At this site you can find the remains of what once was the “Fertigungshalle”, or in English; final assembly hall of Peenemünde Army Research Center. The structure was built as part of a test version for a series production plant of the German rocket program.
Series production plant
In 1938, when the German rocket program was still in its early stages of development and the V2 (Aggregat 4) rocket hadn’t even made its first successful flight, the Germans were developing plans for a test plant for the rocket’s series production, the “Peenemünder Versuchsserienwerks“. The idea was to use the lessons learned at the test plant for the industrial mass-production of the V2 weapon on other locations in the Third Reich.
In October 1939 the Dyckerhoff & Widmann AG (Dywidag) company presented the first plans for Peenemünde with multiple productions halls, workshops and testing stations. The involvement of the company with this project was no coincidence, as it was also responsible for the construction of the modern Volkswagen series production plant in Fallersleben (now Wolfsburg), Lower Saxony, in the same year and the “Waffenamt” in Kummersdorf, also the former rocket testing grounds before moving the program to Peenemünde.
Construction
Eventually, the construction of the plant was comprised of multiple buildings, the largest of those being the “Fertigungshalle” designated “F1”, where the final assembly of the V2 rockets took place. The dimensions of the hall’s floor area were 248 x 128 meters. Its construction was completed in May 1943 and from July 1943 the series production of V2 rockets was started, using forced labourers to man the assembly lines. About 600 labourers were detained in the basement of the building, referred to as “Häftlingslager F1“, or in English; prisoner barracks F1.
Next to the Fertigungshalle (F1) there was a hall for repairs (IW), a workshop, an offices complex and a materials warehouse west of the railroad, which was only partly realised.
Operation Hydra
Between 1939 and early 1943, various sources had reported about the German V-weapons program and the secret developments at Peenemünde to the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). When RAF aerial reconnaissance photographs taken over Peenemünde in April 1943 showed evidence of rockets being tested, Winston Churchill and his Chiefs of Staff ordered a full raid on the area.
On 17/18 August 1943, the RAF performed “Operation Hydra“, a devastating air raid in three waves on the Peenemünde facilities in which the Fertigungshalle F1 was also hit and damaged. To avoid further risk, the German Army relocated the rocket production to the underground Mittelbau-Dora facility from the beginning of September. The machinery needed for rocket assembly were moved from F1 to the underground facilities together with the forced labourers to operate them. On October 13th 1943, the relocation was completed.
Visit
Today the area of the production plant is littered with concrete and metal remains. Most of the structures of the production plant, including the assembly hall, were demolished right after World War Two and at the end of the Cold War. Even though very little is left of the original F1 building, you could follow the outline of the original structure and experience the enormous dimensions it had.
Coordinates:
- 54.132762884848376, 13.820685844216673 (west corner)
- 54.13240771980984, 13.822451256996002 (south corner)
- 54.13438928661586, 13.823621301952565 (east corner)
- 54.13479698499107, 13.82176171349847 (north corner).
