# Weapons used in the most killings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974 "2012-10-26T21:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/21 "2012-10-29T01:32:25Z")
No one here is answering the OP’s question. He asked “which specific weapon in each category” killed the most people. In other words, the answer would be in the format: Swords: longsword Other bladed weapon: Machete Rifle: M1 Garand …and so on. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/22 "2012-10-29T02:40:38Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > By just one guy? Heinrich Severloh, a corporal in the Wermacht, fired 12,000 rounds from his mg-42 at Omaha beach on D-day from 5AM to 3PM. He killed an estimated 1,500 American soldiers. so you are saying that one man killed half of all the Americans that died on D-Day on both Omaha and Utah beaches? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/23 "2012-10-29T08:51:25Z")
[sorry for the optapic] It looks that way. The so-called “heaviest opposition” the Allies encountered at Normandy was in Omaha beach and it consisted mainly of Serverloh’s machine gun nest. His platoon has something like 3 nests but his had the best vantage point. Other survivors in his platoon didn’t have much to report (in the way of Allied casualties on the beach.) The other main culprit at Omaha was mines that blew up a number of landing craft. However, mines were not likely to result in 2,500 killed or missing. Over at world war II forums, some people (make that a lot) question Severloh’s tally. They say that from his vantage point, and the American casualty reports that corresponded, he could not have hit more than 300, and maybe killed 50. But that just blows a bigger hole in the basic question: how could more than 2,000 Americans die at Omaha? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/24 "2012-10-29T09:06:24Z")
> [@Atakapa](#): > > See title. No gun control debates or political wisecracks allowed; just a technical discussion of which specific weapon in each category is likely to have been used in the highest number of deaths. Sword - gladius/spatha due to the long usage Other bladed weapon - bow and arrow (asiatic/turkish composite) by sheer area influenced, also by time span from Mongol hordes to the height of the Ottomans. Rifle - mauser 1898 closely followed by the lee enfield spanning, two world wars (the US, and US-made weapons, had a habit of joining wars late.) Machine Gun - mg 42, a WAG Handgun - 9mm, similar to rifle usage Aircraft - b-29, this looks convincing Armored vehicle - t-34, if there was one tank that was there from the start of Barbarossa, to the eventual destruction of Hitler’s 3-million man eastern front, it’s the t-34. The Shermans couldn’t have killed an equal number in the west. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/25 "2012-10-29T09:28:46Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > But that just blows a bigger hole in the basic question: how could more than 2,000 Americans die at Omaha? If _Saving Private Ryan_ was half as accurate as touted, most casualties came from artillery and mortars: the same as the case in pretty much every battle since WWI. Remember, a single artillery shell can easily wipe out half a dozen men with a direct hit, and on a landing area that has been pre-ranged you’d expect massive casualties from mortars and artillery. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/26 "2012-10-29T20:45:59Z")
I’d put up the various flavours of [Maxim machine guns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_machine_gun)(including the Vickers) in the machine gun category - every army in WWI used them, and most in WWII as well. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/27 "2012-10-29T23:42:14Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > If _Saving Private Ryan_ was half as accurate as touted, most casualties came from artillery and mortars: the same as the case in pretty much every battle since WWI. > > Remember, a single artillery shell can easily wipe out half a dozen men with a direct hit, and on a landing area that has been pre-ranged you’d expect massive casualties from mortars and artillery. Severloh was part of a 29-man platoon. That was just tham at Omaha that day. They sheltered inside a concrete bunker and had one 75mm howitzer (which was either inoperable or they didn’t use.) The platoon had 4 mg-42 emplacements in open nests and around 30,000 of ammo. That was your “stiffest” opposition to the Normandy invasion. > **[ItemFix - Social Video Factory](https://www.itemfix.com/?r=ll)** > > Social Video Factory ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/28 "2012-10-31T13:01:50Z")
"The AK-47 has become the world’s most prolific and effective combat weapon, a device so cheap and simple that it can be bought in many countries for less than the cost of a live chicken. Depicted on the flag and currency of several countries, waved by guerrillas and rebels everywhere, the AK is responsible for about a quarter-million deaths every year. It is the firearm of choice for at least 50 legitimate standing armies and countless fighting forces from Africa and the Middle East to Central America and Los Angeles. " > **[Weapon Of Mass Destruction](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400788.html)** > > The AK-47 has become the world's most prolific and effective combat weapon, a device so cheap and simple that it can be bought in many countries for less than the cost of a live chicken. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/29 "2012-10-31T15:09:51Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > By just one guy? Heinrich Severloh, a corporal in the Wermacht, fired 12,000 rounds from his mg-42 at Omaha beach on D-day from 5AM to 3PM. He killed an estimated 1,500 American soldiers. How many folks were killed when Major Tom Ferebee spent a morning serving as bombardier on the Enola Gay? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/30 "2012-10-31T21:54:35Z")
^ Doesn’t count. He thought he was going to drop propaganda leaflets that day (ooop… slightly not factual.) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974/31 "2012-11-01T07:58:10Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > How many folks were killed when Major Tom Ferebee spent a morning serving as bombardier on the Enola Gay? I wouldn’t count that one, because the R&D and infrastructure behind the A-bomb involved hundreds of thousands of people. I suppose you could say that about mass-produced firearms too, but that’s to produce millions of them. And using an M1 to shoot multiple enemies soldiers face to face is still a visceral act. Being the very last cog in the use of the first nuclear weapon isn’t really the same thing at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weapons-used-in-the-most-killings/638974.md?page=1)