V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

About this book

A History of One of World War IIs Most Advanced and Terrifying Technologies In August 1944 Londoners thought the war might be over by Christmas. But on September 8 1944 in the London suburb of Chiswick a thunderous double-boom was heard followed by a huge plume of black smoke rising high into the air. Several minutes later another explosion rocked the earth near Epping. There had been no warnings no drone of aircraft above just sudden devastation. "Operation Penguin " the V-2 offensive had begun. The A-4 rocket better known as the V-2 Vergeltungswaffen Zwei or "Vengeance Weapon 2 " was the first ballistic missile to be used in combat. Soaring over 50 miles high at supersonic speeds the V-2 would strike its target within 5 minutes of launching. Once in the air its deadly warhead was unstoppable. The ancestor of all Cold War and modern day ballistic missiles as well as the rockets used for space exploration the V-2 could not win the war for Germanyit was too expensive too complicated too inaccurate and its warhead was too smallbut its unprecedented invulnerability and influence on Allied planning made the V-2 and the advancements it represented the ultimate war prize and British American and Soviet forces scrambled to seize German rocket technology along with its scientists and engineers. In V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile T. D. Dungan relies on an unparalleled collection of original documents unpublished photographs and accounts from those who were there to provide a complete description of the V-2 program the missiles use in combat and the race to capture its secrets.