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the
'wonder' weapons of Nazi Germany
an allied aerial shot of Peenemünde
Both the Allies and the Germans
invested large amounts of resources and funds inventing new
weapons. The most famous and effective wizard weapon was the
atomic bomb. Driven by a fear that Nazi Germany would
develop and use an atomic bomb first, physicist Albert
Einstein wrote President Roosevelt in 1939 to warn him of
the potential threat. US Army General Leslie Groves was
tasked with creating the American program, which used a mix
of eccentric academics and military spit-and-polish
officers.
Raids on the German heavy water plants in Norway indicated
that their program was behind the Americans, and emphasis
switched to using the bomb on Japan after the German
surrender.
The Germans were focusing on a number of weapons that were
retaliatory in nature. The V-weapons, or “vengeance”
weapons, were high-technology guided and unguided missiles:
the V-1 flying bomb began attacks on London and Antwerp,
Belgium in the summer and fall of 1944, after the Allied
landings. Randomly striking targets, the V-1s caused terror
out of proportion to their damage, but killed hundreds. Soon
the V-1s were supplemented with V-2 ballistic missiles, the
first true medium-range guided missile. Developed at the
Peenemünde missile complex, both missiles were soon out of
range of London as the Germans fell back to their own
borders. The V-3, a series of large guns built into the
French cliffs and aimed at London, was never completed.
Slave labour from the Nordhausen concentration camp was used
to build the vengeance weapons, resulting in thousands of
deaths from executions and starvations.
The other major German weapon was the Messerschmitt Me-262,
the world’s first operational jet fighter. In the space of
seven years, the world had gone from biplanes to jet
propulsion. Mounting 30mm cannon, it was a capable fighter,
but dangerous to the pilot if the fuel was not handled
carefully. Furious over bomber attacks on Germany, Hitler
ordered the aircraft to be used as a bomber, preventing its
defensive use and saving many Allied bombers. Rare metals
shortages grounded many planes. If the Me-262 had been
introduced a year earlier, the Allied strategic bombing
offensive would have been seriously compromised.
The Allies had very different opinions on the use of
technology. American combat doctrine called for very heavy
firepower to be used to smash a target, even if it could not
be seen. This was contrary to the basic combat instruction
that taught recruits to only fire at visible targets, but
the Americans eschewed most tactical technological
implementations. The British, however, developed many
operational weapons, most notably under the inventor Barnes
Wallis, who was an explosive expert. He developed the
’bouncing bomb’ that smashed Ruhr dams, and the ’tallboy’
and ’Grand Slam’ very large bombs that destroyed submarine
pens at Loríent and sank the battleship Tirpitz.
For the Normandy invasion, the British developed a number of
new technologies, including flail tanks that set off mines,
swimming dual-drive (DD) tanks, and carpet laying tanks.
Called ’Funnies’ these tanks were not used by the Americans,
except for the DD tanks. Other variants included the
Churchill Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) that
mounted a large mortar to assault concrete emplacements.
Major implementations of new technology at Normandy included
Pipe Line Under the Ocean (PLUTO) to provide the Allies with
enough gas, and the Mulberry Harbors, artificial breakwaters
Churchill insisted on building to facilitate landing men and
materiel.
By the time the Allies landed in France, the tide of
technological warfare had shifted to the Allies. Almost the
entire Allied air force were modern designs created in 1940
or after. The Germans were still using the same designs
created in the thirties. Also, the Germans developed several
types for each role, diminishing the effectiveness of their
armour and aircraft by making four or five types instead of
one or two.
Vergeltungswaffe-1 Attacks (the
V1)
By Raul Colon
September 24th 2008rcolonfrias@yahoo.com
During the wee hours of June 13th
1944 a sole Fieseler Fi-103 or V-1 pilotless bomb, rested on
its wheeled cradle at Hesdin in the Pas de Calais, ready for
takeoff. Its support crew, all members of Abteilung
Flakregiment 155; had worked relentlessly on the launching
platform during the past seven days.
