Wunderwaffe () is a German word that literally translates to "wonder-weapon" or "miracle weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". However, most of these weapons remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or too few to have a significant military effect.Willy Ley, "V-2: Rocket Cargo Ship" Astounding Science Fiction, May 1945, repr. Famous Science-Fiction Stories: Adventures in Time and Space, (ed. J. Francis McComas, Raymond J. Healy, , 1957), p. 359. The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of armament concepts. In the German language, the term Wunderwaffe now generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.
As the war situation worsened for Germany from 1942, claims about the development of revolutionary new weapons which could turn the tide became an increasingly prominent part of the propaganda directed at Germans by their government. In reality, the advanced weapons under development generally required lengthy periods of design work and testing, and there was no realistic prospect of the German military being able to field them before the end of the war.
When some advanced designs, such as the Panther tank and Type XXI submarine, were rushed into production, their performance proved disappointing to the German military and leadership due to inadequate pre-production testing or poorly planned construction processes. Historian Michael J. Neufeld has noted that "the net result of all these weapons, deployed or otherwise, was that the Reich wasted a lot of money and technical expertise (and killed a lot of forced and slave laborers) in developing and producing exotic devices that yielded little or no tactical and strategic advantage".
Naval vessels Aircraft carriers – 33,550 ton aircraft carrier laid down in 1936; never completed. Flugzeugträger B – planned sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin; scrapped before launching. Flugzeugträger C and D – two additional proposed aircraft carriers of the Graf Zeppelin class. – planned 56,500 ton aircraft carrier, converted from a transport; cancelled before work started.
Battleships H-class battleship – series of proposals for battleships surpassing both the United States Navy's Montana-class battleships and the Imperial Japanese Navy's Yamato-class battleships in armament, culminating in the H-44, a 140,000 ton battleship with eight 20 inch guns. Two H39-class hulls only laid down; scrapped on slipways. Bismarck – German battleship, scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean after being crippled by Royal Navy torpedo bombers and battleships. Tirpitz – German battleship, sister ship of the aforementioned Bismarck. Sunk in 1944 by RAF Bomber Command; 32 Avro Lancaster bombers dropped blockbuster and Tallboy bombs in Operation Catechism.
U-boats Oceangoing U-boats Rocket U-boat – planned ballistic missile submarine; project abandoned. Type XVIII U-boat – U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended. Type XXI U-boat "Elektroboot" (Electric boat)– first U-boat designed to operate completely submerged, 118 were started but only 4 were completed. Type XXIV U-boat – planned U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion. Type XXVI U-boat – U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; several were under construction when the war ended.
Littoral U-boats Type XXII U-boat – U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion; two were under construction. Type XXIII U-boat ("Elektroboot") – U-boat designed for littoral missions; 67 were built. Type XXV U-boat – planned all-electric U-boat designed for littoral missions.
U-Cruisers Type XI – U-boat designed to carry the Arado Ar 231 collapsible floatplane and have 128mm turrets; four were laid down but canceled at the outbreak of World War II.
Armored vehicles Anti-aircraft weapons Flakpanzer IV "Kugelblitz" (Ball Of Lightning) – Panzer IV-based self-propelled anti-aircraft gun; five prototypes built. Flakpanzer 341 Coelian – Panther D-Based self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, only a wooden mockup of the turret was built.
Anti-tank weapons Sturer Emil ("Stubborn Emil") – Experimental Panzerjäger style, open-topped tank destroyer armed with a Rheinmetall 12.8 cm K L/61 gun, 2 prototypes built for tests. Sole surviving prototype on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum. Elefant (Ferdinand) – heavy tank destroyer, mounting a 8.8 cm Pak 43/2 L/71 gun, 91 units produced.
Super-heavy tanks Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" (Rat) – planned super-heavy tank, weighing 1000 tonnes and armed with two 280mm cannons, one 128mm anti-tank gun, 8 20mm flak guns and 2 15mm heavy machine guns; cancelled in early 1943. Panzer VII "Löwe" (Lion) – planned super-heavy tank, weighing 90 tonnes and armed with a 105mm cannon; cancelled in March 1942 in favor of the Panzer VIII Maus. Panzer VIII "Maus" (Mouse) – super-heavy tank, weighing 188 tonnes and armed with two cannons of 128mm and 75mm calibre; five were ordered but only two operable prototypes completed – lone survivor currently on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum. Panzerkampfwagen E-100 – planned super-heavy tank (the heaviest of a series of "E-tanks") weighing 140 tonnes and armed with either 128 or 150 mm cannon, one prototype hull nearly completed, the hull was later captured and evaluated by the British before being scrapped in the 1950s.
Reconnaissance tanks Kugelpanzer (ball tank) – prototype spherical reconnaissance/cable-laying tank with a mysterious history. Sent to Japan and captured by the Soviets in 1945. Currently on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum. VK 16.02 Leopard – Planned reconnaissance tank. Only mockup of Waffenträger (weapon carrier) was built.
Gliders Junkers Ju 322 "Mammut" (Mammoth) – flying wing heavy transport glider, the losing competitor to the winning Me 321 Gigant giant cargo/personnel glider.
