1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:25,450 Speaker 1: Pushkin. If you are a loyal Pushkin Plus subscriber, thank 2 00:00:25,490 --> 00:00:28,850 Speaker 1: you so much. We're really grateful for your support for 3 00:00:28,890 --> 00:00:31,970 Speaker 1: the show, which helps us give you the storytelling, the acting, 4 00:00:32,210 --> 00:00:35,850 Speaker 1: the research and the sound design we strive for on 5 00:00:36,010 --> 00:00:39,490 Speaker 1: cautionary tales. And we hope you're gripped by the two 6 00:00:39,530 --> 00:00:43,290 Speaker 1: part story of the Tenerief Air disaster we recently released 7 00:00:43,370 --> 00:00:48,090 Speaker 1: on the Pushkin Plus feed. Now, if you are not 8 00:00:48,490 --> 00:00:51,930 Speaker 1: a Pushkin Plus subscriber, not to worry. We know it's 9 00:00:51,970 --> 00:00:55,570 Speaker 1: not for everyone, and we still love you, and as 10 00:00:55,570 --> 00:01:00,090 Speaker 1: a token of that affection, we're releasing our epic trilogy 11 00:01:00,290 --> 00:01:04,610 Speaker 1: about the V two Rocket, previously only available on Pushkin Plus. 12 00:01:05,850 --> 00:01:08,410 Speaker 1: I first started working on this story back in the 13 00:01:08,450 --> 00:01:12,010 Speaker 1: spring of twenty twenty two. It was a real labor 14 00:01:12,010 --> 00:01:16,290 Speaker 1: of love, initially sparked by curiosity about a strange statistic 15 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:19,690 Speaker 1: my producer Ryan Dealey had told me, and then just 16 00:01:19,770 --> 00:01:24,810 Speaker 1: going deeper and deeper, and eventually darker and darker too. 17 00:01:24,930 --> 00:01:30,690 Speaker 1: There is tragedy, there is moral complexity, brilliance, courage, pure evil, 18 00:01:31,650 --> 00:01:35,410 Speaker 1: and of course there's rocket ships and the dream of 19 00:01:35,530 --> 00:01:48,690 Speaker 1: traveling into space. Enjoy. By late November nineteen forty four, 20 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:52,130 Speaker 1: there was no doubt that the Allies were winning the 21 00:01:52,170 --> 00:01:57,410 Speaker 1: Second World War, and London was far from the front line. Still, 22 00:01:57,970 --> 00:02:02,290 Speaker 1: Londoners had to make sacrifices. To pick a trivial example, 23 00:02:02,770 --> 00:02:05,850 Speaker 1: it was awfully difficult to get hold of a new saucepan. 24 00:02:06,970 --> 00:02:10,170 Speaker 1: So when a young woman called Betty heard rumors that 25 00:02:10,250 --> 00:02:13,290 Speaker 1: a branch of Woolworth's in Southeast London had a new 26 00:02:13,410 --> 00:02:16,650 Speaker 1: consignment of kitchen ware, she didn't hesitate. 27 00:02:17,490 --> 00:02:19,530 Speaker 2: I was a very young bride of a couple of years, 28 00:02:19,530 --> 00:02:22,570 Speaker 2: with my first baby of about two months, so I 29 00:02:22,650 --> 00:02:25,770 Speaker 2: promptly thanked my informer, dressed my baby daughter in her 30 00:02:25,810 --> 00:02:28,770 Speaker 2: outdoor clothing, put on my coat and hat, and set 31 00:02:28,770 --> 00:02:30,010 Speaker 2: off for a hopeful purchase. 32 00:02:30,690 --> 00:02:33,450 Speaker 1: Betty had to travel across the city to reach the store. 33 00:02:33,930 --> 00:02:36,650 Speaker 1: It was Saturday, the twenty ninth of November, and she 34 00:02:36,810 --> 00:02:39,970 Speaker 1: arrived in Southeast London just before half past twelve. 35 00:02:40,770 --> 00:02:43,250 Speaker 2: The road was very steep at this point, and I 36 00:02:43,290 --> 00:02:45,250 Speaker 2: walked up the road on the right hand side with 37 00:02:45,330 --> 00:02:47,090 Speaker 2: my bag in the right hand and my baby on 38 00:02:47,090 --> 00:02:50,490 Speaker 2: the left arm. At that point there came a sudden, 39 00:02:50,690 --> 00:02:55,210 Speaker 2: airless quiet which seemed to stop one's breath. Then an 40 00:02:55,250 --> 00:02:58,210 Speaker 2: almighty sound so tremendous that it seemed to blot out 41 00:02:58,250 --> 00:02:59,170 Speaker 2: my mind completely. 42 00:03:02,090 --> 00:03:04,170 Speaker 1: She was knocked senseless and sideways. 43 00:03:04,810 --> 00:03:07,650 Speaker 2: When I came to seconds later, I found myself over 44 00:03:07,650 --> 00:03:10,730 Speaker 2: the road into the wall. After a second or two, 45 00:03:10,850 --> 00:03:12,610 Speaker 2: I was released and slid to the ground. 46 00:03:13,770 --> 00:03:17,530 Speaker 1: She had no idea what had happened. She looked at 47 00:03:17,530 --> 00:03:18,050 Speaker 1: her baby. 48 00:03:18,730 --> 00:03:21,850 Speaker 2: Her bonnet was twisted grotesquely and hung around her neck. 49 00:03:22,570 --> 00:03:25,850 Speaker 2: Her hair was blown back tightly, as if she had none. 50 00:03:26,010 --> 00:03:28,730 Speaker 2: She was staring at space, not comprehending. 51 00:03:29,650 --> 00:03:34,250 Speaker 1: Betty's clothes were a mess, buttons and ribbons everywhere, but 52 00:03:34,410 --> 00:03:38,450 Speaker 1: she wasn't hurt, and neither was her daughter. A horse 53 00:03:38,490 --> 00:03:41,890 Speaker 1: and cart careened down the street, the driver's legs waving 54 00:03:41,930 --> 00:03:42,370 Speaker 1: in the air. 55 00:03:43,210 --> 00:03:45,010 Speaker 2: I was laughing hysterically. 56 00:03:45,810 --> 00:03:48,490 Speaker 1: She picked up her daughter, got to her feet, and 57 00:03:48,690 --> 00:03:52,570 Speaker 1: continued her journey around the corner. A man stopped her. 58 00:03:53,250 --> 00:03:58,210 Speaker 1: Where were you, weddyed love alworths for a saucepan. He 59 00:03:58,290 --> 00:04:03,050 Speaker 1: gently touched her shoulder and turned her around. Not today, 60 00:04:03,130 --> 00:04:08,650 Speaker 1: my love, go home and try tomorrow. And so Betty, perplexed, 61 00:04:09,250 --> 00:04:12,490 Speaker 1: went home with her baby, and she never had to 62 00:04:12,530 --> 00:04:17,210 Speaker 1: see the sight of the explosion. The jagged skeleton bricks 63 00:04:17,250 --> 00:04:21,250 Speaker 1: and timber that used to be the Woolworth storm, the 64 00:04:21,330 --> 00:04:24,810 Speaker 1: scraps of clothing and wedding rings that were all the 65 00:04:24,850 --> 00:04:27,770 Speaker 1: remains of the women who had been queuing up for saucepans. 