In just a few more minutes they
would know if all of their collective efforts would be paid
off. They already had fuelled the missile and had rechecked
its navigational and electronic mechanisms. The only thing
left was the launch itself. Approximately at 3:49 AM, the
Flakregiment’s commanding officer, who sat in a reinforced
concrete Kommandostand (bunker), radioed the crew to
commence the firing sequence. Three minutes later, the roar
of the compressed air filtering into the 75 octane petro
chamber of the ARGUS pulse-jet engine began to engulf the
bunker. At the same time, a massive supply of air from two
parallel tanks on each side of the Fi-103’s launching ramp
was being diverted to a chemical combustion chamber.
As the gas mixed with the
chemical liquids, a violent reaction occurred propelling the
ramp’s firing piston forward taking with it the F1-103 at
nearly 250 miles per hour. As the missile began to slowly
pickup altitude, the launching crew cheered in unison.
Their week-long work had, not only paid off, but had been a
resounding success. Once the Fi-103 was airborne, the firing
squad watched in awe as the 103 climbed to a low angle as it
built up airspeed. Three minutes after the launch, the 103’s
navigational compass took over the missile steering. The
compass shifted, ever so slightly, the 103’s trajectory to
compensate for the forecasted headwinds. Three more minutes
passed and now the V-1 had achieved its expected cruising
altitude of 3000’. One minute later, the Fi-103 had crossed
the French coast heading for England.
Meanwhile, operators at the
British radar station in Swingate, near the Dover Straits
picked the faint signature signal of the now cruising V-1 at
around 4:02 AM. Four minutes later, spotters aboard a Royal
Navy torpedo boat patrolling the Straits picked up the
Fi-103’s silhouette.
They recorded the “sighting of
a bright horizontal flame” travelling north-westward from
the direction of Boulogne. Five minutes later, the Observer
Corps near Dymchurch saw an incoming “object” heading
northwest toward the English coast. Reports began to flood
in to headquarters and soon a code name was gave to the
incoming “pilotless airplane”: Driver. As Driver began to
move over the Kent countryside, spotters and radar stations
all across the V-1 path continued to report its trajectory.
At 4:20 AM, the Fi-103’s internal navigation system
automatically shut itself down at the preset coordinates.
Immediately, two electrical contacts closed the circuit
which fired a couple of detonators housed on the tail of the
craft in order to secure the V-1’s elevators and rudder in
the pre-arranged position. While this was happening, the
spoilers under the tail plane sprang out, thrusting the tail
structure upward thus forcing the missile into a steep dive
position.
The resulting negative G-forces
conveying on the platform pushed the remaining fuel to the
front of the pulse-engine storage tank, uncovering the feed
pipe forcing the pulse engine to flame out. After which, the
4858lb weapon plunged violently towards the ground. The
first V-1 crashed on to an open field area near Dartford, a
full fifteen miles from its intended target, Tower Bridge in
the centre of London. Three additional flying missiles would
be fired from northern France during a two and a half hour
period. Two of them crashed in open fields causing no
casualties or damage. The third plummeted onto Bethnal
Green killing six people and injuring ten more. Six
additional V-1s followed up the initial barrage, five of
them crashed into the Channel waters and one over Dover
itself without causing any damage. With these firings, the
long awaited “rocket” bombardment of England commenced.
