Peenemünde: the starting point of the space age with an ambiguous past
We are talking about the planned resnaudation of the dam, located in the northern part of the island of Usedom, which in turn can lead (at least for a certain period of time) to the flooding of some nearby territories. Initially, this dam was built during the work on the creation of a test center and was built in order to obtain additional living space. It is in this area that the 2 test facilities are located, as well as the so-called rocket bunker, which was used to store V-2 (V-2) missiles. From this bunker, rockets could be transported in various directions along an extensive railway network. In accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the bunker was blown up, today only ruins are left from it, but this territory has always been open to the public by all curious.
Be that as it may, the test center in Peenemuende is the place where, in fact, human exploration of outer space began. And this historical monument should have been completely preserved, since, despite the contradictory nature of its history, this object is certainly one of the objects of world cultural heritage.
The Peenemünde testing ground, which is rightfully the main missile center of the Third Reich, was built in 1937 near the small town of the same name in northeast Germany. Up to 10 000 builders took part in the construction work at various stages. Led the project von Braun and Dornberger. Anyone who decides to visit the territory of this army test site today will be amazed by its scale. On the territory of Peenemünde was built its own railway, the length of which was 25 km. This railway was used for the quick transportation of thousands of employees of the center, mainly from residential areas to the place of direct work.
Peenemuende was the largest wind tunnel in Europe, which was built in record time - in just 1,5 years. Here on the island was located one of the largest plants for the production of liquid oxygen. It also built its own coal-fired power plant, which provided the entire missile center with electricity. The headcount of Peenemuende in 1943 was more than 15 thousand people. The stands built on the island made it possible to test rocket engines with a thrust of 100 kg or more. up to 100 tons. The island was equipped with launching sites for launching missiles, as well as all kinds of bunkers. The entire route of possible launches in the north-north-east direction was equipped with missile control and monitoring facilities. Surprisingly, during the war, Germany spent only half as much money on a missile training site in Peenemuende as on production tanks.
Ballistic missile "V-2"
At one time, it was here that the world's first ballistic missile V-2, designed by the famous German designer Werner Von Braun, was created. The first successful launch of this rocket took place on October 3 1942 of the year, on that day the rocket reached the altitude of 84,5 km., Flying 190 km. By definition, NASA, outer space begins with a mark in 80 km. Although there are no strict international criteria on this score, the successful launch of the V-2 rocket can be attributed to the first fact of reaching outer space. In the first half of 1944, a number of V-2 rockets were launched with the purpose of debugging the structure with the fuel burning time increased to 67 seconds. The altitude at these launches reached almost 190 km, which already without a doubt can be attributed to suborbital launches.
At one time, Werner von Braun and other German engineers dreamed of flying to the moon. It was not by chance that on one of the A4 rockets (hereinafter “V-2”) the logo shot in 1929 by the director Fritz Lang in the science-fiction film “Woman on the Moon” was printed. The rocket was decorated with an attractive lady sitting on a crescent. Even during his work in Peenemünde von Braun worked on plans to launch manned vehicles on the moon. Confirmation of this desire was his subsequent work at NASA.
However, the situation of wartime led to the fact that people had dreams far from the peaceful exploration of space. The Third Reich saw in ballistic missilesweapon, The weapon of retribution. The Nazis did not dream of flying to the moon, they were interested in a rocket that could deliver almost 750 kg. explosives at a distance of 300 km. That is how the A4 project appeared, which became the embodiment of the military use of this type of equipment. In 1943, the A4 rocket finally turned into Vergeltungswaffe-2, V-2 or the well-known V-2 rocket. At the same time their mass production was launched. Missiles were built using the labor of forced laborers. However, the construction of thousands of missiles in the military and strategic terms did not justify itself.
