General Walter Dornberger and German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun were two men with a vision. The drive, energy and resourcefulness of Dornberger, mated with the ingenuity and passion of von Braun, created one of the greatest technological achievements of this century. The fact that this achievement was the product of the ruthless regime of Nazi Germany, and the fact that many thousands of people died as a result of its production and deployment, taint the image of what otherwise would be considered a monumental technological triumph.

   Many people now believe von Braun was guilty by association and contributed to the great suffering of slave laborers working at Peenemünde and the Mittelwerk. Sometimes praised as heroes in the United States, von Braun and Dornberger are increasingly reviled on the European continent. Political aspects aside, the fact remains that these men were shaping the ground rules for warfare in the later years of the twentieth century.

   This is the A-4/V-2 Resource Site. It is devoted to one of the most awesome weapons of WWII - the V-2 rocket. The V-2 or Aggregat 4, was the first long range ballistic missile to be actively used in combat. This huge German rocket hurtled a one-ton warhead 50 miles high and hundreds of miles down range to its target. This site will try to give you an accurate account of the design, production and combat deployment of this weapon during World War 2.

   In an attempt to build a historical record, this website will exclude any political agendas. This website does not support any ideology of Nazi Germany.

From the author of this website:
V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile
by T. D. Dungan

Available at Barnes and Noble

Eight Harvey Avenue · Yardley · Pennsylvania 19067
September 2005 / $24.95 / 6 x 9 / 50 b/w  illustrations / 245 pages / ISBN 1-59416-012-0 / Cloth /  World Rights 

   In August 1944, Londoners thought the war might be over by Christmas. But on September 8, 1944, in the London suburb of Chiswick, a thunderous double-boom was heard followed by a huge plume of black smoke rising high into the air. Moments later another explosion rocked the earth near Epping. There had been no warnings, no drone of aircraft above, just sudden devastation. Operation Penguin, the V-2 offensive, had begun.

   The A-4 rocket, better known as the V-2, Vergeltungswaffen Zwei, or Vengeance Weapon 2, was the first ballistic missile to be used in combat. Soaring over 50 miles high at supersonic speeds, the V-2 would strike its target within 5 minutes of launching. Once in the air its deadly warhead was unstoppable. The ancestor of all Cold War and modern day ballistic missiles, as well as the rockets used for space exploration, the V-2 could not win the war for Germany�it was too expensive, too complicated, too inaccurate, and its warhead was too small�but its unprecedented invulnerability and influence on Allied planning made the V-2 and the advancements it represented the ultimate war prize, and British, American, and Soviet forces scrambled to seize German rocket technology along with its scientists and engineers.

   In V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile, Tracy Dungan relies on an unparalleled collection of original documents, unpublished photographs, and accounts from those who were there to provide a complete description of the V-2 program, the missile's use in combat, and the race to capture its secrets.