66 00:04:28,050 --> 00:04:30,810 Speaker 1: Just a few minutes ahead of her. She didn't have 67 00:04:30,850 --> 00:04:33,810 Speaker 1: to gaze at the number fifty three bus that had 68 00:04:33,810 --> 00:04:38,970 Speaker 1: stopped outside the store, filled with motionless passengers, covered in dust, 69 00:04:39,370 --> 00:04:46,210 Speaker 1: apparently unharmed, but all killed instantly, All killed instantly by 70 00:04:46,250 --> 00:04:49,850 Speaker 1: a weapon that couldn't be seen and could not be stopped, 71 00:04:50,850 --> 00:04:56,010 Speaker 1: a weapon called the V two. I'm Tim Harford, and 72 00:04:56,090 --> 00:05:24,370 Speaker 1: you're listening to cautionary tales. One hundred and sixty eight 73 00:05:24,530 --> 00:05:27,970 Speaker 1: people were killed by the V two strike on Woolworth's. 74 00:05:28,370 --> 00:05:32,930 Speaker 1: Many more were seriously injured. Eleven people were simply recorded 75 00:05:32,970 --> 00:05:36,690 Speaker 1: as missing. We presumed that they were inside the Woolworths 76 00:05:36,690 --> 00:05:40,170 Speaker 1: store when the V two hit, and that they were vaporized, 77 00:05:40,330 --> 00:05:44,090 Speaker 1: leaving no trace at all, but will never know. This 78 00:05:44,410 --> 00:05:47,850 Speaker 1: is the story of the V two, the dreaded rocket 79 00:05:47,890 --> 00:05:50,410 Speaker 1: powered bomb that the Nazis began to use in the 80 00:05:50,490 --> 00:05:53,730 Speaker 1: last few months of the Second World War. It traveled 81 00:05:53,770 --> 00:05:57,050 Speaker 1: faster than the speed of sound. You couldn't hear it coming. 82 00:05:57,650 --> 00:06:00,330 Speaker 1: One moment you're queuing up to buy a saucepan. The 83 00:06:00,370 --> 00:06:05,130 Speaker 1: next moment, well, there is no next moment. I want 84 00:06:05,130 --> 00:06:09,210 Speaker 1: to explore how this terrible weapon came into existence, why 85 00:06:09,410 --> 00:06:12,290 Speaker 1: so many of the people it hurt weren't the people 86 00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:15,930 Speaker 1: you might expect, and the lessons we can learn even today. 87 00:06:17,130 --> 00:06:19,770 Speaker 1: Later we'll try to understand the weapon from the perspective 88 00:06:19,850 --> 00:06:23,450 Speaker 1: of the Germans and the Americans, but let's start with 89 00:06:23,530 --> 00:06:26,970 Speaker 1: the British and wind back a little further in time. 90 00:06:28,970 --> 00:06:32,170 Speaker 1: Britain had been at war with Nazi Germany since nineteen 91 00:06:32,250 --> 00:06:36,210 Speaker 1: thirty nine. London and many other British towns and cities 92 00:06:36,450 --> 00:06:40,210 Speaker 1: had been relentlessly bombed in late nineteen forty and early 93 00:06:40,330 --> 00:06:44,610 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, but by nineteen forty two the focus 94 00:06:44,650 --> 00:06:49,290 Speaker 1: of the war had moved elsewhere. Round about Christmas in 95 00:06:49,410 --> 00:06:53,130 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two, a British intelligence officer named R. V. 96 00:06:53,370 --> 00:06:57,930 Speaker 1: Jones received a worrying message. Jones had risen to a 97 00:06:57,970 --> 00:07:01,090 Speaker 1: lofty position in the British Intelligence Service at the age 98 00:07:01,090 --> 00:07:04,370 Speaker 1: of just thirty one, and he didn't like what he read. 99 00:07:05,530 --> 00:07:08,530 Speaker 1: The message was from an informant in Germany. Who had 100 00:07:08,610 --> 00:07:14,410 Speaker 1: managed to overhear a conversation between two senior Nazi engineers about. 101 00:07:14,650 --> 00:07:18,650 Speaker 3: A new German weapon. Weapon is a rocket containing five 102 00:07:18,810 --> 00:07:22,810 Speaker 3: tons explosive with a maximum range of two hundred kilometers. 103 00:07:23,570 --> 00:07:27,890 Speaker 1: Two weeks later, another message. 104 00:07:26,730 --> 00:07:30,410 Speaker 3: The Germans have constructed a new factory at Penamunda where 105 00:07:30,530 --> 00:07:33,890 Speaker 3: new weapons are manufactured. The new weapon is in the 106 00:07:33,890 --> 00:07:36,130 Speaker 3: form of a rocket which has been seen fired from 107 00:07:36,170 --> 00:07:37,410 Speaker 3: the testing ground. 108 00:07:38,570 --> 00:07:42,450 Speaker 1: Other similar reports dribbled in over the following three months. 109 00:07:43,570 --> 00:07:47,490 Speaker 1: Sitting in London, R V. Jones was intrigued, but the 110 00:07:47,570 --> 00:07:51,690 Speaker 1: reports were little more than rumors, and the weapons seemed fantastical. 111 00:07:52,370 --> 00:07:55,690 Speaker 1: Jones asked for details on the movements of the German 112 00:07:55,810 --> 00:07:59,890 Speaker 1: units with the most expert radar operators. He was sure 113 00:07:59,930 --> 00:08:03,450 Speaker 1: that if a rocket was being tested at Pinamunda, which 114 00:08:03,490 --> 00:08:06,370 Speaker 1: is on the north coast of Germany between Denmark and Poland, 115 00:08:06,730 --> 00:08:10,250 Speaker 1: then those radar units would be delay lloyd to the area. 116 00:08:11,090 --> 00:08:15,850 Speaker 1: Sure enough, that's where they were. He commissioned high level 117 00:08:15,970 --> 00:08:21,090 Speaker 1: aerial photographs of Painnamunda, and after exhaustive study, found what 118 00:08:21,250 --> 00:08:24,450 Speaker 1: looked like it might be a rocket about thirty five 119 00:08:24,490 --> 00:08:28,850 Speaker 1: feet long. These clues convinced R. V. Jones that the 120 00:08:28,930 --> 00:08:32,650 Speaker 1: reports of a rocket weapon had to be taken seriously, 121 00:08:33,690 --> 00:08:37,090 Speaker 1: but he was making a lonely argument. Most of the 122 00:08:37,130 --> 00:08:43,930 Speaker 1: rest of the British establishment was skeptical. In June nineteen 123 00:08:44,010 --> 00:08:47,970 Speaker 1: forty three, R. V. Jones was summoned to a meeting 124 00:08:48,170 --> 00:08:52,530 Speaker 1: of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's war Cabinet along with several 125 00:08:52,610 --> 00:08:57,010 Speaker 1: other experts. Churchill wanted to resolve once and for all 126 00:08:57,290 --> 00:09:00,890 Speaker 1: the argument about the existence or non existence of a 127 00:09:00,930 --> 00:09:06,250 Speaker 1: secret German rocket program. On one side, there was R. V. Jones, 128 00:09:06,610 --> 00:09:09,770 Speaker 1: convinced that the rocket existed based on the clues from 129 00:09:09,770 --> 00:09:13,290 Speaker 1: the telegrams and the aerial photographs and the movements of 130 00:09:13,410 --> 00:09:18,090 Speaker 1: German radar teams. On the other the skeptics, led by 131 00:09:18,170 --> 00:09:24,890 Speaker 1: Churchill's senior advisor, Frederick Linderman. The debate was spirited. Frederick 132 00:09:24,930 --> 00:09:28,930 Speaker 1: Linderman pointed out that Britain had rocket scientists too, and 133 00:09:29,090 --> 00:09:32,130 Speaker 1: those scientists believed that the rocket shaped object in the 134 00:09:32,210 --> 00:09:36,090 Speaker 1: aerial photograph wasn't big enough to deliver anything like the 135 00:09:36,210 --> 00:09:39,450 Speaker 1: range being rumored. The Germans would have had to have 136 00:09:39,490 --> 00:09:43,170 Speaker 1: delivered a technological miracle to make a rocket that small 137 00:09:43,490 --> 00:09:47,090 Speaker 1: fly that far, and that was surely out of the question. 