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Dr. Matthias Uhl.
Three V-2 rockets being prepared for launch.
What Is Peenemünde?
The 485th Front Artillery Division
was created for the combat use of the
A-4.According to information provided
by Dr.-Ing. Hans Kammler, the SS
Lieutenant General responsible for all
V-weapon control points, they had
managed to launch up to fifteen missiles
per day in September 1944 when he was
commanding an “artillery corps.” As
they gained mastery of the missile technology,
they shortened the pre-launch
preparation cycle. On 30 October,
twenty-nine missiles were launched. On
26 November and again on 26 December,
the Germans launched a record
thirty-three missiles!
According to information that is
evidently close to authentic, from 5
September through 31 December 1944, a
total of 1,561 A-4 missiles were launched.
Of these, 447 were launched against London and forty-three were launched against
Noordwijk and Ipswijk, the garrison and assembly bases in the Netherlands that
supported the Allied deployment on the long-awaited second front.
Beginning in early 1945, bombing raids and the advance of British and
American troops deprived the Germans of the most advantageous positions for
firing on London.The majority of the missiles were then directed against targets
in continental Europe.The Germans launched 924 rockets against supply bases
in Antwerp; 27 against Liège; 24 against Lille; 19 against Paris and the Meuse
valley; and 2 against Diest. In their memoirs, various World War II Allied
commanders make no mention of substantial Allied military losses caused by
missile attacks. As the rockets often missed their targets by tens of kilometers,
they ended up damaging civilian morale much more than the Allied economy
or armed forces.
According to various sources, the 2,000 missiles launched against London over
a seven-month period killed over 2,700 people.There is no other reliable information
from other locations concerning the casualties of A-4 rocket fire. But if you
extrapolate based on the London statistics for the average number of deaths per
launch, then one can assume that approximately 7,500 deaths resulted from the
A-4 missiles.Those who were burned in the crematorium of the Dora camp or
annihilated during the construction of Peenemünde and the rocket firing range in
Poland should be added to these direct victims of missile technology combat operations,
along with the anti-Nazis who suffered in the torture chambers and were
executed.Their number far exceeds those who died as a direct result of the A-4’s
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