Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II
Introduction
World War II affected virtually every corner
of the globe. In the six years between 1939
Y Y and 1945, some 50 million people lost their
lives, and very few who survived were not affected.
It was the costliest and most widespread conflict the
world has ever seen.
World War II was fought on land, sea and in the
air with weapons which had first been used in the
Great War of 1914-18. Ironically, an even greater
conflict was to emerge from the burning embers of
that "war to end all wars", and with it huge advances
in weapons technology. The countries involved in
World War II now had the means and the capability
to fight each other in a more efficient - and more
deadly - manner.
Yet only Great Britain, her Empire allies and
Germany were involved during the whole period.
For other nations the conflict was of a shorter duration.
The USA and Japan, for example, were at war
from December 1941 to August 1945 (and the USA
was simultaneously at war with Germany, until
Hitler's defeat in May 1945).
The situation was so complicated, the skeins of
alliance and enmity so intertwined that it would take
a very large chart indeed to describe them. Only one
factor was more straightforward and common to all
the countries involved: the nature of the weapons
that the men (and sometimes women) used to fight
their way to victory - or defeat.
There were differences in detail, of course: the
German Panzerkampfwagen V 'Panther' tank was a
very different vehicle from the American M4
Sherman, the Russian T-34, or the British Cromwell.
But essentially they were all much the same -
armoured vehicles mounting powerful guns running
on tracks.The small arms with which the various
combatant nations equipped their armies were very
different in detail too, but essentially they were all
devices for launching projectiles at high speed.
In short, many would simply say that guns are guns,
bombs are bombs, aircraft are aircraft, and so on. But
there is certainly more to it than that, for the capacity
to win or lose a war actually rested on these weapons'
qualities, just as much as it did on the fighting skills of
those who employed them and on the strategic sense
of those who directed them in their use.
We cannot simply bundle these weapons together -
not if we really want to understand why and how
20th century history unfolded the way it did.
The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World
War II makes a very important contribution to the
subject - perhaps even a vital one - for it describes
every major weapon and vehicle employed during
the full period of the conflict, on land, sea and in the
air, in enormous detail, both in textual and in graphic
form. It also provides detailed specifications about
the 'core' weapon or system and all its major variants.
Thus it allows straightforward comparisons to be
made accurately and effectively.
Its sheer comprehensiveness makes The Complete
Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II compelling
reading. Clearly it will have considerable
appeal to all manner of students of the period as the
first - and probably the definitive - source of clear,
concise information on the nature and history of different
weapons, including specifications, capabilities
and capacities, varying forms, the colour schemes in
which they appeared and the manner in which they
were employed.
The text and tables have been prepared by some
of the foremost experts in the field, and this same
team provided and approved specifications, plans
and drawings and photographic reference material to
assist the best graphic artists available to produce
illustrations, the like of which, in terms of quality,
precision and accuracy, are seldom seen outside offical
circles.
The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World
War II covers the terrestrial equipment of all arms of
service, from the infantryman's handgun, rifles and
machine-guns, to the support weapons he used to
take on tanks and subdue fortified defensive positions;
from light armoured cars used for reconnaissance
to heavy assault tanks and special-purpose
armoured vehicles; from towed anti-tank guns to tank
destroyers and from lightweight field artillery pieces
to self-propelled guns and howitzers, not forgetting
wheeled and tracked utility vehicles.
The war was also conducted at sea, and World War
II saw warships of every calibre employed all over
the globe, from the 70,000-tonne monster battleships
to the diminutive motor gun-boats and motor torpedo-
boats, and the best of these are described in
detail. Pride of place, however, goes to the new breed
of capital ships - the aircraft carriers, which were
born in the inter-war period and which achieved
maturity just as hostilities broke out. Alongside them
space is also given to another new naval weapon: the
submarine.
