Special Note: A couple of readers contacted me during the last few months asking for permission to use some of the following pictures. I had intended to reply but lost their contact details in "another" recent computer failure. If those individuals read this note I invite them to contact me again.
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"V" Weapon Factory
Mittelwerke - Dora

My ex-boss, Norman Yates, retired in September 2002 following many years of dedicated service to RAFA. During the process of sorting of 13 years worth of interesting and "might be useful" memorabilia and archive material which he had collected in his office, he turned up a set of remarkable photographs, which he has handed over to me.

We do not know their origin, but it is clear that they must have been taken by the Allied troops,  very shortly after their arrival in 1945. The scenes are those of an active production facility, missing only the people. With parts and equipment laying where they were last worked on, I would surmise that these pictures where taken by some of the first people to enter the site after the Germans had retreated.

Interestingly, since first compiling this page, I have received emails from 2 German visitors to our site. The first was a gentleman whose details I have lost in a recent computer failure (I'd like to hear from him again if he reads this). He said that he has seen these very same photos in German War Archives but no where near the quality of these, so could I send some high quality scans, which I have. It would seem likely that the pictures I have are the originals, of which there are copies elsewhere.

I more recently received another email from Stephan from Germany, who has recently visited the site. He also confirms that it is the Mittelwerk - Dora site at Nordhausen and makes a couple of observations:

"All of your pictures ARE Nordhausen, there's no doubt. v2-01 (above) shows the Kohnstein (the mountain) with the concentration camp area behind the left building. . . . . . . . the village is named Niedersachswerfen as far as I can remember"

"v2-02 (picture 4)  is tunnel A or B. Railway tracks were running through these tunnels from one end to the other."

"The parts in v2-03 (picture 8) surely belong to the V2 (there's a pipe which doesn't fit into a V1 I think). As the production areas of V1 and V2 were not the same you'll see only V2 parts in this cavern."

Thank you to both my German contributors, any further information is very welcome!

The photos probably originated with the American 104th Army Infantry Division, who found the Nordhausen factory. That does not explain how they wound up in Norman's office, but I imagine that when first taken they must have been very sensitive and secret photo's! History tells us that, when they realised what they had stumbled upon, the American military leaders ordered all useful parts and equipment to be packaged up and sent back to the USA (White Sands, I believe) for evaluation (together with Werner Von Braun, the Chief designer). No time was wasted, as the USA and Britain were anxious that no significant amount of material or useful information fell into Russian hands. Obviously these photo's were taken before this could happen, which shows how important they might have been.

Rail Entrance to Tunnel

Probably "reject" tail fin assemblies, left outside for scrap. There was a very high defect rate, not only due to the fact that work was being carried out at the limit of technological ability but also due to sabotage by the slave workers from the local concentration camps. The penalty for sabotage was death but ,as most workers did not expect to survive the labour camps and the conditions of life were so appalling anyway, it is probable that death was not much of a deterrent!

Tunnel access entrance. It doesn't look like a production area, more transit. If this is Nordhausen (the factory was known as Mittelwerk-Dora) it produced about 5000 V2s between mid 1944 and the end of the war. That requires an excellent materials handling system, which is probably what we see here.

This is the assembly hall for the complete rockets, standing on end. Just imagine that. This is a big complex!

One of the machine shops, pieces still standing where they were last worked on. The facilties and tooling would put many current machine shops to shame!

Power presses for stamping and forming sheet metal sections. This is full blown mass production, not something hobbled together in desperation!

Another assembly hall. Looks like fin or aerofoil assemblies on the left, could even be V1 but the items in the right foreground appear to be pump and turbine assemblies, which I would have expected were V2

Tail fin assemblies

Main Fairings

Combustion Chambers, or the main rocket motors, whatever you like to call them. Look at the number of them, just imagine that each one of those is going to be a V2!

Incidentally, the internal walls of rocket motor combustion chambers are normally made out of exotic metals to withstand the great pressure and temperature. As the Allies gained the upper hand toward the end of the war these metals became inaccessible to the Germans. Their answer? They made them out of mild steel! They achieved this by redesigning the motor so that the  chamber wall was hollow. The alcohol fuel was fed through this space. There were hundreds of tiny holes in the wall which allowed the pressurised alcohol to pass into the combustion chamber, instantly vaporising and cooling in the process to create a protective barrier of relatively cool gas between the combustion and the mild steel wall.

Yet another tunnel of motors, illustrating again the scale of production. It could be the same tunnel from the other end, but I don't think so as the roof is lower and a different shape, unless it is one VERY large tunnel that changes throughout its length. Either way, a lot of motors!

A sectioned, but otherwise complete, V"

Whilst I have said that these photos must have been taken very soon after discovery (because of the amount of kit that was still there) the allies obviously had time to hack one apart on site to see what they were dealing with. This may have been to give them a better idea of how to assemble a V2 once they got all the parts back to the USA.

And finally;

V1 production line.

It is the only photo of V1s amongst the collection, so might not have been Nordhausen, although the factory did make V1s for at least some of the time.

All of the above pictures may be viewed at higher quality and resolution simply by left clicking on them. The originals are extremely high quality and I would be willing to email scans to anybody who has an interest. In the process of researching information to create this page I have discovered at least two of these pictures, and several similar, on another website, www.v2rocket.com/chapters.mittel.html. Obviously either or both sets are copies. With something as important as this, it is clear that more than one set of photos would have been printed. What is clear is that those which Norman passed onto me are from the period, copies or not and I would be very interested to hear from anybody who has any information which might relate to them.

To continue the V2 story;

Many more V2s fell in Britain than was realised by the public at the time. The scale of the V2 menace was played down greatly because of the potentially dangerous demoralising effect it would have on the British people. The devastation caused by a V2 when it landed anywhere near its intended target was staggering. There was no defence, they could not be stopped by anti aircraft fire, fighters or anything else. They were simply too fast. The public couldn't even take shelter because the very first thing that you knew about a V2 attack was the explosion. If you didn't hear the explosion then you were either dead or there wasn't a V2 attack! In the last few months of the War around 1000 missiles were fired at London and Norwich alone. After the Allied invasion, around 2000 were fired at mainland Europe, primarily Antwerp, the centre of the Allied logistics operation.

If the War had lasted only a short time longer the weapon would have been developed further and produced in even greater numbers. There was also the possibility of Germany having completed her aim of producing a nuclear warhead. Having seen these examples of her technological prowess it is a possibility that certainly could not have been discounted. What an amazing escape we had!