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Blizna V-2 missile launch site

April 12, 2024

The Blizna V-2 missile launch site was the site of a World War II German V-2 missile firing range.[note 1] Today there is a small museum located in the Park Historyczny Blizna (Historical Park) in Blizna, Poland.[4] After the RAF strategic bombing of the V-2 rocket launch site in Peenemünde, Germany, in August 1943, some of the test and launch facilities were relocated to Blizna in November 1943.[5][6] The first of 139 V-2 launches was carried out from the Blizna launch site on 5 November 1943.[7]

V-2 missile launch site military base Blizna
Park Historyczny Blizna
Established2011
LocationBlizna 68, 39–104 Ocieka, Ropczyce-Sędziszów, Poland
Coordinates50°11′0″N 21°36′0″E / 50.18333°N 21.60000°E / 50.18333; 21.60000
TypeWar museum
OwnerGmina Ostrów
WebsitePark Historyczny Blizna
class=notpageimage|
Map of Poland with marks showing location of Blizna and Sarnaki
SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager[1]
Concentration camp
CommandantSS Oberführer Bernhardt Voss
Killed15,000 total: 7,000 Jews, 5,000 Soviets, 3,000 Polish[2][3]
Liberated byArmia Krajowa, Red Army

History edit

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.[5] The Nazis used slave labour from the nearby SS Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager concentration camp in Pustków to build new infrastructure, starting with concrete roads, then a narrow-gauge railway line linking to the station at Kochanówka village.[5][8][13][14] They built barracks, bunkers, buildings and all the specialised equipment needed for the operation and firing of rockets.[5][8][15] In addition, efforts were made to disguise the site as much as possible. They did this by building an artificial village; cottages and barns were made of plywood, lines were hung with clothes and bed-sheets, and imitation people and animals were created using gypsum plaster.[8][15][9][10]

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]

 
German World War II bunker near Sadykierz, 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) from the launch site

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.[5][24] The site was constantly under observation by Armia Krajowa and the Polish Peasant Battalions.[5][13][25] Due to Blizna's perceived strategic importance, Armia Krajowa (AK) had many field agents operating covertly in the area;[13] these included AK Kolbuszowa (code name: "Kefir"), AK Dębica (code name: "Deser") and AK Mielec (code name: "Mleko").[13][25] These field agents even managed to obtain pieces of the fired rockets, by arriving on the scene before German patrols.[13][26] These fragments were then smuggled by AK agents to secret labs in Warsaw, where the rocket parts were analysed by specialist teams, headed by Professors Marceli Struszyński and Janusz Groszkowski, and glider constructor Antoni Kocjan.[27][28] Vital information about the rocket propellant was discovered when numerous reports came in of a strong smell of alcohol at the crash sites.[26][29][note 2][30] AK agent Aleksander Rusin (code name: "Rusal") was one of these witnesses. A V-2 missile crash-landed near to his observation location near Mielec.[29] Rusin ran up to the crash site and found an intact working motor, which he managed to measure and sketch shortly before it exploded.[26][29]

 
V-2 rocket being recovered from the Bug River near Sarnaki, about 129 km (80 mi) east of Warsaw

In early March 1944 British Intelligence Headquarters received a report of an Armia Krajowa agent (code name: "Makara") who had covertly surveyed the Blizna railway line and observed a freight car heavily guarded by SS troops containing "an object which, though covered by a tarpaulin, bore every resemblance to a monstrous torpedo".[13][31] Subsequently, a plan was formed to make an attempt to capture a whole unexploded V-2 rocket and transport it to Britain.[32][33] The plan was to stop the train in the forested area between Brzeskie and Tarnów.[32][33] Despite meticulous planning by Armia Krajowa, the security on the German supply trains had been increased dramatically and the plan had to be called off at the last minute, as it had become unfeasible.[32][33] Around 20 May 1944, a relatively undamaged V-2 rocket fell on the swampy bank of the Bug River near the village of Sarnaki, south of Siemiatycze, and local Poles managed to hide it before Germans arrived.[34] The rocket was then dismantled and smuggled across Poland.[34][35] During the night of 25–26 July 1944, the Polish resistance (Home Army and V1 and V2) secretly transported parts of the rocket out of Poland in Operation Most III (Bridge III or Wildhorn III),[12] for analysis by British Intelligence.[8][35] The missile fragments were picked up by a RAF C-47 Dakota aeroplane from an AK agent (code name: "Motyl") in an abandoned airfield between the villages of Jadowniki Mokre and Wał-Ruda, near Żabno, at the junction of the Dunajec and Wisła rivers, Poland.[28][35]

