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Weapons of W

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Welcome to the Museum ofWelcome to the Museum ofWeapons And Technology Of WWIIWeapons And Technology Of WWII

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Curator’s OfficeOur weapons and technology museum answers the driving question because without the weapons in World War II we wouldn’t have any of the weapons or technology we have today. Like nuclear warfare has come out of World War II because of the atomic bomb. We've memorialized the people who created the weapons and technology in our museum because without them we wouldn’t have our museum.

Group #7 WWII- Weapons and TechnologyMonica Okopal, Kailey Smith, Abby Childs, Megha

Mummalaneni

Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Dr. Christy Keeler. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.

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Movements of Weapons

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Weapons and technology in Art

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Weapons of WWII in Literature

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Science of Weapons during WWII

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InstitutionsInstitutions

http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detack.asp?smallarms-id=132

The Machinegenewehr 08 was a German standard weapon and is another adaption to Hiram S. Maxim’s original 1884 Maxim Gun. This gun became popular in the 1900’s when Hiram Maxim had introduced the weapon to the German army in 1887. This exact gun (the MG 08) has been improved since then to make it easier to use.

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Artifact 1- MG 08

http://armedforcesmuseam.com/advancements-in-technology-in-world-war-ii/

This German invention known as the “eighty-eight” was originally made as antitank weapon but also doubled as an antiaircraft and a direct fire gun. The 88 was designed by engineers in Sweden. This weapon was mostly known and used in Germany. The first 88 was officially called the 8.8 cm. Flak 18 and went through many improvements till it finally landed on the 8.8 cm. Flak 37. The main use of this weapon was to be launched off an aircraft defense cannon.

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Artifact 2- German 88

http://deadliestfiction.wikia.com/Gewehr.41/43

In 1940, some form of a semi-automatic rifle, with a higher rate of fire than existing bolt action rifle models was invented. It was called a German Rifle, or a Gewehr 41. This weapon was used by the Nazis of Germany during World War II. These rifles would see high attrition rate on the eastern front. Not many of these rifles survived the war making them extremely scarce, and valuable for collectors.

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Artifact 3- German Rifle

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/german-ww2-rifles/german-fg-42/

The Fallschirmjagergergewehr more commonly known as the FG 42 was made for airborne infantry in 1942. This weapons was used very seldom and in small amounts during World War II. This weapon had to go through many changes before it was ever allowed to be sold and used, on of the official changes were to install used chromenickle steel to make the weapon more sturdy.

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Artifact 4- FG 42

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/tdugas/ids3301/acrobat/persuasion.pdf

Man the Guns, Join the Army: Masculine strength was common theme in American propaganda posters during WW2. These posters show powerful men holding up machines to illustrate the power America held. This poster shows American muscle on proud display in war. This poster also shows how much propaganda influenced the advance in weaponry during World War II.

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Artifact 5- Man The Guns

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/tdugas/ids3301/acrobat/persuasion.pdf

This famous poster involves a woman dressed in overalls and wearing a bandana showing off her strength. Posters like these were used as symbols of patriotic womanhood. They were also used to revise the image of feminism, which now incorporated uniforms and tools. It was meant to show how women were assuming more powerful positions and becoming their own weapons.

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Artifact 6- We Can Do It

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/tdugas/ids3301/acrobat/persuasion.pdf

Poster makers used fear to mobilize Americans and to persuade them to join the war to protect their families and the ones they loved. They also used fear posters to make enemy countries appear as if they were in arms reach of the country. On top of that they scared people into thinking the other countries weaponry and technology was far ahead of ours, making us want to fight to protect our families.

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Artifact 7- Our Homes Are in Danger Now

http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/tdugas/ids3301/acrobat/persuasion.pdf

This poster was used to pass on the idea that a segregated nation would not win the war, as opposed to a nation that was divided by segregation. The majority of African Americans signed up to participate in the war, which helped with discrimination. It shows that we have to bond together and use our heads, and technology in order to win the war.

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Artifact 8- United We Win

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2517395/Lost-ww2-Japanese-mega-submarine-near-Hawaii.html

This gigantic submarine was found off the coast of Oahu. It has recently been found and has been missing since 1946. The day it sunk a torpedo hit the edge of it and it sunk at a steep angle until it reached the bottom. Japan was supposed to use this ship to attack the Panama Canal during World War II, but unfortunately it sunk before it was able to.

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Artifact 9- Japanese Mega Submarine

www.jfklibrary/org/JFK/JFK-in-History/John-F-Kennedy-and-PT109

This is one of the most well known stories about a U-Boat during World War II. Back during World War II John F. Kennedy and his crew had a U-Boat named the PT-109 when a different boat (the Amagari) struck the side of their boat and split it in half. Nine of the people in the boat survived and Andrew Jackson Kirksey and Harold Mainey dissapeared. The nine that survived abandoned the boat and swam to the nearest island, 3.5 miles away.

