The rocket that wrought carnage in London during the Blitz - and took us to the moon: Hitler's V-2 is 70 years old
Missile developed in Nazi Germany first demonstrated on October 3, 1942
V-2 was fired at Britain more than 1,400 times
Weapon was progenitor of rockets used in space programmes

It was one of the most significant advances in technology of the 20th century, but its anniversary will not be celebrated and may bring back horrific memories for some.

For tomorrow it will be 70 years since the first V-2 rocket was launched - the weapon developed by Hitler's scientists which brought terror to British cities during the Second World War.

The rocket - the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and the first known human artifact to enter outer space - was demonstrated for the first time on October 3, 1942.

By the end of the war less than three years later, the V-2 had been fired at Britain more than 1,400 times, causing devastation wherever it landed.

The attacks on Britain and other targets, including Antwerp in Belgium, are estimated to have killed 7,250 military personnel and civilians.

A further 12,000 forced labourers were killed producing the weapons, which were made at the German Mittelwerk factory site by prisoners from a nearby concentration camp.

The liquid-propelled rocket, which could reach a height of 50 miles, was used frequently by the Wehrmacht from September 1944.

The first to be fired at Britain landed at Chiswick, west London, killing a 63-year-old woman, a three-year-old girl and a member of the Royal Engineers on leave.

Pioneer: Werner von Braun, pictured in 1945 after his capture by Allied forces, developed the V-2 as director of Hitler's research station at Peenemunde but became an American citizen involved in the US space programme

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211558/Hitlers-lethal-weapon-Seventy-years-deadly-V-2-rocket-launched.html