 
V-2 rocket at the Blizna launch site

On 13 July 1944, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin,[36] informing him about the German V-2 missiles being tested in Blizna. In his letter, Churchill asked Stalin to instruct his troops, who were about 50 kilometres (31 miles) away from Dębica, to search for and preserve safely any apparatus and installations found at the base after it was captured by the advancing Soviet Army.[12][36] He also asked Stalin to allow British experts to visit Dębica to examine the missile base. Stalin granted Churchill's requests; however, at the same time he instructed his army intelligence and USSR State Defense Committee People's Commissar for Aviation Industry, Alexei Shakhurin, to get ready for the examination of the German missiles.[12] Shakhurin was ordered to have his weaponry experts in Dębica long before the British arrived.[12] In late July 1944, the advance of the Red Army forced the Germans to evacuate the base at Blizna, and launch activities were moved to the Tuchola Forest.[8][12] The Red Army reached Blizna on 6 August 1944, about ten days after the Germans had moved out. Many of the first remnants of V-2 missiles were recovered by troops of the 60th Army commanded by General Pavel Alekseyevich Kurochkin.[12] British intelligence agents were eventually granted access to the launch site in September 1944.[8] Their mission was to collect as many remaining rocket parts and as much intel on the site as they could.[8] By then, the Red Army had already cleared out most of what the Germans had left and had shipped it to the Soviet Union, following Stalin's instructions.[12] However, the British did manage to fill several crates with some useful V-2 rocket parts, which were then transported to England with the full co-operation of the Soviets.[8] When the crates were opened in London, they did not have the expected contents; instead, they contained old rusty truck and tank parts,[8] which had probably been substituted by Soviet agents.[citation needed]

See also edit

Annotations edit

  • 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 edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ The V-2 propellant formula comprises: fuel, alcohol, liquid oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and sodium permanganate (catalyst).

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Historia poligonu Heidelager" [History of Heidelager military training base] (in Polish). Republika.pl. from the original on 18 April 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  2. ^ [Blizna (treść tablicy informacyjnej na terenie dawnego poligonu).] (in German). Archived from the original on 29 March 2009.
  3. ^ Metz, Kaj. "SS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager / Concentration Camp Pustkow". TracesofWar.com. Traces of War. from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Park Historyczny Blizna".
  5. ^ 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!. from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  6. ^ a b c Middlebrook 1982, p. 222.
  7. ^ a b Jena1806.Com: 2009
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Puszkin, Piotr (26 April 2008). [Blizna V1/V2 facility] (in Polish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  9. ^ a b c Glass 2000, p. 24.
  10. ^ a b c Dornberger 2004, p. 18.
  11. ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 26–29 (Bogdan Chrzanowski)
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zak, Anatoly: RussianSpaceWeb.Com: 2011
  13. ^ a b c d e f Wiąk 2003, p. 435–439.
  14. ^ Wnuk 2012, p. 35 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  15. ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 36 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  16. ^ a b c Dornberger 2004 p. 18.
  17. ^ Wnuk 2012, p. 36,37 (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  18. ^ "Wernher von Braun : Feature Articles". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2 May 2001. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  19. ^ . history.msfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 11 June 2002. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  20. ^ Gatland, Kenneth William: Project Satellite: 1958 p. 82
  21. ^ a b c Campbell 2012, p. 187
  22. ^ a b Campbell 2012, p. 188
  23. ^ Aldrich 2010
  24. ^ Glass 2000, p. 26.
  25. ^ a b Wnuk 2012, p. 40. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  26. ^ a b c Wnuk 2012, p. 44. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  27. ^ "Antoni Kocjan". Nekropole. 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  28. ^ a b "Polish Greatness". Polish Greatness.com. 7 December 2011. from the original on 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  29. ^ a b c Relacja Aleksandra Rusina, 23 IX 2007, z zbiorach Marka Flisa. (in Polish)
  30. ^ "A-4/V-2 Makeup – Tech Data & Markings". V2 Rocket.com. from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  31. ^ McGovern, James (1964). Crossbow and Overcast. New York: W. Morrow. p. 42.
  32. ^ a b c Wnuk 2012, p. 48. (Marek Flis, Mirosław Surdej)
  33. ^ a b c Łubieński 1976 p. 157.
  34. ^ a b Wojewódzki, Michał (1984). Akcja V-1, V-2 (in Polish). Warsaw. ISBN 83-211-0521-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  35. ^ a b c Breuer 1993, p. 55.
  36. ^ 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. from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2013.