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Artifact 10- U-Boat Story

www.fownews.com/world/2013/01/10/encouraging-discovery-in-Burmese-search-for-long-buried-wwii-spitfires/

This popular single seat fighter aircraft is called the Super Marine Spitfire, it was used by the allied forces during World War II. At the end of the war Britain issued military orders that said they had to put the spitfires in crates, grease them, wrap them and bury them. In this day and age there are only about 35 working spitfires out of the original 21,000 built.

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Artifact 11- Super Marine Spitfire

www.pbs.org/transitor/background1/events/radar.html

By September 1939 both Great Britain and Germany had functioning radars. Almost everyone used a radar during World War II, they were built to see for hundreds of miles. It worked by sending out a radio wave and analyzing the reflected wave after it bounced off any objects in the air.

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Artifact 12- Radar

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-conducts-first-test-of-the-atomic-bomb

The first atomic bomb was created July 16, 1945, in the same day it was ready to be detonated. It was extremely destructive and dangerous to everyday society, though the atomic bomb monopoly didn’t last long. In 1949, the soviets had developed their own atomic bomb, marking the beginning of the nuclear arms race.

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Artifact 13- The Atomic Bomb

http://armedforcesmuseam.com/top-ten-tanks-of-wwii/

The M4 Sherman Tank was used in World War II, mainly by the Allied Nations. The main gun that was mounted on top was able to fir e with decent accuracy even when the tank was moving. This led to the tanks high demand, more than 50,000 M4 Sherman tanks were made and sold during World War II.

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Artifact 14- Tanks

CHANGE PICTURE

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-launch-v1-rocket-attack-against-britain

The German V-1 Bomb is a pilotless, jet fueled plane that flew by an air-driven gyroscope and a magnetic compass. It was capable of unleashing up to a ton of cruise missile explosives. But Germans often missed their target because of their clumsiness and their ability to not make clear decisions.

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Artifact 15- German V-1 Bomb

http://ww2db.com/weapon.php?q=51

The m3 Submachine Gun was designed by a man named George Hude in 1942. Its aim was to replace the Thompson Submachine Gun. Between the years of 1942 and 1945, 600,000 m3 Machine Guns were manufactured. These guns are only able to fire automatically, they were operated by blowback and fired from an open bolt. They were named “grease guns” because they looked like mechanics tools.

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Artifact 16- Submachine Gun

www.worldwar2history.info/II/in/France.html

France joined Great Britain in an attempt to stop the reign of the Nazis. But this attempt failed. Later, after Germany invaded Poland, France declared war on them in September of 1939. However, this war did not last long and on June 17, 1940, France surrendered to Germany.

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Artifact 17- France During World War II

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii

After the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, the U.S declared war on Japan and was thrust into some drastic changes. Food, gas, and clothing were rationed so that American soldiers’ could have more of those things once they were deployed. Japanese Americans were stripped of their rights and were taken to prison camps that were complete with barbed wire and barracks. And more American woman joined the work force to help compensate for the deploy of all the men.

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Artifact 18- Society in the U.S. During WWII

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history

Along with France, Great Britain declared war on Germany in September of 1939. During the first four months of the war, German U-Boats sank more than 100 vessels during a heated battle at sea between both countries’ navies. The war ended for Great Britain on May 8, 1945 when Germany surrendered to the Allies after the grueling battle on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day.

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Artifact 19- Britain During World War II

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history

At the beginning of the war, their leader, Joseph Stalin, signed an agreement with Germany that would prevent attacks on Germany from the Soviets when they invaded Poland. The agreement also meant that the Soviets would assist in conquering and dividing Poland. On September 17 in 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east while Germany invaded from the west. After the invasion of Poland, on June 6, 1944, Soviet troops advanced into some of Germany’s territory while other Allied forces were fighting against Germany’s troops on the beaches of Normandy. Soviet troops then occupied most of Germany and by that point, Germany officially surrendered.

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Artifact 20- Soviet Union During World War II

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzerfaust

The Panzerfaust 30 is an anti-tank weapon made during World War II. It was used from 1943 to the end of the war. It was operated by a single soldier, and had propellant that consisted of black powder. Most of the countries in the war used the man-portable anti-tank

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Artifact 21- Panzerfaust 30

http://militaryfactory.com/smallarms/details.asp?smallarms_id=55

This gun is a semi-automatic pistol that was a direct replacement for the famous Pistol Parabellum. This pistol had a unique design, it included a hammer so nothing could snag on it, there were only a few of these AP models manufactures. It was this design that was able to pass the German regulations for the army.

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Artifact 22- P38

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/vehiclesarmor/p/panther.htm

The development of the Panther Tank started in 1941, and it was sent to the front line in 1943. The Panther saw its first battle at Kursk, and it is very popular with Germany and other German weapons. This tank remained with Germany until the end of 1943, then was recalled when the Panther II was introduced.

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Artifact 23- Panther Tank

http://www.world-war-2.info/weapons/wp_11.php

The bazooka was one of the first anti-tank weapons used by the United States Armed Forces in World War II. The bazooka was named that for its resemblance to an instrument. It was extremely effective, it was so good that the germans copied it and created their own version called the Panzerschreck. The bazooka could be found in all theatres of war during World War II and in other wars.

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Back Wall Artifact- The Bazooka