Author Description

The phrase 'German Secret Weapons' immediately conjures up images of the V-1 and V-2 missiles which bombarded London in 1944. But what of the V-3 and V-4? What of Schmetterling, the Rochling shell, the Kurt bomb, the Hs293? These, and many other devices, were all part of the German secret armoury but are relatively unknown except to a handful of specialists. What of the German nuclear bomb? And the question of chemical warfare? The sheer magnitude of the secret weapon projects of the Third Reich is revealed in this comprehensive study written by one of the world's great experts on weaponry. The book explores the various fields in which the Germans concentrated their weapon development and discusses the multiplicity of ideas, the difficulties, and, in several cases, how these ideas were subsequently exploited by the victors. Although much of the German wartime development was not completed before the war's end, it nevertheless provided a foundation for a great deal of the munitions development which has since taken place. Comparisons with Allied projects are also drawn. This book explodes some of the myths surrounding Hitler's secret weapons to reveal a truth all the stranger for being fact. AUTHOR: Ian V. Hogg (1926-2002) was one of the world's foremost experts on firearms, artillery, ammunition and fortifications. Editor of Jane's Infantry Weapons from 1972 to 1994, among his many other books are 'The Guns, 1939-45', 'The Greenhill Military Small Arms Data Book' and 'Coast Defences of England and Wales 1856-1956'. 16 pages of b/w plates