The first ballistic. As the German V-2 rocket changed our world
As the world's first massively produced rocket with a liquid engine and the first ballistic rocket, V-2 influenced the entire 20th century-its design inspired many modern missiles and carriers. Even Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the use of small range ballistic missiles in the early stages, as well as other modern means of confrontation, from the converted missiles of the Earth-Borings class to Iranian drones, to damage objects of civilian infrastructure and intimidation of the population.
The use of German "weapons" weapons almost eight decades before. Focus has translated the new text of Charlie Holla, dedicated to the first V-2 ballistic missile. Charlie Hall's historical science doctor traces the history of the V-2 missile from its Nazi origin to its impact on the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles later in the 20th century.
In the first of the three special articles, he explores the development of V-2 during the Second World War and its fate immediately after the war. On September 8, 1944, the image of the war changed forever. This change was first found on Stivly Road Street in Chizvik, a green and rich area of Western London, at about 18:45. The explosion shook the surrounding houses, although there were no bombers above them and did not sound a sirened air alarm.
He caused a loss of thousands of sterling and took three lives-63-year-old Adu Harrison, three-year-old Rosmar Clark and the sapper of royal engineering troops Bernard Browning, who was on vacation. These three unhappy souls were the first in the history of the victims of the Ballistic Rocket Attack. They were killed by the V-2 rocket, released by the Nazi artillery installation, located near the Hague in the Netherlands, about 320 kilometers from Chezvik.
Moving at a speed exceeding the speed of sound, it flew without warning; The roar she made when she flew to the ground could only be heard after she had struck the target. The warrior consisted of a fugas warhead weighing in a tonne that broke the windows, destroyed the walls and left a huge crater in the middle of the street. The speed and surprise of its appearance, as well as caused by the destruction, made the V-2 harbinger of a new era of war.
All far-action ballistic missiles used since 1944 were built on the foundation laid in the V-2. The technology, which allowed the Nazis to kill three people in Chezvik in September 1944, also ensured the flight of the first people a month in less than 25 years in July 1969. Despite its dark roots, V-2 became an icon of war and technological achievements of the twentieth century.
The surviving samples stand today in the atriums of the Imperial Museum in London and the National Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics in Washington, demonstrating their ability to conquer both sides of the ocean. In this article, I will talk about the development of the V-2, the history of its use during World War II and how its true potential was fully realized only after 1945.
The appearance of the V-2 in September 1944 was a shock for the residents of London, but its development has been conducted for many years, and its roots can be traced until the 1920s. After the First World War in Europe and the US, there was a surge in public interest in science and technology.
The potential of ruthless destruction was clearly visible in the battles in Belgium and Northern France, but people were interested in seeing how these technologies could be used for more peaceful purposes. The missile case has become only one of the areas of new scientific enthusiasm.
Far -sighted engineers, such as Robert Goddard in the United States and Herman Returns in Germany, not only conducted innovative experiments, but also actively tried to enlist the public support of this new technology. The revolution even served as a technical consultant of the movie "Woman on the Moon", innovative and surprisingly realistic scientific and fantastic film Fritz Lang about the trip to the moon with the help of a rocket.
Young people around the world are inspired by these experiments and their fictional images, which led many to the career of an engineer. The main among these people, at least in the case of V-2, was Werner von Brown. He was born in 1912 in Prussia in a rich family: his father was a politician and a civil servant, and his mother came from a small nobility. As a child, he had a passion for astronomy and the ability to physics and mathematics.
When Werner was 18 years old, he began to study mechanical engineering at the Berlin Technical University, and joined the amateur enthusiasts at the Space Flight Society. In 1934, he defended his doctorate in physics at the University of Friedrich-Wilhelm and began his career when Adolf Hitler strengthened his power. Hitler ambitions on the Great War for domination in Europe meant that there was demand, and therefore funding, for a military missile program.
Von Brown, who has always remained a pragmatist, has postponed his dreams of space trips and chased him for money, starting work on the ballistic missile of a distant radius of action for the Nazis. At the time of the war in 1939, von Brown was a technical director of a huge Army Research Center in Peremund on the Baltic coast of Germany, where he was responsible for the development of A-4-a missile, which later became known as V-2.
In July 1943, von Brown and his assistants visited Hitler's secret headquarters "The Wolf Ligo" and showed a short film about launching V-2. The Fuhrer was so impressed that it was reported, "If we had these missiles in 1939, this war would not even start. " An order was given to the beginning of mass production. A month later, the plans violated the Royal Air Force, having conducted a large bombing plaque on Peremund: they suspected that it was used to produce missiles.
The plaque was only limited success, but forced the Nazi regime to move missiles to an underground plant known as a Mittelver built in the Harz Mountains in Nordhausen. There, this priority project would be protected from further bombing of the Allies. Here, in the horrific conditions, slaves from a close concentration camp dora worked for death for the production of V-2 missiles.
Working and living far underground, they were deprived of fresh air and natural lighting, as well as food and rest, and suffered violence by the SS guards. When creating a V-2, more people were killed than its use. At the time when the first V-2 rocket fell to London, less than a year remained by the end of World War II, and the advantage in force was not on the side of Germany.
