V-1 and V-2 Intelligence
Encyclopedia
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them. Intelligence came from a number of sources and the Anglo
-American
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
, Poland
, Sweden
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
by the Allies.
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket.
— events regarding Nazi Germany
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France
, 
— events regarding Anglo-American intelligence
, 
, 
— military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)
} An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6
").
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them. Intelligence came from a number of sources and the Anglo
-American
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
, Poland
, Sweden
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
by the Allies.
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket.
— events regarding Nazi Germany
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France
, — events regarding Anglo-American intelligence
, , — military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)
} An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6
").
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them. Intelligence came from a number of sources and the Anglo
-American
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
, Poland
, Sweden
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
by the Allies.
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket.
— events regarding Nazi Germany
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France
, — events regarding Anglo-American intelligence
, , — military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)
} An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6
").
|-
| 1942-05-15
| Peenemünde: P-7
| Taken while the 2nd V-2 rocket was in the test tower, photograph's by a reconnaissance Spitfire showed "unusual" circular embankments (Test Stand VII
but these were "dismissed".
|-
| 1943-01-19
| Peenemünde
| The US requested PR of Usedom
island.
|-
| 1943-03-22
|
| Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma
, a General captured in North Africa was secretly recorded while in a British prison. In conversation with another fellow prisoner-of-war he disclosed he had seen the launch of a "huge" rocket circa 1936-7.
|-
| 1943-04-22
| Peenemünde: P-7
| de Havilland Mosquito
DZ473 was carrying out bomb damage assessment
on Stettin. On leaving Stettin, they left their cameras "running all down the north coast of Germany." RAF Medmenham
interpretors noticed an object of 25 feet (7.6 m) —an "enormous cloud of steam" that had disappeared 4 seconds later in the subsequent image. The "object" was both the cooling steam from leaky flame deflector pipes and the flames of a V-2 motor at the end of a test being directed horizontally by the P-7 flame trenches.
|-
|
| Peenemünde
| The senior US intelligence representative in Switzerland (Allen Dulles) identified Peenemünde to the US. In 1943, agent "George Wood
" began providing Dulles with intelligence.
|-
| 1943-05-17
| Watten
| After an agent had reported "enormous trenches" at Watten during April, PR showed the Nord-Pas-de-Calais site was "a large rail-, and canal-served clearing in the woods, possibly a gravel pit." The Watten blockhouse which was being constructed for launching V-2s was bombed for the first time on August 27 as a suspected V-1 flying bomb
site.
|-
| 1943-05-14
| Peenemünde: P-7
| Two sorties photographed an "unusually high level of activity" at "the Ellipse" (the Reich Director of Manpower was visiting for a V-2 test launch).
|-
| 1943-06-04
| Peenemünde
| R.V. Jones received a Luxembourger's smuggled sketch of northwestern Usedom
island via the "Famille Martin" network.. Also in June, agent Leon Henri Roth at Peenemünde reported "development of a large rocket which made a noise resembling that of 'a squadron at low altitude." Foreign forced laborers of the V-2 test center were housed at Camp Trassenheide
, and two reports beginning in June from the camp via Spain identified the "rocket assembly hall", "experimental pit", and "launching tower".
|-
| 1943-08-16
| Peenemünde
|Two days prior to the Operation Hydra attack on the scientists quarters, workshops, and experimental facilities, a Westland Lysander
picked up French agent Lèon Faye who carried "a detailed report of the top secret V-weapon rocket development at Peenemünde" to England.
|-
| 1943-08-22
| Denmark
|An air-launched test of an overfuelled V-1 from the "G.A.F. Research Center, Karlshagen" (Peenemunde), crashed on Bornholm, and Hasager Christiansen obtained photos of the automatic pilot, compressed air cylinder, main fuselage and wings before the German recovery team arrived.
|-
| 1943-09
| Peenemünde: P-7
|PR showed P-7 bomb craters, but Peenemünde personnel had fabricated post-Hydra bomb damage by creating craters in the sand, by blowing-up lightly damaged and minor buildings, and by painting "black and white lines to simulate charred beams". Research and development on the V-2 continued promptly despite Operation Hydra, and the next V-2 test launch was 49 days later.
|-
| 1943-09-07
|
| An Ultra
intercept identified that an agent tasked with gathering rocket intelligence had been captured (Amniarix survived the war).
|-
| 1943-09-19
|
| The Questionnaire…to establish the practicability…of the German Long-Range Rocket was distributed regarding the interpretation of V-2 intelligence: "it is not without precedent for the Germans to have succeeded while we doubted: the beams
are a sufficient example." (September 25, R. V. Jones) vs. "at the end of the war, when we knew the full story we should find that the [60 ton] rocket was a mare's nest" (October 25, Lord Cherwell
).
|-
| 1943-09-28
| V-3 cannon
| The Central Interpretation Unit issued a report on the Marquise-Mimoyecques site (1st bombed November 5 as a suspected V-2 launch bunker).
|-
| 1943-09-30
|
| 133 V-weapon facilities had been photographed by the PRU
including V-1 flying bomb storage depots in Occupied France under construction since August.
|-
| 1943-09
|
| After a Réseau AGIR
informant reported unusual construction in Upper Normandy, Michel Hollard
smuggled a report via Switzerland that identified 6 V-1 sites.
|-
| 1943-10
| Bois Carré
| The Réseau AGIR reported the Bois Carré V-1 site (1.4 km east of Yvrench) had "a concrete platform with centre axis pointing directly to London". The network reconnoitered 104 V-1 facilities and provided rough sketches such as one by André Comps of Bois Carré. Comps copied the blueprints after Hollard had him infiltrate the site as a draughtsman
.
|-
| 1943-10-03
| Siracourt
| No. 542 Squadron RAF photographed the Siracourt bunker (1st bombed January 31, 1944).
|-
|
|
| The PR image of a 40 by 7 ft (12.2 by 2.1 m) object with fins" and a blunt nose (later identified as a V-2 without warhead) was code named Bodyline.
|-
| 1943-10-21
|
|PR was ordered for the whole of Northern France.
|-
| 1943-11-03
| Bois Carré
| PR by Plt Off R A Hosking in Mosquito LR424 on No. 170 Squadron RAF
sortie E/463 was the 1st to show "ski-shaped buildings".
|-
| 1943-11-28
| Peenemünde-West
| Mosquito PR by Sqn Ldr Merrifield and F/O Whalley (scheduled by Jones for a likely V-1 launch time), photographed a "midget aircraft" on the ramp at the edge of the Peenemünde-West airfield, which Babington-Smith detected on December 1. An additional ramp was between Zinnowitz
and Zempin
, and the small aircraft was code name
d 'Peenemünde 20'.
|-
| 1943-11
|
|72 "ski sites" had been photographed.
|-
| 1943-12-04
|
|PR was again conducted across Northern France just before the December 5 start of "Crossbow Operations Against Ski Sites
", which the Combined Chiefs of Staff
authorized on December 2.The Ninth Air Force
conducted the first attack (3 sites at Ligescourt
), and the 1st major strike on ski sites by VIII Bomber Command
was December 24.
|-
| 1943-12-04
|
| 'Druides' agent Amniarix (Jeannie Rousseau) reported the V-1 organization was moving and being renamed from Flak Regiment
155W to Flak Gruppe Creil
.
