The v weapons
The v weapons
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The v weapons
The V-Weapons.
The V-Weapons -- the V-1 and V-2 -- were ground-to-ground rockets that were used by the Germans against the Allies toward the end of the war. The "V" stands for the German word "Vergeltungswaffe", which means "reprisal weapon".
The V-1
The V-1 resembled a small, pilotless aircraft. It was 26 feet (8 meters) long and was powered by a ramjet engine, which used gasoline and compressed air as fuel. It was launched from a long ramp and carried a 1,900-pound warhead at about 350 miles per hour (550 km per hour) at an altitude of about 3000 feet (914 meters). It had a maximum range of about 250 miles (400 km).
The V-1's engine made a loud buzzing sound and so the British commonly called them “buzz bombs”. Other nicknames were "doodlebugs", "robot bombs" and "flying bombs". As the V-1 approached its target, the buzzing would suddenly stop, since its engine was programmed to shut off at a preset distance from the launch site. The bomb would then fall silently to the ground and explode. The V-1s were particularly terrifying because they would arrive at all times of the day and in all types of weather.
The first V-1s fell on London on June 13, 1944, and from then until March of 1945, V-1s would kill about 6,000 people and about 40,000 would be injured. Because of the V-1's relatively slow speed and the low altitude at which it flew, many were shot down by fast fighter planes and anti-aircraft fire from the ground, or were brought down by barrage balloons. It was estimated that, of the approximately 8500 V-1s launched against London and Antwerp, Belgium, only slightly over half actually reached their intended targets. Allied bombers eventually destroyed most of the launch sites. A total of 32,000 V-1s were made, most by concentration camp prisoners under very poor conditions.
The V-2
The V-2 was the world's first ballistic missile. It was 46 feet (14 meters) tall, 5 feet 4 inches (1.6 meters) in diameter, and a liquid-fuel engine propelled it. The engine burned for about 60 seconds, lifting the rocket to a height of about 52 miles. The engine would then shut off and the missile would fall to its target on a ballistic path determined by the pull of gravity. It had a maximum range of about 225 miles (362 km) and carried a 2,000-pound warhead, which was capable of destroying a large building. It took about five minutes for the missile to travel its maximum range.
Unlike the V-1, which flew relatively slowly and at low altitude, the V-2 slammed into the ground at 4,000 miles per hour without warning, except for a double sonic boom shortly before impact. Targets could not be pinpointed with precision, due to inaccuracies in positioning the missiles at launch and in timing the engine cut-off, so the missiles would fall anywhere within a wide area of the intended target. Since there was no defence against such a weapon, the Allies concentrated on attacking the fixed launch sites, many of which were located in the Pas de Calais region of France, and they were very successful in destroying the sites. However, the Germans also launched the V-2s from mobile sites, and the Allies were seldom able to locate and attack these. The Germans often launched V-2s from city streets, hoping that they would be hidden from view by surrounding buildings. This could have disastrous consequences if the Allies, resulting in catastrophic explosions in population centers, located the rockets. It took a German mobile rocket crew about two hours to erect and prepare a group of three missiles for launch.
The V-2 was first launched successfully in October 1942, and it was first used in combat in an attack on London on September 7, 1944. From this time until March of 1945, more than 1,100 V-2s fell in southern England, most around London and Norwich, causing about 2,700 deaths and over twice that many injuries. Another 2,000 of the missiles were fired at targets on the European continent, primarily Antwerp, Belgium, which had been re-captured by the Allies and had become an important Allied port. London was actually hit by 517 V-2s and 1,265 of the missiles hit Antwerp. At the height of their production, 700 V-2s per month were being built, most under very harsh conditions by slave labourers from concentration camps. A total of 10,000 V-2s were made. V-2 rockets killed a total of about 7,000 people during the war.
Despite the great damage caused by the V-2s, they were actually considered to be a failure as a weapon due to their poor accuracy, great expense and relatively small warhead size. Each V-2 cost 20 times more money to manufacture than a V-1, and yet their warheads were almost the same size. The greatest value of the V-2 was actually realized after the war, when captured V-2s were used by the United States and the former Soviet Union to begin their own missile and space programs.
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