Crazy WWII Hacks You Never Heard Of

Crazy WWII Hacks You Never Heard Of

Condoms as Survival Gear

Imagine you’re an American soldier fighting in World War II. As the war rages on, you’re finally granted some leave time. With a chance to explore and perhaps meet a local woman, you’ll need a little protection. Luckily, the military has issued you with condoms as part of your survival kit, along with warnings about the dangers of venereal disease.

However, when you go to retrieve your prophylactic protection, you realize it’s already been used – but not for its intended purpose. Many American soldiers during WWII found an ingenious alternative use for their condoms:

• Wrapping them around the muzzles of their rifles to keep out mud, muck, water, and sand. This allowed them to have a gun ready for combat with minimal cleaning or preparation.
• Using them as waterproof containers to protect matches and other supplies.
• Turning them into underwater explosives by filling them with charges.
• Employing them as makeshift surgical gloves during battlefield operations.

The reason soldiers got so creative with their condoms? The military was also issuing penicillin to treat sexually transmitted diseases at the time. Why waste a perfectly good condom on sex when you could just get a shot for any issues?

This led to a brief resurgence of abstinence-focused propaganda in 1947, though the military continued issuing condoms. Ultimately, the widespread use of condoms during the war helped remove the stigma around them, leading to a boom in sales as soldiers returned home.

More: Bizarre and Unbelievable Facts About the US Military

Bats as Bombs

While soldiers were finding novel uses for their condoms, military strategists were dreaming up even crazier ideas to defeat the Axis powers. One such concept came from a humble Pennsylvanian dentist named Dr. Lytle S. Adams.

In 1942, after a trip to New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns, Dr. Adams had an ingenious idea: attach explosive incendiary devices to bats, then drop them from planes onto enemy targets. The terrified bats would scatter and take shelter in buildings, where the timed explosives would ignite, causing massive firestorms.

This “bat bomb” concept was taken so seriously that the military assigned Dr. Adams to lead a team developing a special canister to deploy the bats. The plan was to force the bats into the canister, then drop it with a parachute. The heat from landing would cause the bats to escape and invade nearby structures.

Though the U.S. Navy eventually took control of the project, naming it “Project X-Ray,” the bat bomb never saw active use. After spending millions capturing thousands of bats, the military ultimately decided that nuclear weapons would be a more effective way to engulf Japanese cities in flames.

Bicycles as Tanks

While the Allies were dreaming up outlandish ideas, the Axis powers also had a few tricks up their sleeves. Take Japan’s 1941 invasion of British Malaya (modern-day Malaysia) – a key producer of rubber and tin that Japan desperately needed.

Rather than relying on traditional modes of transport like horses or vehicles, the Japanese military opted for a more unexpected choice: bicycles. Equipping their 25th Army with bicycles offered several key advantages:

• Bicycles were cheaper and more readily available than horses or motorized transport.
• Soldiers could easily carry supplies and traverse the jungle terrain using hidden paths, rather than relying on main roads.
• Damaged bikes could be quickly replaced by confiscating civilian bicycles in Malaya.
• The grating sound of bikes riding on their rims sometimes caused Allied troops to flee, thinking it was the approach of heavy machinery.

This innovative use of bicycles allowed the Japanese to swiftly advance through Malaya, contributing to the eventual fall of British colonial rule in the Indo-Pacific region. While they ultimately lost the war, Japan’s success in Malaya demonstrated how even older technology could be leveraged for modern warfare.

Nazi “Wonder Weapons”

Of course, the Axis powers weren’t the only ones coming up with crazy ideas. The Nazis had their fair share of outlandish “Wunderwaffen” (Wonder Weapons) that were supposed to terrify the Allies – though the reality was often quite different.

One such example is the Windkanone, or “wind cannon.” This giant anti-aircraft weapon was designed to blast a powerful jet of hydrogen and nitrogen at Allied aircraft, theoretically blowing them out of the sky. Early tests showed the cannon could snap a 1-inch board in half from 650 feet away.

However, the Nazis soon discovered a fatal flaw: firing air at a wooden board is very different from disrupting an aircraft designed to fly through wind. When the Windkanone was deployed just once, over a bridge on the Elbe River, it proved completely ineffective against Allied bombers.

