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00:01Next on Secrets of War.
00:05They were weapons systems that were far beyond anything the Allies had
00:09or could have imagined in World War II.
00:12Deployed properly, they could have changed the outcome of the war.
00:16From the world's first ballistic missile and operational jet plane
00:20to surface-to-air missiles and guided smart bombs,
00:23Secret Weapons of the Third Reich is next on Secrets of War.
00:58Secrets of War
01:28Secrets of War
01:36In early May of 1940, the mighty armoured forces of the Wehrmacht
01:41rolled west and swept all before them.
01:48In less than three weeks, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg all fell victim to the fast-moving Nazi blitzkrieg.
02:00A humbled France was forced to surrender just six weeks after the start of the German offensive.
02:12The Nazi war machine seemed invincible.
02:17Only a besieged Great Britain stood between Adolf Hitler and the total domination of Europe.
02:25The stunning success of the Nazi blitzkrieg or lightning war was primarily due to the execution of revolutionary tactics.
02:35But now there was evidence that the German juggernaut might soon be augmented by an ominous new development.
02:43Secret weapons that seemed so incredible they defied belief.
02:50There were warnings about giant rockets that could travel into space and rain down on their targets hundreds of miles
02:57away.
03:00There were rumors about electronic beams that could guide bombers to their targets in darkness or in bad weather.
03:10There was even talk of guided bombs that could be steered directly to their targets below.
03:20In November 1939, a mysterious package appeared at the office of the British Naval Attaché in Oslo, Norway.
03:30No one knew where it came from or who delivered it, but it contained information that seemed incredible.
03:38The package came to be known as the Oslo Report.
03:43The Oslo Report was a gift.
03:45It was an anonymous document that purported to disclose information about the very latest technology breakthroughs from within Germany.
03:57These were scientific developments with a very strong military application.
04:01They ranged from a guided weapon right the way through to a proximity fuse.
04:09The Oslo Report was passed to MI6, the British Secret Service in London.
04:16Its contents were deemed so unbelievable that initially most of the intelligence community thought it to be an elaborate ruse
04:24intended to mislead and intimidate an already beleaguered Britain.
04:32The report was then passed on to Dr. Reginald V. Jones, the brilliant scientific advisor to the Air Ministry.
04:41When R.B. Jones was given a copy of the Oslo Report, of course, he was vastly excited by this.
04:49He could see the authenticity of it, but he was the only man in all London who did.
04:52He realized, of course, he had a great goal by him.
04:57Dr. Jones was a young physicist who'd been asked by the Air Ministry to help gather and interpret scientific intelligence
05:04on German military technology.
05:09Dr. Jones had an intuitive ability to determine from the least bit of evidence what a new German weapon might
05:16be.
05:18Dr. Jones believed that the Oslo Report could be authentic.
05:23He convinced his boss, General Sir Stuart Menges, head of British Secret Service, to authorize the development of countermeasures to
05:31the secret weapons outlined in the report.
05:36R.B. Jones proved to be a master at designing countermeasures.
05:40In particular, he's famous for the fact that he bent the beam down which the German bombers were flying.
05:48After losing the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe switched its bombing campaign from daylight to nighttime raids, so they would
05:55be less vulnerable to the RAF.
06:01To the surprise of the British, the German bombs seemed uncannily accurate for nighttime raids.
06:08The Air Ministry found out why after an enemy bomber was shot down.
06:17They discovered evidence in the wreckage of an electronic system designed to guide bombers to their target.
06:26This had been mentioned in the Oslo Report, and when evidence of it came up, Jones went back to the
06:32Oslo Report, saw what was there, and then analyzed from the evidence what might be happening.
06:37And he figured out that the Germans weren't using what was called Nickbein.
06:40It was a device by which the German pilot would follow a beam, and there would be a second beam
06:46that would intersect the first.
06:48And when the pilot came to it, he'd drop his bombs, and it was pretty accurate.
06:53Dr. Jones devised an ingenious system in which he could detect the frequency of the beam used to guide the
06:59bombers.
07:03Once this was determined, a counter signal was superimposed over the Luftwaffe's radio beam.
07:11The British signal was more powerful than the German beam, and it was undetectable.
07:17The new signal guided the bombers away from their targets.
07:21This often resulted in the Luftwaffe unwittingly dropping its bombs over empty fields and lakes.
07:30R.V. Jones was helping Britain wage what Winston Churchill called the Wizard War.
07:36A new type of combat would advance science and technology were the weapons of choice.
07:44Of course, this battle would have been much more difficult without the help of the mysterious Oslo report.
