The Most Terrifying Sounds in War

psychological Sonic weapons some weapons are not designed to kill or maim the enemy but rather to instill fear if done effectively frightens soldiers no longer wish to fight but instead flee the horrors of combat a key component often built into these weapons of fear is the noise they create with many specifically designed to trigger psychological effects simply through intense or unsettling noise in turn they prey on human susceptibility to intense auditory overstimulation and psychological reaction number one Aztec death whistle in 1999 an archaeological Discovery in Mexico City revealed what may in fact have been one of the earliest examples of a sound-based weapon while Excavating a Temple dedicated to the Aztec wind God archaeologists found a sacrifice skeleton of a young man who in his hands was holding two whistles it was assumed the whistles were there to imitate The Winds of the underworld researchers soon labeled these unusual finds as the Aztec death whistle as archaeologists continued to piece together information about the whistle and how it was used other theories of its use in combat began to arise it's likely that these weren't just instruments used during human sacrifices because given the horrifying scream It produced in reconstructions it may have been used as a weapon of War the death whistle is categorized as an air spring type of whistle with earlier versions having been found from the Mayans in the case of the Aztec death whistle it sounds like someone being slayed alive when we imagine the image of thousands of Aztec warriors marching into battle armed with Spike clubs and Spears and blowing these death whistles it's easy to see just how effective this object could have been and terrorizing the anime number two the trumpets of Jericho stukka's Sirens when referencing the German air force of World War II junkers ju-87 are perhaps one of the first aircraft that come to mind being one of the most notable and well recognized aircraft in the entire War the famous Stuka dive bomber and ground attack aircraft was used during the Spanish Civil War as part of the German Condor Legion and during the early years of World War II as part of Germany's Blitzkrieg tactics the Battle of Britain soon revealed the drawbacks of the snook of bombers of which the most important was its considerably low speed making it incompatible for air-to-air combat as the war went on and with German Air Supremacy faltering the stukta's role in the war similarly gradually declined however for one key reason the junkers ju-87 remained a symbol of the Blitzkrieg all those who face the aircraft remember one thing about them the noise they made stuke were built with an interesting feature installed on their fuselage there were two propeller driven Sirens attached to the undercarriage legs at 2.3 feet in diameter when the aircraft would enter a dive the siren would produce a loud screaming sound as the diving speed increased the noise intensified the sirens were symbolically therefore named the trumpets of Jericho ironically the enemy soldiers were not the only ones affected by the sirens German Pilots found them disturbing too especially while conducting a complicated diving procedure another drawback was that the sirens actually decreased the speed by between 10 and 20 miles per hour more 20 to 25 kilometers an hour eventually the sirens were withdrawn from use but the trumpets of Jericho remained a prominent symbol of the war number three Stalin's organs bm13 katusha the bm-13 katusha is used as a sound-based weapon was accidental and was never designed with psychological effects in mind it was an Innovative artillery weapon with a devastating destructive force however the sound It produced was so haunting that it instilled fear across ranks of the opposition officially called the bm-13 the katusha was conceived based on the order of the Soviet scientific research institute 3 to create a rocket launcher on a truck chassis for launching aircraft Rockets upon ground targets designed under top secrecy the weapon was first used in 1941 against German trains at orsha railway station with brutal efficiency early reports of its first uses by Red Army Commander andremenko described how the Rockets quote sword up like comets with a red tail and then exploded with a crash like thunder the effect of the bursts of 320 Rockets within a span of 26 seconds in a very limited area exceeded all expectations the Germans ran away in panic and Terror admittedly our own troops withdrew likewise for security reasons we had not informed them beforehand about the use of the new weapon end quote the Soviets soon nicknamed the weapon katusha most likely after the famous patriotic wartime song the Germans too had a nickname for the weapon Stalin's organs this was inspired by the loud hissing sound from the incoming Rockets which terrified German troops its distinct sound became synonymous with the chaos it would bring just one Salvo from four katushas lasted between 7 and 10 seconds and detonated 4.35 tons of high explosive across a 10-acre area conclusively katusha was a mighty weapon with dual Effectiveness it brought destruction and created Mass fear simultaneously number four wandering Soul during the U.S Vietnam War the Vietnamese believed that when a person died the body must be buried where they were born or their soul would forever wander the Netherworld American soldiers working at a South Vietnamese radio station in 1964 saw an opportunity to exploit this belief and so a series of ominous sounds and voice recordings were created with the help of South Vietnamese soldiers who imitated the wandering Souls of Fallen Vietcong soldiers these were compiled into the most well-known recording ghost tape number 10. the recording starts with Buddhist funeral music followed by the howling sounds of a man in agony next a voice of a little girl calls for her father a fallen soldier to come home this is followed by a distant and echoed voice of her father responding looking for his loved ones finally the voice of the Dead Soldier addresses his comrades telling them he died a senseless death and that he ended up in Hell the recording ends with a message go home my friends before it's too late followed by the groans of a man torment it in Hell The Operators were instructed to refrain from playing the tape when in proximity of Allied South Vietnamese soldiers out of fear it may affect them as well the success of operation wandering Soul was questionable the akong soldiers quickly realized what they were hearing was a recording and in turn they used it to locate the enemy's position and aim their fire as a result the operation was canceled by 1971. this was not to say that further recordings were not used such as another recording of a tiger growl also played through loudspeakers number five long range acoustic device lrad the elrad or long-range acoustic device is often placed in the family of modern Sonic weapons although its original designers the American Technology Corporation in 2003 denied it was a weapon it is nevertheless effectively a sound cannon that can be used to injure repel or incapacitate one's Target its two main abilities are voice amplification for communication over long distances and emitting an alert tone the alert tone can reach 160 decibels about 40 decibels louder than the volume of a jet engine taking off such a loud sound can cause pain disorientation nausea migraines and even hearing damage police units often use such devices as the lrad to control large crowds often during protests the weapons are relatively small and can therefore be mounted onto Vehicles such as automobiles helicopters and Patrol boats there are numerous reports of the successful use of lrad as a Sonic weapon coming from countries across the globe one particularly notable case comes from the Israeli Defense Forces who used Sonic weapons to break Palestinian protesters U.S forces have also used them in Iraq dispersing crowds from locations known to be terrorist targets other uses for the weapon include fitting them to cargo ships as protection against Pirates wherever and however used it's one of the few modern examples of a powerful and non-lethal sound-based weapon [Music] thank you

Channel: Simple History

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Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, physiological, military, weapon, weapons, sound, sounds, noisy, sound-based, whistle, aztec, death whistle, skull whistle, trumpets of jericho, stuka sirens, stuka, Junkers Ju 87, world war ii, Blitzkrieg, stalin's organs, bm-13, katyusha, operation wandering soul, ghost tape, lrad, long-rang acoustic device, vietnam

Id: O-iHW1dxsyo

Length: 9min 13sec (553 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 26 2022