Random Secret Technologies Invented by the Nazis (16 items)

(#6) Stealth Bombers

The Arado E.555 and Horton HO 229 jet bombers were Germany's prime candidates to fly from Europe to the U.S. for the purposes of dropping a bomb. They used the same flying wing designs that the B-2 bomber would later adapt.
(#7) Guided Point-Defense Rockets

Decades before the Patriot Missile was knocking Scuds out of the sky, German aircraft engineers developed the Bachem Ba 349 guided point-defense rocket. The manned rocket would be flown by an inexperienced pilot, launched from a vertical stand, and flown by auto-pilot to attack Allied bombers. The pilot would then fire a load of rockets, and parachute out of the vehicle, which would also fall back to earth via parachute.

Three dozen rockets and a launch site were built, with plans to fire the first squadron. But the program was canceled on March 1, when the first manned launch ended with the rocket spinning out and exploding, killing the test pilot.
(#10) Guided Missiles

Beyond using guided V1 and V2 rockets to terrorize civilians, the Germans made use of guided anti-ship glide bombs (the "Fritz X") and guided air-dropped anti-ship missiles. They also had prototypes for man-portable guided missiles, television-guided surface to air missiles, and wire-guided air to air missiles.

None of these weapons had any appreciable impact on the war effort, and most never advanced beyond the testing stages. But they pioneered technology that would form the core of modern armies for decades to come.
(#15) Aspartame

We move from science fiction to pure conspiracy theory here, with accusations that the Nazis are somehow linked to the creation of aspartame. This is the artificial sweetener thought by some to cause brain damage, though no reputable research backs this up. However, aspartame wasn’t synthesized until 1965, when James M. Schlatter developed it by accident while working at Searle, the company that later became Pfizer.
(#16) Microwave Ovens

Finally, an urban legend has existed for decades that says the Nazis were responsible for inventing the microwave oven, and that microwaving food is actually harmful to humans, killing all its nutrients and causing cancer.

No credible science supports the cancer causing accusation. As to the claim that the Nazis developed the microwave oven, it usually presents itself as a rumor that German troops invading the Soviet Union carried a primitive portable microwave called a "radiomissor" that could heat their food in the field.

The problem with this theory is that not only is there no proof, but the power of microwaves to cook food wasn't documented until 1946. Additionally, microwave ovens run on electricity, and Russia's electrical grid in the '40s was too primitive to power any such machine.
(#5) Giant Super Cannons

Known by a variety of nicknames, including the V3 and the "London Gun," the German super-powered cannon was a gigantic artillery piece that could shell the British capital from tunnels dug into fields near the coast of France. When complete, the cannon was 130 meters long and could fire a shell at 1,500 meters per second at a target over 100 kilometers away. It fired through a series of charges igniting down the barrel, increasing the speed of the shell as it went.

The cannon was immobile and impractical, and became an inviting target for Allied bombers, but did manage to fire a few shells.