Odd Facts About Deadliest WW II Weapons

On August 6, 1945, near end of World War II, a modified B-29 dropped a uranium gun-type (“Little Boy”) bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, a plutonium implosion (“Fat Man”) bomb was dropped by another B-29 on Nagasaki. The bombs immediately devastated their targets and, over the next two to four months, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 people in Nagasaki. World War II was one of the most deadly wars in history. Over 15,000,000 people were killed in combat. 25,000,000 more were wounded. The death toll was catastrophic. In addition to the atomic bombs mentioned above, there are a lot of other iconic weapons from the World War II era, and the massive kill count was due—at least in part—to a peak in weapons development. Many modern weapons are based on designs that were conceived before or during World War II. Then, of course, there was the aforementioned atom bomb, but there are some interesting tidbits about some of the most deadly weapons in World War II that you may not know. Here are a few of those little known facts.