V-2: Hitler’s Wunderwaffe - WW2 Documentary Special

Hitler hopes that the V-2 rocket will turn the tide of the war. It’s cutting edge technology and impossible to intercept. Right now, the first long-range ballistic missile is raining death on London and Antwerp. But is it too little, too late? Find out the backstory to this powerful weapon.

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Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Marek Kamiński
Community Management: Ian Sowden
Written by: Markus Linke
Research by: Markus Linke
Map animations by: Daniel Weiss
Map research by: Sietse Kenter
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Artwork and color grading by: Mikołaj Uchman
Sound design by: Marek Kamiński
Colorizations by:
Mikołaj Uchman

Image sources:
Yad Vashem 7919-2, 7919-12
Llorenzi

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
Solarflares - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
Progressive Progress - Howard Harper-Barnes
Seasons Of Change - Gavin Luke
Break Free - Fabien Tell
Bring on the Adventure - Raymond Grouse
With Tenacity - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
The Inspector 4 - Johannes Bornlöf

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

[WorldWarTwo]

Wernher von Braun was a member of the SS and visited the notorious Mittelwerk underground factory where slave labourers worked in atrocious conditions to build his rockets. But, after being plucked from Europe by the United States, von Braun will take NASA to the moon. By the end of his career, he’ll have been decorated by both Hitler and US President Gerald Ford.

[MrFleem]

Germany: "What are your qualifications?"
Engineer: "My name is Walter."

[christopherconard]

German advances during the war can be summed up with "This is a great idea. Would have been better 5 years ago."

[clayedwards]

So nice to watch uninterrupted WITHOUT the stupid YouTube commercials. Yay for Time Ghost!

[alanrosenthal]

You forgot to mention that the German army was interested in rockets, even before Hitler came to power and scrapped the treaty of Versailles, becasue the treaty of Versailles didn't say anything about the Gernam army not being allowed to use rockets.

[YvonTripper]

1:57 Walter was like: "Hey Walter, shall we join up?" And Walter was like, "Let's ask Walter". And Walter was like, "Walter, why Walter?" and Walter was like: "If Walter's in, I'm in." And so Walter was like, "Walter, are you in?" And Walter was like "I already said, ask Walter." But Walter was like, "No, other Walter." But Walter didn't answer because he still thought he was talking to the other Walter. And so advancement in German rocketry was delayed by several minutes.

[JHF_Gaming]

"'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department, '
Says Wernher von Braun."

[mayaburak]

The V2 rocket has the dubious distinction of being the only weapon that killed more people while being built than when actually used.

[williamtraynor-kean]

von Braun wrote a book after his time with NASA, I think it was called “I aimed at the stars, but hit a hospital in Hackney”.

[gunman]

It is somewhat interesting that the V2 rocket and Wasserfall missile would lay the groundwork postwar in the future for things like the cruise missile and the air to air missile, as well as rocketry missions to the Moon. The story of Wernher Von Braun is rather a storied one too, from assisting the Germans with the V2 rocket until later leading America's NASA with the design of the Saturn V to the moon in 1969. Thank you team for this Special episode as always!

[parsifal]

We all know what we want after the WWII series come to end:
The 100 years war - week by week!

[tommy-erhh]

My father was a kid on occupied Holland south of Rotterdam, and he saw a V2 launch pad set up across the river Maas. That soon scared the neighborhood, because of the high rate of failed missiles falling all over the place. He said the missiles often ended in fields or splashed in the river, once almost destroying their bridge.
After Market-Garden (or before) the Germans V2 pad site was abandoned.
FYI: after the war their island kept under unarmed german occupation a long time, due to disease outbreak (he said typhus) and quarantine.

[gtrulez]

I live in Wassenaar, South Holland in the Netherlands. The very first V2 rockets aimed at London were launched within 1km of my home, 8 september 1944. A few more were launched from the nearby forests in the following months. And a bunch were launched from The Hague and Rijswijk. They literally used a small crossroad covered by trees to launch the Rockets. It left burn marks on the trees there when it was launched. There is still a small memorial there.

There are a few websites that go into great detail about the launches, the launch sites, where they landed, the ones that failed during take off etc. Very interesting reads

[vincegranato]

Due to both the Americans and Russians utilizing post war rocket technology and personnel from Germany; it was a standard joke that when an U.S. & USSR satellites would cross paths in orbit; they would greet each other in German. 14:57

[CaptainSpork]

10:18 Great jumpin’ Jesus, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a V2 explosion on film.

[stevefowler]

My Dad was a Radar Guidance Engineer with G.E. Aerospace at Cape Canaveral from '56 thru '76 but before that he was teaching a Radar school at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville for the army when Dr. Von Braun and his German scientists and engineers were there. My Dad would spoke fondly of Dr. von Braun's Friday night gatherings he would host at his house where all things rocketry were discussed.

[ralfklonowski]

Adolf Galland, General of the Fighter Force, was once asked if an earlier mass production of the Me262 jet fighter (which Galland himself flew in combat), could have changed the outcome of the war. His answer was "No, it would only have prolonged it, thus costing even more lives." I guess the same is true for the V1 and V2, especially as these were not accurate enough for tactical use.

[vincen]

Great episode, kudos to your entire team!

[nikdemus]

Cinema Rex in Antwerp, Belgium would have been a good mention in this video. On Dec 16th (the first day of the Ardenne offensive) a V2 landed on the movie theater. Taking the lives of 567 people, and marking it the deadliest V2 attack ever.

[donjones]

Captured A4s were of course the foundation of the US and Soviet and UK rocket programs. During the war an A4 had reached a maximum altitude of over 160 kilometers, which is well into space. There was a British plan to put a man into space using an enlarged and extensively modified version of the A4. Unfortunately the British economy was in desperate shape and the government didn't fund this. If they had, a suborbital flight like Alan Shepard's could have been made ~8 years earlier and a Brit would have been the first person into space.

Please note: suborbital refers to speed, not altitude. It is relatively easy to launch a rocket into space (above 100 km). It's difficult to accelerate it enough to stay there in orbit, circling the Earth with out falling back down.