138 00:09:48,530 --> 00:09:52,530 Speaker 1: Even if the rocket did exist and could fly, linderman continued, 139 00:09:52,890 --> 00:09:55,650 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be able to hit targets with any accuracy. 140 00:09:56,010 --> 00:09:59,050 Speaker 1: And even if the Germans could build some kind of 141 00:09:59,130 --> 00:10:02,530 Speaker 1: bomb on a rocket ship, why on earth would they 142 00:10:02,570 --> 00:10:06,690 Speaker 1: do that. Lindermann reminded the group that Germany had to 143 00:10:06,730 --> 00:10:11,810 Speaker 1: marshal its scarce resources carefully. It desperately needed material for 144 00:10:11,970 --> 00:10:15,530 Speaker 1: tanks and planes. It seemed quite absurd that they would 145 00:10:15,570 --> 00:10:19,370 Speaker 1: waste time and money on a costly and impractical program 146 00:10:19,890 --> 00:10:24,370 Speaker 1: to put bombs on rockets. Pouring vast amounts of resources 147 00:10:24,410 --> 00:10:27,850 Speaker 1: into making rocket bombs made no strategic sense. It defied 148 00:10:27,930 --> 00:10:33,690 Speaker 1: all economic logic. Linderman was hugely influential. He was also 149 00:10:33,810 --> 00:10:37,650 Speaker 1: the person who'd originally recommended R. V. Jones to Churchill, 150 00:10:38,450 --> 00:10:42,290 Speaker 1: but now he vigorously disagreed with his young protege. He 151 00:10:42,370 --> 00:10:45,330 Speaker 1: thought that Jones must have been mistaken when examining the 152 00:10:45,410 --> 00:10:49,450 Speaker 1: aerial photographs, that Jones had seen a plywood decoy, not 153 00:10:49,530 --> 00:10:54,210 Speaker 1: a real rocket. Linderman had heard different rumors, he told 154 00:10:54,290 --> 00:10:57,530 Speaker 1: Churchill and the others. He had heard that the Germans 155 00:10:57,530 --> 00:11:02,090 Speaker 1: were working on some kind of pilotless plane instead. That 156 00:11:02,250 --> 00:11:05,930 Speaker 1: sounded more believable, although it still didn't make much sense. 157 00:11:06,610 --> 00:11:10,050 Speaker 1: The most sensible thing that the Germans could folks, was 158 00:11:10,090 --> 00:11:14,130 Speaker 1: making more of their proven weapons of war fighter planes, 159 00:11:14,490 --> 00:11:19,610 Speaker 1: bombers and tanks. The idea of a vast secret program 160 00:11:19,730 --> 00:11:23,250 Speaker 1: to develop a rocket bomb that surely couldn't work. The 161 00:11:23,290 --> 00:11:28,130 Speaker 1: whole thing was clearly a hoax, said Linderman. But young R. V. 162 00:11:28,290 --> 00:11:31,690 Speaker 1: Jones was well able to defend his view that the 163 00:11:31,770 --> 00:11:36,650 Speaker 1: rocket was real. His aerial photographs proved that Painna Munder 164 00:11:36,810 --> 00:11:40,570 Speaker 1: was a huge site full of complex equipment and facilities. 165 00:11:40,970 --> 00:11:45,490 Speaker 1: Whatever was happening there was plainly important. If the Germans 166 00:11:45,490 --> 00:11:48,210 Speaker 1: were attempting to pull off a hoax, it was a 167 00:11:48,290 --> 00:11:52,250 Speaker 1: hoax calculated to prompt an attack on Painamunda. What would 168 00:11:52,290 --> 00:11:56,090 Speaker 1: they gain from that? Churchill was delighted with a young 169 00:11:56,170 --> 00:12:01,250 Speaker 1: man standing up for himself. He teased Linderman, hear that 170 00:12:01,250 --> 00:12:05,010 Speaker 1: that's a weighty point against you. Remember it was you 171 00:12:05,130 --> 00:12:09,650 Speaker 1: who introduced him to me. After a vigorous argument, R. V. 172 00:12:09,890 --> 00:12:13,490 Speaker 1: Jones convinced the Prime Minister that the Germans had no 173 00:12:13,690 --> 00:12:18,610 Speaker 1: reason to create a self destructive hoax. The rocket must 174 00:12:18,650 --> 00:12:24,850 Speaker 1: be real. The meeting concluded with Churchill's order bomb paya 175 00:12:24,930 --> 00:12:31,810 Speaker 1: munda inter rubble. Cautionary tales will return after the break. 176 00:12:46,170 --> 00:12:49,970 Speaker 1: Here's what the British didn't know as Churchill listened to 177 00:12:50,010 --> 00:12:54,210 Speaker 1: the Experts debate in nineteen forty three. They didn't know 178 00:12:54,410 --> 00:12:57,490 Speaker 1: that a senior member of the German Army had been 179 00:12:57,690 --> 00:13:01,170 Speaker 1: obsessed with the idea of a rocket bomb for a 180 00:13:01,370 --> 00:13:07,090 Speaker 1: quarter of a century. His name was Captain Dr Valter Doornberger, 181 00:13:07,570 --> 00:13:12,210 Speaker 1: later to be Major jen Rule Dr Valter Dornberger. In 182 00:13:12,250 --> 00:13:15,530 Speaker 1: the First World War, drn Berger had been an officer 183 00:13:15,610 --> 00:13:19,410 Speaker 1: with the Paris Gun, a huge piece of German artillery. 184 00:13:20,650 --> 00:13:24,010 Speaker 1: The Paris Gun could fire two hundred and thirty pound 185 00:13:24,090 --> 00:13:28,490 Speaker 1: shells a range of eighty miles. They took three minutes 186 00:13:28,610 --> 00:13:32,210 Speaker 1: to sail through the air in a vast parabolic arc 187 00:13:32,570 --> 00:13:38,770 Speaker 1: until eventually arriving at their destination, which was, of course Paris. 