en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket
2 corrections found
more than 3,000 V2s were launched by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets
The V-2 campaign was not carried out by the Wehrmacht alone. Authoritative histories say the Army/Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS both launched V-2 rockets.
Full reasoning
This sentence wrongly attributes all operational V-2 launches to the Wehrmacht alone.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum states that “The Army and Waffen-SS launched over 3,000 rockets” and elsewhere that “The Wehrmacht and SS launched over 3,000 rockets.” The German Federal Archives similarly notes that the Waffen-SS also had units that employed V-weapons.
That means the article’s wording is too narrow: the more than 3,000 launches were not solely by the Wehrmacht, but by Army/Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS units during the campaign.
3 sources
- "Vengeance Weapon 2": 70th Anniversary of the V-2 Campaign | National Air and Space Museum
The Army and Waffen-SS launched over 3,000 rockets, primarily against London and Antwerp...
- Restoring the Museum's V-2 Missile | National Air and Space Museum
The Wehrmacht and SS launched over 3,000 rockets, killing more than 5,000 people.
- Entwicklung und Einsatz der V2 im Zweiten Weltkrieg - Bundesarchiv
Neben der Wehrmacht verfügte auch die Waffen-SS über Truppenteile, die V-Waffen einsetzten.
The fourth flight was the first successful test flight
It was the fourth test vehicle, but the 3 October 1942 success was the third launch attempt, not the fourth flight.
Full reasoning
This wording mixes up the vehicle number with the number of launch attempts.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum explains that the successful V4 launch on 3 October 1942 was the fourth test vehicle, but that it came after two failed launches and the first vehicle was destroyed in a ground test before it was ever launched. In the museum’s 2023 history of the artifact, Michael Neufeld states even more directly that the 3 October 1942 launch was “the third launch attempt and the first to succeed.”
So describing it as “the fourth flight” is incorrect. It was the first successful flight of the fourth test vehicle, but only the third launch attempt.
2 sources
- Restoring the Museum's V-2 Missile | National Air and Space Museum
The third launch attempt and the first to succeed...
- V-2 Missile | National Air and Space Museum
After two failed launches in June and August 1942, on 3 October 1942 Peenemünde launched its first successful A-4, the V4, or fourth test vehicle (the first was destroyed in a ground test before it was ever launched).