07:51After Hitler came to power in 1932, he ordered both the scientific and industrial community within the Reich
07:58to apply science in the creation of new advanced weapon systems.
08:06In actual fact, what was happening when the Germans were developing secret weapons is that they were actually laying the
08:12ground rules
08:13for warfare in the later years of the 20th century.
08:17Those secret weapons, or their direct descendants, are all around us now.
08:23I think there's no doubt at all that what we would today call smart weapons were really invented, operationally anyway,
08:31by the Germans.
08:33Before the war was over, German scientists had created the world's first smart bomb, the Fritz X.
08:42The world's first cruise missile, the V-1.
08:47The first operational jet fighter, the ME-262.
08:54The first wire-guided missile, the Kramer X-4.
08:59The first anti-aircraft missile, the Wasserfall.
09:04And many other incredible innovations.
09:09The German scientists had a very good reputation for ingenuity.
09:13They came up with ideas that nobody else did, and they came up with technologies that nobody else did.
09:21If there's any fault in the German system, it didn't lie with the scientists.
09:25They were doing a pretty good job.
09:30Ironically, the man who prevented German scientists from completely overwhelming the British was Adolf Hitler.
09:39In July of 1940, the Führer was so confident the war would be over by the end of 1941
09:46that he forbade the development of any defensive weapons or new weapons systems
09:51that could not be completed within 12 months.
09:58Now, that put a stop to all development of radar.
10:03It put a stop to all development of guided missiles.
10:05Well, it put a stop to an awful lot of development.
10:10German weapons development was also greatly hindered by the absence of any central organization
10:15capable of supervising the various projects.
10:23There were too many people taking decisions.
10:25There were four or five separate offices, each of which claimed to represent Adolf Hitler.
10:31There were people investigating the same problem and duplicating efforts all over Germany.
10:36In terms of organizational efficiency, it was a complete and utter no-hover.
10:41And consequently, at the end of the war, there were 53 different anti-aircraft missile projects.
10:52There were 27 different types of radar set.
10:55There were something like 35 different proximity fuse ideas, all being pursued by different people.
11:03They didn't talk to each other.
11:07Despite the difficulty of working within Nazi Germany's tangled and turbulent political environment,
11:14German scientists envisioned the future of warfare.
11:20Back in 1939, they created the HS-293, and a new type of weapon was born.
11:35Secrets of War will continue in a moment here on the History Channel.
11:40We now return to Secrets of War.
11:46Even before the start of the Second World War, Germany began to develop weapons to make aircraft more effective
11:52in attacking armored warships.
11:59Dive bombing did produce results, but the attacking planes were highly vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.
12:10Although it was relatively safe to drop bombs from higher altitudes,
12:14it was nearly impossible to hit a fast-moving ship.
12:21In 1939, the Henschel Aircraft Company of Germany began to develop a unique solution to the problem.
12:30It was the HS-293, the world's first guided missile.
12:37The basic premise was very simple.
12:39You drop this bomb, and the observer in the aircraft steered it onto the target.
12:46Bang.
12:47Mainly for use against ships.
12:49They sank a battleship with it.
12:51Well, the Germans were the first real developers of stand-off and guided weapons.
12:55They were very close to developing weapons that today we would recognize as being weapons of precision strike.
13:05In August of 1943, the British Corvette Ygritte was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by an HS-293.
13:16No one had ever seen anything quite like it.
13:24Unlike the rocket-powered HS-293, the Fritz X was a free-falling, anti-shipping gravity bomb with an armor
13:32-piercing warhead.
13:36It also had wings and a radio-controlled tail that an operator could manipulate with a joystick.
13:45This enabled the bomb dropper to fly the Fritz X right onto the target.
13:54It was the godfather of the smart bombs used so effectively almost 50 years later in Desert Storm.
14:11The awesome potential of the Reich's new smart weapon was not lost in the Allies.
14:20And the Germans threw a new secret weapon at us.
14:23A deadly weapon, especially designed for use against naval ships.
14:26The flying bomb.
14:28It was launched from a mother plane and then guided to its mark by radio control.
14:36During the Battle of Anzio, the U.S. Navy employed a new countermeasure against the flying bombs.
14:44We had jamming gear aboard that would take the control away from the planes that would drop the bombs.
14:54We'd pick up the frequency, run it through an oscilloscope, run it through the transmitter,
14:59and jammed that frequency so that the transmitter that he had had no effect.
15:08Electronic countermeasures saved many ships during the Anzio and Salerno landings.
15:16We countered 40 glide bombs.
15:19That would have been 40 ships sunk had they gone where they were supposed to go.
15:27To prevent the effects of electronic interference,
15:30German designers created remote control weapons that could not be jammed.
