| Tango01 | 16 Jan 2019 4:12 p.m. PST |
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, but sometimes soldiers were sent into battle with shockingly incompetent weaponry: either inherently seriously flawed, extremely outdated, insufficient for the task for which they were used, or a combination of all three. The following examples are among the worst equipment with which soldiers were sent into battle in the World Wars. For the sake of this list, all examples are those used in combat in at least one of the world wars, so prototypes will be excluded. Suicide/Kamikaze bombers will also be excluded because, although obviously terrible for the airmen manning them, they fulfilled their intended purpose…."
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Armand |
| Blutarski | 16 Jan 2019 6:39 p.m. PST |
My nomination – In preparation to meet a looming 1945 invasion of the home islands by Allied forces, the Imperial Japanese Army intended to issue bamboo spears to civilian home defense militia. B |
Frederick  | 16 Jan 2019 7:51 p.m. PST |
Not to nit pick but the St. Charmond and Ross Rifle were from WWI – not WWII |
| Twilight Samurai | 16 Jan 2019 9:20 p.m. PST |
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| Andy ONeill | 17 Jan 2019 3:52 a.m. PST |
Dad's unit trained with sticky bombs and thought they must have been designed by a German spy.
An extremely sticky grenade which seemed to be magically drawn towards any nearby piece of uniform, rifle etc.
Was full of a highly unstable explosive in a glass container.
Set off by a timed fuse which they believed to be unduly variable due to poor manufacturing.
( No idea if the last was true). |
 20thmaine | 17 Jan 2019 5:54 a.m. PST |
Amongst the long list of WWII mediocre monoplane fighters the LaGG-3 is hardly any worse than the others. And it did lead on to the La-5, one of the better Soviet fighters. |
 Legion 4 | 17 Jan 2019 7:04 a.m. PST |
Yeah, the IJF's concept of issuing civilians a bamboo spear was clearly a "Bad" idea. However, as I always mention, most of the IJF's AFVs were "outclassed" by everything the Allies used from about '40 on … Of course the IJF's had no problems taking very high losses. And in some cases even blowing themselves up before making contact to avoid capture. Or doing a Banzai Charge into enemy positions resulting in @ 100% losses. Etc.. etc., etc., …
there is a thin line between bravery and foolishness as the saying goes … |
| Keith Talent | 17 Jan 2019 7:22 a.m. PST |
Just 3 words.
Boulton Paul Defiant. |
| Tango01 | 17 Jan 2019 11:34 a.m. PST |
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| Zephyr1 | 17 Jan 2019 10:10 p.m. PST |
The Aussie boomerang grenade was never popular with the troops… ;-) |
| 4th Cuirassier | 18 Jan 2019 5:54 a.m. PST |
@Keith Talent Just two words
"Blackburn" and "Roc" |
 x42brown | 18 Jan 2019 7:00 a.m. PST |
I agree with 4th Cuirassier x42 |
| Cke1st | 19 Jan 2019 9:58 a.m. PST |
The Soviet "dog mines" should be on the list as well. |
| Legion 4 | 20 Jan 2019 10:18 a.m. PST |
Yeah that proved not to be a very "good" idea … And besides I like Dawgs better than people, especially them "Russkies" back in the day …  |
| Oakley | 22 Jan 2019 4:48 p.m. PST |
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| Major Bloodnok | 22 Jan 2019 6:04 p.m. PST |
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shows off the U.S. infantry from the Flames of War starter set.