The Allies had their own share of doomed ideas, like the Panjandrum – a giant rocket-propelled wheel packed with explosives. Intended to help breach the Nazis’ Atlantic Wall during the D-Day landings, the Panjandrum was essentially an early prototype for modern unmanned aerial vehicles.

Despite being able to reach speeds of 60 mph and packing enough power to break through 10-foot concrete walls, the Panjandrum was nearly impossible to control. During tests, the wheel would often veer off course, snap its cables, and careen wildly across the beach, narrowly missing onlookers before crashing and exploding. Needless to say, the Panjandrum never saw combat.

“Strapping 70 rockets to a wheel and hoping it goes off in the right direction wasn’t the smartest idea.”

The Ghost Army

While the Allies and Axis powers were dreaming up fantastical weapons, one US unit was using a different kind of trickery to outwit the enemy: the Ghost Army.

Activated on January 20, 1944, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops were tasked with using Hollywood-style special effects to deceive the Axis forces. With just 82 officers and 1,023 soldiers, the Ghost Army was capable of simulating two entire divisions on the battlefield.

How did they pull this off? The unit was carefully selected to include the best artists, engineers, and creative minds available, including fashion designer Bill Blass and photographer Art Kane. Together, they developed an arsenal of deception tactics:

• Inflatable tanks, aircraft, and other decoys to create the illusion of a much larger force.
• Simulated radio traffic and sound effects to make it seem like a 30,000-strong army was approaching.
• Staged “mock battles” using smoke, inflatables, and sound to distract the enemy.

The Ghost Army’s exploits were so successful that they took part in 22 large operations, often deceiving the Axis forces to the point where they would stall or cancel attacks altogether. One of their most famous missions was Operation Viersen in 1945, where they used inflatable tanks, simulated radio chatter, and loudspeakers to trick the Germans into diverting forces away from the actual Allied crossing of the Rhine.

“Our mission was to fool the enemy. To put on a big act.”

• Bernard Bluestein, Ghost Army veteran

Until recently, the Ghost Army’s accomplishments were kept secret, with each member sworn to silence. But now, their heroic deception efforts are finally being recognized, with the surviving members collectively receiving the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024.

Operation Mincemeat

Of course, the Allies weren’t the only ones engaging in deception during WWII. The British also had a few tricks up their sleeve, including the rather unappetizing “Operation Mincemeat.”

In 1943, as the Allies prepared to invade Sicily, they needed to convince the Axis powers that their true target was Greece, along with diversionary attacks on Corsica and Sardinia. To pull off this deception, the British came up with a macabre plan:

They obtained the corpse of a homeless man named Glyndwr Michael, who had died from eating rat poison. Dressing the body in a Royal Marines uniform and forging personal documents, the British then dropped “Major William Martin” into the sea off the coast of Spain, hoping the body would wash ashore and be discovered by the Spanish.

As expected, the Spanish passed the “confidential” documents found on the body – which detailed the Allies’ supposed plans to attack Greece – to the Nazis. Convinced that Sicily was not the true target, the Germans failed to properly fortify the island against the impending Allied invasion.

Operation Husky, the codename for the invasion of Sicily, involved a massive force of 3,000 ships, 4,000 aircraft, and 150,000 soldiers. Despite facing only about 60,000 German and Italian troops, the Allies still suffered over 24,000 casualties in 38 days of fighting. However, without the deception of Operation Mincemeat, they would have faced a much more formidable defense.

“The goal was simple: Convince the enemy that the Allies had no interest in Sicily.”

Conclusion

From condoms protecting rifles to bats as bombs, WWII was a breeding ground for creative, bizarre, and often downright crazy ideas. While many of these “hacks” and strategies ultimately failed, they demonstrate the incredible ingenuity and desperation of both the Allies and Axis powers during history’s most devastating conflict.

Whether it was the Japanese using bicycles to swiftly advance through Malaya, the British employing a dead body to mislead the Nazis, or the US Ghost Army using Hollywood trickery to deceive the enemy, WWII saw no shortage of unconventional tactics and innovations.

While the world has thankfully moved on from the horrors of that era, the stories of these crazy WWII hacks serve as a testament to the human capacity for both innovation and sheer absurdity, even in the darkest of times.