188 00:13:40,170 --> 00:13:43,610 Speaker 1: That was a glorious memory for an artillery officer, shelling 189 00:13:43,650 --> 00:13:47,570 Speaker 1: the enemy from eighty miles away, the joy of waging 190 00:13:47,650 --> 00:13:51,210 Speaker 1: war from well out of range. But the First World 191 00:13:51,250 --> 00:13:56,330 Speaker 1: War ended in German defeat and humiliation. Among other things, 192 00:13:56,650 --> 00:14:00,210 Speaker 1: the Treaty of Versailles banned the German Army from using 193 00:14:00,290 --> 00:14:05,330 Speaker 1: artillery like the Paris Gun. The treaty didn't ban rockets, 194 00:14:05,370 --> 00:14:09,690 Speaker 1: though why would it. Rocket Ships were the stuff of hobbyists, 195 00:14:09,930 --> 00:14:14,450 Speaker 1: day dreams, and science fiction. In the nineteen twenties, Germans 196 00:14:14,450 --> 00:14:18,410 Speaker 1: were positively giddy about rocket ship stories. They flocked to 197 00:14:18,450 --> 00:14:21,250 Speaker 1: the movie theaters to see a new film by Fritz 198 00:14:21,370 --> 00:14:26,330 Speaker 1: Lang and Theovon Harbu, the husband and wife creators of Metropolis. 199 00:14:27,090 --> 00:14:32,810 Speaker 1: The film was called frau Immonde The Woman in the Moon. Meanwhile, 200 00:14:33,050 --> 00:14:36,970 Speaker 1: pioneers such as Hermann Obett and Max Vallier were beginning 201 00:14:37,010 --> 00:14:41,370 Speaker 1: to experiment with small scale rocket engines and publishing books 202 00:14:41,410 --> 00:14:46,330 Speaker 1: about the far off promise of space travel. To Captain Drnberger, 203 00:14:46,770 --> 00:14:51,410 Speaker 1: these rockets meant more than stories about space. They presented 204 00:14:51,730 --> 00:14:56,210 Speaker 1: an opportunity. If the German Army couldn't build long range 205 00:14:56,330 --> 00:14:59,490 Speaker 1: artillery anymore, why not try to put a bomb on 206 00:14:59,570 --> 00:15:04,170 Speaker 1: a rocket With hindsight, the attraction of rockets as a 207 00:15:04,210 --> 00:15:09,250 Speaker 1: military technology is obvious. Today we call them ballistic missiles. 208 00:15:09,570 --> 00:15:13,770 Speaker 1: They fly high and far and fast. Even with twenty 209 00:15:13,810 --> 00:15:17,210 Speaker 1: first century technology, it's hard to intercept them, and you 210 00:15:17,250 --> 00:15:21,810 Speaker 1: get very little warning that they're coming. With nineteen thirties technology, 211 00:15:22,130 --> 00:15:25,890 Speaker 1: defence would be hopeless. A rocket could fly at several 212 00:15:25,930 --> 00:15:28,690 Speaker 1: times the speed of sound, almost a mile per second. 213 00:15:29,210 --> 00:15:31,890 Speaker 1: You wouldn't see it, you wouldn't hear it, and you 214 00:15:32,010 --> 00:15:35,850 Speaker 1: certainly couldn't stop it. But the question was could they 215 00:15:35,850 --> 00:15:42,330 Speaker 1: build it? Rockets were complex, temperamental, dangerous things. Rocket pioneer 216 00:15:42,450 --> 00:15:46,530 Speaker 1: Herman Obet lost an eye in nineteen twenty nine, and 217 00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:49,450 Speaker 1: he was merely trying to produce special effects for the 218 00:15:49,570 --> 00:15:54,930 Speaker 1: Frau Immonde movie his little model rocket exploded. Max Valier, 219 00:15:55,330 --> 00:15:59,450 Speaker 1: realizing that space was still beyond his grasp, was building 220 00:15:59,490 --> 00:16:03,930 Speaker 1: and driving rocket powered cars, reaching a record breaking speed 221 00:16:03,970 --> 00:16:07,570 Speaker 1: of one hundred and fifty five miles per hour. But 222 00:16:07,690 --> 00:16:10,570 Speaker 1: he was killed in nineteen thirty when one of the 223 00:16:10,650 --> 00:16:14,570 Speaker 1: rocket engines blew up on the test bench, sending shrapnel 224 00:16:14,570 --> 00:16:18,010 Speaker 1: through his chest. If you can lose an eye making 225 00:16:18,050 --> 00:16:21,050 Speaker 1: a model rocket for a movie, or die in your 226 00:16:21,090 --> 00:16:25,450 Speaker 1: own workshop, what were the risks of building reliable missile 227 00:16:25,490 --> 00:16:29,050 Speaker 1: weapons at scale and volume so great that they could 228 00:16:29,130 --> 00:16:36,450 Speaker 1: replace artillery. Nevertheless, in nineteen thirty two, Valter Dornberger secured 229 00:16:36,490 --> 00:16:41,410 Speaker 1: some funding from his military superiors, recruited his first rocket scientists, 230 00:16:42,090 --> 00:16:45,610 Speaker 1: and began the long quest to build the deadly rocket 231 00:16:45,650 --> 00:16:50,130 Speaker 1: weapon that would eventually be called the V two. The 232 00:16:50,170 --> 00:16:54,570 Speaker 1: top British scientists in nineteen forty three thought that rocket 233 00:16:54,610 --> 00:16:58,090 Speaker 1: weapons were a pipe dream. But here's something else they 234 00:16:58,130 --> 00:17:02,130 Speaker 1: didn't know. For more than a decade, the German government 235 00:17:02,290 --> 00:17:06,090 Speaker 1: had been throwing money at Valter Dornberger's team of scientists 236 00:17:06,490 --> 00:17:10,170 Speaker 1: to try to crack the rocket problem. The British would 237 00:17:10,250 --> 00:17:13,610 Speaker 1: not have been surprised to learn that Dornberger's team had 238 00:17:13,650 --> 00:17:19,090 Speaker 1: produced failed launch after failed launch, year after year. They 239 00:17:19,130 --> 00:17:22,850 Speaker 1: would have been astonished to learn that despite all the failures, 240 00:17:23,450 --> 00:17:27,970 Speaker 1: the Nazis were still giving Dornberger more and more resources 241 00:17:28,490 --> 00:17:33,170 Speaker 1: to keep on trying. The young British intelligence officer R. V. 242 00:17:33,290 --> 00:17:37,010 Speaker 1: Jones had been right to conclude that something important was 243 00:17:37,050 --> 00:17:42,010 Speaker 1: happening at Payinamunda, but even he couldn't have guessed how important. 244 00:17:43,290 --> 00:17:47,770 Speaker 1: Dornberger had built a vast facility, costing five hundred and 245 00:17:47,770 --> 00:17:52,690 Speaker 1: fifty million Reichsmarks the equivalent of billions of dollars today. 246 00:17:53,530 --> 00:17:57,330 Speaker 1: There were research facilities and a testing site, a large 247 00:17:57,450 --> 00:18:01,690 Speaker 1: oval embankment big enough to contain four football pitches, with 248 00:18:01,890 --> 00:18:06,570 Speaker 1: forty yard thick earthworks designed to corral missiles. They toppled 249 00:18:06,570 --> 00:18:10,410 Speaker 1: over and blasted off horizontally. There were facilities to build 250 00:18:10,450 --> 00:18:14,330 Speaker 1: ballistic missiles in large quantities once they had one that worked. 