From there he intended to launch what he hoped would turn the tide of battle once again in his favor​—a secret weapon!

What could it be? Supposedly it was capable of wiping out a city the size of London within a remarkably short time. The rumor making the rounds in December 1943 was that people living in western sections of Germany had been told to make preparations for a stay of 60 hours in their air-raid shelters. Then after the secret weapon of reprisal had accomplished its purpose, they could exit into a world of Nazi-dictated peace.

But early on the morning of June 6, 1944, before Hitler’s secret weapon was operational, Allied landing troops stormed onto the French beaches of Normandy. Hitler’s armies were now confronted from the east, the west, and the south. A week later, on June 13, Hitler struck with his promised secret weapon. In reality it was composed of two weapons. One was a flying bomb called the V-1 missile, and the other, called the V-2 rocket, was a forerunner of modern long-range ballistic missiles. The “V” stood for the German word Vergeltungswaffen, meaning “weapons of reprisal.” From then until the following March, they were sent crashing into Britain and Belgium, causing over 23,000 serious casualties, including several thousand deaths. But it was soon apparent that Hitler’s secret weapon offered too little too late.

[Pictures on page 18]

German V-1 missile (right) and V-2 rocket (below) as used in World War II

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Imperial War Museum, London