10 Weirdest Weapons Used During World War II

From exploding rodents to unleashing the bubonic plague.

Nazi Supergun
Wikipedia/Bundesarchiv, Bild

World War II was the most bloody conflict in human history, resulting in the death of more than 75million people between 1939 and 1945.

Often remembered for Adolf Hitler's actions, the Holocaust and Winston Churchill's rallying speeches to the British public, sometimes the actual ammunition, weaponry and vehicles used during the Second World War are largely forgotten about.

As the most widespread war in the history of mankind - directly involving more than 100million people spread across six separate continents - this conflict forced both the Allied forces and the Axis powers to experiment with new, untried weaponry in an effort to kill and ultimately defeat the enemy.

Although most of these deaths were brought about by the use of conventional weaponry - such as guns, tanks, cannons and grenades - others were induced via stranger and more bizarre methods.

From employing various forms of animals - including rats, bats and dogs - as live weapons, to the Nazi's so-called "supergun" and the Japanese attempt to infect China with the bubonic plague, almost every single nation involved in the Second World War experimented with some weird - and in many ways barbaric - methods of killing the enemy.

So here are 10 of the weirdest and more bizarre weapons used during World War II.

10. Exploding Rodents - The British Used Rats With Bombs Inside Of Them

Resident Evil 2 Rat
Capcom

It may seem cruel to use animals as deadly weapons, but as will be made clear by this list - this was a tactic employed by almost all the nations who fought during World War II. Now one of the British contributions was to use rats filled with explosives in order to trick the Germans into self-detonating them.

Basically, the rats would be skinned, cut open and then have an explosive sewn inside of them - with the intention being that, once a British secret agent had placed the rodents in a strategic position, they would be discovered by the Germans who would then throw them on the fire - causing a huge blast. However, the Germans intercepted a container of dead rats before they could be used, foiling the original plan.

Despite this, the British believe the use of rats turned into a greater success than if they had actually been detonated - because the Nazis wasted valuable time, money and resources scouring Europe for additional explosive rodents, even though none existed.

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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.