That time Polish partisans stole a Nazi V2 rocket

It was the dawn of the ballistic missile era, and with the invention of the V2 rocket, the Germans had beaten everyone to the punch. Eager to get their hands on one of these horrific new devices, the Allies embarked on an audacious plan to steal one. Here’s the fascinating story of how they did it.

Indeed, the potential for the Peenemünde Aggregat A4 V2 rocket to be a game changer in the war was not lost on the Allies. It was a weapon from the future — an advanced piece of technology that Hitler saw as the deus ex machina he was looking for. When Wernher von Braun showed him the launch of the V2 on color film, Hitler reportedly jumped from his seat and shook Braun’s hand with excitement, proclaiming, "This is the decisive weapon of the war. Humanity will never be able to endure it," adding that, "If I had had this weapon in 1939 we would not be at war now."