The Weapons of World War II During World War II, a multitude of weapons were used, varying from conventional firearms and artillery, to more unorthodox armaments like suicide bomb dogs, Hitler’s Gustav gun, and even bat bombs. The majority of weapons used in World War II were very traditional. However, sometimes innovative, interesting, and even bizarre ideas gave way to extremely efficient weapons or lack thereof. The advancements in weaponry during World War II was unprecedented. Each major nation had its own rifles, planes, tanks, and equipment that they had created and manufactured in order to attain victory over their foes.
At the core of any war are small arms; these are handguns, rifles and submachine guns. Starting with handguns, these weapons were issued to all military personnel in World War II. At the top of list is the United States made .45 caliber M1911; this was and still is considered the best sidearm carried during World War II (“Infantry”). The M1911 began to be used by the United States military in 1911 and was used predominantly up until October 1986 (“Infantry”). The Germans carried a sidearm of a slightly smaller caliber than the U.S
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Howitzers had low velocity but a high trajectory and were used to drop over defenses (“World War 2”). Rockets had very high velocity but little accuracy (“World War 2”). The V2 rockets were all fired at Great Britain during the Blitzkrieg, leaving thousands dead or injured (“Lockie”). Mortars were the lightest, most mobile artillery (“World War 2”). Mortars dropped shells at a very high angle over obstacles (“World War 2”). The largest artillery types were coastal fixed defenses with high velocities and flat trajectories (“World War 2”). Also Germany had the largest artillery gun, known as “Hitler’s Gustav gun.” It was four stories tall, one hundred and fifty-five feet long, and weighed one thousand three hundred fifty tons