Hitler's Vengeance Weapons: V 2 (Vergeltungswaffe 2)

They were Nazi Germany's weapons of revenge. A marvel far ahead of their time. A testimony to German excellence and inventive genius. The Vergeltungswaffe. The V weapons. Vengeance weapons. V1 was the father of the modern drones. V2 was the first missile ever made.

The ballistic missile A4 (V2)

The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, i.e. retaliation weapon 2), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp.

General Wehrmacht Army Signal Erich Felgibel congratulates members Wernher von Braun at Peenemunde on the successful launch of the V-2. October 3, 1942 General Felgibel (left) shakes hands with Gen. Walter Dornbergeru (center). To the right Felgibel - General Janssen. From left to right in back row: Werner von Braun, the captain and Dr. Gerhard Shtoltsel Reyzig.

The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known human artifact to enter outer space. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets, including those used by the United States and Soviet Union's space programs.

Two V2 being launched in Antwerp

During the aftermath of World War II the American, Soviet and British governments all gained access to the V-2's technical designs and the actual German scientists responsible for creating the rockets, via Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim and Operation Backfire.

London. After a V2 fell.


The weapon was presented by Nazi propaganda as a retaliation for the bombers that attacked ever more German cities from 1942 until Germany surrendered. Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, mostly London and later Antwerp. The attacks resulted in the death of an estimated 7,250 military personnel and civilians, while 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons.red.

The launch trailer of the V2


HOW THE V2 WAS BORN

In the late 1920s, a young Wernher von Braun acquired a copy of Hermann Oberth's book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space). Starting in 1930, he attended the Technical University of Berlin, where he assisted Oberth in liquid-fueled rocket motor tests. Von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the Nazi Party gained power in Germany. An artillery captain, Walter Dornberger, arranged an Ordnance Department research grant for von Braun, who from then on worked next to Dornberger's existing solid-fuel rocket test site at Kummersdorf.Von Braun's thesis, Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket (dated 16 April 1934), was kept classified by the German army and was not published until 1960.By the end of 1934, his group had successfully launched two rockets that reached heights of 2.2 and 3.5 km (1.4 and 2.2 mi)

At the time, Germany was highly interested in American physicist Robert H. Goddard's research. Before 1939, German scientists occasionally contacted Goddard directly with technical questions. Von Braun used Goddard's plans from various journals and incorporated them into the building of the Aggregat (A) series of rockets.

A V2 fell here


A production line was nearly ready at Peenemünde when the Operation Hydra attack caused the Germans to move production to the Mittelwerk in the Kohnstein where 5,200 V-2 rockets were built. Period of Production Production Up to 15 Sep 1944, 190015 Sep to 29 Oct 1944 90029 Oct to 24 Nov 1944 60024 Nov to 15 Jan 1945 110015 Jan to 15 Feb 1945 700Total 5200

The devastation wrought by a V2 in London


DEALING WITH THE V2 MENACE

Unlike the V-1, the V-2's speed and trajectory made it invulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighters, as it dropped from an altitude of 100–110 km (62–68 mi) at up to four times the speed of sound (approximately 3550 km/h). A plan was proposed whereby the missile would be detected by radar, its terminal trajectory calculated, and the area along that trajectory saturated by large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The plan was dropped after operations research indicated that the likely number of malfunctioning artillery shells falling to the ground would do more damage than the V-2 itself.

The defence against the V-2 campaign was to destroy the launch infrastructure—expensive in terms of bomber resources and casualties—or to cause the Germans to "aim" at the wrong place through disinformation. The British were able to convince the Germans to direct V-1s and V-2s aimed at London to less populated areas east of the city. This was done by sending false impact reports via the German espionage network in Britain, which was controlled by the British (the Double Cross System).

There is a record of one V-2, fortuitously observed at launch from a passing American B-24 Liberator, being shot down by .50 caliber machine-gun fire. The limitations of any countermeasures can be understood by two facts: 20 seconds after launch, a V-2 was out of reach; the time from launch to impact in London being merely 3 minutes. 

Ultimately the most successful countermeasure was the Allied advance that forced the launchers back beyond range. 

V2 in London

November 27, 1944. Antwerp. A V2 fell here.

A V2 being launched

A V2 on its way

An aerial view of the platform from where a V2 was being launched

A V2 in 1944

A V2 being transported to its launch pad

A London boy sits in the ruins of his home. A V2 destroyed it.

At the crash site of German guided missile BV-143 August 27, 1941

Salvaging the parts of a V2

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Hitler's Vengeance Weapons: V1 (Vergeltungswaffe 1)

V1 and V2 were attempts of a desperate Nazi Germany to turn the inexorable tide of war in its favour. They killed many people and gave the Allies a big headache. But ultimately Hitler's Vengeance weapons made little difference in the war. 


