A History Teacher Reacts | "Last Ditch Axis Weapons" by Simple History

[Music] hey youtube welcome back to another history teacher reacts video mr. Terry's I continued my search for historical knowledge found here on YouTube alright today's video is titled last ditch axis weapons by simple history something this was kind of an interesting thing I had heard this this thing before that Adolf Hitler was was hoping that in the last months or whatever of the war of like a some kind of yeah late arrival like wonder weapon that might come online and save everything because things obviously weren't going very well in those final months of the war and I don't know if that's at all related to this but that that just came back to her came into my mind when I heard about this a last-ditch axis weapon so we're gonna look at some some experimental just kind of thinking outside the box kind of things I'm interested to see kind of what they got here so we'll get started in just a sec all right if you like dirigida video go down below and you will see a link to it super history is awesome if you don't know them definitely sub to them give them a like view subscription and let's see what we can learn and let's see if we can add anything so we'll go ahead and get started right now before this video is sponsored by World War Doh World War doe is a brand new mobile RTS game that's different from the other games in the same genre in this game you control your moveable commander and towers that rage and heal him to take on the enemy base assisted by a host of crazy units there's the bunker to hide my commander in a safe place good evening a winner to soak up damage and destroy towers da choppah and 1-800 air strike to ensure range and air superiority the Kathlyn gun for defense and van gun for his sniping action and then there's major fire with his flamethrowers that do fire damage for cropping on trails still not enough there are a ton of skins dances and told you to show off and let your enemy know exactly oh you're feeling very soon there will be a global tournament with a $25,000 prize pool so download now and get good fast to be crowned the best in the world and get a chance to win the prize money click the link in the description below to get the game now you want I won this my way history club will take your arrow and establish their own firing content creators can apply to join the World War Doh creator program link also in the description below last ditch access well world war 2 in the latter half of World War two the Axis powers continually found themselves cut off from resources they have earlier in the war without the materials needed to keep their massive war machines going the Japanese and German forces began scrambling to find ways to support their forces while using the least amount of resources possible really did become a war of resources I mean you're talking about the war going into its 5th 6th year and also Germany was out of pretty much by the end of the war here out of any any European allies I mean Italy had fallen and not been as useful I think as the Germans would have hoped another Allie's they had so it became yeah war of resources which people say is a reason why Adolf Hitler did some of the things he did with heading down to southwestern Russia towards Stalingrad to get things like oil resources so wars are absolutely a war of resources and in a war that lasts multiple years like this that can sometimes be the the thing that leads to the end of the war and simply it's not even a will to fight or anything or maybe even not even amount of soldiers or something like that but resources of can't resource and you don't have an arm even have an army you know about war right this generally meant making crude forms of their current weapons finding ways to dramatically simplify production or even making completely new and oftentimes extremely simple firearms mp3 0:08 type submachine gun place of origin german alright in the Western songs World War the German military was looking at anything and everything they could field one answer had been sitting in their faces the whole time the British then submachine gun already designed as an emergency weapon by the British the Sten was lightweight simplistic effective very reliable in close quarters and above all else extremely simple to manufacture so saying they're gonna take out our t existing weapons from someone else and maybe they'll make it better supercharge it what more rounds more something I mean what do you do what do you do to modify a submachine gun here for the British the Sten replaced the highly expensive Thompson submachine guns they have been purchasing from the United States so to the Tommy gun's right Berman's creating their own version of this already existing emergency weapon was an all too easy idea at first Mouser created the Garrett potsdam an exact copy of the Stenmark to then the company was instructed to simplify the design further creating the Garrett knowing monstah officially called the mp3 0:08 from the stun to the mp3 0:08 only one serious change was made the magazine of the mp3 0:08 was locked in a vertical position on like the lateral magazine that protruded off the left side of the stand aside from this small change that two submachine guns were almost completely identical in total only about 10,000 mp3 0:08 would be produced the mp3 0:08 would be produced throughout 1944-1945 what often times find themselves in the hands of auxiliary troops or in the hands of Germany's fallen allies in occupied states such as Czechoslovakia after world war ii the mp3 0:08 still found service with many of these auxiliary troops until they were eventually washed out by the native designs or other imports Volkssturm different so it's just it's a tie man it's a copy of the the tommy gun but the clip goes down instead of to the side that's that's innovative they are the g15 type semi-automatic rifle place of origin Germany maybe the most famous of Germany's last-ditch weapons is the Volk simcha via the name is translated as the people's assault rifle or this oddly shaped and clearly cobbled together rifle was a mainstay of the German Home Guard known as the Volkssturm or people storm this rifle was supposed to get extra firepower to the severely under train and under-equipped Volkssturm militia that was used as the final stopgap between the Allies and the complete collapse of the Third Reich so it's like we need a gun that's effective and that what people that are virtually civilians can use ok the Volks dem Gavea was both an extremely rushed and impractical design the rifle used the standard magazine of the stg44 and it's 7.92 by 33 millimeter kurtz round unlike the stg44 the Volkssturm de vere was purely a semi-automatic rifle the production of the Volkssturm Gewehr itself was extremely crude almost all of the firearms construction was made from stamped or folded metal therefore could be made with even the simplest of manufacturing tools the only part of the weapon that