|-
|1944-01-04
| The Pentagon
Eglin Field
| Brigadier Napier
of the Ministry of Supply briefed the US military regarding German long range weapon intelligence, and General Ismay directed reports be shared with the US. The US "Crossbow Committee" under General Stephen Henry of the New Developments Division first met on January 6 after forming on December 29. In February and March, the US used technical intelligence
data to build full-size replicas of ski site buildings
to plan bombing tactics.
|-
| 1944-02
| Peenemunde: P-7
|PR showed roads north of the ellipse that matched roadways later discovered after the Normandy Invasion at the Château de Molay
V-2 site.
|-
| 1944-02-25
|
| The 1st transportable V-1 catapult ramp was ready (95 were ready by the end of March). Ramp sections built by the HWK
in Kiel were hidden from PR until enough V-1s were ready for an initial assault. An October 22/23, 1943, area bombing
had wrecked Kassel homes
of Fieseler
workers, delaying their transfer to the new V-1 plant at Rothwesten
and as a result, delaying "the final trials of the [V-1] weapon's power unit, control-gear, diving mechanism, compass and air-log" until February and production for "three or four" months.
|-
| 1944-03
|
| A plan for underground concealment of a total of 5000 V-1s to supply 8 depots (each holding 250 more for the modified launchers) was initiated for Nucourt
's limestone caves, Rilly-la-Montagne
's rail tunnel, and Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
's mushroom caves. Also in March, the Brécourt
V-2 bunker was ordered to be converted to a V-1 bunker.
|-
| 1944-03
| Poland
| Intelligence headquarters
received a Polish report
of "an object which, though covered by a tarpaulin, bore every resemblance to a monstrous torpedo" on a Blizna
railroad car that was heavily guarded by SS troops
. The first V-2 training launch at Blizna had been on November 5, 1943, after Major Weber's experimental staff at Köslin and Experimental Battery 444 transferred to Blizna at the end of October. In May, the 953 (Semi-Mobile) Artillery Detachment started Abteilungen (firing detachment) training at Blizna for operations at Wizernes
, and Ultra decoded Enigma messages
about the transfer to Blizna.
|-
| 1944-04-22
|
| The Crossbow Committee issued a revised ski site diagram based on a January 20 sketch. By the end of March, Anglo-American attacks had destroyed nine ski sites and seriously damaged 35 more. On April 19 at the request of the War Cabinet
, General Eisenhower
had designated Crossbow targets
as the highest priority for the Combined Bomber Offensive
.
|-
| 1944-04-26
| "Belhamelin, near Cherbourg
"
|PR identified the 1st camouflaged "modified" site, and 12 more were identified within days. The V-1 launch site design had been modified for simplicity and to use transportable catapult sections, making them "more difficult to discover and easy to replace", bombing more difficult, and completion time relatively short when V-1 supplies were sufficient. Crossbow
continued bombing the obsolete and heavily damaged "ski sites" due to a German ruse
to portray they were being repaired. Additionally, espionage became more difficult as only German & prisoner/forced labor was used for "modified" sites instead of the previously-used French construction firms.
|-
| 1944-04
| Mittelwerk
| An intelligence report identified "Sixty flat cars left the plant; three cars had two rockets each in them." Reports came from 2 Polish laborers of the Mittelbau-Dora
camp.
|-
| 1944-05-05
| Poland
|PR of "the flying bomb compound" at Blizna contained an image of a rocket that R. V. Jones subsequently recognized on July 17.
|-
| 1944-06-06
|
|61 modified sites had been photographed, and 83 of 96 ski sites had been destroyed (only 2 of the ski sites launched V-1s).
|-
| 1944-06-10
| Belgium
| A Belgian agent reported 33 railcars (carrying 99 V-1s) had passed through Ghent
.
|-
| 1944-06-11
| Vignacourt
| PR showed the Vignacourt modified site was being completed, which allowed image interpreters to predict sites would be ready to launch V-1s within 3 days
|-
| 1944-06-11
| Saleux
|66 modified sites had been photographed. On the 13th just after midnight, the Saleux
site launched the first combat V-1 (Hans Kammler
visited the Saleux V-1 site on August 10).
|-
|
| RAF Medmenham
| A special Medmenham image interpretation
section for site photographs was set up for Duncan Sandys
.
|-
| 1944-06-13
|
| Stray test V2 rocket explodes over Bäckebo
Sweden, fired from Peenemünde and aimed at Baltic sea outside island of Bornholm, but
overshoots the target area and lands in south Sweden. Remains are shipped to the UK http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/article3208141.ece.
|-
| 1944-06-17
| Poland
| An intel report identified apparatus 17053 was sent to Peenemünde from Blizna—launches of Mittelwerk
V-2s 17001-17100 (January–April) were at both Peenemünde and Blizna.
|-
| 1944-06-30
|
| Anglo-American Intelligence had identified Nucourt
and Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
were underground V-1 storage. On June 15, 55 sites were launching V-1s, and in July, 38 sites launched 316 V-1s over a 24 hour period (25 crashed at launch). By July 10, Arthur Tedder had assigned 30 Crossbow targets
to Arthur Harris
' RAF Bomber Command
, 6 to AEAF tactical airforce, and 68 to Carl Spaatz
' USSTAF. Code named NOBALL, the targets numbered as high as 147 (i.e., "no ball V1 site No.147, ").
|-
| 1944-07-16
|
| A report mis-identified the likely rocket fuel was hydrogen peroxide
(T-Stoff
), andattacks were conducted on suspected sources
.
|-
| 1944-07-18
|
| Adolf Hitler
ruled the V-2 launch bunker plans could be abandoned. To reduce the risk of espionage and counterattacks, mobile firing batteries
were subsequently used for launching and then leaving the site
. An alternate concealment plan for firing V-2s just outside of railway tunnels (code named Regenwurm
) was also abandoned, as was an earlier plan that had constructed fixed concrete launch pads in clearings of Northern France.
|-
| 1944-07
| Wright Field
| Experts fired a V-1 engine reconstructed
from "Robot Blitz" wreckage (an entire V-1 was reconstructed at Republic Aviation by September 8).
|-
| 1944-07-21
|
| The British inaccurately interpreted the July 18–21 effort of 50 air-launched V-1s had been "ground-launched" from the Low Countries
, particularly near Ostend
.
|-
| 1944-07-22
|
| Experts
at Farnborough
issued a report on June 13 V-2 wreckage from Sweden for which the UK agreed to exchange Spitfires. The lack of lubricant in the wreckage's turbopump indicated cooling by a pumped liquefied gas, and intelligence reports about liquid oxygen
as rocket fuel allowed the accurate interpretation that the payload was 2 tons or less. Conversely, the British mistakenly prepared radio jammers
since the wreckage happened to have Wasserfall
guidance control for a test (only a small portion of combat V-2s used radio motor cutoff—during ascent and with a 10 km interference range from the "firing point"). The test was for determining "the influence of the rocket jet on the guidance radio signal.