251 00:18:15,170 --> 00:18:19,650 Speaker 1: The site housed the largest industrial factory building Europe had 252 00:18:19,730 --> 00:18:24,290 Speaker 1: yet seen, and beyond that, Germany's most modern housing estate, 253 00:18:24,770 --> 00:18:29,210 Speaker 1: providing stylish accommodation for three thousand people, the families of 254 00:18:29,250 --> 00:18:33,690 Speaker 1: the scientists and engineers. There were schools, shops, sports and 255 00:18:33,770 --> 00:18:38,970 Speaker 1: leisure facilities, a beach resort, and well tended paths meandering 256 00:18:39,010 --> 00:18:42,650 Speaker 1: through the nearby forest. Since there wasn't room on the 257 00:18:42,730 --> 00:18:45,170 Speaker 1: site for everyone who would work at Pain and Mundo, 258 00:18:45,530 --> 00:18:48,650 Speaker 1: there were purpose built railway lines to bring in workers. 259 00:18:49,290 --> 00:18:51,770 Speaker 1: The docks were enlarged to allow for the flow of 260 00:18:51,850 --> 00:18:55,970 Speaker 1: raw materials and food. There was a liquid oxygen plant 261 00:18:56,490 --> 00:18:59,850 Speaker 1: and a thirty megawatt coal fired power station that's enough 262 00:18:59,850 --> 00:19:04,210 Speaker 1: to power a small city, all intended to mass produce 263 00:19:04,250 --> 00:19:09,250 Speaker 1: a technology that the British experts thought was impossible. At 264 00:19:09,290 --> 00:19:13,850 Speaker 1: least that was what Walter Dornberger had intended, but not 265 00:19:14,050 --> 00:19:17,450 Speaker 1: everyone in Nazi Germany was convinced that Dornberger would be 266 00:19:17,490 --> 00:19:22,490 Speaker 1: able to deliver on his rocket bomb ambitions. So another 267 00:19:22,610 --> 00:19:25,730 Speaker 1: part of the German War machine began to advance a 268 00:19:25,770 --> 00:19:32,450 Speaker 1: parallel plan. Like Dornberger's rockets, it promised a far greater range, payload, 269 00:19:32,530 --> 00:19:37,690 Speaker 1: and accuracy than even the largest artillery. Like the rockets, 270 00:19:37,850 --> 00:19:41,650 Speaker 1: it was intended to bring German firepower to bear far 271 00:19:41,730 --> 00:19:46,450 Speaker 1: behind enemy lines, but unlike the rockets, it was to 272 00:19:46,490 --> 00:19:53,010 Speaker 1: be cheap, simple, and ruthlessly practical. This parallel weapon became 273 00:19:53,130 --> 00:19:57,850 Speaker 1: known as the V one. The V stood for Vegeltung 274 00:19:58,370 --> 00:20:03,530 Speaker 1: or vengeance Valtera. Dornberger managed to get this rival technology 275 00:20:03,570 --> 00:20:07,010 Speaker 1: moved to Painamunda, where the cutting edge facilities would be 276 00:20:07,010 --> 00:20:10,250 Speaker 1: devoted to producing both the v V one and the 277 00:20:10,370 --> 00:20:15,170 Speaker 1: V two. Remember when Churchill's senior advisor, Frederick Linderman said 278 00:20:15,210 --> 00:20:18,170 Speaker 1: he'd heard another rumor that the Germans were working on 279 00:20:18,210 --> 00:20:23,250 Speaker 1: a pilotless plane. That rumor was right two. The pilotless 280 00:20:23,290 --> 00:20:28,890 Speaker 1: plane was the V one. The idea was straightforward. Make 281 00:20:28,930 --> 00:20:31,130 Speaker 1: a bomb in the shape of a plane, give it 282 00:20:31,210 --> 00:20:34,890 Speaker 1: a primitive jet engine so that it flies quickly pointed 283 00:20:34,930 --> 00:20:37,650 Speaker 1: in the right direction, and use a gyroscope to keep 284 00:20:37,690 --> 00:20:41,930 Speaker 1: it on course. The V one looks oddly modern, like 285 00:20:42,010 --> 00:20:46,450 Speaker 1: a contemporary predator drone or a torpedo with wings. It 286 00:20:46,490 --> 00:20:50,250 Speaker 1: became known as the buzz bomb or the doodlebug because 287 00:20:50,250 --> 00:20:54,650 Speaker 1: of the loud, vibrating sound it produced. These vibrations were 288 00:20:54,690 --> 00:20:58,050 Speaker 1: a side effect to the jet engine's cheap design, and 289 00:20:58,130 --> 00:21:01,090 Speaker 1: were so violent that the V one would sometimes shake 290 00:21:01,210 --> 00:21:04,490 Speaker 1: itself into scrap by the end of the flight. That 291 00:21:04,570 --> 00:21:07,410 Speaker 1: didn't matter. The whole point of the V one was 292 00:21:07,490 --> 00:21:10,330 Speaker 1: that it was a flying bomb designed to drop out 293 00:21:10,330 --> 00:21:13,290 Speaker 1: of the sky over London. If it was falling apart 294 00:21:13,330 --> 00:21:16,650 Speaker 1: by the time it reached its target, who cared. The 295 00:21:16,770 --> 00:21:20,690 Speaker 1: contrast between the two weapons was striking. While the V 296 00:21:20,770 --> 00:21:23,970 Speaker 1: two was fueled with a volatile mix of alcohol and 297 00:21:24,050 --> 00:21:28,650 Speaker 1: liquid oxygen, the V one ran on simple gasoline. The 298 00:21:28,770 --> 00:21:32,170 Speaker 1: V two could reach nearly three thousand, six hundred miles 299 00:21:32,170 --> 00:21:36,330 Speaker 1: per hour and climb an astonishing fifty five miles high, 300 00:21:36,650 --> 00:21:39,450 Speaker 1: which is most of the way of space. The V 301 00:21:39,610 --> 00:21:43,010 Speaker 1: one flew at just four hundred miles per hour at 302 00:21:43,050 --> 00:21:47,050 Speaker 1: a height of about half a mile. In principle, the 303 00:21:47,170 --> 00:21:51,490 Speaker 1: V two seemed like the superior weapon. It was untrackable 304 00:21:51,610 --> 00:21:55,570 Speaker 1: and unstoppable. You could fire it from mobile sites and 305 00:21:55,690 --> 00:21:59,090 Speaker 1: change them every day. The V one, in contrast, would 306 00:21:59,090 --> 00:22:01,930 Speaker 1: be trackable on radar. If the British could shoot it 307 00:22:02,010 --> 00:22:04,890 Speaker 1: down with anti aircraft guns, it would have to be 308 00:22:04,930 --> 00:22:08,170 Speaker 1: catapulted from a fixed ramp. The British could find those 309 00:22:08,250 --> 00:22:12,850 Speaker 1: ramps and destroy them. But when Frederick Linderman told Churchill 310 00:22:12,930 --> 00:22:15,930 Speaker 1: that the pilotless plane was a more logical aim for 311 00:22:16,010 --> 00:22:19,850 Speaker 1: the Germans than the rocket, he was right because the 312 00:22:19,930 --> 00:22:23,130 Speaker 1: V one was so much easier to design and build. 