Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Fiesler Fi 103, officially called V1 (Vergeltungswaffe- “Vengeance Weapon”) was the world’s first operational cruise missile.
Development started already in the late 1930s, by engineer Fritz Gosslau from the Argus Engine Company in Berlin. In early 1942, the Fiesler company joined the project and built the actual missile, which was first tested in December 1942. In May 1943, a comparison between the V1 and V2 was conducted, and it was decided to continue development of both weapons.
The first use of the weapon was on June 13th, 1944, against London, and until March 1945, around 12,000 of these rockets were launched, mainly against London and the port of Antwerp, to disrupt Allied supply.
However, the V1 failed to achieve a major effect, and while it caused some panic among British civilians, it did not disrupt British war production. It was also a pretty inaccurate weapon. For example, during an attack on Manchester on December 24th, 1944, 50 rockets were launched, but only 30 reach Britain, and only a single one hit the city area of Manchester. Many rockets missed their targets, hitting fields or small villages in the countryside, causing almost no damage.
The following is a German instruction video about the launch of the V1, explaining the mechanism behind the launch, and showing a test launch of a V1, including a slow-motion scene, footage of the V-1 during flight and it hitting the ground. It also explains technical details about how the missile is launched and the effect it has on a target.
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Subtitles made by me.
The Fiesler Fi 103, officially called V1 (Vergeltungswaffe- “Vengeance Weapon”) was the world’s first operational cruise missile.
Development started already in the late 1930s, by engineer Fritz Gosslau from the Argus Engine Company in Berlin. In early 1942, the Fiesler company joined the project and built the actual missile, which was first tested in December 1942. In May 1943, a comparison between the V1 and V2 was conducted, and it was decided to continue development of both weapons.
The first use of the weapon was on June 13th, 1944, against London, and until March 1945, around 12,000 of these rockets were launched, mainly against London and the port of Antwerp, to disrupt Allied supply.
However, the V1 failed to achieve a major effect, and while it caused some panic among British civilians, it did not disrupt British war production. It was also a pretty inaccurate weapon. For example, during an attack on Manchester on December 24th, 1944, 50 rockets were launched, but only 30 reach Britain, and only a single one hit the city area of Manchester. Many rockets missed their targets, hitting fields or small villages in the countryside, causing almost no damage.
The following is a German instruction video about the launch of the V1, explaining the mechanism behind the launch, and showing a test launch of a V1, including a slow-motion scene, footage of the V-1 during flight and it hitting the ground. It also explains technical details about how the missile is launched and the effect it has on a target.
-
Subtitles made by me.



![Footage from German Air Force Bomber Training School- 16 January 1941 [Full HD]
During WWII, Germany, like all war-waging nations, extensively used bombers, both for strategic and tactical bombing.Flying and operating a bomber is a difficult task, so the crews had to be well-trained to be efficient in combat. This video shows footage from a German bomber school, were future pilots and crew members would receive training in navigation, bombing, target detection and defensive firing with MGs. The footage also shows the first training flight of the new crews.
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Subtitles made by me. Footage from German Air Force Bomber Training School- 16 January 1941 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/olss1ZKMSlY/mqdefault.jpg)
![“Auschwitz”-Soviet Film about the Concentration Camp Auschwitz (German Version)- June 1945 [Full HD]
Auschwitz is the title of a Soviet documentary/propaganda film about the infamous German concentration camp Auschwitz in occupied Poland, where around 1,1 Million people, the majority Jews, were killed by the Germans as part of the Holocaust.
The camp in Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust, and the date of its liberation, January 27th, 1945, is nowadays remembered as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Shortly after the Liberation, in January and February, Soviet cameramen arrived at Auschwitz, taking the earliest photos and footage of the camp. This also included a number of staged and re-enacted scenes, such as of the Liberation itself, which was not filmed originally.
The footage was then edited into a movie simply called Auschwitz which premiered in Moscow in May 1945; a German dub was created in June and mainly shown in the Soviet occupation zones in Germany and Austria.
Many scenes from this film were later used in documentaries about the Holocaust.
The film contains a number of inaccuracies, such as the early claims by the Soviets that around 4 million people were killed in Auschwitz (in reality, this number was at 1,1 million). These inaccuracies are mostly because the full extent of the Holocaust was not well researched so shortly after the end of the war, but also because the Soviets wanted to keep the numbers higher for propaganda reasons.
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Subtitles made by me. “Auschwitz”-Soviet Film about the Concentration Camp Auschwitz (German Version)- June 1945 [Full HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pzqO_Up4Qws/mqdefault.jpg)





