The history of the V-2 rocket hails back to the times leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War. Preparations were under way on the German side for the development of a terrifyingly effective new super weapon. By the time of London’s onslaught in 1944, fear, shock, fireballs and splintering glass had come to the inhabitants of England’s capital city in the dead of night. Terror struck at the heart of Londoners as buildings collapseded and incendiary devices threaten their loved ones, maiming some and vapourizing others. Some were so badly burned that the outlook for recovery was bleak. The hospitals were overstretched and understaffed, even if the victims could reach them through streets piled high as rooftops with mountains of rubble. The incendiary devices rsponsible for such burning carnage were V2 rocket bombs, a deadly new type of weapon the world had not seen before and which set London alight. A new word was added to British nomenclature “blitz.” Hitler’s long-promised V2 secret weapon has been unleashed. Unfortunately for him, deadly though it was, it was not to win him the war – it’s developmental history had been littered with false starts, hesitation and under-investment.
Unlike the V1, its predecessor, this V-2 was a rocket weapon and after launch could not not be detected by RAF planes or ground to air defense until it was too late, when its target had already exploded into a ball of liquid fire. Compared to that, the old V1 was just a monoplane, albeit carrying a one ton warhead. It was motor-propelled, not rocket propelled. Wener Von Braun, a young scientist with an interest in space mastery would revolutionize this weapon. The German military commander for rocket research, a man called Domburg, spotted his potential and head-hunted him for the rocket research station at Peenmunde on the German Baltic coast.
Here, during World War 2, the history of the V-2 rocket began as Von Braun began to develop a new type of secret weapon, a liquid-fuelled rocket propelled bomb. Initially the German generals were sceptical. But they were the military – they were not highly-educated science experts. They therefore dismissed the V2, as one prototype after another blew up before even lifting off. Unlike the scientists, the generals did not realize that this error and modification pattern is usual in scientific advance, and leads eventually to a spectacularly successful prototype.
Braun’s idea was to design a rocket which could achieve terrifyingly high speeds by leaving and re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. It could then be capable of supersonic speed and, flying at more than 50 miles high, could not be stopped once launched. Did he realize that his 45 foot long rocket could one day carry nuclear and incendiary carnage with a one ton warhead? He must have done. The Germans appear to have made sure that he understood the enormity of their vision after they began to suspect the depth of his commitment. He was arrested by the Gestapo in March 1944 and only released after he had convinced them that his loyalty was to the German War effort and not to Space.
With revenge in mind and a “vergeltungswaffen” weapon of avenging destruction nearing his grasp, Hitler is said to have been almost overcome with excitement. He promised his military to deliver a secret weapon that would win the war for them. This did not happen, but only, as Eisenhower suggested later, because fortunately for the rest of Europe, the scientifically inept German military were hamstrung by their lack of understanding. The resulting delay must have saved countless civilian lives.
In the meantime, although many missed their target, over a thousand V2 rocket bombs hit Britain, killing nearly three thousand, and burning and maiming double that number. Another wreaked devastation on a town which the allies needed – Antwerp. They were depending on this base to support their troops and supply the army in the great push east across mainland Europe.
Mercifully for Britain, and for innocent civilians beyond, the V2 attacks began to dry up. Their launch pads had been reached by allied troops who had reached mainland Europe. The D-Day landings had transported enough troops to finish the job. By March 1945 the attacks had ceased, and the V-2 rocket was history.
