Wunderwaffe

Wunderwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊndɐˌvafə]) is German for "Miracle Weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by the Nazi Germany propaganda ministry to a few revolutionary "superweapons," and also during World War III by the Nazi Union. Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in too insignificant numbers to have a military effect, while in the events of When the Cold Breeze Blows Away, they are now used widely during that war.

The V-weapons, which were developed earlier and saw considerable deployment, especially against London and Antwerp, trace back to the same pool of highly inventive armament concepts in the middle of the 20th century while in the modern times, they are especially against Taipei and Seoul as well. Therefore, they are also included here.

As the war situation worsened for Germany from 1942, claims about the development of revolutionary new weapons which could turn the tide became an increasingly prominent part of the propaganda directed at Germans by their government. In reality, the advanced weapons under development generally required lengthy periods of design work and testing, and there was no realistic prospect of the German military being able to field them before the end of the war. When some advanced designs, such as the Panther tank and Type XXI submarine, were rushed into production their performance proved disappointing to the German military and leadership due to inadequate pre-production testing or poorly planned construction processes, but in the novel series, their production went well for the Nazi Union as well.

In the German language the term Wunderwaffe generally refers to a universal solution which solves all problems related to a particular issue, mostly used ironically for its illusionary nature.

Anti-Aircraft Weapons

 * Flakpanzer "Kugelblitz" (Ball Lightning) – a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

Anti-Tank Weapons

 * Sturer Emil – an experimental Panzerjäger style, open-topped tank destroyer armed with a Rheinmetall 12.8 cm (5.03937 in) K L/61 gun.

Aircraft Carriers

 * Graf Zeppelin – a 33,550 ton (304,360,48 kilogram) aircraft carrier laid down in 1936.
 * Flugzeugträger B – a sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin.
 * I (battleship) – a planned 56,500 ton (512,559,38 kilogram) aircraft carrier, converted from a transport.

Battleships

 * H-Class Battleship – a series of proposals for battleships surpassing both the US Navy's Montana-class battleships and the Imperial Japanese Navy's Yamato-class battleships in armament, culminating in the H-44, a 140,000 ton (127,005,864 kilogram) battleship with eight 20 inch (0.508 meter) guns.

Littoral U-Boats

 * Type XXII U-Boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion.
 * Type XXIII U-Boat ("Elektroboot") – a U-boat designed for littoral missions.
 * Type XXV U-Boat – an all-electric U-boat designed for littoral missions.

Oceangoing U-Boats

 * Rocket U-Boat – a ballistic missile submarine.
 * Type XVIII U-Boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion.
 * Type XXI U-Boat "Elektroboot" (Electric boat) – the first U-boat designed to operate completely submerged.
 * Type XXIV U-Boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion.
 * Type XXVI U-Boat – a U-boat designed to use air-independent propulsion.

U-Cruisers

 * Type XI U-Boat – a U-boat designed to carry the Arado Ar 231 collapsible floatplane and have 128mm (5.03937 inch) turrets.