The V2 rocket – also called Unit 4 – is one of the scariest weapons of the Third Reich. It was the first ballistic missile in military history. The missile carried a one-ton warhead and was launched from mobile launchers. Once in the air, she couldn’t be stopped. It fell on its target at over five times the speed of sound. The victims were clueless, the death that befell them was faster than the sound.
Hitler wanted to react to the Allied bombing war over Germany in 1943 with the V weapons. The last resources of the Reich were drawn together for the missile program. The production facilities were built under the leadership of the SS. The first V1 hit London on June 13, 1944 and the first V2 on September 7, 1944.
Bad planning by the Nazis
Although the weapons were technical marvels, the strategy showed that the war was lost. There was no longer any question of regaining air superiority and sending our own groups of bombers to Britain. The fast missiles only made use of a defensive loophole, but were not very efficient. The slow and simply built V1s could easily be shot down once they were caught by radar. The V2 could not be fought, but it only brought a ton of explosives to the target. A single B-24 Liberator bomber carried 3.6 tons of explosives to the target. And the bomber could be used several times, the elaborate missile was a one-way weapon.
In addition, it could not be controlled during the flight. An adjustment on the final approach did not take place. The accuracy of the target was correspondingly poor. The V2 was able to hit a metropolitan area like London as long as there were no problems with the technology. But you couldn’t even target huge buildings like Parliament or a train station.
But the weapon spread fear among the population. The V2 rocket attacks on London killed around 9,000 civilians and military personnel, and up to 30,000 together with the V1. The V2 was produced by SS forced laborers – more people died in the underground assembly halls than in London.
Suffering and death of the slave laborers
For the Third Reich, the weapon was a failure. It devoured tremendous resources and ultimately only had psychological effects. Armaments Minister Speer said in custody that it was his greatest mistake to approve the program.
Today it is assumed that the rocket builders around Wernher von Braun knew about the inadequacies of the rocket as a weapon. But they kept quiet about the problems in order to be able to finance their dream of a powerful rocket. The game worked out for the researchers and rocket enthusiasts. Immediately after the war, Wernher von Braun offered his expertise to the Western Allies. He was never held responsible for the victims who died in the factories for his project.
During the Cold War, both Russians and Americans succeeded in reducing the missile’s inaccuracy and increasing its range. These weapons were far removed from today’s target accuracy of less than a meter, but equipped with nuclear warheads, the strength of the explosion should compensate for this shortcoming. Wernher von Braun later became an American national hero. In 1960 he was appointed director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, his rockets brought the Americans to the moon.
Also read:
Eastern Front 1943 – How the Red Army nearly captured Hitler
Flak towers – Hitler wanted to stop the Allied bombers with these colossi made of concrete
Type XXI – Hitler’s underwater wonder weapon was supposed to be invulnerable with the rocket “Ursel”