313 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:28,210 Speaker 1: By nineteen forty three, Drnberger's V two rocket bomb had 314 00:22:28,250 --> 00:22:30,770 Speaker 1: been more than a decade in the making and still 315 00:22:30,810 --> 00:22:35,170 Speaker 1: wasn't working. The V one went from a vague concept 316 00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:39,610 Speaker 1: to a successful test flight in just eighteen months, and 317 00:22:39,650 --> 00:22:42,970 Speaker 1: for the price of a single V two rocket, Nazi 318 00:22:43,010 --> 00:22:46,690 Speaker 1: Germany could build and launch maybe twenty five V one's, 319 00:22:47,530 --> 00:22:50,650 Speaker 1: And since they carried a similar payload a similar distance 320 00:22:50,730 --> 00:22:59,490 Speaker 1: with similar accuracy, why wouldn't they Why Indeed, the experts 321 00:22:59,490 --> 00:23:02,850 Speaker 1: in Churchill's war room didn't yet know all these details. 322 00:23:02,890 --> 00:23:06,730 Speaker 1: Of course, all they knew were rumors of pilotless planes 323 00:23:06,770 --> 00:23:11,570 Speaker 1: and rocket bombs. For Frederick Line, the conclusion was obvious. 324 00:23:12,170 --> 00:23:15,130 Speaker 1: The rocket bomb made no sense, so it must be 325 00:23:15,170 --> 00:23:19,690 Speaker 1: a hoax. No, said R. V. Jones. It might make 326 00:23:19,730 --> 00:23:24,850 Speaker 1: no sense, but they really are doing it. In August 327 00:23:25,170 --> 00:23:30,210 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three, Britain's Royal Air Force put Churchill's order 328 00:23:30,450 --> 00:23:35,290 Speaker 1: into action. Six hundred planes took off and headed to 329 00:23:35,410 --> 00:23:54,810 Speaker 1: Paina Munda. Cautionary tales will return after the break. Late 330 00:23:55,050 --> 00:23:58,770 Speaker 1: in the evening on the seventeenth of August nineteen forty three, 331 00:23:59,370 --> 00:24:02,650 Speaker 1: the air raid sirens at Pina Munda began to sound. 332 00:24:03,850 --> 00:24:08,930 Speaker 1: Felt Drnberger was not overly concerned. British bombers often assembled 333 00:24:09,250 --> 00:24:13,290 Speaker 1: the sea near Painamunda before flying directly south to strike 334 00:24:13,330 --> 00:24:18,730 Speaker 1: at Berlin. Painamunder itself maintained a strict blackout, but General 335 00:24:18,810 --> 00:24:24,010 Speaker 1: Dornberger noticed with unease how clearly the full moon picked 336 00:24:24,050 --> 00:24:29,130 Speaker 1: out the dark houses against the silver lawns. He prepared 337 00:24:29,130 --> 00:24:33,810 Speaker 1: for bed and soon fell asleep. He was jolted awake 338 00:24:34,010 --> 00:24:37,610 Speaker 1: not long after midnight by the thunderous sound of anti 339 00:24:37,730 --> 00:24:42,770 Speaker 1: aircraft guns and then of exploding bombs. Dornberger leaped out 340 00:24:42,770 --> 00:24:45,250 Speaker 1: of bed to pull on his trousers and boots, to 341 00:24:45,290 --> 00:24:48,490 Speaker 1: discover that only his bedroom slippers were close at hand. 342 00:24:49,370 --> 00:24:53,770 Speaker 1: His house was shaking, broken glass everywhere, the heavy oak 343 00:24:53,890 --> 00:24:57,050 Speaker 1: door blown out and angled on the steps leading to 344 00:24:57,130 --> 00:25:00,570 Speaker 1: his garden. He stood for a moment snug in his 345 00:25:00,650 --> 00:25:04,130 Speaker 1: slippers as he gazed out over the smoke and the 346 00:25:04,170 --> 00:25:08,770 Speaker 1: fiery glow of six hundred British planes embarking on a 347 00:25:08,850 --> 00:25:13,890 Speaker 1: full a scale attempt to obliterate Paya Munda's rocket factories 348 00:25:14,570 --> 00:25:19,370 Speaker 1: and to wipe out its scientific staff. Dawn Berger hurried 349 00:25:19,450 --> 00:25:24,330 Speaker 1: to the bomb shelter. The British thought they had succeeded 350 00:25:25,130 --> 00:25:28,890 Speaker 1: from the air. The damage seemed so devastating that they 351 00:25:28,930 --> 00:25:33,010 Speaker 1: even called off a planned follow up strike, But they 352 00:25:33,090 --> 00:25:38,130 Speaker 1: hadn't realized how huge a complex Painnamunda was. They'd missed 353 00:25:38,170 --> 00:25:42,930 Speaker 1: many of its key facilities entirely, or damaged them only superficially, 354 00:25:43,450 --> 00:25:47,410 Speaker 1: including the launchpad, a supersonic wind tunnel, and the rocket 355 00:25:47,450 --> 00:25:51,450 Speaker 1: factory itself. They'd destroyed most of the homes of the 356 00:25:51,490 --> 00:25:56,010 Speaker 1: top engineers and their families, but like Valda Dornberger, most 357 00:25:56,010 --> 00:25:58,690 Speaker 1: of these senior people had made it safely to the 358 00:25:58,690 --> 00:26:03,130 Speaker 1: bomb shelters in time. The bombing ray did kill hundreds 359 00:26:03,170 --> 00:26:06,690 Speaker 1: of people, but those people weren't the top scientists the 360 00:26:06,690 --> 00:26:10,730 Speaker 1: British had been hoping to target. Instead, they were construction 361 00:26:10,850 --> 00:26:15,250 Speaker 1: workers from Eastern Europe, penned behind barbed wire in a 362 00:26:15,290 --> 00:26:18,930 Speaker 1: camp two miles away from the main facilities. To the 363 00:26:19,010 --> 00:26:25,290 Speaker 1: Nazi regime, these workers were disposable and replaceable. The Nazis 364 00:26:25,330 --> 00:26:30,450 Speaker 1: now recognized, though, that Painamunda was vulnerable. They moved the 365 00:26:30,490 --> 00:26:36,050 Speaker 1: manufacturing operation to a different site underground. The British thought 366 00:26:36,090 --> 00:26:40,610 Speaker 1: they'd destroyed the missile program. In fact, they'd just delayed 367 00:26:40,610 --> 00:26:43,770 Speaker 1: its progress, and by only a few months at most. 368 00:26:46,610 --> 00:26:50,650 Speaker 1: In June nineteen forty four, ten months after the bombing 369 00:26:50,730 --> 00:26:54,450 Speaker 1: of Pinamunda and just days after the D Day landings 370 00:26:54,450 --> 00:26:59,010 Speaker 1: in Normandy, the first V one bombs started to rain 371 00:26:59,130 --> 00:27:05,450 Speaker 1: down on London. The crude, vibrating gasoline powered doodlebugs had 372 00:27:05,490 --> 00:27:11,370 Speaker 1: beaten the crazily complex V two to the punch. But then, 373 00:27:11,410 --> 00:27:14,810 Speaker 1: on the eighth of September, the first V two rocket 374 00:27:15,050 --> 00:27:19,610 Speaker 1: hit London. The British experts had thought it would take 375 00:27:19,730 --> 00:27:23,050 Speaker 1: a technological miracle to make a rocket bomb that could 376 00:27:23,130 --> 00:27:27,370 Speaker 1: launch from Germany and hit targets in England. The Germans, 377 00:27:27,490 --> 00:27:32,330 Speaker 1: it seemed, had