A single page report on German experimentation with use of sound waves as a weapon, from the Intelligence Bulletin, May 1946. [Editor's Note: The following article is wartime information on enemy weapons and equipment published for Allied soldiers. More accurate data on German weapons and equipment is available in postwar publications.]

 

NOISE THAT KILLS Never too busy to pick-up a new idea, or to try out a new weapon, some German scientists in World War II experimented with noise as a means of causing fatalities among troops of the enemies of the Reich. Such was the discovery of Allied observers who investigated the more technical aspects of the Nazi war effort. Near the little town of Lofer, the Germans had established a small experimental station intended originally for research on problems concerned with mountain artillery. Eventually, however, this station became devoted to experiments in connection with lethal sound. Experiments were carried on by a Dr. Richard Wallauscheck, the assistant director for technical research. His last and best design for a sound weapon consisted of a parabolic reflector slightly over 10 1/2 feet in diameter, with a sound combustion chamber mounted to the rear of the reflector. Into this chamber methane and oxygen was fed through two nozzles. The mixture of gases was exploded within the chamber, and the sound of the explosion was intensified and projected by the parabolic reflector. Explosions were continually initiated by the shock wave from preceding explosions at a rate of 800 to 1,500 per second. The main lobe of the sound intensity pattern had a 65-degree angle of opening. At a distance of 60 meters (198.5 feet) from the generator, the sound intensity has been measured at a pressure believed sufficient to kill a man after 30 to 40 seconds exposure. At greater ranges, perhaps up to 330 yards, the same pressure, while not lethal, would be very painful and would probably disable a man for an appreciable length of time. The operator of the device is housed in a wooden cabin at the rear of the machine and wears a soundproof helmet. The weapon has a very doubtful military value, chiefly because of lack of range. The whole machine is large and unwieldy. Unlike some experiments carried on by the Germans, no actual tests were made with human beings acting as guinea pigs. Perhaps this indicates that the Germans themselves did not have too much faith in the device as an effective and practical weapon.

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