| V-2,
or Vengeance Weapon 2 (Vergeltungswaffe zwei), was the
name Nazi propagandists gave to the first ballistic missile used
to strike distant targets. German Army Ordnance had been developing
rocketry since the 1930s, aiming to create a long-range missile
and exploring the use of rocket-powered aircraft. The liquid-propellant
V-2 missile was first flown successfully from Peenemünde, Germany,
on the Baltic Sea in October 1942.
Late
in World War II, Germany launched almost 3,000 V-2s against
England, France, and Belgium. After the war, the United States
and the Soviet Union used captured V-2s as a basis for developing
their own large rockets.
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