In 1944, during World War II, a Polish resistance group intercepted a German V-2 rocket that had veered off course over a testing site near the Bug River. The rocket crashed into swampy terrain largely undamaged. The Polish resistance then smuggled key components and technical data about the rocket to Britain, warning Allied forces about the emergence of the world's first long-range ballistic missile.
Milijana Milikšić
World News Reporter
The Third Reich jealously guarded its new "wonder weapon," but it did not reckon with the ingenuity of the Poles.
Whatever that new weapon was, the Polish resistance movement knew that Hitler intended to use it soon and that the Allies must be warned.
Listen to your conscience
0:00 /
0:00
Jan Lopačuk, a farmer from a small Polish village, was showing his 10-year-old son how to repair a torn barn roof—when the sky suddenly split open. A 14-meter-long steel rocket shot out of the clouds at supersonic speed, as if heading straight for their farm.
The boy excitedly pointed at the sky, unaware of the fear that had gripped his father, who was ready to protect him at any cost. Lopachuk grabbed his son and threw himself to the ground with him, convinced that their end was near.
But that didn't happen.
When the rocket fell into the swamp, they hid it with reeds.
The incident took place in 1944, when the Polish resistance movement succeeded in smuggling to Britain key parts of a misfired German V-2 rocket and valuable technical data on its construction, alerting the Allies to the appearance of the world's first long-range ballistic missile.
+5
Gallery
London after the V-2 rocket attack in 1945.
The rocket, which veered off course over the testing range in Blizny, crashed into the marshy ground next to the Bug River, largely intact, writes the British Telegraph. A few hours later, Marijan Korčik – a local doctor and secret courier for the Polish resistance movement – left his patients and rushed to the crash site. Two brothers cut down the reeds to hide the rocket. Meanwhile, Ježi Hmielewski, a chemistry student known by the nickname "the Professor," began to collect wires coated with an unusual type of rubber, like he had never seen before.
"It was flexible even after exposure to high temperatures. Someone had invented an entirely new type of material," he wrote in his journal.
Hitler's "vengeance weapon"
Whatever this new weapon was, the Polish resistance knew that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler intended to use it soon against London and that the Allies must be warned as soon as possible. What followed was the most incredible intelligence operation of the entire war, vividly described by Guy Walters in his book "The Theft of Hitler's Rocket."
Hmjelevski and Lopačuk didn't know it then, but they had encountered the V-2 – the world's first long-range ballistic missile. It was part of Hitler's so-called "vengeance weapons" program and the successor to the V-1 rocket, a jet-powered flying bomb that killed more than 6,000 people and injured thousands of others.
Unlike the V-1, which, with its deafening, hornet-swarm–like roar, often gave the British enough time to find cover, the V-2 arrived completely silent, with no chance of interception or defense.
The Third Reich jealously guarded its new "wonder weapon." However, it did not count on the ingenuity of the Poles. Walters described the efforts of the Armia Krajowa to smuggle parts of the rocket into Britain. Polish scientists secretly disassembled and analyzed the rocket, after which the Armia Krajowa carried out Operation Most III in July 1944.
How one of the most incredible operations of the war was carried out
A young woman named Helena Kozjol passed through a German checkpoint on a bicycle, hiding a rocket valve inside a loaf of bread. They searched her basket but did not cut the bread, writes "Telegraph". The disassembled rocket parts, disguised as industrial oxygen bottles, were transported south through occupied Poland in vehicles driven by resistance members dressed in German uniforms sewn by tailors of the underground resistance movement.
And then something almost unbelievable happened.
+5
Gallery
A V-2 rocket on the streets of London on January 1, 1945.
About 30 kilometers from the landing strip, a group of real German soldiers stopped the convoy in the rain and asked for a ride. They sat on the cylinders for half an hour, complained about the mud and the war, and then got off at Radom.
"You're carrying the air!" one of them called out cheerfully.
In a post-war report by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), it was dryly noted that "no suspicion was aroused." Meanwhile, at Farnborough in Hampshire, research teams from the Royal Aircraft Establishment awaited their arrival. An RAF aircraft secretly landed in German-occupied territory and transported the key rocket parts and documentation directly to London. At great personal risk, the Poles enabled Britain to at least prepare for what was to come.
+5
Gallery
London after the V-2 rocket attack in 1945.
A 6-meter-deep crater was left in the street.
Following Hitler's order of August 29, 1944, to begin V-2 rocket attacks as soon as possible, the offensive began on September 7 of that year, when two rockets were launched at Paris, which the Allies had liberated less than two weeks earlier. Both, however, crashed shortly after launch. The…
Read the full article at Blic →The article discusses the historical significance and structure of Hitler's staff during World War II.
Bias read (Center): The article provides a factual overview without overtly favoring any political perspective. It focuses on historical analysis rather than contemporary political issues.
Official sources cited
In 1944, during World War II, a Polish resistance group intercepted a German V-2 rocket that had veered off course over a testing site near the Bug River. The rocket crashed into swampy terrain largely undamaged. The Polish resistance then smuggled key components and technical data about the rocket to Britain, warning Allied forces about the emergence of the world's first long-range ballistic missile.
Bias read (Center): The article presents historical facts about a wartime event involving the Polish resistance and the V-2 rocket without overtly favoring any political perspective. It focuses on the technical details and historical significance of the incident rather than taking a stance on broader geopolitical oride
Official sources cited
The official sources this coverage is built on. Read them directly to bypass framing.