The V-2 Missile Heist

[Music] and now a word from our sponsor these days Internet privacy is a major concern to us all all sorts of snoopers want to monitor and collect data about your online activities Nord VPN shields you from them Internet service provider monitors the whole internet traffic that pours through its servers and stores logs of your online activity your data such as financial information interests and passwords and emails might be valuable to third parties hackers and even government when you browse the internet using a VPN your communications are encrypted allowing you to stay private online VPN also allows you to access content not normally available in your location and connect to hundreds of remote servers in different locations securely sign up today at Nord VPN comm / mark Felton and enter the promo code mark Felton to get 70% off a three-year plan and an extra month for free protect yourself online today with naught VPN it was the most terrifying weapon to enter the war before the atomic bomb a Giant Killer missile that could not be intercepted or shot down and arrived so fast at its target that no warning could be given the weapon was the v2 Germany's latest vengeance weapon a liquid-fueled ballistic missile that stood 45 feet tall when launched by special mobile firing teams to ensure they could not easily be located by roving allied reconnaissance aircraft and fighter bombers weighing twenty seven thousand six hundred pounds the rocket delivered a warhead 2,200 pounds in weight of a metal high explosive up to 200 miles away and it was fast reaching a maximum speed of three thousand five hundred and eighty miles per hour to an altitude of fifty five miles above the earth before falling back towards its target on a long-range trajectory and up to one thousand seven hundred and ninety miles per hour and impact too fast for any anti-aircraft gun to engage or even see developed as part of a series of rockets the aggregate missiles through the 1930s and 40s by early September 1943 Ferno from brown one of the leading designers promised the long-range bombardment commission that the a4 as the Germans called it was almost complete but in reality delays and difficulty at manufacturing parts men that the v2 was not ready for action against England until mid 1944 by which time a desperate Hitler was snatching at any new Wonder weapon that might stave off imminent defeat but the Allies already knew all about the v2 thanks to some very brave polls and a daring RAF mission to retrieve an intact v2 from right under the Germans noses initially raw Air Force photo reconnaissance flights over Panem endure Germany's secret missile development complex on the Baltic Sea had revealed the existence of another vengeance weapon the v1 flying bomb an early cruise missile the v1 was to be used against England in large-scale robot bomb campaign from June 1944 onwards [Music] almost 2,000 flying bombs fell victim to Allied fighter planes the RAF also photographed the early v2 large-scale RAF bombing raids on Panem under forced the Germans to relocate v2 design work to an underground complex near Lake transy in Austria test launching of the v2 s would be undertaken at a camp Hyder lager a large SS training facility outside Lisner in Poland deeply concerned by v2 development and it's evident highly advanced technology that could be a serious threat to the British homefront Allied planners needed more information about the weapon and if possible an actual missile that they could examine the latter seemed unlikely brave Austrians working at the lake crowns a facility had smuggled technical drawings to the palace but had been executed by the Gestapo after discovery then an opportunity had presented itself precisely because of the relocation of the missile test range facilities from Germany to Poland because of RAF air raids Poland had been under a very brutal German occupation since October 1939 but a huge resistance force had grown up in the country out of the wreckage of its pre-war Armed Forces the Polish Home Army Britain through the Polish government in exile in London heavily supported the Home Army dropping weapons and supplies into Poland by aircraft and supporting operations via special operations executive agents parachuted into the country the large wooded areas around Blizz nur were well known to the Home Army and its forces were present in strength the Home Army carefully monitored v2 launches and tried to scavenge pieces of the missiles that crashed down to earth this was difficult and dangerous work with them often skirmishing with SS and other German forces patrolling the region they had already managed to smuggle out to Britain several important v2 components that dramatically demonstrated just how advanced the new German missile was the Home Army had its own scientists from Warsaw on hand to assist him a 20th of May 1944 at sv2 was launched and landed mostly intact in a marsh near Sanaa key on the boug River Home Army troops quickly located the crash site and hid the large rocket and the piles of reeds as the SS were also searching for it then the scientists from Warsaw arrived and dismantled the v2 which was then taken out of the area in pieces hidden under Powell's of potatoes of farmers carts all 25,000 parts were carefully recorded diagrams were drawn and the components were photographed the most important parts were placed in nineteen suitcases this material was urgently required in London preparations were made to smuggle this material out of occupied Poland right under the Germans noses the most straightforward method was by air but this was no mean task number 267 squadron an RAF transport unit equipped with the douglas c-47 dakota 5 was assigned the retrieval operation based at Brindisi in italy he was decided that a single dakota would fly across occupied europe and land in a sugar beet field 37 miles east of the city of krokov and the town of zubarev home army soldiers would secure the landing strip guide the Dakota in and load the 19 suitcases aboard the operation was extremely dangerous German forces were encamped close by and the Dakota would be flying through German controlled airspace with the dangers of flak and night fighters ever-present it was piloted by New Zealand Air flight leftenant stanley color furred hamburgers of the language barrier the co-pilot was a Polish RAF flight lieutenant the Dakota had been specially modified with extra fuel tanks for the 18-hour flight though time was pressing heavy rains in June that inundated the proposed landing ground caused the mission to be postponed until late July 1944 then to add to the tension the day before the operation named Wildhorn three was about to be launched the german faq unit of a hundred men and three guns took up residence at a school just one kilometer from the airstrip three german husana one five six store spotter planes actually landed on the field that the dakota was due to land on the following night the next morning the Luftwaffe planes left but the German flag remained nearby the Home Army brought in more troops to defend the makeshift airstrip in case the Germans tried to interfere with the operation that very night in order to guide the Dakota in men with oil lanterns lined the field on the 25th of July the Dakota arrived over the field on schedule the oil lamps were unmasked and the Dakota circled once then put down [Laughter] the noise was absolutely tremendous but as yet the Germans hadn't responded as soon as the Dakota rolled to a halt Home Army soldiers quickly began loading the plane with the precious v2 components and a handful of passengers then the engines were restarted the brakes released and the throttles moved up to taxi the plane round for takeoff but nothing happened we all said sunk in the muddy ground flight lefthand and color furred acutely aware of the Germans nearby and the nature of the secret operation suggested burning the plane and then leaving with the home army but the Polish RAF officer Casimir shreya was determined to stay and fix the issue after hasty discussions the plane was laborious ly unloaded and after lodging wooden boards from farm carts beneath the wheels the plane was moved on to firmer ground reloaded and then took off thankfully the Germans never realized what was happening probably chalking the engine sounds down to storm spotter planes the Dakota made it safely back to Brindisi without incident delivering the v2 parts two ways in British scientists while scientists furiously trying to work out how to stop the v2 the first missile landed on London on the 8th of September 1944 killing three people the Germans stepped up launchers and over the following months Britain was hit one thousand four hundred and two times in the first ballistic missile campaign in history Belgium was also struck 1660 four times and France and the Netherlands received smaller numbers in London the v2s would kill 2,750 four people and injured six thousand five hundred and twenty three the material smuggled out by the Dakota from occupied Poland allowed the British to fully understand the technology and to try and develop ways of misdirecting the missiles but the bombardment never stopped the last v2 landing on Orpington in Kent the 27th of March 1945 causing the last fatality on British soil of World War two thanks for watching please subscribe and share you can also visit my new audiobook channel wall stories with mark Felton details below had also considered supporting both of my channels at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 917,399

Rating: 4.9271989 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, V-2 Missile, V-1, Poland

Id: UqystIYoJ6o

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 22 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Alli69]

Great find