Operation Hydra
In the night from August 17 to 18 about 600 British bombers take off direction Germany. 433 shall attack Peenemünde, the others fly feint attacks against various targets, among others also Berlin, to deceive the German night fighters and flak. The deception turns out well completely. A large part of the German night fighters, 158 aeroplanes 55 of day fighters "Wilde Sau" (wild swine) assemble over Berlin. Only five nightfighters suspect a hoax of the English and fly to the north, direction Peenemünde. Meanwhile British "pathfinders" arrive over the target area and notice that the conditions are not as perfect as predicted. Stratocumulus clouds and false data on the radar screens are responsible for a too southern setting of the markers.
The first wave of the British bombers begins its approach to Peenemünde at 01.15. The victims of the wrong marking are the foreign workers at camp Trassenmoor which is destroyed completely. The second wave hits the test installations, proof testing- and production plants.
The third and last wave hits plants and settlement once more. Meanwhile the Germans also are in the picture about the deception and all available night fighters are ordered to the coast. But most fighters do not find any targets. They look for the bombers at an altitude of 5-6,000 m. The attacks are flown, however, in an altitude of 2,000 m. But the bombers that are found over the target by night fighters are fair game. Altogether, 41 bombers, including a Mosquito which is shot down over Berlin, are eliminated. For the German night fighters the Peenemünder raid remains in rather bad memory. Because of the complete disorientation of the defence and bad communication with the pilots more than 100 fighters try to land at the airfield Brandenburg-Briest partly from lack of fuel. The scrap of 30 machines which have raced into each other piles itself up at the end of the landing strip. At long last, 30 German fighters reach the Peenemünder target area and shoot down 24 bombers. A further 18 are lost on their way home. 733 casualties are found in the ruins of Peenemünde. More than 500 alone die at camp Trassenmoor. Among the German scientists, the family of rocket engine specialist Walter Thiel finds death.
Far-reaching decisions are taken only four days after the attack. Hitler and Speer decide to use concentration camp prisoners for the mass production. SS Brigadeführer (major general) Dr. Ing Hans Kammler is appointed responsible of all building measures at the recommendation of Heinrich Himmler. His first official duty is the decision to prepare the underground-production at Nordhausen.Von Braun shifts the practical proof testing of the aggregate 4 to the SS military training camp "Heidelager" in Blizna, eastward from Cracow in Poland. One wants to watch the effect of the rocket on solid ground and train the teams for real duty.
The Polish resistance monitors the forming up for deployment of the rocket battalions. They register 130 flights until July 24, 1944. They do not fail to notice that considerable defects become evident. Almost 60% of all samples fall apart two to three kilometres before the impact. The wreckages are collected, evaluated and the results passed on to London by the Polish resistance. Even a complete sample landed in the morass of the river Bug the night of May 20, 1944., is flown to England.
