An archive of highly-classified test reports has come to light revealing how the Nazis killed thousands of German citizens by bombing their own cities with V2 rockets – for TARGET PRACTICE.
The top-secret SS documents are said to offer proof Adolf Hitler used his own towns and cities to test the scale of the devastation caused by the ballistic missiles.
The incredible archive is made up of reports which were only issued to ‘Kommandostelle S’ a unit of which details are so scarce because it was such a secret organisation.
They show how the desperate Nazis used their own settlements as targets while developing the deadly weapons during World War Two.
It means thousands of Germans died at the hands of their own leader in 1944 and 1945 – who then blamed the carnage on Allied Forces.
The V2 rockets – the V standing for Vergeltungswaffe, or Vengeance Weapon – were fired at London and the south east of England killing over 7,000 people.
The warheads were launched during the closing months of the war as Britain advanced closer to victory and were considered Hitler’s last role of the dice.
However, it is widely regarded if the Nazis has developed the rockets sooner they may have won the race to develop the atomic bomb and thus gone on to have won the war.
The remarkable archive was rescued from the flames at the end of the conflict and has remained in the possession of a German collector ever since.
Now it is set to go under the hammer at Chiswick Auctions, in London, on March 18 where it is expected to fetch £2,500.
Yesterday (Wed) Chiswick Auctions spokesman Richard Westwood-Brookes said: “The V2 was the first truly ballistic missile which might have brought victory to Hitler had he won the race to develop the atomic bomb in 1945.
“A note which comes with the archive from a researcher indicates that these were final test firing reports for the rockets and were issued in very limited numbers of no more than 10-12 copies.
“The present archive could prove to be a highly important new source of information on what was by far the most important technological and scientific development to have come from WWII.
“The V2 was the first real ballistic missile. Its effects were devastating.
“Had Hitler been successful in developing the technology of the atomic bomb then he would have had the capability of firing it long distances.
“With the use of this rocket – unquestionably this would have led to the Nazis winning the war.”
The document, which is typed on sheets of A4 paper, shows a large number of V2 rockets were fired from the Peenemunde region where experimental devices were tested.
They were fired against the Allies with missiles claiming thousands of lives in London, Antwerp and Liege.
But shockingly, the reports also reveal many of the original test firings were at German towns and cities – mainly in the area of Pomerania.
It is believed special units were then sent to evaluate the extent of the damage caused and report back to the Fuhrer about their effectiveness.
Mr Westwood Brookes added: “Perhaps the most remarkable fact which comes from these papers is that many of these test firings were fired at German targets.
“This is evidence enough of how desperate the Nazis were becoming after D-Day and the relentless advances of Allied forces across Europe.
“Many of these test firings at German towns and cities resulted in considerable casualties and substantial damages to houses and other properties.
“I have never seen such concrete evidence to substantiate that Hitler actually used his own towns and cities as target practice.”
After the war the majority of V2 related documents were either destroyed by the Germans before the Allies moved in by orders of the SS.
Mr Westwood-Brookes said: “The fact that several of the sheets in the present archive have clearly been in a fire suggests that these very papers were rescued from such destruction.
“This really is an exceptionally rare find and one that offers a chilling insight into Hitler’s war efforts during his final months.”
The V2 rocket was developed by Wernher von Braun, a German aerospace engineer and space architect.
He was a member of the Nazi party but after the war went to work in America for NASA and eventually helped develop the technology that put man on the moon in 1969.
The V2 was the most advanced weapon used in the war until the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Launched from mobile units, the 46ft (14m) tall rockets were fuelled by liquid ethanol and oxygen and weighed almost 14 tonnes.
The V2s were also Hitler’s answer to his country’s disappointment that the V1s (or doodlebugs) didn’t knock Britain out of the war.
They were launched vertically and could travel at 3,500mph to hit targets more than 500 miles away, making it the world’s first long-range combat-ballistic missile.
