Blizna V-2 missile launch site
Established | 2011 |
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Location | Blizna 68, 39–104 Ocieka, Ropczyce-Sędziszów, Poland |
Coordinates | 50°11′0″N 21°36′0″E / 50.18333°N 21.60000°E |
Type | War museum |
Owner | Gmina Ostrów |
Website | Park Historyczny Blizna |
Armia Krajowa, Red Army |
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The Blizna V-2 missile launch site was the site of a
History
After the air raid on Peenemünde on 17 August 1943, German strategic command decided to divide the work on the V-2 rocket among three independently operating centres.[5][6][8][9][10] Assembly plants were transferred to underground factories that had been built in a massive hollow cave complex in the Harz mountains in Germany.[8][11] The research, development, and design (codenamed "Project Cement") were handled by secret offices in Ebensee, near the banks of Lake Traunsee in Austria.[5][8][11] The main rocket testing, training, and launch site was transferred to Blizna in southeast Poland, outside of the range of Allied bombers.[5][8] An SS military base near Blizna was set up on 5 November 1943, from which 139 A4 (also known as V-2) rockets were launched for experimental purposes and for training.[5][7][8][12] The site was operational until early July 1944. Test launches also continued at Peenemünde until 21 February 1945.[6][12]
Before construction began in Blizna, there was nothing there but uncleared forest.
The site was considered to be of such high strategic importance that it attracted personal visits from many of the Nazi régime's most elite officers;[16] Heinrich Himmler and SS-Obergruppenführers Hans Kammler and Gottlob Berger visited in September 1943,[17] and Adolf Hitler visited in the spring of 1944.[5][8] The commander of the site was Major-General Dr Walter Dornberger, leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket program.[16] Wernher von Braun, creator of the V-2, the central figure in Germany's pre-war rocket development program, and post-war director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center,[18][19] worked at the Blizna test site and personally visited the test missile impact areas to troubleshoot any problems discovered during trials.[5][8][9][10][12][16][20]
British Intelligence were very keen to obtain information about the new V-2 missile site. The first reports came in October 1943 from the Polish underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa) Intelligence HQ in Warsaw, stating that a number of villages around Dębica were being forcibly evacuated.[21] This area was already known for its SS training centre SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager. Further reports brought information about a new railway line being constructed in the same vicinity, leading to Blizna.[21] A report made on 14 February 1944 gave information about a sighting of a rocket "fourteen metres (46 feet) long and [with] a weight of seven tons". On 22 February the report was of a projectile "twelve metres (39 feet) long, [with] a diameter [of] one and a half metres (4.9 feet) and a weight of twelve tons". These missiles were being fired 24 hours a day.[21] The codebreakers at Bletchley Park in England also managed to decrypt vital information from German communications.[22] These made mention of "Versuchsstab (experimental staff) Komanndostelle Siegfried" and of "SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager". Many more communications were intercepted and decrypted, which together with information from the Polish, helped British Intelligence build up a good picture of what was going on.[22][23]
The missile testing ground at Blizna was quickly located by the Polish resistance movement, the Armia Krajowa, thanks to reports from local farmers.) east of Warsaw
In early March 1944
On 13 July 1944, the British Prime Minister
See also
- List of Blizna V-2 test launches
- Rocket launch site
- SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager
- Operation Osoaviakhim
Annotations
- First Launch: 1943-11-05. Last Launch: 1944-07-24. Number: 277 . Location: Blizna, Poland. Longitude: 21.6162 deg. Latitude: 50.1819 deg.
- Diver – a secret British Defence Instruction specified the code name: "Enemy Flying Bombs will be referred to or known as 'Diver' aircraft or pilotless planes" to alert defences of an imminent attack (often called Operation Diver, particularly post-war, without citation).
References
Footnotes
- ^ The modern museum is built on the exact site of the former V-2 launch site. Phase II building of the museum was completed in 2011.
- catalyst).
Notes
- ^ "Historia poligonu Heidelager" [History of Heidelager military training base] (in Polish). Republika.pl. Archived from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Artilleriezielfeld Blizna" [Blizna (treść tablicy informacyjnej na terenie dawnego poligonu).] (in German). Archived from the original on 29 March 2009.
- ^ Metz, Kaj. "SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager / Concentration Camp Pustkow". TracesofWar.com. Traces of War. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ "Park Historyczny Blizna".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jaskólski, Paweł (3 November 2014). "Polska, Blizna – Park Historyczny Blizna" [Historical Park in Blizna, Poland]. Alemuzea.Pl (in Polish). Projekt AleMuzea!. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ a b c Middlebrook 1982, p. 222.
- ^ a b Jena1806.Com: 2009
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Puszkin, Piotr (26 April 2008). "Poligon V1/V2 Blizna" [Blizna V1/V2 facility] (in Polish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ a b c Glass 2000, p. 24.
- ^ a b c Dornberger 2004, p. 18.
- ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 26–29 (Bogdan Chrzanowski)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zak, Anatoly: RussianSpaceWeb.Com: 2011
- ^ a b c d e f Wiąk 2003, p. 435–439.
- ^ Wnuk 2012, p. 35 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 36 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ a b c Dornberger 2004 p. 18.
- ^ Wnuk 2012, p. 36,37 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ "Wernher von Braun : Feature Articles". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2 May 2001. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- ^ "Biography of Wernher Von Braun". history.msfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 11 June 2002. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- ^ Gatland, Kenneth William: Project Satellite: 1958 p. 82
- ^ a b c Campbell 2012, p. 187
- ^ a b Campbell 2012, p. 188
- ^ Aldrich 2010
- ^ Glass 2000, p. 26.
- ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 40. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ a b c Wnuk 2012, p. 44. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ "Antoni Kocjan". Nekropole. 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- ^ a b "Polish Greatness". Polish Greatness.com. 7 December 2011. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ^ a b c Relacja Aleksandra Rusina, 23 IX 2007, z zbiorach Marka Flisa. (in Polish)
- ^ "A-4/V-2 Makeup – Tech Data & Markings". V2 Rocket.com. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- McGovern, James (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 42.
- ^ a b c Wnuk 2012, p. 48. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
- ^ a b c Łubieński 1976 p. 157.
- ^ ISBN 83-211-0521-1.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ a b c Breuer 1993, p. 55.
- ^ a b "Correspondence between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidents of the USA and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945". J. V. Stalin Archive. Archived from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
Bibliography
- Aldrich, Richard James (2010). GCHQ The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency (PDF). HarperPress. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- Breuer, William B. (1993). Race to the Moon: America's Duel with the Soviets. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-94481-6. Archivedfrom the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- Campbell, Christy (29 March 2012). Target London: Under attack from the V-weapons during WWII. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-7481-2201-1. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- Dornberger, Walter (2004) [1952 V2–Der Schuss ins Weltall]. V-2 superbroń Trzeciej Rzeszy 1930–1945 (in Polish). Moscow: Centropoligraf.
- Gatland, Kenneth William (1958). Project Satellite. John W. Wood (First ed.). OL 6241939M. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- Glass, A.; et al. (2000). Wywiad Armii Krajowej w walce z V-1 i V-2 [Interview of the Home Army in the Fight Against the V-1 and V-2] (in Polish). Warsaw: Mirage Hobby W-wa.
- King, Benjamin; Kutta, Timothy (15 July 2003). Impact: The History of Germany's V-Weapons in World War II. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81292-7. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- Łubieński, Konstanty (1976). Kartki z wojny / Konstanty Łubieński (in Polish). Warsaw: Ośrodek Dokumentacji i Studiów Społecznych. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- Middlebrook, Martin (1982). The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943. New York: Bobbs-Merrill. ASIN 0304353469.
- Wiąk, W (2003). Struktura organizacyjna Armii Krajowej 1939–1944 (in Polish). Warsaw. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Wnuk, Rafał; Zapart, Robert; Szkudliński, Jan (2012). Blińko, Beata (ed.). Tajemnice Blizny. Wywiad Armii Krajowej w walce z rakietami V-2 [Secrets of Blizna. Polish ‘Armia Krajowa’ in the fight against V-2 rockets] (in Polish). Vol. 1 (1 ed.). Gdańsk: Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku oraz Fundację Armii Krajowej im. Franciszka Miszczaka w Londynie. ISBN 978-83-63709-19-8. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.)
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help - Wojewódzki, M (1984). Akcja V-1,V-2 (in Polish). Warsaw: PAX W-wa.
Further reading
- Dungan, Tracy D. (2005). V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile. Westholme Publishing. ISBN 1-59416-012-0.
- Góra, Władysław (1984). Wojna i okupacja ziemiach na Polskich 1939–1945 (in Polish). Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Książka i Wiedza. ISBN 83-05-11290-X.
- Huzel, Dieter K. (c. 1965). Peenemünde to Canaveral. Prentice Hall Inc.
- Piszkiewicz, Dennis (1995). The Nazi Rocketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-95217-7.
Sources
- Cooksley, Peter G (1979). Flying Bomb. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 102, 162, 197. ISBN 0-684-16284-9.: 61
- "List of V-2 test missile launches from Blizna". jena1806.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- "Eintrag über Blizna" [Entry on Blizna] (in German). v2rakete.de. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- Zak, Anatoly. "V-2 tests in Poland". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- "Correspondence between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidents of the USA and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945". Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin Archive. Archivedfrom the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2013.:
PERSONAL AND MOST SECRET MESSAGE FROM MR CHURCHILL TO MARSHAL STALIN
13 July 1944 1. There is firm evidence that the Germans have been conducting the trials of flying rockets from an experimental station at Dębice in Poland for a considerable time. According to our information this missile has an explosive charge of about twelve thousand pounds and the effectiveness of our counter-measures largely depends on how much we can find out about this weapon before it is launched against this country. Dębice is in the path of your victorious advancing armies and it may well be that you will overrun this place in the next few weeks. 2. Although the Germans will almost certainly destroy or remove as much of the equipment at Dębice as they can, it is probable that a considerable amount of information will become available when the area is in Russian hands. In particular we hope to learn how the rocket is discharged as this will enable us to locate the launching sites. 3. I should be grateful, therefore, Marshal Stalin, if you could give appropriate instructions for the preservation of such apparatus and installations at Dębice as your armies are able to ensure after the area has been overrun, and that thereafter you would afford us facilities for the examination of this experimental station by our experts. – Winston Churchill |
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Gallery
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V-2rocket in Blizna, 1943
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Layout of aV-2rocket
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ReplicaV-2missile in Blizna V-2 War Museum
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A V-2 missile being launched in summer 1943
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Post-war 1946 Russian Antonov An-2 aeroplane at Blizna V-2 Museum
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V-2missile fragments Blizna V-2 War Museum
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AV-2
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V-2missiles
External links
- Park Historyczny Blizna live cam
- BLIZNA – Poligon rakietowy V-1 V-2 (in Polish) Video on YouTube
- Instagram photos
- Archived Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager. German test range for production V-2 missiles.
- Zdjęcia Parku Historycznego BLIZNA