The infamous Fieseler’s Fi-103
flying bomb was perhaps Nazi Germany’s main terror weapon
during that period of the war. Known as V-1 or Retaliation
Weapon Number 1, was in fact a first generation cruise
missile platform. It was powered by a powerful ARGUS pulse
jet engine which produced around 560lb thrust at a 400 miles
per hour. It had a wingspan of 17’-6”, length of 29’-1.5”
with a total wing area of 55 square feet. It carried a
1870lb warhead (there was an extended-range version of the
V-1 which carried a 1000lb) that detonated on impact. The
Fi-103 could travel up to 130 miles (extended version 200)
at an average top speed of 420 mph (480). Operational
ceiling was around 4000’. Total weight at takeoff was
4858lb. For guidance and navigation, the V-1 possessed a
rudimentary compass mechanism, an automatic pilot system and
an air log counter. The Fi-103’s airframe was a simple
structure. It had to be due to the massive shortages of
aluminum alloys inside the fast shrinking German Reich. The
system made its maiden flight in December 1942. The weapon’s
testing phase lasted until the next July when it was ordered
to into full production mode by an overstretched and
overmatched Luftwaffe.
When the Allied Army landed on
the Normandy beachheads on June 6th, the
Luftwaffe’s commanders, which along with most German senior
military leaders still believed that the main Allied attack
would come on the Pas le Calais, thought that all of the
newly built V-1 launching platforms would almost certain be
lost before they were to become fully operational to the
advancing allies invading force. As the landings were taking
place, Flakregiment 155 received orders from Berlin to
commence the planned massive bombardment of the British
capital. The June 13th would only be the first
salvo in a powerful missile barrage planned against London.
Following this up was an incredible work schedule, under
constant duress from allied bombing and strafing.
By the 15th
Flakregiment 155 was able to have all of its assigned Fi-103
launching platforms in the Calais area operational.
Commencing on the afternoon of the 15th until
midnight of the 16th, Flakregiment 155 launched
244 Fi-103s. Of the 244, 45 units either failed to make it
from their launching pads or crashed soon afterwards. Forty
units, which managed to clear the pad area, crashed into the
sea soon after takeoff. Only 153 units were able to cross
into British territory. Waiting for them were the newly
deployed anti-aircraft artillery pieces and recently formed
dedicated fighter squadrons, all stationed on the south
Great Britain in preparations to meet this improvised German
terror weapon. This screen of guns and aircraft were able to
shoot down twenty two V-1s. Of the remainder of the striking
force, fifty units crashed onto open fields across the south
of England without causing any damage. Unfortunately,
seventy three Fi-103s did find their marks and crash landed
in downtown London causing loss of life and severe
structural damage.
For the next fifteen days,
Flakregiment 155 launched 2442 flying bombs against the
beleaguered English capital. Of this impressive total, only
about 810 were able to reach their target. The rest were
either shot down during their trajectory or they simply
malfunctioned while in launching mode. The June 1944 Fi-103
barrage killed 2441 citizens while another 7107 were
seriously injured. Not all of the V-1 attacks were directed
at London. Few pre-programmed flying bomb were actually
targeted at military installations inside the Greater London
area. But, as with much of its conventional force, the
Fi-103 failed to make any significant dent in military
operations. This did not mean that it failed to cause havoc
on some installations. Such was the case on June 18th
when a sole flying bomb crashed on the Guard’s Chapel at the
Wellington Barracks. Sixty three soldiers and fifty eight
civilians who were attending the services perished in the
attack.
Because of the amount of flying
bombs being launched at Britain, its leaders re-directed
their air effort to look for and destroy all V-1 launching
sites near the Pas de Calais sector. Thus a new phase in the
ongoing air war above northern France began. Allied
reconnaissance aircraft were constantly on patrol looking
for V-1 launchers. Once detected, forward air controllers
would call in air strikes onto them. Unfortunately for the
allies, the Germans were by now versed in the art of
deception, thus most of their V-1 launchers were well
camouflaged. Nevertheless, allied aircraft did find some
sites and they were constantly bombarded. But the Germans
also proved very adept at rebuilding and soon, the attacked
sites were back in operation.