"
|-
| 1944-07-28
| Big Ben
| Eight V-2 parts from Poland along with photographs, drawings, and Special Report 1/R no. 242 arrived in the UK from Brindisi
, Italy. In Operation Most III
an RAF Dakota
had landed at an abandoned German airfield in Poland on July 25/26 and collected the 100 lb (45.4 kg) of cargo from the Polish underground. The Polish parts came from V-2s launched from Blizna (one had crashed near Sarnaki without exploding on May 20), and the underground
had hidden wreckage in the Western Bug
river. Antoni Kocjan
prepared the Polish parts and information, which arrived after the British had already obtained similar material from the Swedish V-2 wreckage (as did Sanders' Blizna report). Most III also transported Jerzy Chmielewski, who had cycled 200 miles through enemy territory and reported the V-2 airbursts to the British.
|-
| 1944-07-31
| Meillerwagen
| A dummy rocket and an erector trailer captured at a V-2 storage site at Hautmesnil confirmed the size of the V-2.
|-
| 1944-08-15
| Double Cross System
| Use of double agents to deceive the Luftwaffe into mis-aiming the V-1s continued despite risking civilians in one area over others. After the last V-1 launch in France on September 1, Canadian troops captured the last of the initial V-1 launch sites. Despite intelligence and countermeasures
, V-1s killed/seriously injured over 6,000/17,000 UK civilians, even when only ~1/4 of the V-1s launched at England struck successfully. Over 8000 V-1s were launched at London (2,448 at Antwerp)—2340 reached the London Civil Defence Region from France, and by June 27 in the UK, "over 200,000 houses had been damaged or destroyed by the V-1… and shattered sewage systems threatened serious epidemics."
|-
| 1944-08-25
|
| Plans for aerial reconnaissance
of V-2 sites were included in the joint "Plan for Attack on the German Rocket Organization When Rocket Attacks Commence". Based on rocket fuel intelligence the plan also identified primary and secondary liquid-oxygen plants as the third priority targets
Mission 572 on August 24 had targeted rocket fuel production in France and Belgium.
|-
| 1944-08-25
| Belgium
| Based on the intelligence of V-2 liquid oxygen
, the Eighth Air Force
bombed 5 LOX plants (the next day's mission was "to hit liquid oxygen plants at La Louvière
, Torte and Willebroek
").
|-
| 1944-09-08
| Sound ranging
| Microphones in East Kent
reported the times of the first London V-2s: 18:40:52 and 18:41:08 (at different locations, both Jones and Duncan Sandys
recognized the supersonic "double-crack"). The ranging system provided the V-2 "trajectory from which the general launching area could be determined." Civil defense
officials refused to give any public information about the rocket ("It might have been a gas main explosion"), and despite that day's German headline—"Vergeltungswaffe
-2 Gegen London im Einsatz" (Vengeance Weapon 2 in Action Against London)—the British's official SECRET statement was that "BIG BEN" had not been "CONFIRMED".
|-
| 1944-09-17
| Netherlands
| Airfields suspected as He 111
bases for V-1 air-launches were attacked (airfields were bombed at Hopsten, Leeuwarden, Steenwijk
, and Rheine
).Modified V-1s were air-launched from September 16-January 14 (865 launches). On October 21, the first V-1 launches for Operation Donnerschlag
(Thunderclap) began from Germany.
|-
| 1944-09-22
| Poland
| After the Soviets captured Blizna in July and the Anglo-American Sanders Mission arrived on September 3, Colonel T.R.B Sanders
issued his preliminary report.
|-
|
| Mittelwerk
|PR of Niedersachswerfen
showed shadows of railcars consistent with those loaded with V-2s.
|-
| 1944-10-25
| Netherlands
| An informant arrived behind Allied lines with reports of V-2 launches from Wassenaar
.
|-
| 1944-12
| Royal Artillery
| Project Firework was enacted by the 11th Survey Regiment
to watch for "all data obtained regarding the origin and flight of enemy rockets" with the use of sound ranging
stations and, after modification, the radar stations at Swingate, Rye, Pevensey, Poling, and Ventnor (11 Group); and Branscombe, Ringstead, and Southbourne (10 Group) along with the pair at St Lawrence and Newchurch. Radar allowed London Transport
to be warned when the predicted impact (5 mile accuracy) was near the Thames subway tunnels
.
|-
| 1944-12-31
| Netherlands
| At the home of 14 yr old Hans van Wouw Koeleman, who observed and reported a few Dutch coast launches of V-2s, his father toasted the "favourable results the Germans had achieved that night" when a V-2 launch just prior to midnight "to wish Londoners a Happy New Year" failed and hit a German barracks.
|-
| 1945-03-20
| Netherlands
| After PR showed V-1 sites at Ypenburg and Vlaardingen
, an RAF Fighter Command
squadron attacked the former, while on the 23rd the RAF Second Tactical Air Force
attacked the latter.
|-
| 1945-03
| Operation Paperclip
|A Polish laboratory technician found pieces of the Osenberg List of German scientists in a toilet at Bonn University
. The Ordnance Corps (United States Army) used the Osenberg List to compile the list of rocket scientists to be captured and interrogated (Wernher von Braun
's name was at the top).
|-
| 1945-04-11
| Mittelwerk
| After intel had said to "expect something a little unusual" at Nordhausen
, the Army found the underground factory rockets, the dead Boelcke Kaserne
forced laborers, and the evacuated Dora concentration camp. In June 1945, the Fedden mission inspected the factory's "megalomania
c production" capability. Earlier 1944 technical inspections included one by Frédéric Joliot-Curie
and Duncan Sandys
to Watten on September 10 and one by Colonel T.R.B. Sanders to Wizernes
in November. Similarly in July 1944, both Eisenhower and Churchill had visited the Brécourt
bunker – the latter reportedly dropping an apple he was eating in astonishment of the massive facility.
|-
|}
The day after Strategic Bombing Directive No. 4 ended the strategic air war in Europe, the use of radar was discontinued in the London Civil Defence Region for detecting V-2 launches. The last launches had been on March 27 (V-2) and March 29 (V-1 flying bomb
).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
by the Allies.
Symbols
PR — aerial photographic reconnaissanceAerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket. — events regarding Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France , — events regarding Anglo-American intelligenceAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, , — military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)| Date | Location/Topic | Event |
|---|---|
| 1939-11-02 | Oslo Report Oslo report The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1 and 2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future.Mayer... |
An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
").
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them. Intelligence came from a number of sources and the Anglo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
by the Allies.
Symbols
PR — aerial photographic reconnaissanceAerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket. — events regarding Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France , — events regarding Anglo-American intelligenceAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, , — military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)| Date | Location/Topic | Event |
|---|---|
| 1939-11-02 | Oslo Report Oslo report The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1 and 2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future.Mayer... |
An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
").
Intelligence on the V-1 and V-2 weapons developed by the Germans for attacks on the United Kingdom during the Second World War was important to countering them. Intelligence came from a number of sources and the Anglo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
intelligence agencies used it to assess the threat of the German V-weapons.
The activities included use of the Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
for counter-intelligence and the British (code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
d) "Big Ben" project to reconstruct and evaluate German missile technology for which Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and the USSR provided assistance.
German counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
ruses were used to mislead the Allies about V-1 launch sites and the Peenemünde Army Research Center which were targeted for attacks
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
by the Allies.