Bibliography edit

  • 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. from 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.). London: Wingate. p. 169. OCLC 1183846. 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. 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. 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. 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 edit

  • 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 edit

  • Cooksley, Peter G (1979). Flying Bomb. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 102, 162, 197. ISBN 0-684-16284-9.: 61 
  • . jena1806.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  • [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. 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. from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2013.:
 
V-2 rocket diagram
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

Gallery edit

  •  
    V-2 rocket in Blizna, 1943
  •  
    Layout of a V-2 rocket
  •  
    Replica V-2 missile in Blizna V-2 War Museum
  •  
    A V-2 missile being launched in summer 1943
  •  
    Aftermath of a V-2 rocket attack on the main intersection in Antwerp, Belgium, 27 November 1944
  •  
    Aftermath of V-2 bombing at Battersea, London, 27 January 1945
  •  
    Post-war 1946 Russian Antonov An-2 aeroplane at Blizna V-2 Museum
  •  
    V-2 missile fragments Blizna V-2 War Museum
  •  
    A US Army cut-away of the V-2
  •  
    Home Army intelligence reports on V-1 and V-2 missiles

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blizna (Podkarpackie Voivodeship).
  • Park Historyczny Blizna live cam
  • BLIZNA – Poligon rakietowy V-1 V-2 (in Polish) Video on YouTube
  • Instagram photos
  • Archived . German test range for production V-2 missiles.
  • Zdjęcia Parku Historycznego BLIZNA

