WEAPONS OF WAR

ADVANCES IN FIRE POWER WORLD WAR 2 SAW THE GREATEST ADVANCES IN HUMAN HISTORY BIGGER BETTER FASTER MORE DEADLY WEAPONS FROM PROP TO JET FROM SINGLE SHOT TO RAPID FIRE FROM BOMB TO NAPALM TO A- BOMB

TANKS THE ARMOURED BEASTS OF WAR

T-34 medium tank –Perhaps the best overall tank in all of the War –Most advanced tank design in the world –6 main variants –Often captured and used by Germans –85mm guns

RUSSIAN T-34

T-34

RUSSIAN KV-85

RUSSIAN SU 76

Panzer I -A very small light tank (6 tons) out of service by 41’ Panzer II-Light Tank (10Tons) –Fast recon tank, amphibious with propeller –Flammpanzer-flame thrower tank

Panzer III-Medium tank (22 Tons) –Main tank –37 mm gun –T-34 made it worthless (50 mm) –15,000 produced Panzer IV- Medium Tank (25 Tons) –Short 75mm Gun, 2 machine guns –9,000 produced –Hitler’s decision not o produce more

Tiger -Most famous and most formidable of the war—Heavy tank (55 tons) –88 mm guns-anti-tank and anti-aircraft –Originally the Panzer VI –Slower than early Panzers –Very Short range due to fuel consumption –UNMATCHED FIRE POWER Panther - (Panzer 5) a heavy tank (45 Tons) –Designed to counter the T-34 –75mm gun and 2 machine guns –4,800 produced Rushed to war untested –Considered best of the German Tanks –First battle was Kursk

KING TIGER HEAVY TANK WITH A 88 MM GUN, BUT WITH ARMOUR PIERCING ABILITY COMPLETED IN PRODUCED, USED IN RUSSIA AND FRANCE IN 1944 WEIGHED 69 TONS, VERY SLOW

PANZER I

PANZER II

PANZER III

PANZER IV

PANTHER

TIGER

KING TIGER

Cruiser Mk IV Crusader II Medium Tank Mark VII Churchill CRUISER COMET=BEST OVERALL OF BRITISH TANKS

CHURCHILL TANK

VALENTINE

CROMWELL

CRUISER COMET

M4 SHERMAN TANK (32 tons) –M4 Sherman tank was a winner by numbers, not by quality –30,000 M4 Sherman's versus 600 Tigers and King Tigers and 1500 Panthers –75mm or 76mm guns –Many variants of the Sherman for every possible role

AMERICAN SHERMAN

T-28 No conventional turret, giving it a comparatively low profile Top speed of about 8 mph 105 mm gun 2 were ordered and none saw combat

Type 89 Otsu

ARTILLERY & ANTI- PERSONNEL

INFAMOUS 88’S

GERMAN BIG GUNS “ANZIO ANNIES”

GERMAN INFANTRY WEAPONS LUGER WALTHER P38

Mauser MG34/41 'Spandau’ MP44 'Sturmgewehr'

MP 40 Schmeisser

Kar 98k Gewehr 43

MP43 FG42

MG 42 'Burp Gun'

“STOVEPIPE” Panzerschreck

ANTI-AIRCRAFT 38

British Infantry Weapons Thompson

Enfield Number 2, Mark I

Short Magazine Lee Enfield The Bren Gun

The Vickers

AMERICAN INFANTRY WEAPONS COLT 45

M3 “GREASEGUN”

M1A1 -Thompson

M1903A4 sniper rifle M1 Rifle (Garand)

BAR BLMG

81 MM MORTAR BAZOOKA

Browning M2HB

M1-M2 FLAMETHROWER

SOVIET UNION INFANTRY WEAPONS Nagant revolver PPSh-41

Mosin-Nagant Model SVT 40

DP SG43

ANTI-TANK GUNS

ROKS-2 FLAMETHROWER

JAPANESE INFANTRY WEAPONS T-38 NAMBU PISTOL

T-100 WOODPECKER-T-92 T-98

VARIOUS ARTILLERY & ARMOURED VEHICLES OF THE INFANTRY

The 25 Pounder Gun (Howitzer)

DUKW D= 1942 U = Amphibious K = Front Wheel Drive W = Rear Wheel Drive

LVT 1 THE ALLIGATOR LVT 4

BREN GUN CARRIER

“JEB”

WEAPONS OF THE WATER

MINE PLANTER

USS SARATOGA

USS ENTERPRISE

USS HORNET

BRITISH SUBMARINE

USS PENNSYLVANIA

USS MISSOURI

BRITISH BATTLESHIP KING GEORGE V

USS INDIANAPOLIS

AIR POWER OF WORLD WAR 2

GRUMMAN HELLCAT CARRIER BASED Night-Fighter

Vought F4U Corsair Carrier Based Pacific fighter Corsairs downed 2,140 enemy planes while only 189 Corsairs were lost – a ratio unmatched in the history of air warfare.

Lockheed P-38 Lightning high-altitude "pursuit aircraft" More concentrated firepower than other US fighters

P-38 LIGHTNING Pacific (twin engine fighter)

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Workhorse of the Allied aerial arsenal right through 1944

P-40 Warhawk Plane used by Flying Tigers

P-40 Tomahawk

Made up ½ of the Air power US had in 1941

P-47 Thunderbolt “The Jug” 2,000 horsepower engine Each wing rested four 50 caliber machine guns

Tank buster Heavy Fire Power

P-51 Mustang Max speed:437 mph (

"The day I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." Hermann Goering

P-51 MUSTANG Europe—Dominant propeller air craft

440 MPH, six 50 caliber machine guns

Grumman F4F Wildcat 320 MPH, six 50 caliber machine guns Pacific Fighter hard to handle

Vought F4U Corsair

Became a Marine Plane Pappy Boyington & the Black Sheep Squadron

BREWSTER BUFFALO MIDWAY

A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size, and typically longest ranges. The term was used primarily prior to and during World War II, when engine power was so scarce that designs had to be carefully tailored to their missions. The heavy bomber was generally considered to be any design that delivered 8,000 lb (4 t) of bombs or more on distant targets, with medium bombers having loads of 4,000 to 8,000 lb (2 to 4 t), and light bombers 2,000 to 4,000 lb (1 to 2 t). These distinctions were already disappearing by the middle of WWII, when the average fighter aircraft could now carry a 2,000 lb (1 t) load and the "light" designs had now largely taken over the missions formerly filled by mediums.

MESSERSCHMITT BF 110

FOCKE-WULF FW 190

87 STUKA

ME 262 A (very limited use)

MESSERSCHMITT BF 109

BRITISH SPITFIRE Battle of Britain

HAWKER HURRICANE

B-24 LIBERATOR

JAPANESE ZERO

FG-1D COSAIR

F4F WILDCAT (Marine Plane)

Top speed 295 MPH, 17,600 lb. bomb load, twelve.50 caliber machine guns B-17 FLYING FORTRESS

MEMPHIS BELLE

B 29 SUPER FLYING FORTRESS

The most expensive military project of World War Two

P-61 BLACK WIDOW 1 ST WITH RADAR-PACIFIC AND EUROPE

B-25 MITCHELL

F6F HELLCAT ¾ of air kills in the Pacific Theatre

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver responsible for the destruction of more Japanese targets than any other aircraft

Heinkel He 111

DORNIER 217

TBF/TBM Avenger