Peenemünde and the total war
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The V1 and V2 rocket campaigns

On 13th June 1944, just a few days after the Allies landed in Normandy, the flying bomb offensive began against London, from launch ramps situated between the Seine and the Belgian border.

Nazi propaganda gave the flying bomb the name V1 (Vergeltungswaffe eins, "reprisal weapon n° 1"). Thousands of V1 bombs were launched from France towards London up to 1st September, causing 6,000 deaths.

The British did however succeed in smashing the offensive with a combination of anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft. The liberation of the French territory at the beginning of September led the British to believe that the danger was over. This was not the case.

Crater after a V2 had fallen on Antwerp (end of 1944).

After the failure of the attack on Hitler, the entire new German weapons programme came under the supervision of the SS. The V2 rocket offensive started on 8th September 1944: a first rocket struck the suburbs of Paris, then a second hit London.

The launches were done from mobile units installed in the Belgian Ardennes and in Holland. Starting on 12th October, a double V1 and V2 offensive struck the Belgian port of Antwerp, the Allies’ main logistical entry point on the continent. The last V2 launches were on 27th March 1945: a total of 3,000 missiles had been launched.

Aerial photo of a V1 launch site in Zudausques (Pas-de-Calais, 1944).

V1 ramp sabotaged by the Germans before their retreat (Pas-de-Calais, end of 1944).