Symbols
PR — aerial photographic reconnaissanceAerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
- exchange of early stray V2 rocket. — events regarding Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
V-weapon planning
— locations in Occupied France , — events regarding Anglo-American intelligenceAllies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, , — military operations (RAF, US, Luftwaffe)| Date | Location/Topic | Event |
|---|---|
| 1939-11-02 | Oslo Report Oslo report The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by German mathematician and physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1 and 2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future.Mayer... |
An anonymous informant warned the British of current German technology and planned German secret weapons such as rockets and winged missiles. Reception of the report was mixed with some believing it to be misdirection. and "Head of the Scientific Section of M.I.6Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
").
|-
| 1942-05-15
| Peenemünde: P-7
Test Stand VII
Test Stand VII was the principal V-2 rocket testing facility at Peenemünde Airfield and was capable of static firing of rocket motors up to 200 tons thrust...
|
Taken while the 2nd V-2 rocket was in the test tower, photograph's by a reconnaissance Spitfire showed "unusual" circular embankments (Test Stand VIITest Stand VII
Test Stand VII was the principal V-2 rocket testing facility at Peenemünde Airfield and was capable of static firing of rocket motors up to 200 tons thrust...
but these were "dismissed".
|-
| 1943-01-19
| Peenemünde
|
The US requested PR of UsedomUsedom
Usedom is a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the River Oder in Pomerania...
island.
|-
| 1943-03-22
|
|
Wilhelm Ritter von ThomaWilhelm Ritter von Thoma
Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma was a German officer who served in World War I, in the Spanish Civil War, and as a General der Panzertruppe in World War II.-Early life:...
, a General captured in North Africa was secretly recorded while in a British prison. In conversation with another fellow prisoner-of-war he disclosed he had seen the launch of a "huge" rocket circa 1936-7.
|-
| 1943-04-22
| Peenemünde: P-7
|
de Havilland MosquitoDe Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
DZ473 was carrying out bomb damage assessment
Bomb damage assessment
Bomb, or battle damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment...
on Stettin. On leaving Stettin, they left their cameras "running all down the north coast of Germany." RAF Medmenham
RAF Medmenham
RAF Medmenham was a Royal Air Force station based at Danesfield House near Medmenham, in Buckinghamshire, England.Activities there specialized in photographic intelligence, and it was once the home of the RAF Intelligence Branch...
interpretors noticed an object of 25 feet (7.6 m) —an "enormous cloud of steam" that had disappeared 4 seconds later in the subsequent image. The "object" was both the cooling steam from leaky flame deflector pipes and the flames of a V-2 motor at the end of a test being directed horizontally by the P-7 flame trenches.
|-
|
| Peenemünde
|
The senior US intelligence representative in Switzerland (Allen Dulles) identified Peenemünde to the US. In 1943, agent "George WoodFritz Kolbe
Fritz Kolbe was a German diplomat who became America's most important spy against the Nazis in World War II.-Career:Fritz Kolbe was born in Berlin...
" began providing Dulles with intelligence.
|-
| 1943-05-17
|
Watten|
After an agent had reported "enormous trenches" at Watten during April, PR showed the Nord-Pas-de-Calais site was "a large rail-, and canal-served clearing in the woods, possibly a gravel pit." The Watten blockhouse which was being constructed for launching V-2s was bombed for the first time on August 27 as a suspected V-1 flying bombV-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
site.
|-
| 1943-05-14
| Peenemünde: P-7
| Two sorties photographed an "unusually high level of activity" at "the Ellipse" (the Reich Director of Manpower was visiting for a V-2 test launch).
|-
| 1943-06-04
| Peenemünde
|
R.V. Jones received a Luxembourger's smuggled sketch of northwestern UsedomUsedom
Usedom is a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the River Oder in Pomerania...
island via the "Famille Martin" network.. Also in June, agent Leon Henri Roth at Peenemünde reported "development of a large rocket which made a noise resembling that of 'a squadron at low altitude." Foreign forced laborers of the V-2 test center were housed at Camp Trassenheide
Trassenheide
Trassenheide is a seaside resort on the island of Usedom in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in Germany. Trassenheide has approximately 1,000 inhabitants and the main source of income is tourism.- History :...
, and two reports beginning in June from the camp via Spain identified the "rocket assembly hall", "experimental pit", and "launching tower".
|-
| 1943-08-16
| Peenemünde
|Two days prior to the Operation Hydra attack on the scientists quarters, workshops, and experimental facilities, a Westland Lysander
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second World War...
picked up French agent Lèon Faye who carried "a detailed report of the top secret V-weapon rocket development at Peenemünde" to England.
|-
| 1943-08-22
| Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
|An air-launched test of an overfuelled V-1 from the "G.A.F. Research Center, Karlshagen" (Peenemunde), crashed on Bornholm, and Hasager Christiansen obtained photos of the automatic pilot, compressed air cylinder, main fuselage and wings before the German recovery team arrived.
|-
| 1943-09
| Peenemünde: P-7
|PR showed P-7 bomb craters, but Peenemünde personnel had fabricated post-Hydra bomb damage by creating craters in the sand, by blowing-up lightly damaged and minor buildings, and by painting "black and white lines to simulate charred beams". Research and development on the V-2 continued promptly despite Operation Hydra, and the next V-2 test launch was 49 days later.
|-
| 1943-09-07
|
|
An UltraUltra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
intercept identified that an agent tasked with gathering rocket intelligence had been captured (Amniarix survived the war).
|-
| 1943-09-19
|
|
The Questionnaire…to establish the practicability…of the German Long-Range Rocket was distributed regarding the interpretation of V-2 intelligence: "it is not without precedent for the Germans to have succeeded while we doubted: the beamsBattle of the beams
The Battle of the Beams was a period early in the Second World War when bombers of the German Air Force used a number of increasingly accurate systems of radio navigation for night bombing. British "scientific intelligence" at the Air Ministry fought back with a variety of increasingly effective...
are a sufficient example." (September 25, R. V. Jones) vs. "at the end of the war, when we knew the full story we should find that the [60 ton] rocket was a mare's nest" (October 25, Lord Cherwell
Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell
Frederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell FRS PC CH was an English physicist who was an influential scientific adviser to the British government, particularly Winston Churchill...
).
|-
| 1943-09-28
|
V-3 cannonV-3 cannon
The V-3 was a German World War II supergun working on the multi-charge principle whereby secondary propellant charges are fired to add velocity to a projectile....
|
The Central Interpretation Unit issued a report on the Marquise-Mimoyecques site (1st bombed November 5 as a suspected V-2 launch bunker).|-
| 1943-09-30
|
| 133 V-weapon facilities had been photographed by the PRU
No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF
No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit was a flying unit of the Royal Air Force, first formed in 1940.-History:The origins of 1 PRU date to the "Heston Flight" formed on 24 September 1939, when the Royal Air Force took over Sidney Cotton's Aircraft Operating Company, based at Heston Aerodrome...
including V-1 flying bomb storage depots in Occupied France under construction since August.
|-
| 1943-09
|
|
After a Réseau AGIRRéseau AGIR
The Réseau AGIR was a World War II espionage group founded by French wartime resister Michel Hollard that provided human intelligence on V-1 flying bomb facilities)....
informant reported unusual construction in Upper Normandy, Michel Hollard
Michel Hollard
Michel Hollard is a French wartime resister and engineer that founded the espionage group Réseau AGIR during World War II.His contribution was recognised by the British with the award of the Distinguished Service Order having "reconnoitered a number of heavily guarded V1 sites and reported on them"...
smuggled a report via Switzerland that identified 6 V-1 sites.
|-
| 1943-10
|
Bois CarréYvrench
Yvrench is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Yvrench is situated 9 miles northeast of Abbeville, on the D108 road, the route of the old Roman road, the Chaussée Brunehaut.-Population:...
|
The Réseau AGIR reported the Bois Carré V-1 site (1.4 km east of Yvrench) had "a concrete platform with centre axis pointing directly to London". The network reconnoitered 104 V-1 facilities and provided rough sketches such as one by André Comps of Bois Carré. Comps copied the blueprints after Hollard had him infiltrate the site as a draughtsmanDraughtsman
A draughtsman or draftsman , is a person skilled in drawing, either:*drawing for artistic purposes, or*technical drawing for practical purposes such as architecture or engineering...