April 12, 2024
blizna, missile, launch, site, site, world, german, missile, firing, range, note, today, there, small, museum, located, park, historyczny, blizna, historical, park, blizna, poland, after, strategic, bombing, rocket, launch, site, peenemünde, germany, august, 1. The Blizna V 2 missile launch site was the site of a World War II German V 2 missile firing range note 1 Today there is a small museum located in the Park Historyczny Blizna Historical Park in Blizna Poland 4 After the RAF strategic bombing of the V 2 rocket launch site in Peenemunde Germany in August 1943 some of the test and launch facilities were relocated to Blizna in November 1943 5 6 The first of 139 V 2 launches was carried out from the Blizna launch site on 5 November 1943 7 V 2 missile launch site military base BliznaPark Historyczny BliznaEstablished2011LocationBlizna 68 39 104 Ocieka Ropczyce Sedziszow PolandCoordinates50 11 0 N 21 36 0 E 50 18333 N 21 60000 E 50 18333 21 60000TypeWar museumOwnerGmina OstrowWebsitePark Historyczny BliznaBliznaSarnakiclass notpageimage Map of Poland with marks showing location of Blizna and Sarnaki SS Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager 1 Concentration campCommandantSS Oberfuhrer Bernhardt VossKilled15 000 total 7 000 Jews 5 000 Soviets 3 000 Polish 2 3 Liberated byArmia Krajowa Red Army Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 Annotations 4 References 4 1 Footnotes 4 2 Notes 4 3 Bibliography 5 Further reading 5 1 Sources 6 Gallery 7 External linksHistory editAfter the air raid on Peenemunde 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 Peenemunde until 21 February 1945 6 12 Before construction began in Blizna there was nothing there but uncleared forest 5 The Nazis used slave labour from the nearby SS Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager concentration camp in Pustkow to build new infrastructure starting with concrete roads then a narrow gauge railway line linking to the station at Kochanowka village 5 8 13 14 They built barracks bunkers buildings and all the specialised equipment needed for the operation and firing of rockets 5 8 15 In addition efforts were made to disguise the site as much as possible They did this by building an artificial village cottages and barns were made of plywood lines were hung with clothes and bed sheets and imitation people and animals were created using gypsum plaster 8 15 9 10 The site was considered to be of such high strategic importance that it attracted personal visits from many of the Nazi regime s most elite officers 16 Heinrich Himmler and SS Obergruppenfuhrers 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 nbsp German World War II bunker near Sadykierz 5 5 kilometres 3 4 miles from the launch siteBritish 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 Debica were being forcibly evacuated 21 This area was already known for its SS training centre SS Truppenubungsplatz 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 Truppenubungsplatz 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 5 24 The site was constantly under observation by Armia Krajowa and the Polish Peasant Battalions 5 13 25 Due to Blizna s perceived strategic importance Armia Krajowa AK had many field agents operating covertly in the area 13 these included AK Kolbuszowa code name Kefir AK Debica code name Deser and AK Mielec code name Mleko 13 25 These field agents even managed to obtain pieces of the fired rockets by arriving on the scene before German patrols 13 26 These fragments were then smuggled by AK agents to secret labs in Warsaw where the rocket parts were analysed by specialist teams headed by Professors Marceli Struszynski and Janusz Groszkowski and glider constructor Antoni Kocjan 27 28 Vital information about the rocket propellant was discovered when numerous reports came in of a strong smell of alcohol at the crash sites 26 29 note 2 30 AK agent Aleksander Rusin code name Rusal was one of these witnesses A V 2 missile crash landed near to his observation location near Mielec 29 Rusin ran up to the crash site and found an intact working motor which he managed to measure and sketch shortly before it exploded 26 29 nbsp V 2 rocket being recovered from the Bug River near Sarnaki about 129 km 80 mi east of WarsawIn early March 1944 British Intelligence Headquarters received a report of an Armia Krajowa agent code name Makara who had covertly surveyed the Blizna railway line and observed a freight car heavily guarded by SS troops containing an object which though covered by a tarpaulin bore every resemblance to a monstrous torpedo 13 31 Subsequently a plan was formed to make an attempt to capture a whole unexploded V 2 rocket and transport it to Britain 32 33 The plan was to stop the train in the forested area between Brzeskie and Tarnow 32 33 Despite meticulous planning by Armia Krajowa the security on the German supply trains had been increased dramatically and the plan had to be called off at the last minute as it had become unfeasible 32 33 Around 20 May 1944 a relatively undamaged V 2 rocket fell on the swampy bank of the Bug River near the village of Sarnaki south of Siemiatycze and local Poles managed to hide it before Germans arrived 34 The rocket was then dismantled and smuggled across Poland 34 35 During the night of 25 26 July 1944 the Polish resistance Home Army and V1 and V2 secretly transported parts of the rocket out of Poland in Operation Most III Bridge III or Wildhorn III 12 for analysis by British Intelligence 8 35 The missile fragments were picked up by a RAF C 47 Dakota aeroplane from an AK agent code name Motyl in an abandoned airfield between the villages of Jadowniki Mokre and Wal Ruda near Zabno at the junction of the Dunajec and Wisla rivers Poland 28 35 nbsp V 2 rocket at the Blizna launch siteOn 13 July 1944 the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin 36 informing him about the German V 2 missiles being tested in Blizna In his letter Churchill asked Stalin to instruct his troops who were about 50 kilometres 31 miles away from Debica to search for and preserve