made that miracle happen, although the target 378 00:27:32,450 --> 00:27:35,930 Speaker 1: surely wasn't what they'd aimed at. The rocket landed in 379 00:27:35,970 --> 00:27:39,850 Speaker 1: the suburb of Chiswick in West London. It did kill 380 00:27:39,850 --> 00:27:42,530 Speaker 1: a soldier, but only because he happened to be in 381 00:27:42,610 --> 00:27:46,250 Speaker 1: Chiswick on leave. The other victims were a sixty three 382 00:27:46,370 --> 00:27:50,250 Speaker 1: year old woman, Ada Harrison and a three year old girl, 383 00:27:50,810 --> 00:27:56,410 Speaker 1: Rosemary Clark. The V two was an unstoppable weapon. It 384 00:27:56,490 --> 00:27:59,970 Speaker 1: was launched from mobile platforms, flew faster than sound, and 385 00:28:00,090 --> 00:28:04,530 Speaker 1: was therefore silent, although some survivors reported their ears popping 386 00:28:04,570 --> 00:28:08,730 Speaker 1: a moment before impact as the pressure wave hit. Surely, 387 00:28:09,170 --> 00:28:14,730 Speaker 1: an unstoppable weapon must win any war, perhaps if you 388 00:28:14,770 --> 00:28:19,970 Speaker 1: can aim it accurately. The V two was wildly unpredictable. 389 00:28:20,850 --> 00:28:24,530 Speaker 1: The Nazis wanted to hit the port in Antwerp, northern Belgium, 390 00:28:24,810 --> 00:28:28,050 Speaker 1: which the Allies were using to reinforce and resupply their 391 00:28:28,090 --> 00:28:32,530 Speaker 1: advance on the Western Front. They launched over sixteen hundred 392 00:28:32,650 --> 00:28:36,850 Speaker 1: V two rockets at Antwerp's docks. More than ninety percent 393 00:28:37,370 --> 00:28:42,130 Speaker 1: landed somewhere else. On the sixteenth of December nineteen forty four, 394 00:28:43,090 --> 00:28:47,810 Speaker 1: nearly six hundred moviegoers in Antwerp were killed when a 395 00:28:47,890 --> 00:28:51,690 Speaker 1: V two hit a local cinema. That strike came just 396 00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:53,810 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks after a V two hit the 397 00:28:53,810 --> 00:28:58,610 Speaker 1: Woolworths department store in southeast London. Ten days Later the 398 00:28:58,690 --> 00:29:02,770 Speaker 1: day after Christmas, London suffered another blow when a rocket 399 00:29:02,810 --> 00:29:06,050 Speaker 1: struck a pub in Islington called the Prince of Wales. 400 00:29:06,930 --> 00:29:09,810 Speaker 1: It was packed with people celebrating the U S engagement 401 00:29:09,890 --> 00:29:13,850 Speaker 1: of local girl Emily Neighbor, and the explosion was strong 402 00:29:13,970 --> 00:29:18,370 Speaker 1: enough to knock down fifteen houses. Seven children from the 403 00:29:18,370 --> 00:29:21,650 Speaker 1: house across the street died, killed by the shock of 404 00:29:21,690 --> 00:29:25,730 Speaker 1: the blast alone. They had no outward sign of injury. 405 00:29:26,650 --> 00:29:31,770 Speaker 1: In total, at least seventy three people died all This 406 00:29:32,130 --> 00:29:35,210 Speaker 1: was typical of the V two program. The missiles were 407 00:29:35,210 --> 00:29:38,770 Speaker 1: too wayward to have much military value, but every now 408 00:29:38,770 --> 00:29:42,370 Speaker 1: and then a missile would strike a crowded place and 409 00:29:42,490 --> 00:29:46,050 Speaker 1: dozens or even hundreds of people would die without ever 410 00:29:46,170 --> 00:29:50,210 Speaker 1: knowing what had hit them. Remember that the V stood 411 00:29:50,250 --> 00:29:55,090 Speaker 1: for vengeance. That's about right. The rocket bombs had been 412 00:29:55,090 --> 00:29:59,290 Speaker 1: intended to terrify Germany's enemies, but they achieved nothing but 413 00:29:59,490 --> 00:30:06,170 Speaker 1: petty revenge for Germany's mounting wartime losses. Civilians were more 414 00:30:06,450 --> 00:30:10,490 Speaker 1: unnerved than terrified. Faced with the V two, there was 415 00:30:10,530 --> 00:30:14,010 Speaker 1: nothing to do but shrug and hope, and the Allied 416 00:30:14,010 --> 00:30:19,450 Speaker 1: strategists weren't terrified either. They were baffled. They couldn't understand 417 00:30:19,450 --> 00:30:22,770 Speaker 1: why the Germans had squandered so much effort and expense 418 00:30:23,170 --> 00:30:27,770 Speaker 1: developing a missile that achieved so little. Freeman Dyson, the 419 00:30:27,770 --> 00:30:31,450 Speaker 1: great physicist, worked for British Bomber Command during the war. 420 00:30:32,290 --> 00:30:34,010 Speaker 1: He later mused, those of. 421 00:30:34,010 --> 00:30:36,290 Speaker 3: US who were seriously engaged in the war were very 422 00:30:36,290 --> 00:30:39,370 Speaker 3: grateful for the V two program. We knew that each 423 00:30:39,490 --> 00:30:41,770 Speaker 3: V two cost as much to produce as a high 424 00:30:41,770 --> 00:30:45,610 Speaker 3: performance fighter airplane. We knew that German forces on the 425 00:30:45,610 --> 00:30:49,090 Speaker 3: fighting fronts were in desperate need of airplanes, and that 426 00:30:49,130 --> 00:30:52,170 Speaker 3: the V two rockets were doing US no military damage. 427 00:30:52,690 --> 00:30:55,090 Speaker 3: From our point of view, the V two program was 428 00:30:55,170 --> 00:30:57,610 Speaker 3: almost as good as if Hitler had adopted a policy 429 00:30:57,650 --> 00:30:59,170 Speaker 3: of unilateral disarmament. 430 00:31:01,610 --> 00:31:05,890 Speaker 1: Germany's rocket program had started in nineteen thirty two, when 431 00:31:05,970 --> 00:31:10,730 Speaker 1: Valter Dornberger had first started to recruit rock scientists. It 432 00:31:10,850 --> 00:31:15,330 Speaker 1: ran for twelve years before the rockets achieved their first 433 00:31:15,530 --> 00:31:19,410 Speaker 1: fatal attack, the one that killed three year old Rosemary Clark, 434 00:31:20,330 --> 00:31:23,930 Speaker 1: and just seven months later it was all over, as 435 00:31:23,970 --> 00:31:27,370 Speaker 1: the last V two strike killed thirty four year old 436 00:31:27,570 --> 00:31:32,050 Speaker 1: Ivy Miller Champ of Orpington, Kent. She was the last 437 00:31:32,090 --> 00:31:35,730 Speaker 1: civilian casualty of the war on British soil. The V 438 00:31:35,770 --> 00:31:40,730 Speaker 1: two terror had lasted less than a year. Neither Rosemary 439 00:31:40,730 --> 00:31:43,930 Speaker 1: Clark nor Ivy Miller Champ would know it, but the 440 00:31:44,010 --> 00:31:47,970 Speaker 1: V two program was a