Military Battle Zone

1941

  • The Japanese Shinyo “suicide” boats

    The Japanese “shinyo”, which means “sea quake”, are manned explosive motorboats used by Special Attack units of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy for suicide attacks against Allied shipping during the defence of its territories. Based on the 18-meter torpedo… Continue reading

  • Britain’s “earthquake” bomb WW2

    One of Britain’s most memorable and formidable weapons of the Second World War, the British supersized “Earthquake” bomb was developed by aviation engineer Barnes Wallis to penetrate heavily fortified targets. The idea was conceived in 1941 when Barnes wrote a… Continue reading

  • German rocket U-boats WW2

    The rocket U-boats were a series of military projects by the German Kriegsmarine (German Navy) aimed at developing submarine-launched rockets that could be launched against sea or offshore targets. The first experimentation with the idea of rocket U-boats is the… Continue reading

  • The Bat bombs of WW2

    Codenamed “Project X-Ray”, the US Military’s bat bombs were small, experimental incendiary devices attached to live bats. The concept was the brainchild of Dr. Ltyle. S. Adams, a dental surgeon who was inspired by the behavior of free-tailed bats during… Continue reading

  • The SOE and exploding rats

    The British SOE (Special Operations Executive) used many inventive and exotic ways to disguise their explosive devices during the Second World War. One of these was a dead rat developed in 1941. The idea is that a SOE agent will… Continue reading

  • Anti-tank dogs of WW2

    During the Second World War, there were many ways to destroy a tank: anti-tank guns, rifles, grenades, and artillery, but dogs? Yes, the Soviet Red Army did use dogs strapped with an incendiary device weighing 10-12kg to disable and destroy… Continue reading