In October 1942, a rocket created in Nazi Germany rose to a height that can be attributed to space. Its launch site is an army test site and research center located in Peenemünde, on the island of Usedom. Currently, there is a museum on the island, which is quite well visited by tourists and is protected as a historical monument. Despite this, today in Germany the issue of the possibility of partial flooding of the landfill territory is being discussed.
We are talking about carrying out the planned renaturation of the dam, located in the northern part of Usedom Island, which in turn may lead (at least for a certain period of time) to the flooding of part of the nearby territories. This dam was originally built as part of a test center and was erected to provide additional usable space. It is on this territory that 2 test stands are located, as well as the so-called missile bunker, which was used to store V-2 (V-2) missiles. From this bunker, missiles could be transported in various directions along an extensive railway network. In accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the bunker was blown up, today only ruins remain of it, but this area has always been open to all curious visitors.
Be that as it may, the test center at Peenemünde is where, in fact, human exploration of outer space began. And this historical monument should be fully preserved, since, despite the inconsistency of its history, this object, of course, is among the objects of world cultural heritage.
Peenemünde aerial photography
The Peenemünde test site, which is rightfully the main missile center of the Third Reich, was built in 1937 near the small town of the same name in northeastern Germany. Up to 10,000 builders took part in the construction work at various stages. The project was led by von Braun and Dornberger. Anyone who decides to visit the territory of this army test site today will be amazed at its scale. On the territory of Peenemünde, its own railway was built, the length of which was 25 km. This railway was used to quickly transport thousands of employees of the center, mainly from residential areas to the place of direct work.
The largest wind tunnel in Europe was located in Peenemünde, which was built in record time - in just 1.5 years. One of the largest plants for the production of liquid oxygen was located here on the island. It also built its own coal-fired thermal power plant, which provided the entire rocket center with electricity. The number of the main personnel of Peenemünde in 1943 was more than 15 thousand people. The stands built on the island made it possible to test rocket engines with a thrust of 100 kg or more. up to 100 tons. The island was equipped with launching positions for launching missiles, as well as all kinds of bunkers. The entire route for the implementation of possible launches in the direction of the north-north-east was equipped with means of monitoring and monitoring the missile. Surprisingly, during the war, Germany spent only half as much on the Peenemünde missile range as on the production of tanks.
Ballistic missile "V-2"
At one time, it was here that the world's first ballistic missile "V-2" was created, designed by the famous German designer Werner von Braun. The first successful launch of this rocket took place on October 3, 1942, on that day the rocket reached a flight altitude of 84.5 km, having flown 190 km. According to NASA's definition, outer space starts at 80 km. Although there are no strict international criteria on this score, the successful launch of the V-2 rocket can be attributed to the first fact of reaching outer space. In the first half of 1944, in order to fine-tune the structure, a number of V-2 rockets were launched with the fuel burning time increased to 67 seconds. The flight altitude during these launches reached almost 190 km, which, without any doubt, can be attributed to suborbital launches.
Ballistic missile "V-2" at the launch pad
At one time, Wernher von Braun and other German engineers dreamed of flying to the moon. It is no coincidence that one of the A4 rockets (hereinafter "V-2") bore the logo of the science fiction film "Woman on the Moon" filmed in 1929 by director Fritz Lang. The rocket was decorated with an attractive lady sitting on a crescent moon. While still at Peenemünde, von Braun worked on plans to launch manned spacecraft to the moon. This desire was confirmed by his subsequent work at NASA.
However, the wartime situation led to the fact that people had dreams far from peaceful space exploration. The Third Reich saw in ballistic missiles a "miracle weapon", a weapon of retaliation. The Nazis did not dream of flying to the moon, they were interested in a rocket that could deliver almost 750 kg. explosives at a distance of up to 300 km. This is how the A4 project appeared at one time, which became the embodiment of the military use of this type of technology. In 1943, the A4 rockets finally became the Vergeltungswaffe-2, V-2, or the well-known V-2 rocket. At the same time, their mass production was launched. The missiles were built using the labor of forced laborers. However, the construction of thousands of missiles in the military and strategic terms did not justify itself in any way.