After the Victory of the Red Army near Stalingrad, in early 1943, the Nazi troops in the east were steadily retreating, and in June 1944 the US troops, the United Kingdom, Canada and their allies landed in Normandy and launched an attack from the West. Hitler understood that he needed a dramatic change in the situation to avoid defeat. Therefore, he ordered the start of the campaign "Weapons Remall".
Weapons of retribution 1 (or V-1) was a flying bomb (early winged rocket), which was developed by Luftwaffe in parallel with V-2. The first of them were launched against Britain on June 13, 1944, just a week after D. They were an unpleasant shock for those who were on the line of fire, but a number of counter -commissions - anti -aircraft fire, barrowing balloons and fighter attacks - allowed them to counteract. In September, as we already know, there was a "weapon of retribution-2" or V-2.
There were no adequate counteraction measures against this firing missile, and the Allied command understood that the only solution was to destroy the launchers in France and the Netherlands. The Londoners who faced this new threat in the fall and winter of 1944-45 reacted differently. Some were terrified: "It's terrible, isn't you? You never know if you stay alive for the next second. " Others were more fatal: "I think that if it is intended for you, it will come to you.
It is in vain to worry because you can't do anything about it. " Both of these answers undoubtedly pleased Hitler, who knew that the best use of the V-2 was too small and inaccurate to seriously destroy the infrastructure or industry-it is to strike a powerful blow to the moral spirit of the civilian war. Maybe he would not be delighted with the comments of one 90-year-old woman who, when asked what she thinks of rockets, answered: "Missiles, dear? I can't say that I ever noticed them.
" Of course, V-2 did not justify the hope of the Nazis that it would become a weapon of victory in the war. It practically did not affect the course of the conflict, which was already resolved by a huge amount of resources - weapons, raw materials, finances, labor - allies that were on disposal. But maybe unfairly judging V-2 by such criteria. For seven months, 1115 V-2 missiles were released across London, each of which had a warhead weighing one ton.
This led to the destruction of 20,000 homes and the death of 2855 people. For comparison, in just two days in February 1945, the Allied bombers dropped 3,900 tons of explosive and inflammatory substances into Dresden, which led to the death of about 24 thousand people and destruction of the territory in 650 hectares in the city center. The Nazi regime could not produce V-2 in sufficient quantity or provide sufficiently frequent target to cause serious harm to the allies' military efforts.
Moreover, the resources needed to support the V-2 program were so significant that they left the other, perhaps more valuable parts of a German military machine such as fighters. Physicist Freeman Dyson, who worked in RAF during the war, noted that the Nazis's attention to V-2 "was analogous to Hitler's policy of unilateral disarmament. " Some believe that V-2 just appeared too late to break the course of war in favor of Germany.
However, it is more accurate to assume that V-2 appeared too much-before the emergence of a rather complex guidance technology, which guarantees the real accuracy and realization of the real potential of the rocket. However, it was this potential that provided V-2 new life after the end of World War II.
As soon as the Nazis signed an unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 - and in some cases, the Allied representatives began to comb the laboratories, factories and research centers of the destroyed Reich in search of everything that was developed, produced or invented by Germany during the war. V-2 was on top of this list. She offered a vision of a new type of war - at a long distance and without the need to risk her soldiers or aircraft crew.
With the onset of the atomic era after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945, it seemed to be an ideal system of delivery of these new and powerful warheads. One American journalist only two weeks after the dumping of atomic bombs called the atomic energy connection with the Frankenstein monetary engine, resulting in "the worst weapons from any time known. " These ideas have become even more popular in connection with the onset of the Cold War.
All victorious allies have begun to prepare for a new conflict, which may have to be conducted between continents, so the ability to strike at a distance may be a decisive factor in victory and defeat. It seemed that V-2 was the shortest way to the benefits of ballistic missiles in the future. The Allies used different approaches to the disclosure of the secrets of V-2.
The British conducted Backfire operation, during which three were captured by V-2 were launched from the German North Sea city of Kuxhafen in experimental conditions. One of the launches even included foreign high -ranking officials and representatives of the press. The US and the Soviet Union have made longer plans.
In addition to the evacuation of tons of material means-ready-made missiles, various components, drawings, laboratory equipment, machines-they also sought to enlist the help of scientists and engineers who worked on the V-2 program. Both sides offered favorable agreements and attractive conditions, and none of them refused pressure. The councils even abducted some experts who did not really want to go east of their own volition.
In these races, the United States has captured the largest prize - Werner von Brown and his team. However, both countries were able to provide their own missile programs in one way or another, with a great infusion of German knowledge and experience. In the Soviet Union, the efforts to disclose the secrets of the V-2 led to the creation of the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile P-7 in May 1957.
In October of the same year, a device that was able to launch the first artificial satellite of the Earth-satellite I. In the USA V-2 became the basis of both their ballistic missile program and space program. Werner von Brown's military success exceeded his Saturn V rocket project, which delivered people a month in 1969. The history of V-2 is complex.
Developed by those who dreamed of space travel, it was used to destroy London and Antwerp and cost thousands of people who were forced to create it in the most horrifying conditions. She did not justify Hitler's promises of "miracle", which would change the course of war, but in the years after 1945 had a more important impact on military conflicts and on human activity as a whole than anyone could assume. We will look at this in the next article. Dr.