V2 Rocket Launch Site Memorial, Heek

V2 launch pad, HeekThe fact that the dangerous aggregate 4 - that is the correct name for the first fully functional German rocket that broke the space barrier - is still largely unknown to this day in the Münsterland region, and not just for storage purposes. The V2 was fired from there mainly towards Belgium. V2 rocket © Buedeler.Geschichte, Deutsches Museum, Munich More than 700 German V2 bombs struck Antwerp and killed many people. It was 14 meters long and weighed Almost 13 tons ready to start. The explosive charge made up about 975 kilograms. The rocket engine had a thrust of 650,000 hp and a speed of 5,600 km / h. The concrete slab in the "Oerschen Wald" was the substructure for the rocket's heavy transport wagon (kiln car), which could also be used as a launch pad. From the concrete slab in Heek and from others in Metelen, Schöppingen, Darfeld and some other places, many of these retaliation weapons were fired on Antwerp.

"Alfons Reufer experienced the events surrounding the V 2 rocket at close range. He reported as follows: My parents' house is a property of the Baron of Oer in the Oersche Forest in Wihum. There were three launch sites in the immediate vicinity. They were laid out in the forest like this that they could not be seen through the treetops from above. Often enough, reconnaissance planes and fighter-bombers flew over the forest without having discovered the V2 firing point. Behind our house there were often up to seven rockets on special vehicles... According to the soldiers, were the rockets were picked up by the Reichsbahn in the Billerbeck area.Before the launch sites were set up, the forest paths with bomb debris in the town of Coesfeld were fortified by a unit from the Todt Organization for weeks in September/October 1944. The three launch sites, one of which was concrete, are largely cordoned off .(...)" - excerpt from "Heek and Nienborg A History of the Municipality of Heek"