The Fascists were the only force in history to deploy a sonic weapon in the field of battle
The Fascists were the only force in history to deploy a sonic weapon in the field of battle
Pictured: Richard Wallauschek’s sound cannon, which he tested in Tyrol during 1944.
Quoting Juliette Volcler’s Extremely Loud: Sound as a Weapon:
In the context of the Third Reich’s program of “wonder weapons,” the center in Lofer, Austria, was also working to use audible sound as a weapon—but it was the pressure of the sound wave that interested the [Wehrmacht] more than frequency. Dr. Richard Wallauscheck created parabolic reflectors, the last and “most successful” of which was 3.2 meters in diameter. A short tube connected to the back of an antenna served as a “combustion chamber or sound generator.”
It produced explosions by means of a mix of methane and oxygen. This first shock wave then reflected back from the extremity of the tube, producing a second explosion in the chamber. The device emitted detonations at a frequency of “800 to 1500 impulses per second” and at an amplitude of 134 dB at 60 meters.
The [Fascists], and Simon after them, credited the weapon with all sorts of capabilities: although “no physiological experiments had been conducted […] it was estimated that at such a pressure it would take from 30 to 40 seconds to kill a man. At greater ranges, perhaps up to 300 meters, the effect, although not lethal, would be very painful and would probably disable a man for an appreciable length of time. […] The general opinion was that the military value of such a device was limited, to say the least, owing chiefly to the lack of range.”25
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As with the Axis’s other secret weapons—and there were more than a few—you may be tempted to shrug your shoulders and politely dismiss them as mere trivia. There is a greater significance to these, though: they prove how desperate the Fascist bourgeoisie was to avoid surrender, being willing to fund all kinds of gimmicky crap if it meant a shortcut to Axis victory. Don’t act too surprised if a contemporary dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is looking for similar shortcuts.