15:35The world's first wire-guided munitions.
15:42The Kramer X-4 wire-guided missile paved the way for the development of anti-tank weapons
15:48like the tube-launched, optically-aimed, wire-guided tow missiles of today.
16:01One disadvantage of dropping these smart weapons
16:04was that the launch platform had to stay above the target
16:07while the weapon was guided toward the ship.
16:12This made the bomber vulnerable to anti-aircraft guns and fighter attacks.
16:19So, Henschel came up with the idea
16:21of sticking a television camera in the nose of a 293,
16:25and it worked, but by that time, it was March 1945.
16:29The war was over, so the Germans did have
16:33a television-guided, really smart bomb in 1945,
16:38but it was just too late.
16:42Not every German secret weapon was a success.
16:47The one concept that may have looked better on paper
16:51than in practice was the Peter Paul.
16:57This early 1940s weapon was similar to the skip bombs
17:00employed by the RAF's famous 617 Dambusters Squadron.
17:09The Peter Paul bomb was intended to replace the airdropped torpedo.
17:14A rocket-powered version of the weapon was also developed.
17:22But in tests, it couldn't hit a stationary target ship.
17:31The Henschel company came up with a more effective way to attack a ship
17:35by adapting its HS-293-guided missile for a new role.
17:42The wings were grooved, and the tail was grooved,
17:47so that you flew it into the water
17:49just in front of the ship, or alongside the ship.
17:54And as it struck the water,
17:56the wings and tail would shear off,
17:58and you had a perfectly streamlined shape
18:01which went through the water
18:02and hit the hull of the ship
18:04and blew a hole in below the waterline.
18:06What you had left was a torpedo.
18:08It was as simple as that. It was a flying torpedo.
18:14The HS-293 was adapted even further
18:16when rockets were attached,
18:18and it was test-fired as an anti-aircraft missile.
18:24It was called the Schmetterling, or Butterfly,
18:28one of the first surface-to-air missiles.
18:34Another early surface-to-air missile
18:36was the Wasserfall, or Waterfall.
18:39It had swept wings and was radio-controlled.
18:43The concept was to fly the rocket
18:46into massed bomber formations
18:47where it could be detonated.
18:53Although these weapons showed great promise,
18:55it was unlikely they would stop
18:57the daily bombardment of the Reich,
18:59let alone win the war.
19:05Hitler needed a miracle weapon
19:07that would force the British
19:08to negotiate for peace.
19:11He thought that he'd found one
19:13early in 1943.
19:15It was the V-2,
19:17the world's first ballistic missile.
19:20Once it was launched toward its target,
19:22it could not be stopped.
19:31While the Army continued to develop the V-2
19:33in the early 1940s,
19:35the Luftwaffe began working
19:36on a pilotless, jet-powered flying bomb.
19:42I think there's little doubt
19:44that British intelligence
19:45was pretty well up to speed
19:48with the development
19:48of a flying bomb of some sort.
19:52Aerial intelligence had shown ramps
19:55or a strange type of launch mechanism
19:58at bases in the North Sea coast of Germany
20:02over in the Pienermunde area.
20:06In early 1944,
20:08reconnaissance flights detected
20:10more launchers resembling ski jumps
20:13across the English Channel in France.
20:17Upon closer analysis,
20:19it was discovered that all of them
20:20were aimed at London.
20:26Secrets of War will continue in a moment
20:28here on the History Channel.
20:31We now return to Secrets of War.
20:39After Germany's defeat
20:40in the First World War,
20:42the victorious Allies hoped
20:43to limit future German rearmament
20:45through the implementation
20:46of the Treaty of Versailles.
20:52The treaty had been designed
20:53to slow down Germany's capacity
20:55to develop new weapons.
20:58But in fact,
20:59it had the opposite effect
21:00on the German military.
21:04Their problem was
21:06that they were not allowed
21:06to have heavy artillery
21:08by the provisions
21:09of the Versailles Treaty.
21:11So they thought,
21:12if we can't have heavy artillery,
21:13what are we going to do?
21:15And they thought about it for a bit
21:16and said,
21:16oh, rockets.
21:21Science fiction films and books
21:22sparked the imagination
21:24of many young men in Germany
21:25in the 1920s.
21:29While still a teenager,
21:31Werner von Braun dreamed
21:32of building a rocket ship
21:34that could go to the moon.
21:38By the age of 23,
21:40he received his doctorate
21:41in science
21:41and was considered
21:42one of the leading rocket experts
21:44in Germany.
21:47Von Braun was an absolutely amazing
21:50rocket designer.
21:51He had an absolute gift
21:54for understanding
21:55how you could produce
21:56great rockets.
