In an effort to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible, the military of different countries went to experiments, which can now be called inhuman. As a living weapon animals used, birds (remember at least Princess Olga and her revenge on the Drevlyans), and even representatives of Homo sapiens.
Here top 7 cases in history when people were used as living weapons.
7. "Kaiten"
By the end of 1943, early Japanese successes in the Pacific had given way to a series of catastrophic defeats. In June 1942, the US Navy defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy off Midway Atoll.
Exhausted by fighting an enemy with almost limitless resources, the Japanese needed a miracle to prevent defeat. So they turned to the only resource they had left - young people.
Japanese suicide bombers from the Imperial Navy used Kaiten torpedoes to manually hit large targets. All of the Kaiten pilots were volunteers between the ages of 17 and 28.
The first torpedoes had a pilot ejection mechanism, although not a single underwater kamikaze used it. Later modifications of this mechanism no longer existed.
More than 100 Kaiten pilots have died during training or attacks. More than 800 Japanese sailors were killed while transporting them to their targets. Meanwhile, the estimated losses of the Americans are less than 200 people. Ultimately, the Japanese managed to sink only two large ships - the tanker Mississineva and the destroyer escort Underhill. This was clearly not enough to change the balance of power in the Pacific Ocean.
6. Proxy bomb
This tactic was widely used by the militants of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). It consisted in the following:
- IRA militants have taken relatives of former members of the British security forces or people working in the security forces hostage;
- ordered them to deliver a bomb in a car to one of the British military installations;
- sometimes the driver had a few minutes to get away from the car before it exploded. But they weren't always so lucky.
This tactic was subsequently adopted by the FARC in Colombia and the rebels in Syria. And if all the other participants in this collection were volunteers, then in the case of the Proxy bomb, involuntary suicide bombers were used.
5. Maiale ("Piglet")
This was the name of the manned torpedo used by the Italians in World War II to attack ships in enemy harbors.
The five-meter death instrument was armed with either a 300 kg warhead or two 150 kg warheads. Behind the warhead was a shielded control panel for the main pilot, who sat on the torpedo as if on horseback. Behind, behind the fast dive tank, sat the assistant. The Maiale was delivered to the desired location by a carrier submarine.
Having approached the enemy ship, the Italian divers had to separate the front part of the torpedo, where the warhead was located, and attach it to the ship's hull using powerful magnets. In theory, they had 2.5 hours before the explosion to swim away. In practice, Maiale was difficult to cope with. Because of her capricious nature, she got her nickname.
However, with the help of the Maiale, the Italian Navy was able to carry out several successful operations. Human-controlled torpedoes ceased to be used after 1943, when Italy concluded a peace treaty with the Allies.
4. Yokosuka MXY7 "Oka"
This name, amusing for the Russian ear, was given to an absolutely not funny "winged bomb" with a rocket engine. It was made in the Land of the Rising Sun at the end of World War II, and, as you might have guessed, it was controlled by a suicide pilot - a kamikaze.
Due to the short range of action "Oka", which means "cherry blossom" in Japanese, received the nickname "baka" from the Americans (translated from Japanese - "fool").
This wooden glider carried 1.2 tons of ammonal in the bow. It was transported by a carrier plane. In line of sight of the enemy ship, the glider separated from the carrier aircraft and glided until the pilot stabilized it and aimed at the target. Then the kamikaze turned on the rocket boosters and approached the target before the collision, which caused the explosives to detonate.
Most of the Oka's carrier planes got lost on approach. And if the attack by the kamikaze was successful, then its victims were mainly the destroyers of the radar patrol that had moved away from the main forces. However, despite its low efficiency, "Oka" pointed the way for the development of anti-ship weapons, which led to the creation of anti-ship missiles.
3. Sonderkommando "Elba"
German kamikazes were also included in the rating of suicide bombers. The meaning of the desperate project to create "living rams" was to inflict maximum damage on the Anglo-American bombers.
Light fighters "Messerschmitt" Bf-109G-10 were used for the attacks. All weapons were removed from them except for one machine gun.
The first flight of the Elba Sonderkommando, which had 150 fighters at its disposal, took place on April 7, 1945. However, only 70 of them made it to the goal. The Germans managed to destroy 8 American bombers, while the Elbe losses amounted to 53 aircraft and 30 pilots.
2. "Xingyo"
The second place in the selection of kamikaze from different countries again goes to the Japanese. In an effort to prevent the allies from reaching the shores of their country, the descendants of the samurai did not stop even in the face of death. One of the methods of self-destructive struggle were modified torpedo boats - "Shinyo" (translated from Japanese - "divine hawk"). They carried a large charge of explosives.
There were two types of Xingyo. The first of them was intended for ramming enemy ships. The pilot, naturally, died. Another type was developed for the discharge of depth charges. In this case, the pilot should not have died, although sometimes it did, since even the "divine hawks" were not fast enough before leaving the bomb drop area before they exploded.
1. Project "BoMi"
Do you believe that a nuclear Apocalypse could have taken place with the efforts of just three people? But in the United States during the Cold War, they believed. One of the strangest attempts to turn humans into living weapons was called Bomi (Bomber-Missile).
The idea of creating a "BoMi-rocket" came from the Americans in the 50s of the twentieth century. It was proposed to use a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a crew of three. It was a modernized copy of the Dornberger-Erike cruise missile.
- A team of two was supposed to be in the launch booster (first stage) and was responsible for launching the rocket from the base.
- The third pilot was in a gliding missile (second stage), which also carried a nuclear warhead weighing 1814 kg
- The rear compartment was supposed to separate in the air and return to base, but the third pilot had to take the bomber rocket into space and then point it at Moscow. He was supposed to be guided by radio beacons on submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. On the approach to Moscow, the pilot would fix the target in the optical sight, and then choose either death or surrender. The second option sounds ridiculous, since the pilot would most likely remain in the nuclear strike zone.
However, given the short range of the "BUM" (did not reach Moscow from Cape Canaveral), the project was abandoned. Perhaps the entire concept of a space glider-bomber was doomed to failure from the start. In many ways, it seems to echo an early Cold War discussion about whether America's nuclear strike force should be made up of bombers or missiles. There is no doubt that a manned aircraft - or missile - is more flexible than an unmanned ICBM. Ultimately, however, ICBMs proved to be a faster and more efficient way to deliver nuclear weapons.