Patton, the M1 Garand was the first self-loading rifle to become standard issue for the United States. M1 GarandДescribed as 'the greatest battle implement ever devised' by General George S. The Browning's destructive potential and dependability has made it a constant presence in militaries worldwide for decades-in fact, it's still in use today. The weapons couldВ fire 550 rounds per minute and had a range of over four miles. 50 caliber machine gun was a staple during the war.В Almost 2 million M2s were produced for the troops, and with good reason: They were among the most versatile weapons available, arming soldiers on land, in the air, and on the water. With the ability to punch through the hull of a ship and bring down enemy aircraft, the M2 Browning. This drastically cut down on the waste and exhausting effort of contact and timed fuzes. The resulting explosion would besiege an enemy craft in flak and debris without having to be directly on target. Instead of having to make direct contact with a fast moving target, a rocket or torpedo armed with a proximity fuze would use a radio signal to detonate whenever it detected a craft was nearby. With the radio proximity fuze, that all changed. It would often take an average of 2500 rounds to bring one down-if you brought it down at all. Radio Proximity FuzeД«efore the invention of the radio proximity fuze-now known as the VT fuze-shooting down an enemy aircraft was wasteful and impractical. It had a fuse time of 4-4.8 seconds, giving soldiers the option of either throwing immediately or holding on for a second or two to reduce the enemy's ability to throw it back. The grenade was lethal within a 30-foot blast radius, but it could wound anyone unlucky enough to be caught in a 50-yard radius. Not only was it simple to use, but its unique casing would break into a thousand pieces of fiery shrapnel upon exploding. hand grenade-known colloquially as the pineapple grenade-was everywhere during World War II.

Other modifications were added throughout the war, most famously the 'Donald Duck' model used by the British that allowed the tank to float to shore during the Normandy landings. (The military emphasized speed and efficiency while designing the tanks, which critics point out came at the expense of indestructibility.) Armed with a turret gun, support machine guns, and a five-man crew, the M4 allowed Allied troops to fight their wayВ deep into enemy territory. The M4 Sherman wasn't as powerful as many of the enemy tanks on the battlefield, but America's ability to mass produce them resulted in the manufacture of nearly 50,000 between 19.

Though the planes were large and heavily armored, they had a top speed of over 280 miles per hour, which was deceptively fast for something that size at the time. Around 640,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Nazi Germany by B-17s during the course of the war. During the war, the B-17s were aided by gun turrets across their frames, providing fire support so they could drop their payloads of bombs in both the European and Pacific theaters. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress gave the Allies a distinct advantage from the skies. 50 caliber machine guns and nearly 10,000 pounds of bombs. Its capacity for destruction only grew as the war dragged on later B-17 models were equipped with more than 10. When Boeing first began manufacturing its so-called Flying Fortress, the B-17, on a large scale, the massive plane featured nine machine guns and could carry 4000 pounds of explosives. There are plenty of reasons why the Allies prevailed over the Axis powers-here are just 11 of them. The brutal trench warfare that was so important during World War I gave way to new methods of fighting, including large-scale artillery barrages, advanced air combat, and oceans littered with massive fleets battling it out for naval supremacy. The technological advancements achieved during World War II made it far different from any war that came before it.

All world at war guns