V2 rockets
German vengeance weapons
V2 rockets were the first long-range guided ballistic missiles, developed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Launched against London and other Allied cities in 1944-45, they arrived without warning at supersonic speed.
The V stood for *Vergeltungswaffe* (vengeance weapon).
Their technology became foundational to postwar American and Soviet space programs.
- blitzSwift, overwhelming offensive
- bombing raidAerial military strike
- LondonEngland's capital city
- Wernher von BraunGerman-American aerospace engineer
- secret weaponHidden strategic advantage
launch site · ballistic · missile · long range · Nazi · warhead · supersonic · terror · flying bomb · launch · propellant · trajectory · Wehrmacht · retaliation · bunker · Antwerp · liquid fuel · explosive
- Low Countries WWIIArnhem, Bastogne, Antwerp, Brussels, Battle of the Bulge
V2 rocketsbows and arrows
Ranged weapons using tension
slingshots · catapults · trebuchets · rifles · hand grenades
V2 rocketsApollo program
US moonshot initiative
Space Shuttle · Sputnik · Voyager probes · Mars rovers · Hubble Space Telescope