 Now if Einstein had not fled Germany...If the Germans had made the atom bomb before its defeat....One shudders at the thought. 


V 1  and V1 made history. If not in the hands of the Nazi Germans. V1 is the father of the modern Drones being used by the Americans in Afghanistan. V2 is the mother of the ICBM.


 Below is V1. Vengeance Weapon 1. Vergeltungswaffe 1

 A V1 being rolled out

The first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and prompted by) the successful Allied landing in Europe. At its peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at southeast England, 9,521 in total, decreasing in number as sites were overrun until October 1944, when the last V-1 site in range of Britain was overrun by Allied forces. This caused the remaining V-1s to be directed at the port of Antwerp and other targets in Belgium, with 2,448 V-1s being launched. The attacks stopped when the last site was overrun on 29 March 1945. In total, the V-1 attacks caused 22,892 casualties (almost entirely civilians).

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The intended operational altitude was originally set at 2,750 m (9,000 ft). However, repeated failures of a barometric fuel-pressure regulator led to it being changed in May 1944, halving the operational height, thereby bringing V-1s into range of the Bofors guns commonly used by Allied AA units.

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Almost 30,000 V-1s were made; by March 1944, they were produced in 350 hours (including 120 for the autopilot), at a cost of just 4% of a V-2, which delivered a comparable payload. Approximately 10,000 were fired at England; 2,419 reached London, killing about 6,184 people and injuring 17,981. The greatest density of hits were received by Croydon, on the southeast fringe of London. Antwerp, Belgium was hit by 2,448 V-1s from October 1944 to March 1945.

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By September 1944, the V-1 threat to England was temporarily halted when the launch sites on the French coast were overrun by the advancing Allied armies. 4,261 V-1s had been destroyed by fighters, anti-aircraft fire and barrage balloons. The last enemy action of any kind on British soil occurred on 29 March 1945, when a V-1 struck Datchworth in Hertfordshire.

 German Heinkel bomber He-111 carrying a flying bomb, V1 on its external sling





THE ALLIES HAPPILY LAPPED UP THE V1 TECHNOLOGY

After the war, the armed forces of France, the Soviet Union and the United States experimented with the V-1. 

FranceThe French produced copies of the V-1 for use as target drones. These were called the CT-10 and were smaller than the V-1 with twin tail surfaces. The CT 10 could be ground launched using a rocket booster or from an aircraft. Some CT-10s were sold to the UK and USA. 

Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union captured V-1s when they overran the Blizna test range in Poland. The 10Kh was their copy of the V-1, later called Izdeliye 10. Initial tests began in March 1945 at a test range in Tashkent with further launches from ground sites and from aircraft of improved versions continuing into the late 1940s. The inaccuracy of the guidance system compared to new methods such as beam-riding and TV guidance saw development end in the early 1950s. The Soviets also worked on a piloted attack aircraft based on the Argus pulse jet engine of the V-1 which began as a German project, the Junkers EF 126 Lilli, in the latter stages of the war. The Soviet development of the Lilli ended in 1946 after a crash that killed the test pilot. 

United States A KGW-1 being fired from USS Cusk in 1951 Main article: JB-2 Loon The United States reverse-engineered the V-1 in 1944 from salvaged parts recovered in England during June. By 8 September, the first of thirteen complete prototype Republic-Ford JB-2 Loons, were assembled at Republic Aviation. The United States JB-2 was different from the German V-1 in only the smallest of dimensions. The wing span was only 2.5 in (6.4 cm) wider and the length was extended less than 2 ft (0.61 m). The difference gave the JB-2 60.7 square feet (5.64 m2) of wing area versus 55 square feet (5.1 m2) for the V-1. A navalized version, designated KGW-1, was developed to be launched from LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) as well as escort carriers (CVEs) and long-range 4-engine reconnaissance aircraft. Waterproof carriers for the KGW-1 were developed for launches of the missile from surfaced submarines. Both the USAAF JB-2 and Navy KGW-1 were put into production and were planned to be used in the Allied invasion of Japan (Operation Downfall), however the atomic bombings of Japan negated its use. After World War II, the JB-2/KGW-1 played a significant role in the development of more advanced surface-to-surface tactical missile systems such as the MGM-1 Matador and later MGM-13 Mace.

Preparing to fire a a V1

A weeping British girl is carried out of the wreckage of a house destroyed by the V1

German doodlebug (cruise missile) V-1 (V-1) in flight

Conveyor in an underground factory for assembling the plane of the projectile V-1. Germany, in 1945

This V-1 broke through the defense and fell on London.

This V1 fell in the English countryside

V1 in flight

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