disaster for Germany. It's generally 441 00:31:48,010 --> 00:31:51,250 Speaker 1: reckoned to have placed a similar burden on Germany's economy 442 00:31:51,570 --> 00:31:54,730 Speaker 1: to that placed by the atomic weapon program the Manhattan 443 00:31:54,770 --> 00:32:00,130 Speaker 1: Project on Americas. And for what. In the end, the 444 00:32:00,250 --> 00:32:04,810 Speaker 1: V twos killed about five thousand innocent people, mostly in 445 00:32:04,890 --> 00:32:09,570 Speaker 1: Antwerp and London. It was terrifying, but those are tax 446 00:32:09,650 --> 00:32:14,490 Speaker 1: had almost no military effect, and both sides demonstrated over 447 00:32:14,530 --> 00:32:18,930 Speaker 1: and over again that dropping conventional bombs from planes was 448 00:32:18,930 --> 00:32:23,130 Speaker 1: a much simpler and cheaper way to kill civilians. Add 449 00:32:23,210 --> 00:32:26,770 Speaker 1: up the total explosive power of all the V twos 450 00:32:26,890 --> 00:32:29,970 Speaker 1: ever fired, and you'd get to about the same scale 451 00:32:30,210 --> 00:32:34,770 Speaker 1: as one single large bombing raid from Britain's Royal Air Force. 452 00:32:36,250 --> 00:32:39,850 Speaker 1: As the Allies pushed back the German front line, the 453 00:32:39,930 --> 00:32:43,570 Speaker 1: V twos could no longer reach big cities. The Nazis 454 00:32:43,610 --> 00:32:47,010 Speaker 1: fired them at whatever targets remained in range, such as 455 00:32:47,090 --> 00:32:51,970 Speaker 1: the English market town of Ipswich. But Ipswich is a 456 00:32:52,010 --> 00:32:58,330 Speaker 1: small town in fertile farming country. The expensive sophisticated V twos, 457 00:32:58,650 --> 00:33:02,290 Speaker 1: each one costing as much as a fighter plane, ranged 458 00:33:02,330 --> 00:33:09,930 Speaker 1: down randomly on fields of turnips and sugar Beete forty five. 459 00:33:10,570 --> 00:33:14,810 Speaker 1: That was the legacy of the German rocket program. An 460 00:33:14,850 --> 00:33:21,090 Speaker 1: astonishing technological triumph, but a baffling strategic mistake, a vast 461 00:33:21,290 --> 00:33:26,370 Speaker 1: budget squandered. If you spend billions but end up mostly 462 00:33:26,490 --> 00:33:31,210 Speaker 1: killing housewives shopping for saucepans in Woolworth's, you're not only 463 00:33:31,250 --> 00:33:34,730 Speaker 1: committing a war crime, you're also going to lose the war. 464 00:33:36,370 --> 00:33:40,570 Speaker 1: The British intelligence chief R. V. Jones had struggled to 465 00:33:40,570 --> 00:33:43,490 Speaker 1: convince his colleagues that the Nazis were trying to build 466 00:33:43,490 --> 00:33:47,930 Speaker 1: a rocket powered bomb. He struggled because his colleagues rightly 467 00:33:47,970 --> 00:33:51,130 Speaker 1: pointed out that the idea made no sense in the 468 00:33:51,170 --> 00:33:53,730 Speaker 1: middle of a war. The Nazi regime would have been 469 00:33:53,810 --> 00:33:57,050 Speaker 1: far better served by manufacturing more of the things they 470 00:33:57,130 --> 00:34:03,210 Speaker 1: knew were effective, tanks and airplanes. All that leaves us 471 00:34:03,290 --> 00:34:07,290 Speaker 1: with a question. If it was obvious to the British 472 00:34:07,610 --> 00:34:10,450 Speaker 1: that the idea of a rocket bomb made no sense, 473 00:34:11,490 --> 00:34:17,970 Speaker 1: why wasn't it obvious to Nazi Germany? Writing decades later, R. V. 474 00:34:18,090 --> 00:34:22,010 Speaker 1: Jones mused, when we try to understand the policy behind 475 00:34:22,050 --> 00:34:25,050 Speaker 1: the rocket, we are forced to abandon rationality and instead 476 00:34:25,090 --> 00:34:28,370 Speaker 1: to enter a fantasy where romance has replaced economy. 477 00:34:28,690 --> 00:34:31,770 Speaker 3: Why then, have they made the rocket? The answer is simple, 478 00:34:32,250 --> 00:34:35,410 Speaker 3: no weapon yet produced has comparable romantic appeal. 479 00:34:36,610 --> 00:34:39,890 Speaker 1: That's part of the answer, but there's more to it 480 00:34:39,890 --> 00:34:45,410 Speaker 1: than that. Cautionary Tales will be back next time with 481 00:34:45,650 --> 00:34:49,290 Speaker 1: part two of the story, in which we'll meet the 482 00:34:49,330 --> 00:34:54,930 Speaker 1: brilliant charismatic man who Valter Dornberger recruited as his chief scientist, 483 00:34:55,690 --> 00:34:59,090 Speaker 1: and we'll ask why so many governments are so fond 484 00:34:59,130 --> 00:35:04,770 Speaker 1: of projects that are grand, expensive and finished far too late. 485 00:35:09,770 --> 00:35:12,930 Speaker 1: An excellent guide to the V two program is Murray 486 00:35:12,970 --> 00:35:17,210 Speaker 1: Barber's book V two The A four Rocket From Paynamunda 487 00:35:17,290 --> 00:35:20,970 Speaker 1: to Redstone. For a full list of our sources, see 488 00:35:21,010 --> 00:35:27,010 Speaker 1: the show notes at Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales is 489 00:35:27,010 --> 00:35:30,930 Speaker 1: written by me Tim Harford with Andrew Wright. It's produced 490 00:35:30,930 --> 00:35:34,730 Speaker 1: by Alice Fines with support from Edith Uslow. The sound 491 00:35:34,810 --> 00:35:38,290 Speaker 1: design and original music is the work of Pascal Wise. 492 00:35:39,130 --> 00:35:43,250 Speaker 1: Julia Barton edited the scripts. It features the voice talents 493 00:35:43,250 --> 00:35:47,330 Speaker 1: of Ben Crowe, Melanie Gushridge, Jemma Saunders and rufus Wright. 494 00:35:48,050 --> 00:35:50,850 Speaker 1: The show wouldn't have been possible without the work of 495 00:35:50,970 --> 00:35:56,450 Speaker 1: Jacob Weisberg, Ryan Dilly, Greta Cohne, let Al Millard, John Schnarz, 496 00:35:56,810 --> 00:36:01,650 Speaker 1: Carlie mcgliori and Eric Sandler. Cautionary Tales is a production 497 00:36:01,770 --> 00:36:05,570 Speaker 1: of Pushkin Industries. It was recorded in Wardall Studios in 498 00:36:05,610 --> 00:36:08,730 Speaker 1: London by Tom Berry. If you like the show, please 499 00:36:08,770 --> 00:36:11,770 Speaker 1: remember to share, rate and review go on you know 500 00:36:11,890 --> 00:36:14,090 Speaker 1: it helps us and if you want to hear the 501 00:36:14,130 --> 00:36:17,730 Speaker 1: show ad free, sign up for Pushkin Plus on the 502 00:36:17,770 --> 00:36:21,570 Speaker 1: show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, 503 00:36:21,970 --> 00:36:24,330 Speaker 1: slash plus