Piston engine aircraft Blohm & Voss BV 141 – tactical reconnaissance aircraft with unusual asymmetrical design. Blohm & Voss BV 238 – super-heavy transport flying boat and bomber, it was the heaviest aircraft ever built at the time of its completion. Dornier Do 335 – heavy fighter with the push-pull configuration. Focke Rochen – VTOL experimental aircraft project. Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 – planned tilt-rotor VTOL fighter. Focke-Wulf Ta 152 – high-altitude interceptor. Focke-Wulf Ta 400 – planned Amerikabomber candidate with six radial engines and two jet engines with a range of 13,000 km in bomber configuration. Heinkel He 111Z – five engined Zwilling (twin)-fuselage aircraft created by combining two He 111s and designed to tow large gliders. Heinkel He 274 – high altitude heavy bomber with four in-line engines with a range of 3,440 km, two completed by France after the war. Heinkel He 277 – planned, advanced long-range bomber design, designated by RLM by February 1943, inheriting many He 219 prototype design features during its evolution but never built as a complete aircraft, evolved to be an Amerikabomber candidate, to be powered with four BMW 801 radial engines and up to 11,000 km range. Junkers Ju 390 – Amerikabomber candidate with six radial engines with a range of 9,700 km, two airworthy prototypes built and flown. Junkers Ju 488 – heavy bomber with four radial engines with a range of 3,395 km. Messerschmitt Me 264 – Amerikabomber candidate with four inline or radial engines and a range of 15,000 km, three airworthy prototypes built and flown. Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" (Giant) – heavy transport with six engines, adapted from the Me 321 giant troop-glider.
Jets and rocket-propelled aircraft Arado Ar 234 Blitz – first operational turbojet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Arado E.555 – planned jet-powered Amerikabomber. Arado E.560 – series of tactical bomber projects. Arado E.583 – jet-powered night fighter Bachem Ba 349 "Natter" (Adder) – rocket-powered vertical take-off interceptor. Blohm & Voss P 178 – turbojet dive-bomber. DFS 194 – rocket-powered experimental aircraft. DFS 228 – rocket-powered high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. DFS 346 – rocket-powered research aircraft. Fieseler Fi 103R "Reichenberg" – manned version of the V-1 flying bomb. Focke-Wulf "Triebflügel" (Powered Wings) – planned tip jet rotorcraft, tailsitter interceptor Focke-Wulf Ta 183 "Huckebein" – planned swept wing turbojet fighter. Focke-Wulf Ta 283 – planned swept wing ramjet and rocket-powered fighter. Heinkel He 162 Spatz – Winner of the Volksjäger (People's Fighter) design competition for a single engined turbojet fighter. Heinkel He 280 – first turbojet fighter design, prototypes only. Heinkel He 343 – planned four engined jet bomber based on and marginally enlarged from the Arado Ar 234's general design. Henschel Hs 132 – planned turbojet dive bomber and interceptor. Horten Ho 229 – turbojet flying wing jet fighter/bomber. Horten H.XVIII – planned flying wing jet bomber based on the Horten Ho 229. Junkers EF 128 – planned turbojet fighter. Junkers EF 132 – planned turbojet bomber. Junkers Ju 287 – forward-swept wing turbojet bomber. Lippisch P.13a – planned supersonic ramjet delta wing interceptor. Lippisch P.13b – planned ramjet delta wing interceptor developed from the Lippisch P.13a. Messerschmitt Bf 109TL – turbojet fighter designed as an alternate/back-up for the Me 262. Messerschmitt Me 163 "Komet" (Comet)– first and only operational rocket-powered fighter. Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" (Swallow)– first operational turbojet fighter/bomber. Messerschmitt Me 263– rocket-powered fighter developed from the Me 163. Messerschmitt P.1101– variable-sweep wing turbojet fighter. Messerschmitt P.1106– jet fighter based on the Messerschmitt Me P.1101. Škoda-Kauba P14– ramjet-powered emergency fighter. Sombold So 344– rocket-powered plane with a detachable explosive nose. Silbervogel (Silverbird) – planned sub-orbital antipodal bomber. Zeppelin Fliegende Panzerfaust– rocket-powered very-short-range interceptor. Zeppelin Rammer– rocket-powered ramming interceptor.
Helicopters Flettner Fl 184– night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro. Flettner Fl 185 – experimental helicopter. Flettner Fl 265 – experimental helicopter, the world's earliest known airworthy synchropter. Flettner Fl 282 "Kolibri" (Hummingbird)– reconnaissance "synchropter" helicopter. Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" (Dragon) – anti-submarine, search and rescue, reconnaissance, and freight helicopter, based on the prewar Fw 61.
Bombs and explosives German nuclear weapons program Fritz X, a guided anti-ship glide bomb, the world's first precision guided weapon ever deployed in combat.
Artillery Karl-Gerät, the largest calibre (up to 60 cm), self-propelled mortar ever deployed – seven examples built, six seeing combat 1941–45. Schwerer Gustav (Heavy Gustav) – 800mm railway gun, the largest artillery piece ever used in warfare. V-3 cannon "Hochdruckpumpe" – "High Pressure Pump", a large-calibre gun. Landkreuzer P. 1500 "Monster"– proposed super-heavy self-propelled gun, weighing 1500 metric tons and armed with the 800mm Schwerer Gustav/Dora gun. Wind cannon 'Windkanone"– 35 feet long cannon that projected intense gusts of air at enemy aircraft, but was never proven to be effective
Missiles Aggregat series A1– first German liquid-propellant experimental rocket. A2 – experimental rocket, gyroscopically stabilized. A3 – experimental rocket with an inertial guidance system. A4/V-2– first ballistic missile and the first human-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight. Projekt Schwimmweste "Project Life Jacket"– planned submarine-launched ballistic missile.