Computers and Code Breaking

• British Collosus used (first electronic computer to break codes)

• Alan Turing (British mathematician and cryptanalyst) laid foundations of modern computers

• Breaking of ENIGMA code at Bletchley Park helped allies win the war

• Played influential role in code breaking at Midway Island, where Japanese posed a threat to American Navy

Aircraft carriers

• Replaced battleships as center of naval warfare doctrine• Most US battleships turned into ACCs, but some into

floating anti-aircraft stations• Impacted effectively of long ranged flights and anti-air

defenses

Rubber

• Developed as part of U-boot program

• Made U-boots more stealthy (absorbed more radar waves)

• Also made it quieter (did not return sonar waves as much as metal hull)

• Developed by Albrecht (Germany)

Amphibious Landing Vehicle

• Developed prior to D-Day ( Operation Neptune under Admiral Bertram Ramsay), 6 June 1944

• Used in evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)

• Built by requirement rather than through invention

Assault Rifles

• Germans developed first assault rifle: Sturmgehwer (STG-44) aka Maschinenpistole 43, Maschinenpistole 44 (MP 43, MP 44)

• Name used for propaganda to induce fear (Sturm=storm, so storm gun)

• Very accurate and could be adapted to virtually any scenario (sniping, assault, single fire, double fire, camouflage, etc..)

Submachine Guns• Maschinenpistole 40 (MP 40)• Developed by Berthold Geipel of Germany• Characterized by low rate of fire and recoil • Used by paratroopers, platoon, and squad leaders• Thompson• Developed by John T. Thompson (1919) of US• Very compact with large barrel = favourable• Known as "Tommy Gun", the "Trench Broom", the "Trench

Sweeper", the "Chicago Piano", the "Chicago Typewriter", and the "Chopper“ for its effectiveness in “sweeping” the enemy trench

Canned Foods• Developed by the French Nicolas Appert but widely

adopted by all armies

• Ability to preserve food without contamination, spoiling

• Able to contain acidic and basic foods (fruits, vegetables and beans, etc..)

• Prevented spread of disease through contamination

Gas Chambers

• Large sealed rooms in which a toxic gas (in Germany often Zyklon (Cyclone) B)

• Extensively used for Capital punishment in the US since 1928

• Also currently in use in North Korea• Used by Germany’s Third Reich as part of genocide

program• Effectively killed up to 200 people in one chamber• Often done in large vans called Gaswagen when there

was not enough room

Plastics

• Bakelite was the first completely synthetic plastic that resisted melting when heated to a certain temperature

• Uses involved radios, telephones, billiards balls, guns, planes, furniture, rocket heads, etc…)

• After the copper shortage in the US during WWII, US government wanted to begin production of 1 cent coins purely out of Bakelite

Submarines• Technology significantly enhanced

• Enabled longer runs with more economically spent fuel

• Rubber coating to minimize detection by SONAR and RADAR of British

• Equipped with up to 6 torpedoes each with up to 0.5 mile blast radius

• Used in Medway Island battles

• Extensive use by Germans (Unterseeboot) in Battle of Britain (1940)