21:58And that was his driving force.
22:01Von Braun and his group
22:03had some success
22:04launching small,
22:05liquid-fueled rockets.
22:07And this attracted
22:08the attention
22:09of the German army.
22:12In 1933,
22:13the army gave von Braun
22:15and his associates
22:16a choice.
22:17They could continue their work
22:18under military command,
22:20or they could cease
22:21their experiments.
22:24Von Braun made a Faustian choice
22:27to continue his work
22:28for the Third Reich.
22:32At the age of 25,
22:34he was put in charge
22:35of the most advanced
22:36rocket research program
22:37in the world.
22:42Hitler gave him
22:43the opportunity
22:44at Peenermund
22:45to develop
22:47what was a very primitive rocket.
22:50He wasn't interested
22:52in military rockets.
22:54He was interested
22:55in rocket tree.
22:58To Werner von Braun,
22:59this was the start.
23:01You know,
23:02it's the first step
23:03for mankind
23:04into space.
23:08Von Braun and his team
23:09set up their rocket research program
23:11on a remote slip of land
23:13called Peenermunde
23:14on Germany's Baltic coast.
23:19This location ensured
23:21the secrecy
23:22of their work
23:22and provided a safe
23:24re-entry area
23:25for their rockets.
23:32They began to master
23:34the intricacies
23:35of building
23:35large liquid-fueled rockets.
23:39Over time,
23:40various guidance systems,
23:42fuels,
23:42and rocket motors
23:43were tested
23:44and retested.
23:49Many amazing innovations
23:51were created
23:51through trial
23:52and error.
24:00Eventually,
24:01von Braun created
24:02a masterpiece,
24:03the world's first
24:04ballistic missile.
24:07Von Braun's rocket,
24:08which had originally
24:09been designated
24:10the A-4,
24:11was renamed
24:11by Hitler
24:12as the
24:12Wergel-Tungswaffen,
24:14or vengeance weapon.
24:18It would be forever
24:19known as the V-2.
24:23V-2 was based
24:25on one of the best
24:25ballistic shapes
24:26ever known.
24:27That's the German army's
24:287.92 millimeter bullet.
24:30By putting fins on it
24:31and enlarging it
24:32hundreds and hundreds of times,
24:33they got a perfect
24:34ballistic shape
24:35for the rocket.
24:36The V-2 was 46 feet tall
24:39and weighed over
24:3927,000 pounds,
24:42including a one-ton warhead.
24:46After nearly 10 years
24:47of development,
24:48on the 3rd of October,
24:501942,
24:51the V-2 became
24:52the first man-made object
24:54to break the sound barrier
24:55and leave the Earth's atmosphere.
24:59The age of the ballistic missile
25:01had arrived.
25:04We got the first information
25:06about the V-weapons
25:08from scientists
25:09in occupied countries,
25:11Danes,
25:13for example,
25:14and Luxemburgers,
25:16who were in touch
25:18with the fact
25:19that it was being developed
25:21at Peenemann.
25:24At the behest
25:25of Dr. R.B. Jones,
25:27high-level photo-reconnaissance
25:28was initiated
25:29over the area.
25:33And, sure enough,
25:34at Peenemann-Undi,
25:35a part of one
25:36showed up
25:36on a pad
25:39and they were able
25:40to deduce from it
25:40pretty well
25:41its size and its shape.
25:42What they did about it,
25:43of course,
25:43was to send
25:44a massive bombing raid
25:45on August 17,
25:471943,
25:47to Peenemann-Undi,
25:48in which they took out
25:49a lot of the area
25:50and killed a lot
25:51of the scientists.
25:51It was a very effective
25:53bombing raid.
25:53Most bombing raids aren't,
25:54but this one
25:55was extremely effective.
25:57The Peenemann-Undi
25:58bombing raid
25:59caught the Nazis
26:00by surprise.
26:02Hitler ordered
26:03that further production
26:04of the V-2
26:04take place underground.
26:09It was at this time
26:10that Heinrich Himmler,
26:11head of the SS,
26:12convinced the Fuhrer
26:13that control
26:14of the production
26:15of the V-2
26:15should be taken away
26:16from the army
26:18and placed
26:19in the hands
26:20of the SS.
26:24The new secret
26:25V-2 assembly plant
26:27was placed
26:27in a series
26:28of large tunnels
26:29beneath the Hartz Mountains
26:31near the town
26:31of Nordhausen.
26:33The SS also provided
26:35the workforce
26:36for the new
26:37Mittelwerk facility.
26:39There were slave laborers
26:41from the nearby
26:41Dora and Buchenwald
26:43concentration camps.
