Vergeltungswaffe
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Vergeltungswaffe (German for "retaliation weapon", "reprisal weapon" or "vengeance weapon") was a term assigned during World War II by the Nazis to a number of revolutionary superweapons, the V1 flying bomb, the V2 rocket and the V3 long range gun.
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[edit] Naming
The Vergeltungswaffen (or V-Waffen for short) were named by Joseph Goebbels' propaganda ministry. The name was chosen with regard to the allied bombing of German cities, which by 1944 the conventional German air force could neither prevent nor answer in kind. Also the name was chosen in response to the British 'V for victory' campaign.
[edit] V1
The V-1 was a cruise missile (the first) powered by a pulse jet. They were fired on London and Antwerp during the latter part of the Second World War. Londoners nicknamed the V1 "Doodlebugs" or "buzz bombs".
[edit] V2
The development of the liquid-fueled spin-stabilized sub-orbital rocket lead to the development of the most famous of the V-Weapons, the V-2 rocket. The V-2 was a result of the Aggregate projects, and as such was known to the Germans as the A4.
A larger version of the V2/A4 was the A10. This version was only on the drawing board and never actually made it to production as there were heat transfer problems which hampered the project. Had it reached fruition it would have been the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, being able to reach New York from Berlin.
[edit] V3
The V3 was a giant cannon, designed to lob shells from its site in the Pas de Calais, France across the English Channel and hit London. Because of its target, it was also known as the "London gun". It consisted of three shafts each containing five, 500 foot long, barrels, side by side. Armoured doors in the concrete were designed to slide back when the guns were ready.
British Intelligence first received reports of the V3 in the summer of 1943, when it was under construction below a 20-foot thick slab of ferro-concrete near Mimoyecques. Reports indicated that if the guns could keep up their maximum rate of fire, they could bombard London with 600 tons of explosives a day; in a fortnight, London would receive as much high explosive as Berlin had received in the whole war.
Before it became operational, the V3 was destroyed by the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron - better known as The Dam Busters. On 6 July 1944, specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers dropped several 5 ton (5.4 tonne) Tallboy bombs (designed by British inventor, Barnes Wallis) on the V3 complex. One Tallboy ripped a corner off the 20-foot thick concrete roof and completely blocked one of the gun shafts. A near miss collapsed another shaft and made the third shaft unfit to use.
[edit] V-Weapons effect
Intended to turn the war back in Germany's favour, the accuracy and hence the military effectiveness of the V weapons was low. They did, however, have an important psychological effect both in Germany and in the countries attacked with them.
Historians have since suggested that the huge amount of time and money expended upon the V weapon programs at Hitler's insistence, approximately equivalent to the cost of the allies' Manhattan Project, actually contributed to the quicker defeat of Nazi Germany by diverting limited resources away from conventional forces.[citation needed]
Hitler thought that the V-weapons would turn the tide of the war.Following the devastation of London, V-1 had to face anti-aircraft guns at the south coast of England and the RAF fighters. After D-day, many launch sites were overrun.
But the V-2 gave more hope, targetting Paris, London and Holland. The last V-2 was flown on March 28, 1945: by this time continued air raids had destroyed fuel supplies. The V-Weapons failed, even though they had entered service in time to still have an affect on the course of the war.
