted a report, sealed and stamped THIS IS OF PARTICULAR SECRECY which told of “….liquid air bombs being developed in Germany……of terrific destructive effect.”“as powerful as rockets with atomic warheads”.(ii) “German Secret Weapons” (Ballantyne Press, UK, also Libr. Edit. San Martin, Madrid, 1975) … the text states:Waffen-SS scientists then became involved and added some kind of ….to the explosive. The bombs had to be filled immediately prior to the aircraft taking off. Bombs of ….. The intensive explosion covered an area up to 4.5 kms radius. Göring’s statement upon his arrest in May 1945 is significant: he claimed to have led a revolt against Luftwaffe use of a bomb “which could have destroyed all civilisation.” The bomb was not a nuclear weapon, and it appears to have been a conventional explosive which used a —produced by —-methodology or similar for its inexplicable effect.

There is definite documentary evidence of a German bomb under development in 1944/45 which was not nuclear but used some nuclear materials and was of “terrific destructive effect”. Upon his capture Göring claimed that he had instigated a Luftwaffe mutiny to prevent the use of “bombs which could have destroyed all civilisation”.

There was a Luftwaffe mutiny in the Lahn area of the Western Front in March 1945 for which 300 pilots and base commanders paid with their lives. The reason behind the mutiny is unknown since the Luftwaffe War Diaries for the period in question are being concealed for the next 100 years by the Allied powers.

Yes the Nazis did have enough heavy water during WW2 and no, unfortunately the loss of Norwegian heavy water did not materially affect the outcome of the war. Germany also had the Beck Heavy Water plant near Hamburg and a new underground Heavy water Plant was also developed in 1944. Obviously from these efforts the Nazis were trying to build a heavy water reactor. There was an underground site at Melk, Austria called “Quartz 2″ which is alleged to have had some nuclear purpose connected with Dr Kurt Diebner.More relevant is that Dr. Paul Harteck received massive funding for a huge contract in 1944 to manufacture gaseous uranium centrifuges on an industrial scale. There is no doubt in my mind that Nazi Germany was working on an atomic bomb and had the capability given enough time.I believe that Allied bombing stole development time from the Nazi nuclear project and given* a year or two of undisturbed underground centrifuge operation, there would have been a uranium A-bomb.I am inclined to the belief that the large explosive device detonated at Rugen and later at Ohrdruf did exist, but that it may have been a fuel air explosive referred to in diplomatic exchanges with Japan. This device would have produced the nose bleeds recounted by local inhabitants of the Ohrdruf area. It would also account for lack of residual radioactivity.
– The rest has been edited.

3. Death of Kammler?

Kammler remained until middle 1946 whereby he was active essentially in the area of Prague. He stayed several times still in Switzerland. <strong>End of 1946 was absorbed in activity and immersed it unrecognized in the former Czechoslovakia under an incorrect name under where he died 1972 and was buried nameless.</strong> Kammler lived in a Czech hiding place, at the location of a former education school of the Air Force. He was identified at this time of still living witness and was supervised by the Czech secret servicefor a long time.
Zero Point (http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~gerbrehm/ ... rkraft.htm
Originals written is named of indy in that ‘Mindener report it to the office group C: “Information about details could give: Dr.-Ing. Kammler, Eirenschmalz, Floto,… “. Is …<strong>Wieso indicated Kammler there? </strong> The report was written 1 1/2 years after end of the war – it clearly should have been, who was dead Kammler to every higher (responsible) SS member!
Fact is that in very many interrogation protocols of the post-war years ask about the whereabouts of others placed . Very often the answer reads: “Hereon is nothing known to me“. The boys of WVHA sat however my knowledge more or few everyone together in the internment warehouse. To this extent that is refer to Kammler already strange…

(Note the reference to “Wieso“. Could that be Simon Wiesenthal?) Translation : google

The Uranium mines of the SS-General Works project at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia may have been the aim of Patton's Third Army's movement towards Prague. SS-General Dr.Hans Kammler is claimed to have committed suicide south of Prague, at Jilove, 9 May 1945.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/30/books.italy
More info. on the bomb project, this time from an Italian eyewitness.

More on Kammler's role in the Holocaust:
(1) In a letter written January 29, 1943, to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Dr.Hans Kammler, Karl Bischoff, an SS Hstuf. and architect at Auschwitz-Birkenau, mentions a room in Krema II at Auschwitz-Birkenau that he refers to as a “Vergasungskeller.” He is referring to the room that the blueprints for Krema II designate as a “Leichenkeller” (morgue). It has been suggested that the “Vergasungskeller” could have been a gas production cellar or a gas attack shelter for the Nazis. However, it would have been foolish to place a gas production cellar so close to the crematory ovens in Krema II, and certainly the word for a gas attack shelter would have the word “Schutz” in there somewhere. Complicating the matter is the fact that a letter from Erhard Wetzel, a Nazi adviser on Jewish Affairs, to Heinrich Lohse, Reichkommissar for Ostland, stationed at Riga, mentions the “Vergasungsapparate” that had been used in the T-4 Euthanasia program in Berlin. So clearly “Vergasung” can mean “to kill with gas.”

http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot. ... er%2C+hans

[phylo_roadking]

Oh God. Paolosilv, that Youtube documentary has been discredited several times recently on here; not least the "scientific" evidence it supposedly contains, by me.