Vergeltungswaffe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vergeltungswaffe (German for "retaliation weapon", "reprisal weapon" or "vengeance weapon") was a term assigned during World War II by the Nazis to a number of revolutionary superweapons, the V1 flying bomb, the V2 rocket and the V3 long range gun.
Contents |
[edit] Naming
The Vergeltungswaffen (or V-Waffen for short) were named by Joseph Goebbels' propaganda ministry. The name was chosen with regard to the allied bombing of German cities, which by 1944 the conventional German air force could neither prevent nor answer in kind. Also the name was chosen in response to the British 'V for victory' campaign.
Hinsley (page 419) says that “V initially stood for Versuchsmuster (experimental) but the Germans came to use it for Vergeltungswaffe (reprisal weapon).”
[edit] V1
The V-1 was a cruise missile (the first) powered by a pulse jet. They were fired on London and Antwerp during the latter part of the Second World War. Londoners nicknamed the V1 "Doodlebugs" or "buzz bombs".
[edit] V2
The development of the liquid-fueled spin-stabilized sub-orbital rocket lead to the development of the most famous of the V-Weapons, the V-2 rocket. The V-2 was a result of the Aggregate projects, and as such was known to the Germans as the A4.
A larger version of the V2/A4 was the A10. This version was only on the drawing board and never actually made it to production as there were heat transfer problems which hampered the project. Had it reached fruition it would have been the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, being able to reach New York from Berlin.
[edit] V3
The V3 was a giant cannon, designed to lob shells from its site in the Pas de Calais, France across the English Channel and hit London. Because of its target, it was also known as the "London gun". It consisted of three shafts each containing five, 500 foot long, barrels, side by side. Armoured doors in the concrete were designed to slide back when the guns were ready.
British Intelligence first received reports of the V3 in the summer of 1943, when it was under construction below a 20-foot thick slab of ferro-concrete near Mimoyecques. Reports indicated that if the guns could keep up their maximum rate of fire, they could bombard London with 600 tons of explosives a day; in a fortnight, London would receive as much high explosive as Berlin had received in the whole war.
Before it became operational, the V3 was destroyed by the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron — better known as The Dam Busters. On 6 July 1944, specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers dropped several 5 ton (5.4 tonne) Tallboy bombs (designed by British inventor, Barnes Wallis) on the V3 complex. One Tallboy ripped a corner off the 20-foot thick concrete roof and completely blocked one of the gun shafts. A near miss collapsed another shaft and made the third shaft unfit to use.
[edit] V-Weapons effect
Intended to turn the war back in Germany's favour, the accuracy and hence the military effectiveness of the V weapons was low. They did, however, have an important psychological effect both in Germany and in the countries attacked with them.
Historians have suggested that the huge resources needed for the V weapon programs at Hitler's insistence, contributed to the quicker defeat of Nazi Germany by diverting limited resources from conventional forces, eg the 11,000 tons of (low grade) petrol needed for 20,000 V-1s could have been better used in German tanks immobilised by lack of fuel. The V-2 project was limited by Germany’s maximum ethanol (ethyl alcohol) production of 30,000 tons per annum, although some methanol was added to eke it out. Germany was also short of explosives, which was being diluted with rock salt. Professor Willi Messerschmitt told Hitler in June 1943 that unless 80,000 to 100,000 V-weapons per month could be achieved, the entire program should be scrapped, as even 50% would be ineffective (Irons page 168-169).
Neufeld conservatively estimated that the V-2 project cost two billion (two thousand million) marks, and this amount was comparable (at 4.2 marks to the dollar) to the proportion of the allied economies spent on the Manhattan Project; though the actual expenditure on the atom bomb was more than four times as much because of the much larger allied economic base. Holsken however cited an American estimate that the total cost for the V-1 & V-2 (mainly for the V-2) was 3 billion dollars (or 7.5 billion reichmarks at the 1940 rate of 2.49 marks to the dollar). See Irons page 166-167, Neufeld page 273 & Holsken page 248.
Hitler thought that the V-weapons would turn the tide of the war. Following the devastation of London, V-1 had to face anti-aircraft guns at the south coast of England and the RAF fighters. After D-day, many launch sites were overrun.
The V-2 gave more hope, targeting London, the Netherlands and Paris. But to be effective, the V-2 had either to be much bigger, much more numerous or much more accurate - perhaps all three (Irons page 167) .The last V-2 was flown on March 28, 1945, and by this time continued air raids had destroyed fuel supplies.
[edit] References
- Hinsley, F. H. British Intelligence in the Second World War (1993, HMSO London; Abridged one-volume edition) ISBN 0 11 630956 3
- Irons, Roy Hitler’s Terror Weapons: The Price of Vengeance (2002, Collins London) ISBN 0-00-711262-9
- Holsken, Dieter V Missiles of the Third Reich (1994, Monogram Aviation Publications Sturbridge)
- Neufeld, Michael J The Rocket and the Reich (1995, The Free Press London)