.
|-
| 1943-10-03
|
Siracourt|
No. 542 Squadron RAF photographed the Siracourt bunker (1st bombed January 31, 1944).|-
|
|
|
The PR image of a 40 by 7 ft (12.2 by 2.1 m) object with fins" and a blunt nose (later identified as a V-2 without warhead) was code named Bodyline.|-
| 1943-10-21
|
|PR was ordered for the whole of Northern France.
|-
| 1943-11-03
|
Bois Carré|
PR by Plt Off R A Hosking in Mosquito LR424 on No. 170 Squadron RAFNo. 170 Squadron RAF
No. 170 Squadron RAF was a Second World War Royal Air Force squadron that operated the North American Mustang in the fighter-reconnaissance role and later the Avro Lancaster as part of Bomber Command.-History:...
sortie E/463 was the 1st to show "ski-shaped buildings".
|-
| 1943-11-28
| Peenemünde-West
Peenemünde Airfield
Peenemünde Airfield is an airfield along the Baltic Sea north of Peenemünde, Germany. Today round trips in light aircraft take place from Peenemünde Airfield. Bus tours are also available, on which one can visit the former shelters of the NVA and the remnants of the of the V-1 flying bomb...
|
Mosquito PR by Sqn Ldr Merrifield and F/O Whalley (scheduled by Jones for a likely V-1 launch time), photographed a "midget aircraft" on the ramp at the edge of the Peenemünde-West airfield, which Babington-Smith detected on December 1. An additional ramp was between ZinnowitzZinnowitz
Zinnowitz is a spa town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the northern German island of Usedom on the Baltic Sea. The town has rail connections to Wolgast and Ahlbeck.-History:...
and Zempin
Zempin
Zempin is a German municipality and the smallest seaside resort on Usedom island. It lies between Zinnowitz and Koserow on the narrowest part of the island, between the Baltic Sea and the Achterwasser, a bay of the Oder Lagoon....
, and the small aircraft was code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
d 'Peenemünde 20'.
|-
| 1943-11
|
|72 "ski sites" had been photographed.
|-
| 1943-12-04
|
|PR was again conducted across Northern France just before the December 5 start of "Crossbow Operations Against Ski Sites
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
", which the Combined Chiefs of Staff
Combined Chiefs of Staff
The Combined Chiefs of Staff was the supreme military command for the western Allies during World War II. It was a body constituted from the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the American Joint Chiefs of Staff....
authorized on December 2.
The Ninth Air ForceNinth Air Force
The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....
conducted the first attack (3 sites at Ligescourt
Ligescourt
Ligescourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Ligescourt is situated on the D12 road, some north of Abbeville.-Population:-External links:*...
), and the 1st major strike on ski sites by VIII Bomber Command
VIII Bomber Command
The VIII Bomber Command is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit that is better known as the later appellation Eighth Air Force, as was popularized in post-World War II filmsand is frequently called the First Eighth Air Force by its veterans and successors in the services.The command was...
was December 24.
|-
| 1943-12-04
|
|
'Druides' agent Amniarix (Jeannie Rousseau) reported the V-1 organization was moving and being renamed from Flak RegimentFlak corps
A flak corps was a massed anti-aircraft artillery formation employed by the Luftwaffe for anti-aircraft, antitank, and fire support operations in World War II. A Flakkorps was a flexible organization that was made up of a varying number of AA regiments, brigades, or divisions. It was roughly...
155W to Flak Gruppe Creil
Creil
Creil is a large town in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.-History:Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site, as well as a late Iron Age necropolis, perhaps belonging to a Gaulish fortress or protected camp.The city itself...
.
|-
|1944-01-04
| The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
Eglin Field
Operation Crossbow Site
The Operation Crossbow Site is a historic location at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. During the war a reconstruction of a German V-1 flying bomb launch site was built to test the measures needed to destroy the actual bases in France....
|
Brigadier NapierWilliam Napier, 13th Lord Napier
Lt. Col. William Francis Cyril James Hamilton Napier, 13th Lord Napier, 4th Baron Ettrick was a Scottish soldier and courtier. He was the eldest son of Francis Napier, the 12th Lord Napier and his wife Hon. Clarice Jessie E. Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 9th Lord Belhaven and Stenton. He...
of the Ministry of Supply briefed the US military regarding German long range weapon intelligence, and General Ismay directed reports be shared with the US. The US "Crossbow Committee" under General Stephen Henry of the New Developments Division first met on January 6 after forming on December 29. In February and March, the US used technical intelligence
Technical intelligence
In a pure military context, Technical Intelligence is intelligence about weapons and equipment used by the armed forces of foreign nations .The related term, scientific and technical intelligence, addresses information collected at the strategic level.Technical intelligence is intended primarily...
data to build full-size replicas of ski site buildings
Operation Crossbow Site
The Operation Crossbow Site is a historic location at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. During the war a reconstruction of a German V-1 flying bomb launch site was built to test the measures needed to destroy the actual bases in France....
to plan bombing tactics.
|-
| 1944-02
| Peenemunde: P-7
|PR showed roads north of the ellipse that matched roadways later discovered after the Normandy Invasion at the Château de Molay
Le Molay-Littry
Le Molay-Littry is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:On January 23, 1969, Le Molay amalgamated with the old commune of Littry to form into Le Molay-Littry, and uses the old Littry INSEE code 14330.Le Molay-Littry is a small Normandy...
V-2 site.
|-
| 1944-02-25
|
|
The 1st transportable V-1 catapult ramp was ready (95 were ready by the end of March). Ramp sections built by the HWKHellmuth Walter
Hellmuth Walter was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines...
in Kiel were hidden from PR until enough V-1s were ready for an initial assault. An October 22/23, 1943, area bombing
Area bombing directive
The Area Bombing Directive was a directive from the wartime British Government's Air Ministry to the Royal Air Force which ordered RAF bombers to attack the German industrial workforce and the morale of the German populace through bombing German cities and their civilian inhabitants.- Background...
had wrecked Kassel homes
Bombing of Kassel in World War II
The Kassel World War II bombings were a set of Allied strategic bombing attacks which took place from February 1942 to March 1945. The fire of the most severe air raid burned for seven days, at least 10,000 people died, 150,000 inhabitants were bombed-out, and the vast majority of the city center...
of Fieseler
Fieseler
The Gerhard Fieseler Werke was a German aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 40s. The company is remembered mostly for its military aircraft built for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.-History:...
workers, delaying their transfer to the new V-1 plant at Rothwesten
Rothwesten
Rothwesten is a village in the municipality Fuldatal, in the Kassel district, Hesse, Germany. It was the site of a post World War II American sector displaced person camp, and later Rothwesten Air Base.*...
and as a result, delaying "the final trials of the [V-1] weapon's power unit, control-gear, diving mechanism, compass and air-log" until February and production for "three or four" months.
|-
| 1944-03
|
|
A plan for underground concealment of a total of 5000 V-1s to supply 8 depots (each holding 250 more for the modified launchers) was initiated for NucourtNucourt
Nucourt is one of the communes of the Val-d'Oise department in the Île-de-France region of northern France and the location of limestone caves which were used as a World War II V-1 flying bomb storage depot.-References:** -External links:* *...
's limestone caves, Rilly-la-Montagne
Rilly-la-Montagne
Rilly-la-Montagne is one of the Communes of the Marne department in north-eastern France. The railway tunnel in the area was used as a World War II V-1 flying bomb storage depot.Football Club Rilly la Montagnehttp://fc-rilly-la-montagne.footeo.com/...
