List of German guided weapons of World War II explained

During World War II, Nazi Germany developed many missiles and precision-guided munition systems.

These included the first cruise missile, the first short-range ballistic missile, the first guided surface-to-air missiles, and the first anti-ship missiles.

Organisations

• Peenemünde rocket test site

People involved

• Wernher von Braun
• Walter Dornberger
• Walter Thiel
• Max Kramer
• Herbert A. Wagner

Models

Surface-to-surface missiles

The V1, which may be seen as the first cruise missile, was used operationally against London and Antwerp. The V-2 ballistic missile was used operationally against London, Antwerp, and other targets. The Rheinbote was fired against Antwerp.

• V-1 flying bomb^[1]
• V-2 rocket^[2]
• Rheinbote^[3]
• A4b

Surface-to-air missiles

Germany developed a number of surface-to-air missile systems, none of which was used operationally:

• Enzian (Gentian)^[4]
• Rheintochter (Rhine Daughter)^[5] - (an air-to-air variant was also planned)^[6]
• Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling (Butterfly) - radio-controlled (an air-to-air variant was also planned)^[7]
• Wasserfall (Waterfall)^[8]
• Feuerlilie (Fire Lily)^[9]

Air-to-air missiles

As with the surface-to-air missiles above, these were never used operationally:

• Ruhrstahl X-4 (actively wire-guided; anti-tank variants of this were also designed, such as the X-7)^{[10] [11]}

Anti-ship missiles

Anti-ship missiles were used operationally against allied shipping in 1943, notably in the Mediterranean Sea, guided by the Funkgerät FuG 203 Kehl series of MCLOS radio guidance systems aboard the deploying aircraft:

• Fritz X armored, anti-ship gravity PGM
• Henschel Hs 293 air-to-ship, rocket-boosted gliding guided bomb

Air-to-surface weapons

The Mistel composite aircraft configuration was used (with almost no effects) on the front lines both on western and eastern front. This system was composed by a bomber filled with explosive, coupled to a fighter plane: the pilot in the fighter plane flew the two coupled airplanes up to near the target, then he disconnected the aircraft and commanded the bomber to crash onto the target by radio control.

See also

• List of military aircraft of Germany
• List of World War II military aircraft of Germany
• List of RLM aircraft designations
• List of missiles

Notes and References

1. http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=36 Fiesler Fi103 (V1) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20201006071745/http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=37 V2 (Assembly 4) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
3. https://archive.today/20110805101154/http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=23 Rheinmetall Borsig Rheinbote - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
4. http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=4 Holzbrau-Kissing Enzian (Gentian Violet) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
5. Fitzsimons, Volume 20, p.2212, "Rheintochter".
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200904071714/http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=24 Rheinmetall Borsig Rheintochter (Daughter of the Rhein) R1 - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
7. http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=26 Henschel Hs117 Schmettering (Butterfly) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
8. http://www.luft46.com/missile/wasserfl.html EMW C2 Wasserfall
9. http://www.rafmuseum.org/cosford/collections/missiles/missile_info.cfm?missile_id=6 Feuerlilie (Fire Lily) - Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford (UK)
10. Fitzsimons, Bernard, general editor. The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus Publishing Company, 1978), Volume 24, pp. 2602-2603, "X-4, Ruhrstahl".
11. Fitzsimons, p. 2603, "X-7, Ruhrstahl".