Post war German records tend to
support this claim. Of the 64 available sites, twenty two
were seriously damaged and 18 suffered medium damage. Of the
forty, only two sites were lost, the others were rebuilt and
back in operation within days. During the month of June,
twenty eight Germans were killed while working on the V-1
sites, a further 79 were injured. But while the allied air
attacks did not prevent the site from operating it did
hinder the Germans re-supply system. The already frail rail
and road system Flakregiment 155 utilized for weapon and
systems transportation was constantly attacked by allied
bombers affecting the interval time between V-1 launches.
Before the landings, the Luftwaffe had assigned a window of
thirty minutes between each flying bomb launch. Flakregiment
155 had reduced the lapse time to 25 minutes, but now, due
to the air harassing tactics of the allies, the interval
time climbed to 1.5 hours.
Notwithstanding the allied
strike campaign against the launching sites, the launches
continued almost unabated during the month of July. In fact,
during August 2nd, the 155 launched its most
massive attack so far. During a 24 hours window, the 155
launched 316 missiles at London. One hundred and seven of
them fond their target. In fact, three or five Fi-103s
crashed on the Tower Bridge damaging it. But by now the
German operations in the Calais area were fast coming to an
end. On the 7th, orders were issued to the 155 to
stop all repairs and new construction of Fi-103 facilities
south of the River Somme. Two weeks later, the whole German
Western front began to collapse. Flakregiment 155 began a
hastened eastward retreat leaving all of the V-1 sites open.
The last flying bomb launched from the Calais sector took
off on the 1st of September 1944.
The situation on the ground
altered the German’s Fi-103 strategy. Since early July, III
Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 3 had joined Flakregiment 155 on the
bombing of London. Commanded by the famous Major Martin
Vetter, the Gruppe utilized a modified Heinkel He-111 heavy
bomber fitted with a special carrying device to launch the
V-1 missiles. The He-111 launched Fi-103 were modified from
the original version. These new flying bombs carried a
state-of-the-art FuG-101 Radio Altimeter and a
Lichetenstein’s Tail Warning Radar Array. As the four
engined bomber began to alter its flight pattern in order to
be able to deploy the new version of the 2.5 tons V-1
system. The He-111 was the long awaited hope for a by now
almost none-exiting Luftwaffe’s bomber arm. It was an
advanced four engine heavy bomber.
It was powered by two Daimer
Benz DB-610 engines generating each 2950 horse power. Each
DB-610 were complemented by two DB-605 engines attached
together while driving a single propeller alignment. This
arrangement gave the 111 a top speed of 270 mph at 20000’
with a cruising speed of 210 mph at 20000’. Operational
range was an impressive 3240 miles. The He-111 was a bulky
armed aircraft with no less than six gun emplacements
compromising of one MG-151 2cm cannon and one MG-81 7.9mm
heavy machine gun firing in the forward position (all from
the nose cone housing). Two MG-81 machine guns on the rear
fuselage. On each side, two heavy MG-151 machine guns. One
more 151 on a dorsal turret plus a MG-131 in the extreme
rear of the tail structure. The bomber was able to carry up
to 13200 pounds of ordinance in internal bomb bays plus,
either a Fritz X guide bomb or a Hs radio guided missile
system.
At least six crewmen were
needed to mange the aircraft in flight. The He-111 Fi-103
profile called for the bomber to cruise over at 170 mph at
an altitude not exceeding 300’. As they approach the
deployment area, the 111 turned into the target and
commenced to slowly climb to the safe deployment altitude of
1700’. When the He-111 reached the targeted altitude zone,
it levelled off at 200 mph. Before the bomb was deployed,
the crew started up the 103’s pulse engine for up to ten
seconds, this put in peril the aircraft’s ability to survive
the mission, before deploying the weapon. Once the V-1 was
dropped, it would fall for 300’ before the autopilot was
activated and began to correct the weapon’s course and
altitude. Meanwhile, the pilot and co-pilot of the 111 were
turning the big, lumbering bomber the other way in order to
escape the expected British fighters which would most likely
trace the muzzle signature of the deployed bomb.
