Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-11-12
''V-2''

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German high commands claim that
"V-2," the new Nazi vengeance
weapon, has been striking England
for some weeks past. Prime Minister
Churchill effectively undermines
much OF the more lurid propaganda
being put out by the Berlin radio
regarding this latest OF self-pro-
PEELED killers-a rocket instrument
apparently designed either to sup
plement or replace "V-1," the flying
bomb.
The weapon, in many respects, has
terrifying attributes and potential
tiles. Already nicknamed "the flying
telephone pole" 1t is so or so feet
long, weighs about is tons, has q
range of $50 or 800 miles. travels
on shakespeare trajectory to q
height of 60 or 10 miles, and then
plunges earthward so fast-faster
than the speed of sound-that it can
neither be seen nor heard before it
explodes. Happily, however, as Mr..
Churchill makes clear. some of its
most fearsome characteristics, in its
present stage of development, con-
stitute its greatest weakness.
Thus, its rate of descent-perhaps
1000 or more miles an hour-tends
to work against its main purpose,
which is to effect physical destruc-
ton and to shatter morale. In both
of these things, according to Mr..
Churchill, 1t is actually less effective
than the less spectacular flying
bomb, for the latter is noisy and can
be seen and upsets nerves before it
makes its indiScriminate strike,
whereas 'V-2"-unseen and unheard
lacks this terror value. Moreover,
although it carries about the same
load of explosives as "V-1" approx
mately a toni, it cannot do an equal
amount Of damage because with its
fantastic speed it buries itself so
deeply in the earth that much Of its
blast effect is lost. Hence, the de-
struction and casualties caused by
it so far have been relatively minor,
making its significance negligible in
relation to the war at this point.
But though Mr.. Churchill, by his
calm recital of such facts as these,
sweeps away most Of the artful
hyperbole and distortion resorted to
by DR.. Goebbels' minions. In Berlin,
he is careful not to give the impress.
sion that va" Is something to be
laughed Of Improved versions Of
it may be in the making. and it may
become more than a minor nuisance
to such Allied positions as Antwerp,
and it must accordingly be Offset by
any and every measure designed to
cut it down. This said, however. it
may also be said that it is weapon
not likely to have an important
effect on the course of the war and
that therefore, as Mr.. Churchill de-
clares, there is no reason for exag-
gerated fears about it, the fact being
that it is puny in its present form,
compared to the punishment being
meted out to Germany by our Allied
air power.
OF course, if the Nazis could have
used "V-1" or "V-2" in great guam
tity a year or two ago, the military
outlook today might have been
much less bright than it is, but
as things stand, such potentially
deadly novelties-and they may be
developed into something truly ter
rible in the next few decades-can-
not prevent our victory now and
may not be able even to delay it
perceptibly. If they have been led
to think otherwise by their propa-
gandists, the German people will
probably soon realize that they have
been hoaxed again and that the
indiscriminate ruin and bloodshed
caused by their vengeance weapons,
far from saving them from defeat,
will serve only to make our Allied
terms that much harder when the
Reich finally is beaten to its knees
and forced to surrender.
-.
In one Of his last campaign broad
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