Its full name in German was the Vergeltungswaffe 2 (Reprisal Weapon 2) and it was the feared Nazi weapon better known as the V-2. Terrifying those within its range during the bloody days of World War II, it was the first long-range ballistic missile ever used in combat. The V-2 delivered a one ton warhead hundreds of miles downrange and traveled 50 miles above the Earth’s surface. Some military historians have argued that had the V-2 program not been plagued by a huge host of design and material resource problems, the rocket could have turned the war decidedly in favor of the Nazi regime and the world could have looked very different today.
The cost to the German Reich of the V-2 program is estimated at around 21 billion in today’s dollars. Military theorists point out that had the money been spent on more conventional weaponry, the price of each rocket would have bought four Tiger tanks or eight of the renowned Panzer tanks which were used most effectively by the German army.
Though its military impact was questionable, the greatest value of the V-2 rocket was in its use as a psychological tool of terror. The weapon traveled at supersonic speeds which meant that the people at the target site couldn’t hear the rockets approaching. This struck terror in the hearts of a civilian populace who had become used to the idea of listening for threats from above and taking cover. In fact, when London was first attacked by this new threat in September of 1944, the British government did not reveal to the public the fact that the explosions in the city were due to rocket attack, attributing them to other causes. The Germans themselves finally announced the existence of the V-2 some two months later and only then did Winston Churchill admit to the world that the city had been under attack from the V-2 rockets “for the last few weeks.”
Despite being one of the most advanced weapons of its day, the V-2 was actually a very ineffective military tool. One limiting characteristic of the device was that its fuse couldn’t be set to burst in the air. The V-2 had to bury in its target before detonation which muffled its capacity for destruction. In addition, it contained a very primitive guidance system and was notoriously bad at striking specific targets. Constant tinkering with its design also limited effective deployment of the missile. Approximately 65,000 changes to its original design were made between the inception of production in 1943 and the end of the war.
Despite its questionable value as a military force, the V-2 served to set the standard for rocketry in the decades that followed. The intercontinental ballistic missiles of the world’s militaries of today trace their roots directly back to its design. In a more positive vein, the phenomenal success of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and its space program is based on the expertise gathered during the genesis and evolution of this remarkable rocket.
