Editing V-2 rocket (section)

== Production ==
[[File:Peenemunde-165515.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|23 June 1943 RAF reconnaissance photo of V-2s at [[Test Stand VII]] in [[Peenemünde]]]]
{{Main|Mittelwerk}}
On 27 March 1942, Dornberger proposed production plans and the building of a launching site on the Channel coast. In December, Speer ordered Major Thom and Dr. Steinhoff to reconnoitre the site near Watten. Assembly rooms were established at Peenemünde and in the [[Friedrichshafen]] facilities of Zeppelin Works. In 1943, a third factory, [[Raxwerke]], was added.<ref name=walter />{{rp|71–72, 84}}

On 22 December 1942, Hitler signed the order for mass production, when [[Albert Speer]] assumed final technical data would be ready by July 1943. However, many issues still remained to be solved even by the autumn of 1943.<ref name="Speer">{{cite book |last1=Speer |first1=Albert |title=Inside the Third Reich |date=1995 |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-84212-735-3 |pages=496–497}}</ref>

On 8 January 1943, Dornberger and von Braun met with Speer. Speer stated, "As head of the [[Todt organisation]] I will take it on myself to start at once with the building of the launching site on the Channel coast," and established an A-4 production committee under Degenkolb.<ref name=walter />{{rp|72–77}}

On 26 May 1943, the Long-Range Bombardment Commission, chaired by [[AEG (German company)|AEG]] director Petersen, met at Peenemünde to review the [[V-1 flying bomb|V-1]] and V-2 automatic long-range weapons. In attendance were Speer, Air Marshal [[Erhard Milch]], Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]], Col. General [[Friedrich Fromm]], and [[Karl Saur]]. Both weapons had reached the final stage of development, and the commission decided to recommend to Hitler that both weapons be mass-produced. As Dornberger observed, "The disadvantages of the one would be compensated by the other's advantages."<ref name=walter />{{rp|83–84, 87–92}}

{|class="wikitable floatright"
|-
|+Production{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}
|-
! Period of production || Production
|-
| Up to 15 September 1944 ||align="right"| 1,900
|-
| 15 September to 29 October 1944 ||align="right"| 900
|-
| 29 October to 24 November 1944 ||align="right"| 600
|-
| 24 November to 15 January 1945 ||align="right"| 1,100
|-
| 15 January to 15 February 1945 ||align="right"| 700
|-
!Total
!align="right"| 5200
|}

On 7 July 1943, Major General Dornberger, von Braun, and Dr. Steinhof briefed Hitler in his [[Wolf's Lair]]. Also in attendance were Speer, [[Wilhelm Keitel]], and [[Alfred Jodl]]. The briefing included von Braun narrating a movie showing the successful launch on 3 October 1942, with scale models of the Channel coast firing bunker, and supporting vehicles, including the {{Lang|de|Meillerwagen}}. Hitler then gave Peenemünde top priority in the German armaments program stating, "Why was it I could not believe in the success of your work? if we had had these rockets in 1939 we should never have had this war..." Hitler also wanted a second launch bunker built.<ref name=walter />{{rp|93–105}}

Saur planned to build 2,000 rockets per month, between the existing three factories and the Nordhausen Mittelwerk factory being built. However, alcohol production was dependent upon the potato harvest.<ref name=walter />{{rp|97, 102–105}}

A production line was nearly ready at Peenemünde when the Operation Hydra attack occurred. The main targets of the attack included the test stands, the development works, the Pre-Production Works, the settlement where the scientists and technicians lived, the Trassenheide camp, and the harbor sector. According to Dornberger, "Serious damage to the works, contrary to first impressions, was surprisingly small." Work resumed after a delay of four to six weeks, and because of camouflage to mimic complete destruction, there were no more raids during the next nine months. The raid resulted in 735 lives lost, with heavy losses at Trassenheide, while 178 were killed in the settlement, including Dr. Thiel, his family, and Chief Engineer Walther.<ref name=walter />{{rp|139–152}} The Germans eventually moved production to the underground ''Mittelwerk'' in the [[Kohnstein]] where 5,200 V-2 rockets were built with the use of [[forced labour]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruggles |first1=Richard |last2=Brodie |first2=Henry |year=1947 |title=An Empirical Approach to Economic Intelligence in World War II |journal=[[Journal of the American Statistical Association]] |volume=42 |issue=237 |pages=72–91 |doi=10.2307/2280189 |jstor=2280189}}</ref>