LH04-V GERMAN SECRET WEAPONS AND THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE

In the summer and autumn of 1944, an array of German secret weapons began appearing on the battlefields of Europe. These included the V1 flying bomb, the Me 262 jet fighter, and, most ominously, the V2 rocket – the world’s first ballistic missile. The Allies had been anxious about the potential appearance of these weapons for years, so their manifestation on the battlefield seemed like a nightmare come true. And it was unclear what else the Germans might have up their sleeve – an atomic bomb, perhaps? The desire of the Anglo-Americans to get the war over with as quickly as possible led to several weighty and consequential decisions, including the decision to launch a powerful air campaign against Germany in February 1945 – a campaign that included the air attack on the city of Dresden.