The first combat launch of the V-2 rocket was made on September 8 of the year 1944. A total of 3225 missile launches were performed. The main purpose of their use was to become the demoralization of the population of England, the missiles were used to bombard cities, primarily London, striking mostly civilians. However, the effect of their use was the opposite. The results of the military use of this rocket were negligible. A total of about 2 people, mostly civilians, died from the V-2700 missiles, while more people were killed when they were assembled than during the strikes carried out on British territory.
The V-2 rocket was single-stage and equipped with a liquid-propellant rocket engine. The rocket launch was carried out vertically, in the active part of the flight path, an autonomous gyroscopic control system came into effect, which was equipped with instruments for measuring speed and a program mechanism. The maximum flight speed of the rocket was 1700 m / s (6120 km / h) and was 5 times the speed of sound. The maximum range was equal to 320 km., And the height of the flight path was 100 km. The missile warhead contained up to 800 kg. ammotol explosive, the average cost of a rocket was 119 600 Reichsmarks.
Operation "Hydra"
The existence of a rocket center in the Third Reich, of course, was known to the allies and did not cause them optimism. After the British aerial intelligence reported the presence of large missiles at launch sites, it was decided to conduct the bombing of Peenemünde. It is worth noting that the daily work for the Allied Bomber Command was the bombing of areas for the destruction of German cities, in this particular case an exception was made. Peenemünde certainly was a separate target that required destruction. The aim of the raid was the destruction of the German production facilities for the V-2 missiles.
The operation, code-named "Hydra", was carried out on a moonlit night in order to achieve the highest possible level of target destruction. That is why it can be considered the only case during the second half of the war, when the Allied Bomber Command carried out a night raid of large bomber forces aviation on a small target with the task of conducting as accurate bombing as possible. On the night of August 17-18, 1943, 596 bombers (324 Lancaster, 218 Halifax and 54 Stirling) flew out to bombard Peenemuind. At the same time, Mosquito light bombers attacked Berlin, diverting most of the German night fighters over 2 of the 3 phases of the Peenemuende raid.
In total, the British dropped almost 2 000 tons of bombs on the object, of which 85% was high explosive ammunition. The consequences of the airstrike for the Germans were quite significant. This raid pushed the beginning of the process of mass production of V-2 rockets for six months, and also limited the scope of further rocket attacks. In total, about 735 people died as a result of the raid, among them was the chief designer of rocket engines, Dr. Walter Tal, as well as a number of leading German specialists. The British bombed the concentration camp barracks by mistake during the bombing, and the forced laborers who were there were injured. A total of 213 prisoners died: 91 Pole, 23 Ukrainians, 17 French and 82 prisoner of concentration camp of unidentified nationality. At the same time, it was the Poles who had previously sent Peenemünde’s precise plans to London.
During the operation, the British lost 47 aircraft, the losses at 7,9% of the vehicles participating in the raid were found to be satisfactory, given the status of the attacked target. The greatest losses were among the aircraft of the last wave, by the time of their arrival, German night fighters were already in the vicinity of the target area. Separately, it should be noted that the deputy commander of the Luftwaffe, Colonel-General Hans Yeshonnek, who was responsible for organizing the air defense system in the area, shot himself after the end of the August 19 raid.
The last V-2 rocket with the 4299 serial number took off from the launch site No. 7 in Peenemünde 14 February 1945 of the year. The missile center was associated with an underground factory for the production of these rockets, where they managed to produce about 5 000 pieces, while the plant's performance was brought to 900 rockets per month. Just a few months after the defeat of Germany in World War II, the launch of captured and later modified versions of the German V-2 rockets begins the history of the American and Soviet space programs. At present, the Museum of aviation, missile and naval equipment is open on the territory of the Peenemünde-West assembly and test station, which is open to the public.
Information sources:
-http: //www.inosmi.ru/world/20120815/196653148.html
-http: //lib.rus.ec/b/252913/read
-http: //modern.sawame.ru/aviatsionnie-raketi/fau-2
-http: //ru.wikipedia.org
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