| The V-2 rocket, developed in Nazi Germany during the late 1930's and early 1940's, was the world's first ballistic missile. Between September 8, 1944 and March 5, 1945 some 517 V-2 rockets fell on Greater London, the weapon's primary target. Although considered a technological milestone, military historians have generally dismissed the V-2 as a costly enterprise that failed to deliver any strategic benefits. The thesis argues that Hitler and the Nazi leadership backed the rocket program because it offered a powerful vehicle to wage psychological warfare and proved a valuable propaganda tool. More substantially, based upon research of original British government documents, the thesis demonstrates that the threat of long range rocket bombardment succeeded in raising a major strategic challenge for the British government. It is shown that the British government perceived the threat of rocket bombardment far more seriously that the establish literature would suggest. The threat from the weapon, elevated by uncertain intelligence, was understood to be as much psychological as material in nature. It was feared that any material destruction from a rocket bombardment of London would be greatly magnified by the psychological trauma that would accompany this revolutionary form of attack. Planning to meet the contingency of rocket attack took place at the highest levels and included the drafting of extraordinary measures. |