's rail tunnel, and Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is a town in northern France situated on the banks of the river Oise. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise. "Saint Leu" is notable for of mushroom caves under the Thiverny plateau.-History:...
's mushroom caves. Also in March, the Brécourt
Brécourt
Brécourt was a Nazi Germany bunker started inside an underground French Naval oil storage facility. On July 7, 1943, the site was ordered to be completed as a V-2 rocket launch facility...
V-2 bunker was ordered to be converted to a V-1 bunker.
|-
| 1944-03
| Poland
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
At the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the pre-war Polish areas were annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under German civil administration, while the rest of Nazi occupied Poland was named as General Government...
|
Intelligence headquartersSecret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
received a Polish report
Home Army and V1 and V2
Aside from the military operations, the Polish Armia Krajowa was also heavily involved in intelligence work, including work done with regard to the German "Wunderwaffe" - the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket...
of "an object which, though covered by a tarpaulin, bore every resemblance to a monstrous torpedo" on a Blizna
Blizna
Blizna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Ostrów, within Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately north of Ostrów, north of Ropczyce, and north-west of the regional capital Rzeszów...
railroad car that was heavily guarded by SS troops
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
. The first V-2 training launch at Blizna had been on November 5, 1943, after Major Weber's experimental staff at Köslin and Experimental Battery 444 transferred to Blizna at the end of October. In May, the 953 (Semi-Mobile) Artillery Detachment started Abteilungen (firing detachment) training at Blizna for operations at Wizernes
La Coupole
La Coupole , codenamed Bauvorhaben 21 , Schotterwerk Nordwest or Wizernes, is a Second World War bunker complex built by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets against London and southern England...
, and Ultra decoded Enigma messages
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
about the transfer to Blizna.
|-
| 1944-04-22
|
|
The Crossbow Committee issued a revised ski site diagram based on a January 20 sketch. By the end of March, Anglo-American attacks had destroyed nine ski sites and seriously damaged 35 more. On April 19 at the request of the War CabinetChurchill War Ministry
-The War Cabinet:Changes*August 1940: Lord Beaverbrook , Minister of Aircraft Production, joins the War Cabinet*October 1940: Sir John Anderson succeeds Neville Chamberlain as Lord President. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, enter the War...
, General Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
had designated Crossbow targets
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
as the highest priority for the Combined Bomber Offensive
Combined Bomber Offensive
The Combined Bomber Offensive was an Anglo-American offensive of strategic bombing during World War II in Europe. The primary portion of the CBO was against German Air Force targets which was the highest priority from June 1943 to 1944...
.
|-
| 1944-04-26
|
"Belhamelin, near CherbourgCotentin Peninsula
The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy, forming part of the north-western coast of France. It juts out north-westwards into the English Channel, towards Great Britain...
"
|PR identified the 1st camouflaged "modified" site, and 12 more were identified within days. The V-1 launch site design had been modified for simplicity and to use transportable catapult sections, making them "more difficult to discover and easy to replace", bombing more difficult, and completion time relatively short when V-1 supplies were sufficient. Crossbow
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
continued bombing the obsolete and heavily damaged "ski sites" due to a German ruse
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
to portray they were being repaired. Additionally, espionage became more difficult as only German & prisoner/forced labor was used for "modified" sites instead of the previously-used French construction firms.
|-
| 1944-04
| Mittelwerk
Mittelwerk
Central Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...
|
An intelligence report identified "Sixty flat cars left the plant; three cars had two rockets each in them." Reports came from 2 Polish laborers of the Mittelbau-DoraMittelbau-Dora
Mittelbau-Dora was a Nazi Germany labour camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany....
camp.
|-
| 1944-05-05
| Poland
|PR of "the flying bomb compound" at Blizna contained an image of a rocket that R. V. Jones subsequently recognized on July 17.
|-
| 1944-06-06
|
|61 modified sites had been photographed, and 83 of 96 ski sites had been destroyed (only 2 of the ski sites launched V-1s).
|-
| 1944-06-10
| Belgium
|
A Belgian agent reported 33 railcars (carrying 99 V-1s) had passed through GhentGhent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
.
|-
| 1944-06-11
|
VignacourtVignacourt
Vignacourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Vignacourt is situated northwest of Amiens, on the D12 and D49 junction.-Population:-External links:*...
|
PR showed the Vignacourt modified site was being completed, which allowed image interpreters to predict sites would be ready to launch V-1s within 3 days|-
| 1944-06-11
|
SaleuxSaleux
Saleux is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Saleux is situated on the D8 road, some southwest of, and a suburb of Amiens.-Population:-External links:* *...
|66 modified sites had been photographed. On the 13th just after midnight, the Saleux
Saleux
Saleux is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Saleux is situated on the D8 road, some southwest of, and a suburb of Amiens.-Population:-External links:* *...
site launched the first combat V-1 (Hans Kammler
Hans Kammler
General Dr Ing. Hans Friedrich Karl Franz Kammler was a civil engineer and high-ranking officer of the SS. He oversaw SS construction projects, and towards the end of World War II was put in charge of the V-2 missile programme.He is most commonly referred to as Heinz Kammler or Hans...
visited the Saleux V-1 site on August 10).
|-
|
| RAF Medmenham
RAF Medmenham
RAF Medmenham was a Royal Air Force station based at Danesfield House near Medmenham, in Buckinghamshire, England.Activities there specialized in photographic intelligence, and it was once the home of the RAF Intelligence Branch...
|
A special Medmenham image interpretationAerial photographic and satellite image interpretation
Photographic interpretation can be defined as: “the act of examining photographic images for the purpose of identifying objects and judging their significance” ....
section for site photographs was set up for Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
.
|-
| 1944-06-13
|
| Stray test V2 rocket explodes over Bäckebo
Bäckebo
Bäckebo is a locality situated in Nybro Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 241 inhabitants in 2005.Known for the Bäckebo rocket a german V2 rocket whom gone stray....
Sweden, fired from Peenemünde and aimed at Baltic sea outside island of Bornholm, but
overshoots the target area and lands in south Sweden. Remains are shipped to the UK http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/article3208141.ece.
|-
| 1944-06-17
| Poland
|
An intel report identified apparatus 17053 was sent to Peenemünde from Blizna—launches of MittelwerkMittelwerk
Central Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...
V-2s 17001-17100 (January–April) were at both Peenemünde and Blizna.
|-
| 1944-06-30
|
|
Anglo-American Intelligence had identified NucourtNucourt
Nucourt is one of the communes of the Val-d'Oise department in the Île-de-France region of northern France and the location of limestone caves which were used as a World War II V-1 flying bomb storage depot.-References:** -External links:* *...
and Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent is a town in northern France situated on the banks of the river Oise. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise. "Saint Leu" is notable for of mushroom caves under the Thiverny plateau.-History:...
were underground V-1 storage. On June 15, 55 sites were launching V-1s, and in July, 38 sites launched 316 V-1s over a 24 hour period (25 crashed at launch). By July 10, Arthur Tedder had assigned 30 Crossbow targets
Operation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
to Arthur Harris
Arthur Harris
Arthur Harris may refer to:*Sir Arthur Harris , High Sheriff of Essex, England*Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet , known as "Bomber Harris" or "Butcher Harris" , head of RAF Bomber Command during World War II*J. Arthur Harris Arthur Harris may refer to:*Sir Arthur Harris (High Sheriff of Essex)...
' RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
, 6 to AEAF tactical airforce, and 68 to Carl Spaatz
Carl Spaatz
Carl Andrew "Tooey" Spaatz GBE was an American World War II general and the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He was of German descent.-Early life:...
' USSTAF. Code named NOBALL, the targets numbered as high as 147 (i.e., "no ball V1 site No.147, ").
|-
| 1944-07-16
|
|
A report mis-identified the likely rocket fuel was hydrogen peroxideHydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide and an oxidizer. Hydrogen peroxide is a clear liquid, slightly more viscous than water. In dilute solution, it appears colorless. With its oxidizing properties, hydrogen peroxide is often used as a bleach or cleaning agent...
(T-Stoff
T-Stoff
T-Stoff was the oxidizer part of a bipropellant rocket fuel combination used in Germany during World War II. It is a stabilized high test peroxide...
), and
attacks were conducted on suspected sourcesBombing of Peenemünde in World War II
Operation Hydra was a Royal Air Force attack on the Peenemünde Army Research Center on the night of 17/18 August 1943. It began the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme...
.
|-
| 1944-07-18
|
|
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
ruled the V-2 launch bunker plans could be abandoned. To reduce the risk of espionage and counterattacks, mobile firing batteries
Meillerwagen
The Meillerwagen was a German World War II trailer used to transport a V-2 rocket from the 'transloading point' of the Technical Troop Area to the 'launching point', to erect the missile on the Brennstand , and to act as the service gantry for fuelling and launch preparation...
were subsequently used for launching and then leaving the site
Shoot-and-scoot
The term shoot and scoot refers to an artillery tactic of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location where the shots were fired. The reason for this is to avoid counter-battery fire - fired by enemy artillery or delivered by attack aircraft and helicopters, in order to...
. An alternate concealment plan for firing V-2s just outside of railway tunnels (code named Regenwurm
Meillerwagen
The Meillerwagen was a German World War II trailer used to transport a V-2 rocket from the 'transloading point' of the Technical Troop Area to the 'launching point', to erect the missile on the Brennstand , and to act as the service gantry for fuelling and launch preparation...
) was also abandoned, as was an earlier plan that had constructed fixed concrete launch pads in clearings of Northern France.
|-
| 1944-07
| Wright Field
Wright Field
Wright Field was an airfield of the United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces near Riverside, Ohio. From 1927 to 1947 it was the research and development center for the Air Corps, and during World War II a flight test center....
|
Experts fired a V-1 engine reconstructedReverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
from "Robot Blitz" wreckage (an entire V-1 was reconstructed at Republic Aviation by September 8).
|-
| 1944-07-21
|
|
The British inaccurately interpreted the July 18–21 effort of 50 air-launched V-1s had been "ground-launched" from the Low CountriesLow Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, particularly near Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
.
|-
| 1944-07-22
|
Big Ben
|
ExpertsRoyal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
at Farnborough
Farnborough Airfield
Farnborough Airport or TAG London Farnborough Airport is an airport situated in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England...
issued a report on June 13 V-2 wreckage from Sweden for which the UK agreed to exchange Spitfires. The lack of lubricant in the wreckage's turbopump indicated cooling by a pumped liquefied gas, and intelligence reports about liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
as rocket fuel allowed the accurate interpretation that the payload was 2 tons or less. Conversely, the British mistakenly prepared radio jammers
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
since the wreckage happened to have Wasserfall
Wasserfall
The Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete , was a World War II guided surface-to-air missile developed at Peenemünde, Germany.-Technical characteristics:...
guidance control for a test (only a small portion of combat V-2s used radio motor cutoff—during ascent and with a 10 km interference range from the "firing point"). The test was for determining "the influence of the rocket jet on the guidance radio signal.
Electric field screening
Screening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying fluids, such as ionized gases and conduction electrons in semiconductors and metals....
"
|-
| 1944-07-28
| Big Ben
|
Eight V-2 parts from Poland along with photographs, drawings, and Special Report 1/R no. 242 arrived in the UK from BrindisiBrindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
, Italy. In Operation Most III
Operation Most III
Operation Most III or Operation Wildhorn III was a World War II operation in which Poland's Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the German V-2 rocket.-Background:...
an RAF Dakota
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
had landed at an abandoned German airfield in Poland on July 25/26 and collected the 100 lb (45.4 kg) of cargo from the Polish underground. The Polish parts came from V-2s launched from Blizna (one had crashed near Sarnaki without exploding on May 20), and the underground
Home Army and V1 and V2
Aside from the military operations, the Polish Armia Krajowa was also heavily involved in intelligence work, including work done with regard to the German "Wunderwaffe" - the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket...
had hidden wreckage in the Western Bug
Western Bug
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
river. Antoni Kocjan
Antoni Kocjan
Antoni Kocjan , was a renowned Polish glider constructor and a contributor to the intelligence services of the Polish Home Army during World War II....
prepared the Polish parts and information, which arrived after the British had already obtained similar material from the Swedish V-2 wreckage (as did Sanders' Blizna report). Most III also transported Jerzy Chmielewski, who had cycled 200 miles through enemy territory and reported the V-2 airbursts to the British.
|-
| 1944-07-31
| Meillerwagen
Meillerwagen
The Meillerwagen was a German World War II trailer used to transport a V-2 rocket from the 'transloading point' of the Technical Troop Area to the 'launching point', to erect the missile on the Brennstand , and to act as the service gantry for fuelling and launch preparation...
|
A dummy rocket and an erector trailer captured at a V-2 storage site at Hautmesnil confirmed the size of the V-2.|-
| 1944-08-15
| Double Cross System
Double Cross System
The Double Cross System, or XX System, was a World War II anti-espionage and deception operation of the British military intelligence arm, MI5. Nazi agents in Britain - real and false - were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves and were then used by the British to broadcast...
|
Use of double agents to deceive the Luftwaffe into mis-aiming the V-1s continued despite risking civilians in one area over others. After the last V-1 launch in France on September 1, Canadian troops captured the last of the initial V-1 launch sites. Despite intelligence and countermeasuresOperation Crossbow
Crossbow was the code name of the World War II campaign of Anglo-American "operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme—operations against research and development of the weapons, their manufacture, transportation and their launching sites, and against missiles in flight"...
, V-1s killed/seriously injured over 6,000/17,000 UK civilians, even when only ~1/4 of the V-1s launched at England struck successfully. Over 8000 V-1s were launched at London (2,448 at Antwerp)—2340 reached the London Civil Defence Region from France, and by June 27 in the UK, "over 200,000 houses had been damaged or destroyed by the V-1… and shattered sewage systems threatened serious epidemics."
|-
| 1944-08-25
|
|
Plans for aerial reconnaissanceAerial reconnaissance
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles or reconnaissance aircraft. Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence...
of V-2 sites were included in the joint "Plan for Attack on the German Rocket Organization When Rocket Attacks Commence". Based on rocket fuel intelligence the plan also identified primary and secondary liquid-oxygen plants as the third priority targets
Mission 572 on August 24 had targeted rocket fuel production in France and Belgium.|-
| 1944-08-25
| Belgium
|
Based on the intelligence of V-2 liquid oxygenLiquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
, the Eighth Air Force
Eighth Air Force
The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....
bombed 5 LOX plants (the next day's mission was "to hit liquid oxygen plants at La Louvière
La Louvière
La Louvière is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. La Louvière's municipality includes the old communes of Haine-Saint-Paul, Haine-Saint-Pierre, Saint-Vaast, Trivières, Boussoit, Houdeng-Aimeries, Houdeng-Gœgnies, Maurage, and Strépy-Bracquegnies...