26:47When von Braun
26:48expressed his dismay
26:49with the SS
26:50and their methods,
26:51Himmler had him
26:52thrown in jail
26:53for a week.
26:53The fact that von Braun
26:55was indispensable
26:56probably saved his life.
26:59Though von Braun's rocket
27:01had been in development
27:02long before
27:03the jet-powered
27:03flying bomb,
27:05the Luftwaffe's
27:06new secret weapon
27:07was operational first.
27:16As a result,
27:17Hitler made it
27:18the first
27:18of his
27:19Verges-Tunswaffe
27:20for vengeance weapons.
27:22It soon
27:23became known
27:24as the V-1.
27:28It was 25 feet long
27:30and packed
27:31with nearly
27:31a ton
27:32of high explosives.
27:36The V-1
27:37itself,
27:38of course,
27:38is a very,
27:39very clever
27:40little design.
27:41The point
27:41was to have
27:42something you
27:42could make quickly
27:43that was cheap,
27:45that was expendable.
27:47It was really
27:48just a bomb
27:49with little stubby wings.
27:51It couldn't control
27:52its direction
27:53of flight,
27:53but the engine
27:55on the back
27:56was the neatest
27:57engine you
27:58could ever imagine.
27:59It was called
27:59a pulse jet.
28:01The pulse jet
28:03was a simple tube
28:04into which fuel
28:05was sprayed
28:06and ignited.
28:07There were no
28:08complicated rotor blades
28:09to turn like those
28:10in a traditional
28:11jet engine.
28:13The V-1
28:14was either dropped
28:15from a plane
28:15or launched
28:16by a steam-powered
28:17catapult.
28:22Once it was airborne,
28:24the vanes
28:24in the front
28:25of the tube
28:25allowed air
28:26to flow in.
28:28When the air
28:29mixed with the fuel
28:30in the combustion
28:31chamber,
28:31it exploded.
28:33This snapped
28:34the vanes
28:34in the front
28:35shut
28:35and sent
28:36the thrust
28:36out of the rear
28:37of the tube,
28:38propelling the V-1
28:39forward.
28:43so that
28:43you have
28:44a series
28:44of explosions,
28:46perhaps 40,
28:4750,
28:4760 a second.
28:48And so this thing
28:49is making a rumbling,
28:52unmistakable,
28:52unforgettable,
28:53droning sound
28:54as it moves
28:54through the air.
28:57On the front
28:58of the V-1
28:58was a small propeller
29:00connected to an odometer
29:01that was set
29:02for a certain distance.
29:05When the propeller
29:06turned a predetermined
29:08number of revolutions,
29:09the fuel supply
29:10was cut off
29:11and the V-1
29:11fell toward its target.
29:21The V-1
29:22was not a sophisticated
29:23or very accurate weapon,
29:25but it didn't have to be.
29:27It was effective.
29:30You were all right.
29:32You knew you were all right
29:33as long as that
29:34putt, putt, putt, putt
29:35went in the sky above,
29:36as long as you could hear it.
29:37The moment the putt, putt
29:38stopped, the bomb
29:40was coming on its way in,
29:42and that was the moment
29:43you hit the deck.
29:44As far as the V-1
29:45was concerned,
29:45it was a very unpleasant
29:47shock, not just because
29:49of its tactical impact,
29:51but it was a terror weapon.
29:53It was a morale weapon.
29:55It was intended
29:57to undermine a population,
30:00and of course,
30:01it was indiscriminate.
30:04despite the effectiveness
30:05of the V-1
30:06as a terror weapon,
30:08even Hitler
30:09soon realized
30:09it was not going
30:10to win the war.
30:16A single thousand-plane
30:18bomber raid
30:19by the Allies
30:20dropped more high explosives
30:21in one mission
30:22than all of the V-1
30:23attacks combined.
30:28The V-2
30:30also had little strategic
30:32impact on the outcome
30:33of the war.
30:36In real terms,
30:38it wasn't a successful
30:40killer of people,
30:42thank God.
30:43It's often been said
30:44that more people died
30:45during its construction
30:47than ever died
30:48as a result of its use.
30:52Of the 60,000
30:53slave laborers
30:54who worked
30:55in the V-weapon factory
30:56in Mittelwerk,
30:57over 20,000
30:58died from starvation
31:00or abuse
31:01suffered at the hand
31:02of the barbaric SS.
31:11After the war,
31:12von Braun and his
31:13best men
31:14were brought to America
31:15to continue
31:16their groundbreaking work
31:17for the U.S. Army.
31:20von Braun became
31:22a U.S. citizen
31:23and led
31:23America's missile program.
