At the close of WWII in Europe, the British attachment of the Allied Air Defence Division became the Special Projectile Operations Group (SPOG). The Air Defence Division had been charged with the task of collecting information about the secret German rockets to formulate effiective counter-measures before the close of the war. By March of 1945, the German rocket troops were not in operation because of the rapidly advancing Allied forces. Although much was known about the V2, most of this information had been gathered by intelligence. Late in 1944, a German test V2 crashed in Sweden and the British government arranged for an exchange of parts. From this mangled mass of metal British intelligence was able to attain a small amount of information, but at best, the Allies could only speculate how the missile was transported, fueled and fired during hostilities.

At the end of WWII, more than 8000 German rocket personel had been captured, along with hundreds of Peenemünde scientists. A proposal was put forward by J. C. C. Bernard, A.T.S., Personal Assistant to Major-General Cameron (Cameron headed the Air Defence Division), that the German rocket troops be forced to demonstrate thier V2 handling and firing proceedures by actually preparing and launching some V2 rockets. The Air Defence Division was given the go-ahead with the proceedure under the new organization of Special Projectile Operations Group. This program was under the command of Major-General Cameron, along with SPOG General Staff Colonel W. S. J. Carter, who was in charge of operations and documentation.

The gun testing range at Altenwalde near Cuxhaven, Germany, which was in the post-war British zone of occupation, was chosen as the testing site. The British utilized the hangars and other facilities of the former German Navy Artillery Range for handling, logistics and preparation of the missiles. This location was found suitable because of the sea to the north, with good radar tracking points downrange. A large concrete firing point was created at the site so that there was ample room for the operations, which were to be photographed at filmed extensively. Vast amounts of this footage is still seen today in almost every V2 documentary aired.

The captured German rocket troops were fairly willing to demonstrate their V2 firing proceedures, and soon 200 Peenemünde scientists, 200 V2 firing troops, and 600 ordinary POWs were transported to Cuxhaven. Upon arrival, they were split into two groups and interogated. The information given by each group was then compared. Wernher von Braun and Gerneral Walter Dornberger were also brought to Cuxhaven, but they were not taken to the actual firing site. A comprehensive evaluation of the A4/V2 had never been undertaken, not even by the Germans. German security would not allow such broad coverage, feeling that no one was to know more about the entire system than the absolute minimum required for one's own duties on the rocket.

Allied aircraft, and their constant attacks on German ground-targets had destroyed virtually every completed V2 in Europe. Therefore, finding intact V2s was a great problem. The Americans had removed enough parts from the underground Mittelwerk facility at Nordhausen to assemble 200 rockets in the United States. After the Americans were finished, the British were given their opportunity to salvage what was left before the Russians took over the Mittelwerk. British officials found that they had enough parts to assemble about 8 rockets for their testing. They also found that they were missing several "key" components as well as support vehicles needed to fuel and fire the rockets.

What followed was an amazing search of Europe for the missing items. Search parties were sent out everywhere with soldiers who were fluent in German, each with a convoy of trucks, to hunt the needed missing parts. When the search was finished, 400 railway cars and 70 Lancaster flights were used to bring the quarter-of-a-million parts and 60 specialized vehicles to Cuxhaven, the most elusive part being the batteries that operated the guidence gyros. Tail units were also hard to find intact so, some of these were called back from the United States. The explosive material in the warheads of the missiles was steamed out and replaced with sand. At Altenwalde, a giant testing tower was constructed out of Bailey Bridge panals for testing of the rockets in the vertical position. More than 2,500 additional Bristish troops were brought in to complete the various construction projects. 

By the beginning of October, 1945, the British were ready to begin testing the V2 systems. The rockets that were to be fired were painted in a black & white checkered pattern, similar to the early Peenemünde rocket schemes. On October 1, the first V2 launch attempt failed due to a faulty igniter. Another V2 was ready and the first successful British-directed firing of the V2 across the Baltic occurred on October 2, 1945, almost three years to the day of the first successful German test. The third and last British V2 launch took place on October 15, 1945, with British, American, and Russian officials present. The V2 performed flawlessly and landed near it's target point in the North Sea. The operation was concluded by mid-October.

Some feel that this whole operation was as much about convincing the German rocket scientists to come to Great Britain and work for the the British in the development of a rocket programme, as it was about testing the V2 systems. The British and the Americans began fighting over the German scientists even before the wars end. The Americans had agreed to "lending" many of the top German rocket personnel for the Backfire tests. The Americans found that the British were trying to convince the Germans to stay after the tests. It took a considerable amount of prodding by the U.S. War Department to gain the return of many Germans to American custody.

Eventually, the British agreed to return the Germans on the condition that 4 or 5 of the top scientists be fully interogated in London about "technical information." As it turned out, there was never a technical discussion for the Germans in London. Von Braun, Dornberger and several other Peenemünde department chiefs were driven through the streets of London to show them the destuction that the missile had wrought. Von Braun and the other chiefs were returned to American custody in Germany soon after, but General Dornberger was kept by the British. Dornberger probably knew more about the V2 systems than anyone else, but the British didn't want his technical knowledge, they wanted to hang him. It was not until 1947 that Dornberger was released from the British.

Many, many photos and films were made during Operation Backfire. In fact, this archive is frequently mistaken as German in origin, since the British used the German rocket troops exclusively during the testing, even wearing their wartime uniforms. This has proved very useful historically in understanding how the rocket was handled. The rocket was so secret during the war that very few actual operational photos were even allowed by the Germans.

Backfire Photos

These photos show the arrival, preparations and operations of the German rocket troops at Cuxhaven under British supervision. The hangers and facilities at Cuxhaven made the location especially useful for V2 testing. Seen below are the Meillerwagen and V2 rockets and the concrete platform constructed for the tests.
 

Click here to download a 38 second mpg video clip with audio, showing the three V2 firings from Operation Backfire. (Beware, it is 3000 KB) Use your windows media player to play this video.

Click here to see Cuxhaven V2 firing site as it looks today - Manfred Tegge has revisited the site. Not much remains today of the Backfire launch site, but Manfred's site gives you another perspective of how the area has changed. Manfred's website is written in German.