, Torte and Willebroek
Willebroek
Willebroek is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Blaasveld, Heindonk, Tisselt, Klein Willebroek and Willebroek proper. On January 1, 2006 Willebroek had a total population of 23,044...
").
|-
| 1944-09-08
| Sound ranging
Sound ranging
In land warfare, sound ranging is a method of determining the coordinates of a hostile artillery battery using data derived from the sound of its guns firing...
|
Microphones in East KentEast Kent
East Kent and West Kent are one-time traditional subdivisions of the English county of Kent, kept alive by the Association of the Men of Kent and Kentish Men: an organisation formed in 1913...
reported the times of the first London V-2s: 18:40:52 and 18:41:08 (at different locations, both Jones and Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
recognized the supersonic "double-crack"). The ranging system provided the V-2 "trajectory from which the general launching area could be determined." Civil defense
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
officials refused to give any public information about the rocket ("It might have been a gas main explosion"), and despite that day's German headline—"Vergeltungswaffe
Vergeltungswaffe
V-weapons also, known in the original German as Vergeltungswaffen , were a particular set of long range artillery weapons designed for strategic bombing during World War II, particularly terror bombing and/or aerial bombing of cities. They comprised the V-1 flying bomb, the V-2 rocket and the V-3...
-2 Gegen London im Einsatz" (Vengeance Weapon 2 in Action Against London)—the British's official SECRET statement was that "BIG BEN" had not been "CONFIRMED".
|-
| 1944-09-17
| Netherlands
|
Airfields suspected as He 111Heinkel He 111
The Heinkel He 111 was a German aircraft designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter in the early 1930s in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Often described as a "Wolf in sheep's clothing", it masqueraded as a transport aircraft, but its purpose was to provide the Luftwaffe with a fast medium...
bases for V-1 air-launches were attacked (airfields were bombed at Hopsten, Leeuwarden, Steenwijk
Steenwijk
Steenwijk is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality.Steenwijk received city rights in 1327...
, and Rheine
Rheine
Rheine is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.-Geography:Rheine is located on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx...
).
Modified V-1s were air-launched from September 16-January 14 (865 launches). On October 21, the first V-1 launches for Operation DonnerschlagOperation Donnerschlag
During World War II, the German military planned or undertook an operation named Donnerschlag .The December 1942 German Army plan called for a breakout from the besieged city of Stalingrad by the German Sixth Army and there meet up with the relief Operation Wintergewitter...
(Thunderclap) began from Germany.
|-
| 1944-09-22
| Poland
|
After the Soviets captured Blizna in July and the Anglo-American Sanders Mission arrived on September 3, Colonel T.R.B SandersTerence Sanders
Terence Robert Beaumont Sanders was a British rower who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, a lecturer in engineering at Cambridge, an army officer engaged in countering the V2 threat, civil servant and High Sheriff of Surrey.Sanders was born in Charleville, Cork, Ireland. He was educated at...
issued his preliminary report.
|-
|
| Mittelwerk
|PR of Niedersachswerfen
Niedersachswerfen
Niedersachswerfen is a municipality in the district of Nordhausen, in Thuringia, Germany....
showed shadows of railcars consistent with those loaded with V-2s.
|-
| 1944-10-25
| Netherlands
|
An informant arrived behind Allied lines with reports of V-2 launches from WassenaarWassenaar
Wassenaar is a town in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. A fairly affluent suburb of The Hague, Wassenaar lies 10 km north of that city on the N44 highway near the North Sea coast. It is part of the Haaglanden region...
.
|-
| 1944-12
| Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
|
Project Firework was enacted by the 11th Survey RegimentArmy Group Royal Artillery
An Army Group Royal Artillery was a British Commonwealth military formation type during the Second World War and shortly thereafter, generally assigned to corps. An AGRA was mainly composed of medium artillery regiments but heavy regiments and field regiments were also used...
to watch for "all data obtained regarding the origin and flight of enemy rockets" with the use of sound ranging
Sound ranging
In land warfare, sound ranging is a method of determining the coordinates of a hostile artillery battery using data derived from the sound of its guns firing...
stations and, after modification, the radar stations at Swingate, Rye, Pevensey, Poling, and Ventnor (11 Group); and Branscombe, Ringstead, and Southbourne (10 Group) along with the pair at St Lawrence and Newchurch. Radar allowed London Transport
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
to be warned when the predicted impact (5 mile accuracy) was near the Thames subway tunnels
Tower Subway
The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane to the south...
.
|-
| 1944-12-31
1945
| Netherlands
|
At the home of 14 yr old Hans van Wouw Koeleman, who observed and reported a few Dutch coast launches of V-2s, his father toasted the "favourable results the Germans had achieved that night" when a V-2 launch just prior to midnight "to wish Londoners a Happy New Year" failed and hit a German barracks.|-
| 1945-03-20
| Netherlands
|
After PR showed V-1 sites at Ypenburg and VlaardingenVlaardingen
Vlaardingen is a town in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas/Nieuwe Waterweg river at the confluence with the Oude Maas...
, an RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of three functional commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War, gaining recognition in the Battle of Britain. The Command continued until 17 November 1943, when...
squadron attacked the former, while on the 23rd the RAF Second Tactical Air Force
RAF Second Tactical Air Force
The former RAF Second Tactical Air Force was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War...
attacked the latter.
|-
| 1945-03
| Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II...
|A Polish laboratory technician found pieces of the Osenberg List of German scientists in a toilet at Bonn University
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
. The Ordnance Corps (United States Army) used the Osenberg List to compile the list of rocket scientists to be captured and interrogated (Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
's name was at the top).
|-
| 1945-04-11
| Mittelwerk
|
After intel had said to "expect something a little unusual" at NordhausenNordhausen
Nordhausen is a town at the southern edge of the Harz Mountains, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Nordhausen...
, the Army found the underground factory rockets, the dead Boelcke Kaserne
Mittelbau-Dora
Mittelbau-Dora was a Nazi Germany labour camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany....
forced laborers, and the evacuated Dora concentration camp. In June 1945, the Fedden mission inspected the factory's "megalomania
Megalomania
Megalomania is a psycho-pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. 'Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs'...
c production" capability. Earlier 1944 technical inspections included one by Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie , born Jean Frédéric Joliot, was a French physicist and Nobel laureate.-Early years:...
and Duncan Sandys
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys CH PC was a British politician and a minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s...
to Watten on September 10 and one by Colonel T.R.B. Sanders to Wizernes
La Coupole
La Coupole , codenamed Bauvorhaben 21 , Schotterwerk Nordwest or Wizernes, is a Second World War bunker complex built by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets against London and southern England...
in November. Similarly in July 1944, both Eisenhower and Churchill had visited the Brécourt
Brécourt
Brécourt was a Nazi Germany bunker started inside an underground French Naval oil storage facility. On July 7, 1943, the site was ordered to be completed as a V-2 rocket launch facility...
bunker – the latter reportedly dropping an apple he was eating in astonishment of the massive facility.
|-
|}
The day after Strategic Bombing Directive No. 4 ended the strategic air war in Europe, the use of radar was discontinued in the London Civil Defence Region for detecting V-2 launches. The last launches had been on March 27 (V-2) and March 29 (V-1 flying bomb
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
).