wasn't made of stamped metal was the bolt itself the bolt was actually somewhat of an advanced one it used a simplified blowback action that only uses one moving part the bolt itself the same theory would reduce the recoil the Volkssturm de vere was held together with series or wonder evidence while this made the firearm somewhat more rugged this meant that it could not be easily disassembled for maintenance so if there were any issues with the gun it was often thrown away and replaced disposable gun probably works at this point of the war we're just you don't have time to do that anyway so it's just like get get weapons out for your at the end of the war in your Germany or just get them out if they're useful great and if you can make them cheaply enough then I guess it's okay if they're pretty much disposable but that'd be hard to imagine too at this time we got 9 Stas Fleming Bertha 46 aim thrower type throw flow throw away flame thrower disposable flame thrower I gives it up and it's gone away flame thrower place of origin Germany one of the most feared weapons of all time is the flamethrower the German army had made good use I wouldn't want to use that thing it just it's so sewed it's so dangerous just like you use how many video games I'll be all played where you just you shoot the guy just shoot him in his backpack right obviously that's not it's not for like face-to-face combat you know what I mean but still seems like you got these barrels of explosives attached to you I don't feel want to be the flamethrower hi so the flamethrower all across the world but these giant devices were expensive we're complicated to produce and they required specialized training that would take up valuable time as the Fuhrer called more and more people to the front many of whom you would receive little to no formal training in order to imagine being there at the end there with that where it's like hey you've got to go to the war we really don't have time to train you just get in there you'll you'll you'll figure it out I mean as a soul I mean you can't imagine I mean imagine those can imagine those soldiers will be very good right specially if it's late in the war and then participated anyways so you're man you're really getting desperate at that point and you wonder why continue on if that's what you're now left with combat this issue a lightweight portable tubular single-shot flamethrower was pressed into service in 1944 this was the Einsteins flemeth ephah of which little information is known in English literally meaning the single-shot flamethrower it was just a simple metal container filled with fuel with a nozzle and a trigger at the front once the trigger was pulled the entire contents of the canister would be emptied projecting a single burst to flame for less than a second to an effective range of about 30 yards after this it's pretty far the way flat throw itself was tucked under the users arm and held in place by a strap that went over the soldier's shoulder often these flamethrowers proved to be more danger to the user than the enemy estas flem and Vava found itself used by german paratroopers until the end of the war and would ultimately end up in large numbers in the hands of the dog star as it was deemed that no training was necessary to use the ein stuff lemon FIFA despite it being so cumbersome dangerous approximately 30,000 700 were manufactured last-ditch arasaka dang so I mean is that an efficient weapon to just bill to use that mean with how would you manufacture it and it does a full second of damage and then that's it it's basically just like a grenade almost but just you know a one-time use it and lose it kind of thing you wonder yeah these effectiveness but type 99 all right Japanese a super the Japanese are doing here her soccer took 99 okay the last digit so it's gonna be improved version of the type 99 action rifle place of origin Japan much like the Germans the Japanese Empire was on its heels and was running dangerously low on supplies in the late years of the war conscripts with little or no training were being equipped with whatever could be found and the standard-issue rifles of the Japanese Empire were stripped to their basic components in order to save on production time and material at the beginning of the war the type 99 arasaka was a well made and very well liked firearm that used a smooth mauser style action this rifle would be stripped down to its core by the end of the war compared to the original rifle the late war version looked like a poor copy of its earlier self the subtly more arasaka consisted of a stationary peephole rear sight without the adjustment for windage or elevation which the original featured while at the end of the barrel there was an unprotected blade for sight these sights worked but lacked the finesse of the original rifle I mean rifles are already difficult enough and to have that bare-bones of any kind of sight with those materials but it's probably extremely inaccurate unless you're incredibly skilled just behind the sights the bolt itself was of a much worse quality than the original smooth low tolerance metal work was replaced with crew dunfin metal with little-to-no markings this saved on machining time and allowed for less skilled machinists and metal workers to produce these rifles metal pieces that were not absolutely necessary were removed from the gun entirely this included the butt plate which was stripped off and replaced with a wooden butt plate a cleaning rod which was removed completely and not given any kind of substitute although the metal construction at the end of the hand guard was slimmed down and changed so as to not hold the cleaning rod it's bayonet lug was kept so that soldiers could still a fix bayonets and charge enemy positions much like its metal components the wooden body of the type 99 was cut down wherever possible the most noticeable change being that the finish on the original was completely removed thus leaving the bare wood to face the elements with no protection from there the wooden it damaged and splintered and handguard that used to run the length of the rifle was cut down to cover only about one half of the barrel and lastly the finger groove under the rear sights were completely removed overall the Japanese had removed and simplified anything they could without making the rifle dangerous to use although that point is still up for debate National Defence rifle type bolt-action rifle it looks just so plain right there I mean I oh it's drawing it's a cartoon but so the the it what what the impression I'm getting is these last stitch axis weapons are not improvements they're not they're not like improved versions of things before brand-new kind of things they're just it's it's based off of they have no resources and they're trying to just scrap together what they can so this is just deficit desperation mode place of origin Japan with the Americans and even potentially the Soviet Union closing in on the Japanese home islands the threat of