Operation Backfire was a military scientific operation during and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

that was performed mainly by British staff. The operation was designed to completely evaluate the entire

V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...

assembly, interrogate German personnel specialized in all phases of it and then to test and launch missiles across the North Sea.

Background

With the end of the war, the Allies' scrambled to acquire German technology. For their part, a number of operations were set by the British, with the

Fedden Mission The Fedden Mission was a British scientific mission sent by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to Germany at the end of the Second World War in Europe, to gather technical intelligence about German aircraft and aeroengines. It was named for the ...

and

Operation Surgeon Operation Surgeon was a British post-Second World War programme to exploit German aeronautics and deny German technical skills to the Soviet Union. A list of 1,500 German scientists and technicians was created, with the goal of forcibly removing th ...

. With the consent of U.S. General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, the operation was orchestrated by Major Robert Staver from the Rocket Section of the Research and Development branch of the Ordnance Office that was tasked in directing the effort to find and interrogate the German rocket specialists who had built the V-2. Since April 30 he had been in the Nordhausen area searching the smaller laboratories for V-2 technicians. Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Junior Commander Joan Bernard would also play a role in this operation.

''Backfire''

For this operation, three or possibly four

s were launched during October 1945 from a launch pad at north-east of

Arensch Arensch is a local part of Cuxhaven, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. History Arensch belonged to Land of Hadeln, and its local rulers were the heads of the on the castles of Sahlenburg and . The Lappes conveyanced their feudal overlordship in ...

near

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is an independent town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has ...

within the

British Occupation zone in Germany The British occupation zone in Germany (German: ''Britische Besatzungszone Deutschlands'') was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. The United Kingdom along with her Commonwealth were one of the three major Allied po ...

in order to demonstrate the weapon to Allied personnel. The Americans had already taken away most of the V2 rocket technology from the German underground

Mittelwerk Mittelwerk (; German for "Central Works") was a German World War II factory built underground in the Kohnstein to avoid Allied bombing. It used slave labor from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp to produce V-2 ballistic missiles, V-1 flyin ...

factory at the

Mittelbau-Dora Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour ...

concentration camp near

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: * Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district **Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city * Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost ...

. Before the Soviets took control of that area, the British were given the opportunity to gather material. They were able to assemble parts sufficient to build eight V2 rockets. Some parts were still missing and there was a search throughout Germany. Some 400 railway cars and 70 Lancaster flights were used to bring the quarter-of-a-million parts and 60 specialized vehicles to Cuxhaven, the most elusive parts being batteries to operate the guidance

gyros Gyros—in some regions, chiefly North America, anglicized as a gyro (; el, γύρος, yíros/gyros, turn, )—is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with ingredients such a ...

. The US supplied some tail assemblies from those that they had taken. Many of the rockets and the hydrogen peroxide fuel used in the operation were provided by

T-Force T-Force was the operational arm of a joint US Army–British Army mission to secure German scientific and industrial technology before it could be destroyed by retreating German forces or looters during the final stages of the Second World War an ...

, a secretive British Army unit that had, in spring and summer 1945, searched for German military technology and scientists. The handling and launch procedures were unknown, so German personnel were ordered to perform these, which for the most part they did willingly. The launches were filmed and because the personnel wore their original uniforms and the rockets were painted in near to their original livery, this footage (often used for documentaries) has been mistaken for footage of wartime German launches.

Launches

According to the Report on Operation Backfire, there were three Cuxhaven launches. Backfire Rocket One was prepared for launch on 1 October 1945, but did not function. Backfire Rocket Two was prepared for launch on 2 October 1945 and was launched without difficulty. The second Cuxhaven launch took place on 4 October 1945 with Backfire Rocket One. A third and final rocket was launched for representatives of the press and Allies on 15 October 1945 under the name Operation Clitterhouse. According to one site, there was a fourth launch on 17 October 1945 that reached an altitude of about .

Aftermath

During and after the launches, the British attempted to recruit German personnel, even those transferred from US custody and due to be returned, to assist with their own missile programme. The technical aspects of the operation were detailed in a five-volume report.Report on Operation "Backfire", The War Office, London 1946
/ref> At the site of the former launchpad there is a trough and some remnants of shelters.

References

External links