Here, too, are described the last of the old generation
of capital ships - for which World War II was to
be their swansong.The battleships of both sides were
to become household names all over the world
between 1939 and 1945, and here they are described
and illustrated in full colour and in tremendous
detail. Cruisers, destroyers and escorts, coastal craft
and assault ships also played vitally important parts,
and they, too, are described, illustrated and documented
here.
New weapons appeared throughout the war, but it
was in the air that the real changes were rung. Until
quite late in the 1930s, the world's air forces were
equipped with biplanes with relatively low-powered
engines, thus limiting their performance, endurance
and load-carrying capacity. Germany, risen from the
ashes of defeat in 1918 and plagued throughout the
next decade by internal strife and near-revolution,
was the first to recognize the potential for a new generation
of all-metal aircraft, and soon produced such
masterpieces as the Bf 109 interceptor/fighter, and
the Dornier, Heinkel and Junkers medium bombers.
Britain followed suit, and began turning out longrange
heavy bomber aircraft, such as the Lancaster,
widely held to be the best of its type, while the USA
- slow to get going initially - built up an aircraft
industry second to none, which came to dominate
the field by the end of the war, producing magnificent
aircraft, such as the Mustangs and Thunderbolts,
which doubled as both fighters and ground attack
aircraft, and the redoubtable B-7 and B-29 Fortresses.
The former USSR's powerful aviation industry also
had its roots in World War II, and its products, as well
as those of Japan, are also covered in great detail.
In all, The Complete Encyclopedia ofWeapons of
World War II is a unique and essential document, covering
the equipment and weapons systems, which
themselves dictated the nature of the most widespread,
most expensive and most destructive conflict
the world has ever seen. World War II quite literally
altered the face of the planet and the nature of its peoples'
lives, and its reverberations are still to be felt half
a century later. Here, at least and at last, we have the
means to understand how technological advances and
fantastic leaps of imagination of this vitally important
period manifested themselves in the tools with which
the war was won - and lost.
Contents
Introduction........................................................7
Axis Tanks...........................................................9
British and French Tanks.....................................20
Soviet and American Tanks.................................31
Tank Destroyers..................................................42
Special Purpose Tanks........................................52
Amphibious Vehicles............................................63
Allied and Axis Halftracks.....................................73
Armoured Cars.....................................................83
Allied and Axis Trucks...........................................93
Light Vehicles.......................................................101
Self-Propelled Guns..............................................111
Heavy Artillery......................................................123
Field Artillery.........................................................136
Heavy Anti-Aircraft Guns.......................................148
Light Anti-Aircraft Guns.........................................159
War Rockets.........................................................169
Anti-Tank Guns.....................................................179
Infantry Support Weapons...................................191
Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons.................................203
Allied and Axis Rifles..............................................215
Allied and Axis Pistols............................................255
Allied and Axis Machine-Guns.................................236
Allied and Axis Sub-Machine Guns..........................249
Allied and Axis Flamethrowers................................264
Allied Fighters.........................................................275
Axis Fighters...........................................................283
Heavy Bombers.......................................................293
Light and Medium Bombers.....................................305
Jet Aircraft...............................................................318
Axis Ground Attack Aircraft......................................330
Allied Ground Attack Aircraft....................................340
Night-Fighters.........................................................350
Allied and Axis Flying-Boats.....................................361
Allied and Axis Seaplanes........................................372
Anti-Shipping Aircraft...............................................383
Carrier Aircraft.........................................................393
Transport and Assault Aircraft.................................404
Air-to-Ground Weapons..........................................414
Light Aircraft............................................................424
Axis Submarines......................................................434
Allied Submarines....................................................443
British Aircraft Carriers............................................452
Japanese Aircraft Carriers.......................................462
American Aircraft Carriers........................................470
Allied and Axis Battleships.......................................478
Allied and Axis Cruisers............................................487
Axis Destroyers........................................................497
Escort Vessels..........................................................509
Coastal Craft............................................................519
Assault Ships............................................................529
Glossary of Weapons...............................................540