invasion was very real and a pre-existing civil defense leads were starting to be mobilized in the event of an invasion these home guard troops and guns did not be made fast enough or in large enough numbers to both outfit the frontline troops and the home guard so even the hugely simplified type 99 would not find itself in the hands of the Home Guard troops instead of an extremely simplified bare-bones rifle the National Defense rifle was issued out to members of the Home Guard little is known about these series of rifles they were not any kind of specific rifle basic designs were handed down from the Japanese government to workshops around the country who were ordered to manufacture rifles chambered in either the 7.7 by 58 millimeter Arisaka rifle cartridge or the 8 by 22 Nambu pistol cartridge so they want like anybody that can manufacture stuff workshops anywhere we need everybody just to be able to make stuff I mean that's yeah it's desperation time I keep saying that the finished works that were put out by these workshops were extremely simplistic and crude since each workshop had free rein of how they wanted to design their rifle their design differed from workshop to workshop but all versions had certain commonalities as a stock made from a sink pan awful-looking weapon look at that thing the piece of wood oftentimes this was just a plank with a slot cut into it in order to hold the barrel and trigger assembly and a single-shot capacity although these rifles were supposed to be chambered to use standard Japanese ammunition some did not even use cased ammo but instead used a muscle loader that used black powder geez what year is it no way back in time for going backwards that way and using that stuff an unknown number of these rifles were produced and none of them saw from light action as the invasion of Japan never occurred okay so again it's like at the end there with with Germany or it's like hey this is something we got to be able to mass-produce for for civilians and and like just it's that's the last hope you have although most of these weapons did see combat in some form they were produced in fairly limited numbers and their production ceased with the end of the war after the war almost all of these weapons except the mp3 0:08 which went on to be used by many police forces and the Balkans and other Central and Eastern European countries were immediately destroyed or sold off after the war today they are extremely rare and oftentimes considered unsafe for use because of their crude and fast production methods alright so it's not like we were yeah again finding the the Wonder weapon that was rumoured that Adolf Hitler was was hoping for I mean this is a much more realistic I think like expectation to have of what's happening at the end of a war it's not the end of the war you know that you might have some of these new things although a contrast to be like the atomic bomb or something like that is a last-ditch Wonder weapon you know what I mean these things are desperation they are and what they've showed there they need something quick to make and efficient enough to be useful right and you saw a lot of it was to equip the the final stand of the Axis powers both in Japan at home and then in in Germany at home as the end of the war was approaching and both sides obviously well wait well were fighting you know kit kept fighting him and when things already looked like they were they were kind of over especially with the Germans there I mean there's no actual land invasion of Japan but you can see they're getting ready for it and still it seems you know a facility Tomic a weapons being used that there's no plan for that surrender that yeah invasion may definitely be possible so interesting to see them what they kind of come up with which again is just scaled down cheaper versions of stuff that's there or like in the case the copying already existing foreign models that hey this thing's successful the other side of the war maybe we should adapt something you know similar right because it's obviously working for them right and but those are yeah that's pretty fascinating I especially found fascinating the whole like one-time use little flamethrower or you just use it once one shot pretty much uses the whole canister and then that's it and you basically just carry it around you with the idea of it being probably a 1 you know one trick pony there you obviously would need another weapon there to be able to use that but it's just another option but interesting I thought that was the most interesting of them because it was a little bit different than these other ones which again we're just scaled-down versions of weapons already existed so I don't know what do you think about this stuff and what does it tell us about resources and stuff like that and you know how important resources are in the war and you see with this the efforts that are there just that they want to continue fighting even if you're down to you know these not very good weapons there so anyway interesting a little video there I'm not a major world war two historians I know there's people that are way more into like weapons and and and and specifically weapons and I'm very much a novice when it comes to history compared to a lot of other history teachers about this stuff so a lot of the stuff is educational to me to see this and I always like to know what the more important like what's the effect of certain weapons how good is this weapon important right how has it changed things how did it impact a war and impact history those are the stories that I always like so that's the stuff I hope to find more especially when it comes to to weapons there I'm pretty cool I know a lot of you were into that and could probably explain a lot of this in more detail or shows from your own research or video games or whatever it is I always hear all the time and I say my discord chats people talking about weapons and comparing them and always interesting just more as a for you guys that are really into that but more if somebody just kind of looking in the background and the big picture seeing those conversations by the way if you would like to get involved in conversations like that your military history person come on and join our discord server down a link down below we'll get you a link over there definitely subs the channel if you haven't and you could be part of our community I'd love to have you around and able those notifications so you can see the live premieres and live streams if you like this video go down below and make sure click at the link they'll say original video it'll take you to this give them a view subscription like throw them a comments important to do that too so alright well thanks everybody for joining us today stay safe out there and we'll see you next time bye [Music] [Music]

Channel: Mr. Terry History

Views: 73,253

Keywords: react, history, world war 2

Id: GGLx9vAOUdM

Length: 21min 40sec (1300 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020