The first combat launch of the V-2 rocket was carried out on September 8, 1944. A total of 3225 combat missile launches were carried out. The main purpose of their use was to demoralize the population of England, missiles were used to bombard cities, primarily London, hitting mostly civilians. However, the effect of their use turned out to be the opposite. The results of the military use of this missile were negligible. In total, about 2,700 people, mostly civilians, died from the V-2 missiles, at the same time, more people died during their assembly than during the attacks carried out on the territory of Great Britain.
Aftermath of the V-2 explosion in London on 25 November 1944
The V-2 rocket was single-stage and was powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine. The rocket was launched vertically, an autonomous gyroscopic control system, which was equipped with instruments for measuring speed and a software mechanism, entered into action on the active part of the flight trajectory. The maximum flight speed of the rocket was 1700 m / s (6120 km / h) and 5 times the speed of sound. At the same time, the maximum range was 320 km, and the altitude of the flight trajectory was 100 km. The warhead of the rocket could hold up to 800 kg. explosive - ammotol, the average cost of a rocket was 119,600 Reichsmarks.
Operation Hydra
The existence of a missile center in the Third Reich, of course, was known to the Allies and did not cause them optimism. After British aerial reconnaissance reported the presence of large missiles at the launch sites, it was decided to carry out the bombing of Peenemünde. At the same time, it is worth noting that the daily work for the Allied Bomber Command was bombing squares for the destruction of German cities, in this particular case an exception was made. Peenemünde was certainly a separate target that required destruction. The purpose of the raid was to destroy the German facilities for the production of V-2 missiles.
The operation, codenamed "Hydra", was carried out in the conditions of a moonlit night in order to achieve the highest possible level of target destruction. That is why it can be considered the only case during the second half of the war when the Allied Bomber Command conducted a night raid of large bomber forces on a small target with the task of conducting as accurate bombing as possible. On the night of August 17-18, 1943, 596 bombers (324 Lancaster, 218 Halifax and 54 Stirling) flew to bomb Peenemund. Simultaneously, light Mosquito bombers attacked Berlin, diverting most of the German night fighters during 2 out of 3 phases of the Peenemünde raid.
V-2 missile launch
In total, the British dropped almost 2,000 tons of bombs on the site, of which 85% were high-explosive ordnance. The consequences of the air raid for the Germans turned out to be quite significant. This raid postponed the start of the serial production of V-2 missiles by six months, and also limited the scope of further missile attacks. In total, about 735 people died as a result of the raid, among whom was the chief designer of rocket engines, Dr. Walter Thal, as well as a number of leading German specialists. During the bombing, the British mistakenly bombed the concentration camp barracks, as a result of which the forced laborers who were there were injured. A total of 213 prisoners were killed: 91 Poles, 23 Ukrainians, 17 French and 82 more prisoners of a concentration camp of unknown nationality. At the same time, it was the Poles who earlier sent the exact plans of Peenemünde to London.
During the operation, the British lost 47 aircraft, losses at the level of 7, 9% of the vehicles participating in the raid were considered satisfactory, given the status of the attacked target. The greatest losses were among the aircraft of the last wave, by the time of their arrival in the target area there were already a lot of German night fighters. Separately, it should be noted that the deputy commander of the Luftwaffe, Colonel-General Hans Jeschonnek, who was responsible for organizing the air defense system in this area, shot himself after the end of the raid on August 19.
The last V-2 rocket, serial number 4299, took off from launch pad 7 at Peenemünde on February 14, 1945. The missile center was connected to an underground plant for the production of these missiles, where they managed to produce about 5,000 pieces, while the plant's productivity was increased to 900 missiles per month. Just a few months after Germany's defeat in World War II, the history of American and Soviet space programs begins with the launch of captured and later modified versions of German V-2 rockets. At present, a museum of aviation, missile and naval technology has been organized on the territory of the Peenemünde-West assembly and test station, which is open to all comers.