From early July through the
first week of September, He-111s launched 300 flying bombs
at London, 90 at Southampton and a few to other population
centres. Then, on September 8th a new and more
terrifying weapon arrived over London, the vaunted A-4 (V-2)
ballistic missile. The rocket, which was fired from the
outskirts of The Hague, Holland; nearly 200 miles from the
British capital, made a lasting impression among its
citizens and their leaders who vowed to destroy the new
terror weapon.
From September 1944 through the
27th of March 1945, 1054 A-4 were launched
towards England. Of them, 517 hit London killing 2700 of its
citizens. Meanwhile, the use of the He-111 to deploy the V-1
flying bombs continued through the autumn and winter of
1944. Gruppe Kampfgeschwader 3 continued its assault on
Britain from bases at Aalhorn, Handorf-bei-Munster and other
facilities in northern Germany. Unfortunately for Germany,
the accuracy of these new airborne 103 was even worse that
the ground launched systems. Late in the autumn of 1944, and
newly re-formed Gruppen Kampfgeschwader 3 was joined by
converted Gruppen KG 53 for V-1 operations. But by this time
Germany was experiencing a huge petrol shortage which forced
the Luftwaffe to curb many offensive-types of operations.
Almost disregarding this fact, both Gruppens continued, but
at a more conservative pace, to launch V-1s towards London.
Although the British capital was the preferred target centre
for Luftwaffe’s commanders, there were other cities attacked
during the winter months. An example of one of those attacks
was Operation Martha.
Martha was a large group
bombing mission against the city of Manchester. On the
morning hours of December 24th 1944, fifty He-111
deployed their Fi-103s over the North Sea. Thirty V-1s
crossed the English coast at Bridlington then proceeded
westward. Of the thirty bombs, only one actually crashed in
downtown Manchester, fourteen others crashed in open fields
around the city. The unexpected attack forced the Royal Air
Force to re-deploy air defence assets to other locations
outside London. This was the last major operation of the
year. By January, the Gruppens combined strength was 79
He-111 from a preliminary force strength of 160 units.
Meanwhile, German engineers were feverishly working on an
extended-range version of the 103. One that could travel up
to 200 miles from its deployable bases. On March 3rd,
after nearly two months of lull in 103 launchings, the
Luftwaffe fired the first of 275 Fi-103 units launched
during the month. The longer range version proved even more
inconsistent and easy to destroy that previous system. The
greater distance provided the British with more
opportunities to shoot them down.
More than 10000 Fi-103 were
launched against Great Britain. Nearly 87 percent of them
were ground launched. Of the total number, 7488 were able to
reach the British coastline, 3957 of them were shot down
leaving 3531 flying bombs to pass through the British
defences. Of those that “got away”, 2419 crashed onto
London, 30 onto Southampton and Portsmouth while only one
reached Manchester. Total losses were 6184 killed and 17981
injured. Forgotten is the fact that there were other
countries attacked by the German’s V-1 weapon. On the 21st
of October, Fi-103 bombardment against allied positions in
Holland commenced. The attacks were concentrated against two
targets: the major port facility of Antwerp and Brussels.
Some 740 flying bombs were fired against the two cities. The
bombardment caused widespread damage to an already
structurally deficient infrastructure on both cities.
The Second World War: An illustrated History
of WWII, Sir John Mammerton,
Trident Press 2000
Air Power: The Men, Machines and Ideas that Revolutionized
War, Stephen Budiansky,
Penguin Group 2004
The Bomber War: The Allied Air Offensive Against Nazi
Germany, Robin Neillands, The
Overlook Press 2001
Target America: Hitler’s Plan to Attack the United States,
James P. Duffy, The Lyons Press 2006
Dresden: Tuesday February 13 1945,
Frederick Taylor, Harper Collins 2004
Six Months To Oblivion, Allan
Ian, Shepperton 1975
Blitz on Britain, Allan Ian,
Shepperton 1977
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