Early Rockets - A-4 (Aggregate-4) rocket. Later renamed the V-2 (Vengeance Weapon-2).

The V-2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2"), Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. It was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon", assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. The V-2 rocket also became the first artificial object to cross the boundary of space with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944. Research into the military use of long-range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army. A series of prototypes culminated in the A-4, which went to war as the V-2. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. The attacks from V2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel. As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—raced to capture key German manufacturing sites and technology. Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel escaped advancing Soviets and surrendered to the Americans. Von Braun role in American space program is hard to overestimate. The Soviets too gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities, re-established V-2 production, and lay foundation forthe Soviet space program.

Von Braun's gravestone mentions Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Apollo program director Sam Phillips was quoted as saying that he did not think that the United States would have reached the Moon as quickly as it did without von Braun's help. Later, after discussing it with colleagues, he amended this to say that he did not believe the United States would have reached the Moon at all. Wernher von Braun was born on March 23, 1912 in the small town of Wirsitz, in the Posen Province, of the former German Empire. He was the second of three sons. He belonged to a noble family, inheriting the German title of Freiherr (equivalent to Baron). His father, a civil servant Magnus Freiherr von Braun (1878–1972), served as a Minister of Agriculture during the Weimar Republic. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), could trace her ancestry through both parents to medieval European royalty and was a descendant of Philip III of France, Valdemar I of Denmark, Robert III of Scotland, and Edward III of England. In 1930, he attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin, where he joined the Spaceflight Society. In 1933, von Braun was working on his creative doctorate when the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP, or Nazi Party) came to power in a coalition government in Germany; rocketry almost immediately moved onto the national agenda. During Hitler years he became a member of both Nazi party and SS but was briefly arrested in 1944. The Soviet Army was about 160 km (99 mi) from Peenemünde in the spring of 1945. Unwilling to go to the Soviets, von Braun and his staff decided to try to surrender to the Americans. Von Braun fabricated documents and transported 500 of his affiliates to the area around Mittelwerk, where they resumed their work. For fear of their works being destroyed by the SS, von Braun ordered the blueprints to be hidden in an abandoned mine shaft in the Harz mountain range. In April 1945, as the Allied forces advanced deeper into Germany, the engineering team was moved by train into the town of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps where they were closely guarded by the SS with orders to execute the team if they were about to fall into enemy hands. However, von Braun managed to convince his SS supervisor, Major Kummer, to order the dispersion of the group into nearby villages so that they would not be an easy target for U.S. bombers. Von Braun and a large number of the engineering team subsequently made it to Austria. On May 2, 1945, upon finding an American private from the U.S. 44th Infantry Division, von Braun's brother and fellow rocket engineer, Magnus, approached the soldier on a bicycle, calling out in broken English: "My name is Magnus von Braun. My brother invented the V-2. We want to surrender.

This is an attempt to see World War 2 through the eyes of people who lived or fought on the territories controlled by the Axis powers, originally the Rome–Berlin Axis. Axis' principal members in Europe were Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, Hungary, and Spain. During World War II, Nazi Germany and Axis powers occupied or controlled a number of countries in Europe and beyond. At its zenith in 1942, the Axis presided over large parts of Europe, North Africa, and East Asia, either through occupation, annexation, or puppet states. The collection is made with an image recognition aid, so a small percentage of images may be wrongly attributed as European & 1939-1945. Here is a list of some of the countries that were occupied or allied with Nazi Germany during the war: Austria: Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, after the Anschluss, which was the union of Austria and Germany. Czechoslovakia: Nazi Germany occupied the western and southern regions of Czechoslovakia in 1938, after the Munich Agreement. The rest of the country was occupied in 1939, after the invasion of Poland. Denmark: Nazi Germany occupied Denmark in 1940, after the invasion of Norway. France: Nazi Germany occupied France in 1940, after the fall of Paris. The French government set up a collaborationist regime in the unoccupied zone of Vichy. Greece: Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Greece in 1941, after the fall of Crete. Italy: Italy was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, but was also occupied by German forces after the fall of Mussolini in 1943. Netherlands: Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, after the invasion of Belgium. Norway: Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Norway in 1940. Poland: Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Poland in 1939, at the start of World War II. Belgium: Nazi Germany occupied Belgium in 1940, after the invasion of the Netherlands. Luxembourg: Nazi Germany occupied Luxembourg in 1940, after the invasion of Belgium. Ukraine: Nazi Germany occupied parts of Ukraine during World War II, after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Belarus: Nazi Germany occupied Belarus during World War II, after the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Russia: Nazi Germany invaded and occupied parts of the Soviet Union during World War II, after the invasion in 1941. Yugoslavia: Nazi Germany occupied parts of Yugoslavia during World War II, after the invasion in 1941. Albania: Nazi Germany occupied Albania in 1943, after the fall of Mussolini. Hungary: Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, but was also occupied by German forces after the fall of the Hungarian government in 1944. Romania: Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, but was also occupied by German forces after the fall of the Romanian government in 1944. Bulgaria: Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, but was also occupied by German forces after the fall of the Bulgarian government in 1944. Finland: Finland was an ally of Nazi Germany during World War II, but was not occupied by German forces.