Nazi V2 rocket remains have been discovered

During World War II, Nazi Germany fired on London. She then used V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets. Recently, it was learned from the Live Science site that the remains of one of these rockets were found in the south-east of England. The team behind this discovery was led by archaeologists Colin and Sean Welch.

The V2 rocket whose remains were found crashed near Platt, a village not far from Maidstone, before reaching its target. After excavations in Platt, archaeologists were able to recover more than 800 kg of metal debris from the Nazi rocket. Among this debris were fragments from the rocket combustion chamber.

According to archaeologists, this V2 rocket exploded on February 14, 1945 around midnight.

The first supersonic weapons

These V2 rockets were part of what the Nazis called “weapons of revenge.” They were sent by Adolf Hitler to London after the Allies attacked German cities in 1943 and 1944. These rockets were considered the first supersonic weapons.

Back then, V2 rockets were very difficult to spot. In addition to being extremely fast, they were also quiet. The Allies then turned to radar operators to detect them. To make it more difficult for them, the Germans stopped sending rockets in broad daylight and preferred to do so at night.

Remains buried 4 meters below the ground

Digging up these remains was no easy feat. To begin with, it was necessary to identify the exact location of the weapons of revenge. And it took over 10 years. To locate debris buried deep, archaeologists used metal detectors.

After the spotting phase, the team led by Colin and Sean Welch took 4 days to unearth the rocket in Platt. The excavation of these remains took place at the end of September 2021. Some debris from the rocket was more than 4.3 meters below the ground.

Now that they have got their hands on the rocket remains, they will focus for about 18 months on their conservation, but also on writing an archaeological report.