safely any apparatus and installations found at the base after it was captured by the advancing Soviet Army 12 36 He also asked Stalin to allow British experts to visit Debica to examine the missile base Stalin granted Churchill s requests however at the same time he instructed his army intelligence and USSR State Defense Committee People s Commissar for Aviation Industry Alexei Shakhurin to get ready for the examination of the German missiles 12 Shakhurin was ordered to have his weaponry experts in Debica long before the British arrived 12 In late July 1944 the advance of the Red Army forced the Germans to evacuate the base at Blizna and launch activities were moved to the Tuchola Forest 8 12 The Red Army reached Blizna on 6 August 1944 about ten days after the Germans had moved out Many of the first remnants of V 2 missiles were recovered by troops of the 60th Army commanded by General Pavel Alekseyevich Kurochkin 12 British intelligence agents were eventually granted access to the launch site in September 1944 8 Their mission was to collect as many remaining rocket parts and as much intel on the site as they could 8 By then the Red Army had already cleared out most of what the Germans had left and had shipped it to the Soviet Union following Stalin s instructions 12 However the British did manage to fill several crates with some useful V 2 rocket parts which were then transported to England with the full co operation of the Soviets 8 When the crates were opened in London they did not have the expected contents instead they contained old rusty truck and tank parts 8 which had probably been substituted by Soviet agents citation needed See also editList of Blizna V 2 test launches Rocket launch site SS Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager Operation Osoaviakhim For a description of a test explosion see Test Stand VII Annotations editFirst 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 editFootnotes edit 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 The V 2 propellant formula comprises fuel alcohol liquid oxygen hydrogen peroxide and sodium permanganate catalyst Notes edit 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 tresc tablicy informacyjnej na terenie dawnego poligonu in German Archived from the original on 29 March 2009 Metz Kaj SS Truppenubungsplatz 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 Jaskolski Pawel 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 Wiak 2003 p 435 439 Wnuk 2012 p 35 Marek Flis Miroslaw Surdej a b Wnuk 2012 p 36 Marek Flis Miroslaw Surdej a b c Dornberger 2004 p 18 Wnuk 2012 p 36 37 Marek Flis Miroslaw 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 Miroslaw Surdej a b c Wnuk 2012 p 44 Marek Flis Miroslaw 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 amp 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 Miroslaw Surdej a b c Lubienski 1976 p 157 a b Wojewodzki Michal 1984 Akcja V 1 V 2 in Polish Warsaw ISBN 83 211 0521 1 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a 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 edit 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 Archived from 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 superbron Trzeciej Rzeszy 1930 1945 in Polish Moscow Centropoligraf Gatland Kenneth William 1958 Project Satellite John W Wood First ed London Wingate p 169 OCLC 1183846 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 Lubienski Konstanty 1976 Kartki z wojny Konstanty Lubienski in Polish Warsaw Osrodek Dokumentacji i Studiow Spolecznych Archived from the original on 3 November 2016 Retrieved 3 November 2016 Middlebrook Martin 1982 The Peenemunde Raid The Night of 17 18 August 1943 New York Bobbs Merrill ASIN 0304353469 Wiak W 2003 Struktura organizacyjna Armii Krajowej 1939 1944 in Polish Warsaw Archived from the original on 20 February 2014 Retrieved 3 November 2016 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Wnuk Rafal Zapart Robert Szkudlinski Jan 2012 Blinko 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 Gdansk Muzeum II Wojny Swiatowej w Gdansku oraz Fundacje 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 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Wojewodzki M 1984 Akcja V 1 V 2 in Polish Warsaw PAX W wa Further reading editDungan Tracy D 2005 V 2 A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile Westholme Publishing ISBN 1 59416 012 0 Gora Wladyslaw 1984 Wojna i okupacja ziemiach na Polskich 1939 1945 in Polish Warsaw Wydawnictwo Ksiazka i Wiedza ISBN 83 05 11290 X Huzel Dieter K c 1965 Peenemunde 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 edit 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 uber 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 Archived from the original on 7 February 2010 Retrieved 3 November 2013 nbsp V 2 rocket diagramPERSONAL 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 Debice 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 Debice 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 Debice 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 Debice 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 ChurchillGallery edit nbsp V 2 rocket in Blizna 1943 nbsp Layout of a V 2 rocket nbsp Replica V 2 missile in Blizna V 2 War Museum nbsp A V 2 missile being launched in summer 1943 nbsp Aftermath of a V 2 rocket attack on the main intersection in Antwerp Belgium 27 November 1944 nbsp Aftermath of V 2 bombing at Battersea London 27 January 1945 nbsp Post war 1946 Russian Antonov An 2 aeroplane at Blizna V 2 Museum nbsp V 2 missile fragments Blizna V 2 War Museum nbsp A US Army cut away of the V 2 nbsp Home Army intelligence reports on V 1 and V 2 missilesExternal links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blizna Podkarpackie Voivodeship 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 Zdjecia Parku Historycznego BLIZNA Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Blizna V 2 missile launch site amp oldid 1180381378, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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