Reference points
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production of Fritz Lang’s film, A Woman on the Moon

German army launches a rocket research programme

3rd October: first succesful test of an A4 rocket (subsequently called a "V2") in
Peenemünde

December: first test of launching a Fi 103 unpiloted plane by catapult (called a "V1" in
1944) in Peenemünde

launch of the "Manhattan project" in the United States, involving the preparation of an atom
bomb

night of 17th to 18th August: the RAF bombs the research centre in Peenemünde

27th August: the first prisoners from Buchenwald arrive near Nordhausen
(Thuringe) to convert an underground factory, Mittelwerk, designed for the mass
production of A4 rockets

28th August: the first bunker designed to prepare the A4 rocket launches, situated in
Eperlecques (Pas-de-Calais), is destroyed by American bombing; the Germans build
in its place a factory to produce liquid oxygen (this is the blockhaus that can still be seen
today)

September: start of the construction of an underground complex to prepare the A4
launches, in Helfaut-Wizernes; several months later, the site is protected by an
enormous concrete dome

September 1943 to March 1944, the conversion of Mittelwerk results in a very high
mortality rate among the prisoners (2,882 deaths)

27th March: final V2 launch against London

start of April: a halt to production of the V2 in Mittelwerk and evacuation of the Dora camp

11th April: American troops discover the Dora camp and the underground factory of
Mittelwerk

2nd May: Wernher von Braun surrenders to the American army

September: von Braun arrives in the United States

The V1 is an unpiloted plane (its aeronautical name Fieseler Fi 103, comes from the firm that designed it) and a "flying bomb".

Developed from 1942 onwards by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, it is a small machine that transports 830 kg of explosives. Catapulted off a metal ramp, it is propelled in flight by a pulse-jet. Its relatively slow speed and its fairly low cruising height made it vulnerable to fighter planes and anti-aircraft defences.

The first flying bombs were launched against London, from occupied France, from 13th June 1944. That is when they were given their propaganda name:
V1 - Vergeltungswaffe 1 (reprisals weapon n°1).

The V1 is the distant ancestor of the American Tomahawk cruise missile.

	Length: 7.90 m Wingspan: 5.40 m Weight on take-off: 2.1 t Explosive charge transported: 830 kg Speed: 640 km/h maximum Cruising height: 600 à 1 300 m
Exploded view of a V1 taken by the British Services (1944).

Before its military use, the V2 rocket was known as the A4. Designed in 1936 by Wernher von Braun’s team, developed in Peenemünde from 1938 onwards by the German army, it is the first large rocket, the first ballistic missile in history.

Its characteristics were impressive and made it, together with the American atom bomb, the most innovative weapon of the Second World War. The first successful test flight took place on 3rd October 1942. The A4, renamed the "V2" by the Nazi propaganda services, began operations on 8th September 1944.

V2 - Vergeltungswaffe 2 (reprisals weapon n°2).

In the next six months, 3,700 rockets were launched, mainly against London and Antwerp. The V2 was invulnerable once it had taken off. It is at the origin of all rockets, both military and civilian, developed in the second half of the 20th century.

	Height: 14 m Weight on take-off: 12.9 tonnes Engine thrust: 25,000 kg Maximum speed: 5,500 km/h Explosive charge: 1 tonne Range: 320 km.
Cross section and scale of an A4 (V2) rocket.