31:27In 1958,
31:28his Redstone rocket
31:30launched America's
31:31first satellite
31:32into Earth orbit.
31:34Eventually,
31:35von Braun became
31:36the head of NASA.
31:40In 1969,
31:41he realized
31:42his lifelong dream
31:43when his giant
31:44Saturn V rocket
31:46brought man
31:48to the moon.
31:52other experimental
31:53German weapons
31:54programs
31:54were just as far
31:55reaching
31:56as von Braun's rockets.
32:00In early 1944,
32:03the most extraordinary
32:04aircraft of the war
32:05burst upon the scene
32:06in the skies
32:07above Germany.
32:11Much to the shock
32:13of Allied bomber crews,
32:14the jet age
32:15had arrived.
32:18Secrets of War
32:19will continue
32:20in a moment
32:20here on
32:21the History Channel.
32:23We now return
32:25to Secrets of War.
32:29Some of the most
32:30secret projects
32:31in Nazi Germany
32:32revolved around
32:33the creation
32:34of revolutionary
32:35new aircraft
32:36which were powered
32:37by jet engines
32:38or rockets.
32:43rocket-propelled
32:44The first evidence
32:44of these projects
32:45came to light
32:46after a helpful hint
32:47from the RAF's
32:48own secret development
32:49facility
32:50at Boscombe Down.
32:53British intelligence
32:54knew that the Germans
32:56were developing
32:56either jet
32:57or rocket-propelled
32:58fighters
32:59because
33:00photo reconnaissance
33:02at Peenermund
33:04had shown
33:05these strange
33:06black streaks
33:07on the runways
33:08which
33:09had everyone
33:10baffled to start
33:11off with
33:11and then
33:12someone from
33:13RAF Boscombe Down
33:14said,
33:15well,
33:15you know,
33:16we're experimenting
33:16with jets
33:17and they leave
33:18the same sort of
33:19streaks on the ground.
33:21So,
33:22round about
33:22March 1943
33:23we knew
33:25that the Germans
33:26were experimenting
33:26with jets.
33:29This stunning
33:31intelligence discovery
33:32confirmed reports
33:33from sympathetic
33:34foreign workers
33:35about strange-looking
33:36propeller-less planes.
33:39This had an immediate
33:40impact on the RAF.
33:43Really,
33:44what it meant
33:45was that the British
33:45accelerated into service
33:47their twin jet fighter,
33:48the Meteor.
33:49It came into operational
33:50service in July 1944.
33:52By the end of the war
33:53there were 200 of them
33:54and there were
33:55jet-on-jet engagements,
33:57the first of these
33:58in 1945
33:58over Germany.
34:01The Luftwaffe's
34:03high command
34:03was present
34:04when Ernst Heinkel's
34:05experimental jet plane,
34:06the HE-178,
34:08made history
34:09on the 27th of August,
34:101939.
34:15On that day,
34:17it became
34:17the first jet plane
34:19ever to fly.
34:21So you can imagine
34:23everybody
34:23in the Luftwaffe
34:25saying,
34:25this is a wonderful
34:26development,
34:27go ahead,
34:27my boy.
34:28But did they?
34:29Of course not.
34:30It was
34:31an illogical
34:32decision-making process
34:34that cost Germany
34:35her jets
34:36for key years
34:38during the Second World War.
34:41The Luftwaffe
34:42was quite content
34:43with its standard fighter,
34:45the Messerschmitt
34:45or Me 109.
34:48The high command
34:49was not interested
34:50in a jet engine
34:51despite the fact
34:52that it could provide
34:53a dramatic improvement
34:55in the performance
34:55and speed
34:56of a fighter plane.
35:02to make matters worse,
35:03when these projects
35:04were halted,
35:05many of the scientists
35:06and engineers
35:07who worked on them
35:08ended up in the army
35:09and were sent
35:10to the Russian front.
35:13It was not
35:14until 1943
35:15that the development
35:16ban was lifted.
35:20First of all,
35:21they had to go
35:21and find all those scientists
35:23that were hiding
35:24in trenches in Russia,
35:25hadn't been shot,
35:26and bring them all back again
35:27and then start getting
35:29all these programs
35:30running again.
35:31Those two years
35:32were critical.
35:34If they hadn't had
35:35that ban,
35:37well, goodness knows
35:38what could have happened.
35:40One of the weapons programs
35:41that had been
35:42significantly delayed
35:43was the Me 262
35:45jet fighter.
35:49with a top speed
35:50of more than
35:52125 miles an hour
35:53faster than
35:54the best allied fighter,
35:55it could have been
35:56a deciding factor
35:57in the war
35:57if it had been
35:59deployed early enough.
