The "Thunder Beast" - Why Soldiers Feared This Explosive Rifle

Описание: December 1944. In the flooded foxholes of Leyte, a new weapon emerges that changes combat forever. This is the true story of the "Thunder Beast"—the experimental M2HE explosive ammunition for the Browning Automatic Rifle that turned standard infantry weapons into instruments of devastation. Discover the classified U.S. Army program that was so effective, it was deliberately erased from history.

In late 1944, U.S. Ordnance engineers at Frankford Arsenal developed a secret, high-explosive rifle round to solve a grim problem in the Pacific: Japanese soldiers, often fueled by amphetamines and Bushido ideology, could absorb multiple .30-06 hits and keep fighting. The solution was the M2HE (High Explosive) cartridge—a standard bullet filled with RDX explosive that would detonate inside the target, creating catastrophic wounds and instant incapacitation.

This video explores the true story behind the red-banded ammunition issued to select BAR gunners in the Philippines campaign. We detail its classified development, its devastating battlefield performance, and the psychological terror it inflicted—a terror so potent that Japanese soldiers named it "Kaminari Kemono" (Thunder Beast) and altered tactics to avoid it.

We also examine why this incredibly effective weapon was purged from military records, why veterans who used it were ordered to never speak of it, and how its existence has lingered only in footnotes, captured enemy diaries, and the haunted memories of old soldiers.

🔬 Topics Covered:

Jungle Warfare in the Pacific Theater

The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) as a Squad Weapon

Ordnance Engineering at Frankford Arsenal

RDX & Composition B Explosives

Terminal Ballistics & Wound Trauma

Military Classification & Historical Erasure

Psychological Operations (PSYOP) in WWII

📚 Sources & Further Reading:

U.S. Army Ordnance Department Technical Reports, 1944-45 (Declassified)

History of Frankford Arsenal (Ordnance Corps Publication)

After-Action Reports, 7th Marines & 32nd Infantry Regiment, Leyte Campaign

Japanese Prisoner Interrogation Reports on "Kaminari Kemono"

Shots Fired in Anger by John B. George

The Browning Automatic Rifle by Robert W. Holt

World War II Infantry Tactics by Stephen Bull