Editing V-2 rocket (section)

== Operational history ==
[[File:V-2victimAntwerp1944.jpg|thumb|One of the victims of a V-2 that struck Teniers Square, [[Antwerp]], Belgium, on 27 November 1944. A British military convoy was passing through the square at the time; 126 people (including 26 Allied soldiers) were killed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html |title=Antwerp, "City of Sudden Death" |publisher=v2rocket.com |access-date=31 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703163237/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/antwerp.html |archive-date=3 July 2015 }}</ref>]]
The [[LXV Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|LXV ''Armeekorps'' z.b.V.]] formed during the last days of November 1943 in France commanded by ''General der Artillerie'' z.V. [[Erich Heinemann]] was responsible for the operational use of V-2.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.axishistory.com/books/149-germany-heer/heer-korps/2781-lxv-armeekorps-zbv|title=LXV Armeekorps z.b.V.|website=www.axishistory.com|access-date=25 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725192949/https://www.axishistory.com/books/149-germany-heer/heer-korps/2781-lxv-armeekorps-zbv|archive-date=25 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Three launch battalions were formed in late 1943, ''Artillerie Abteilung'' 836 (Mot.), [[Grossborn]], Artillerie Abteilung 485 (Mot.), [[Naugard]], and ''Artillerie Abteilung'' 962 (''Mot.''). Combat operations commenced in Sept. 1944, when training Batterie 444 deployed. On 2 September 1944, the SS ''Werfer-Abteilung'' 500 was formed, and by October, the SS under the command of SS Lt. Gen [[Hans Kammler]], took operational control of all units. He formed ''Gruppe Süd'' with Art. Abt. 836, [[Merzig]], and ''Gruppe Nord'' with Art. Abt. 485 and ''Batterie'' 444, [[Burgsteinfurt]] and [[The Hague]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zaloga |first1=Steven |title=German V-Weapon Sites 1943–45 |date=2008 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84603-247-9 |pages=53–56}}</ref>

After Hitler's 29 August 1944 declaration to begin V-2 attacks as soon as possible, the offensive began on 7 September 1944 when two were launched at Paris (which the Allies had [[Liberation of Paris|liberated less than two weeks earlier]]), but both crashed soon after launch. On 8 September a single rocket was launched at Paris, which caused modest damage near [[Porte d'Italie]].<ref name=Ordway />{{Rp|218, 220, 467}} Two more launches by the 485th followed, including one from The Hague against London on the same day at 6:43&nbsp;pm.<ref name=Irving />{{Rp|285}} – the first landed at [[Staveley Road]], [[Chiswick]], killing 63-year-old Mrs. Ada Harrison, three-year-old Rosemary Clarke, and [[Sapper]] Bernard Browning on leave from the Royal Engineers,<ref name=Middlebrook />{{Rp|11}} and one that hit Epping with no casualties.

The [[Churchill war ministry|British government]], concerned about spreading panic or giving away vital intelligence to German forces, initially attempted to conceal the cause of the explosions by making no official announcement, and euphemistically blaming them on defective [[Coal gas|gas]] mains.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=96}} The public did not believe this explanation and therefore began referring to the V-2s as "flying gas mains".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Charlie |date=2022-02-28 |title='Flying Gas Mains': Rumour, Secrecy, and Morale during the V-2 Bombardment of Britain |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/92759/2/Flying%20Gas_AAM_Hall.pdf |journal=Twentieth Century British History |language=en |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=52–79 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/hwab029 |issn=0955-2359}}</ref> The Germans themselves finally announced the V-2 on 8 November 1944 and only then, on 10 November 1944, did [[Winston Churchill]] inform Parliament, and the world, that England had been under rocket attack "for the last few weeks".<ref>{{cite Hansard |title=German Long-Range Rockets |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1944/nov/10/german-long-range-rockets#S5CV0404P0_19441110_HOC_3 |house=Commons |date=10 November 1944 |column=1653-4 |speaker=[[Winston Churchill]] |position=Prime Minister |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420025034/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/nov/10/german-long-range-rockets#S5CV0404P0_19441110_HOC_3 |archive-date=20 April 2014 }}</ref>

In September 1944, control of the V-2 mission was transferred to the [[Waffen-SS]] and Division z.V.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.axishistory.com/books/119-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-divisions/1331-division-zv |title=Division z.V. |date=25 May 2013 |access-date=2019-06-23 |website=History of the European Axis nations during the Second World War |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117023811/https://www.axishistory.com/books/119-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-divisions/1331-division-zv |archive-date=17 November 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/westerwald.html|title=A4/V2 Sites in Westerwald|website=www.v2rocket.com|access-date=11 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501044213/http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/westerwald.html|archive-date=1 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Positions of the German launch units changed a number of times. For example, ''Artillerie Init 444'' arrived in the southwest [[Netherlands]] (in [[Zeeland]]) in September 1944. From a field near the village of [[Serooskerke, Walcheren|Serooskerke]], five V-2s were launched on 15 and 16 September, with one more successful and one failed launch on the 18th. That same date, a transport carrying a missile took a wrong turn and ended up in Serooskerke itself, giving a villager the opportunity to surreptitiously take some photographs of the weapon; these were smuggled to London by the [[Dutch Resistance]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Walcheren onder vuur en water 1939–1945 |last2=Eekman |first2=P.G. |last3=Roelse |first3=J. |last4=Tuynman |first4=J. |publisher=Den Boer Middelburg/Uitgevers |year=1984 |isbn=90-70027-82-8 |location=Middelburg |page=98 |language=nl |last1=van Dijk |first1=A.H.}}</ref> After that the unit moved to the woods near [[Rijs]], [[Gaasterland]] in the northwest Netherlands, to ensure that the technology was not captured by the Allies. From Gaasterland V-2s were launched against [[Ipswich]] and [[Norwich]] from 25 September ([[London]] being out of range). Because of their inaccuracy, these V-2s did not hit their target cities. Soon after that only London and Antwerp remained as designated targets as ordered by [[Adolf Hitler]] himself, Antwerp being targeted in the period of 12 to 20 October, after which time the unit moved to The Hague.

[[File:Damage Caused by V2 Rocket Attacks in Britain, 1945 HU88803.jpg|right|thumb|Ruined buildings at [[Whitechapel]], London, left by the penultimate V-2 to strike the city on 27 March 1945; the rocket killed 134 people. The final V-2 to fall on London killed one person at [[Orpington]] later that same day.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__248.aspx |title=The last V2 on London |publisher=West End at War |access-date=31 July 2015 |last=Bisbach |first= Emily |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204200722/http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__248.aspx |archive-date=4 February 2016 }}</ref>]]