36:02I think there's no doubt
36:03that had a jet-powered aircraft
36:05been deployed
36:05in the Battle of Britain,
36:06they could have wiped out
36:08of the Royal Air Force
36:09and the invasion
36:09would have been
36:10so much simpler.
36:11In fact,
36:11the invasion
36:12would have happened.
36:14With the production ban
36:15lifted,
36:16the German aircraft industry
36:18tried to make up
36:18for the lost time.
36:22However,
36:23the Reich
36:23was now under
36:24an around-the-clock
36:25strategic bombing campaign
36:27by the U.S. 8th Air Force
36:28and the RAF.
36:35In this chaotic environment,
36:38Messerschmitt
36:38was still able
36:39to create
36:40the world's first
36:41operational rocket-powered
36:42airplane,
36:43the ME-163 Comet.
36:51Its 600-plus
36:53mile-per-hour speed
36:54stunned the B-17 crews
36:56who saw it
36:57for the first time.
36:59I think the 163
37:01was effective initially.
37:03It was very much
37:04a weapon
37:05of almost of terror,
37:07of morale-sapping
37:08capability.
37:09When they first appeared
37:10against the daylight streams
37:12of B-17 bombers,
37:14I think there was
37:15a real feeling
37:17amongst the Allies
37:17that here was a weapon
37:18that they couldn't
37:19contend with,
37:20they couldn't intercept it.
37:24With cannons or rockets
37:25firing,
37:26the ME-163
37:27would dive through
37:28B-17 formations,
37:30often breaking them up
37:31in the process.
37:35It would then glide
37:36down to its airstrip,
37:37refuel,
37:39and fly back up
37:41to fight again.
37:48In reality,
37:49the Comet
37:50was not a practical weapon.
37:55It was especially
37:56vulnerable to
37:57Allied fighters
37:58when it glided
37:58back to its base.
38:04But its appearance
38:05was so unexpected
38:06that it shook
38:07the confidence
38:07of the men
38:08who confronted it.
38:12The bomber crews
38:13hadn't been warned
38:14about the rocket-powered
38:15plane because the Allies
38:17knew almost nothing
38:18about it.
38:22German designers
38:23also created
38:24many other
38:25advanced secret aircraft.
38:28Heinkel's HE-162
38:30showed great promise
38:32and boasted
38:32the world's
38:33first ejection seat.
38:38Arado's 234 Blitz
38:40jet-powered
38:41reconnaissance bomber
38:42could fly higher
38:43and faster
38:44than the best
38:45Allied fighters.
38:49But like so many
38:51other German
38:51secret weapons,
38:52it came too late
38:53to have any impact.
39:01Like the Luftwaffe
39:03and the Army,
39:03the German Navy
39:04also created
39:05its share
39:06of secret weapons.
39:07In 1943,
39:09they presented
39:10the Führer
39:10with an exciting plan
39:12to use submarine-launched
39:13V-2 missiles
39:14against the United States.
39:19Hitler lumped the scheme.
39:21Their first target
39:22would be
39:23New York City.
39:28Secrets of War
39:30will continue
39:30in a moment
39:31here on
39:31The History Channel.
39:34We now return
39:35to
39:36Secrets of War.
39:40Many of Adolf Hitler's
39:41military views
39:42were shaped
39:43by his experience
39:44as an infantryman
39:45in the First World War.
39:53His reluctance
39:54to build
39:55defensive weapons
39:56stemmed from
39:57his belief
39:57that the best defense
40:01is a good offense.
40:03And he loved
40:04the power
40:05of the artillery.
40:07That's why
40:08he sanctioned
40:09the construction
40:10of the world's
40:10biggest gun,
40:11the super-secret
40:13HDP,
40:14or high-pressure pump.
40:16Hitler was so excited
40:17about the project
40:18that he gave it
40:18his highest honor.
40:20He named it
40:21the
40:22Vergel-Tungwaffe-Drei,
40:23or Vengeance Weapon 3.
40:26It was also referred
40:27to as the
40:28London gun,
40:29or the V-3.
40:31Still others
40:32in the Reich
40:32called it
40:33ridiculous.
40:35The concept
40:37required a shell
40:38to be fired up
40:39through the
40:39150-yard-long barrel.
40:43Additional charges
40:44would then be set off
40:45behind the
40:46passing shell
40:46to boost
40:47its speed.
40:49This built up
40:50the velocity,
40:50but it also
40:52caused
40:53waves of
40:54high pressure
40:55where there
40:56was a new
40:56blast coming
40:57in from
40:57a side chamber
40:58meeting
40:59a blast
41:00coming from
41:00the previous chamber.
41:01And this would
41:02suddenly build up
41:02what we call
41:03sporadic high pressure,
41:04and the gun
41:05would burst.
41:08Although never
41:09tested,
41:09construction
41:10for the V-3
41:11began in an
41:12underground complex
41:13in Mimiex,
41:14France,
41:14across the channel
41:15from England.
41:19In 1944,
41:21the Allies
41:21initiated a bombing
41:23campaign to destroy
41:24V-2 and V-1
41:25launch sites
41:26in France.
41:30When they discovered
41:31railroad tracks
41:32leading into an underground
41:33facility,
41:34they bombed it.
41:38Damage was so severe
41:39at the site
41:40that the project
41:40was halted.
41:43The V-3
41:44never fired
41:45a single shot.
41:48Allied intelligence
41:49had no knowledge
41:50of the V-3
41:51or the London gun
41:52until the wrecked
41:53construction site
41:54was inspected
41:54after the invasion
41:56in the Pas-de-Calais
41:57area in northeast France.
41:59The German navy
42:00also had some
42:01very big plans,
42:02including one called
42:03the La Furense project.
42:08The proposal
42:09was to
42:11tow
42:13V-2 rockets
42:14in ballasted containers
42:16behind a U-boat.
42:18And when they got to
42:20within some convenient
42:21distance of New York City
42:22or Washington
42:23or something like that,
42:24they would
42:25flood the tanks
42:27until the
42:28cylinders stood on end
42:30and fire the V-2s.
42:36This plan was more
42:37than just fanciful
42:38dreaming
42:38on the part
42:39of the navy.
42:40They actually
42:41tested the concept
42:42to see if it was
42:43feasible.
42:45In the middle
42:46of 1942,
42:48U-511
42:51fired three
42:51V-2 missiles
42:52from under the water.
42:54That was the first
42:55time it was ever done.
42:58Though the project
42:59was abandoned,
43:00the concept
43:01of submarine-launched
43:02ballistic missiles
43:03was not lost
43:04on the victorious
43:05Allies.
43:09Today,
43:10the most powerful
43:11capital ships
43:12in the U.S.
43:12and Russian navy
43:13are the submarines
43:14that carry
43:15intercontinental
43:16ballistic missiles
43:17armed with nuclear
43:18warheads.
43:25The Third Reich
43:26also attempted
43:27to develop
43:27the most ominous
43:29of all secret
43:29weapons,
43:32the atomic bomb.
43:36They couldn't
43:37put the resources
43:38to the existing
43:39programs,
43:39let alone
43:40these experimental
43:41programs.
43:41And particularly
43:42as the Axis territory
43:44started to shrink,
43:45they really didn't
43:46have the fuels,
43:47the materials,
43:48and they didn't
43:49have the ability
43:50to be able
43:51to put these
43:51systems into
43:53operation.
43:54The whole
43:55of the German
43:56secret weapon
43:57program
43:59can be summed
44:00up by saying
44:02too late.
44:03Not necessarily
44:04too little,
44:05but too late.
44:07It was Hitler's
44:08ban on
44:10development
44:11that put
44:12Germany
44:12two years
44:13behind
44:13in every
44:14field of
44:15endeavor.
44:16And they
44:16just could
44:17not catch up.
44:18I'm not
44:19saying we
44:19might not
44:20have won
44:20the war,
44:21but I am
44:22saying we
44:22would have
44:22had a hell
44:23of a
44:23sight more
44:23trouble doing
44:24it,
44:25because we
44:26would have
44:26been confronted
44:28with a very
44:29formidable
44:30armory of
44:31weapons by
44:321944,
44:34which would
44:34have taken
44:35some very,
44:35very brilliant
44:36thinking on our
44:37part to counter.
44:41Nazi Germany's
44:42scientists
44:42couldn't win the
44:43war for
44:44Adolf Hitler,
44:44other,
44:45but they
44:45did change
44:46the world
44:46in a way
44:47that few
44:47could have
44:48imagined.
44:54Their V2
44:55rocket led
44:55to the
44:56development
44:56of the
44:56ICBMs that
44:58formed the
44:58nuclear backbone
44:59of today's
45:00superpowers.
45:02weapons.
45:06Ironically,
45:07these weapons
45:08are so
45:09incredibly
45:09destructive
45:10that they
45:10have made
45:11world war
45:12unthinkable.
45:15This, too,
45:17is the legacy
45:18of the men
45:18who built
45:19the secret
45:20weapons of
45:21the Third Reich.
45:21the Third Reich.
46:19the Third Reich.
46:21the Third Reich.