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V2 Rockets?

Bromskirchen Train The tiny town of Bromskirchen (25 Km's north of Biedenkopf, north east of Westerwald) was captured by Combat Command B, of the American 3rd Armored Division on March 29, 1945. That day between 8:00 and 9:00 hrs, a train was coming into Bromskirchen from the marshaling yard at Allendorf / Eder. This train was very long with no end in sight. At the head of the line was an oil-fired locomotive and further back was a coal-fired locomotive. After moving a few kilometers, it so happened that the train came to a stop near Bromskirchen because the coal powered locomotive ran out of water. The train operators did not want to be stuck there in the open so they disconnected the train in the middle and the commanding officer ordered the first half of the train to continue under the power of the oil locomotive to Winterberg. This train only made it to the tunnel at the Brilon Forest. The Americans later found seven railway cars, each containing twelve V2 warheads, one car containing boxes of carbon-graphite V2 rudders, fuzes, batteries, and cans of Z-Stoff (permanganate). The remaining part of the train, with the steam locomotive, waited about 20 minutes at Bromskirchen to fill up with water. Suddenly, a US tank appeared on the road and opened fire on the train with its machine guns. The locomotive received a direct hit, damaging the main steam pipes and leaving a 15 centimeter (diameter) hole in the locomotive. The railway workers jumped from the train and escaped. It is also believed to have been attacked by P-38 fighter aircraft at some point, possibly a day earlier. After its capture, the Americans found ten railway cars containing 9 damaged and partially burned V2 rockets, plus the scattered parts of another V2 and some warheads. Also, elements of the 3rd Armored Division captured a factory nearby located at Hatzfeld, which contained several intact V2 rockets. The discovery of these V2 rockets - intact - was the first contact the western press had with the infamous "V-Weapon". The finding was in the limelight for several days. The Supreme Allied Commander, Eisenhower himself, came to have a look at it. The English and American newsreels reported in detail about this sensational discovery. The missiles were loaded onto large trucks and taken to Antwerp, from there they were shipped to America. Source: www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/westerwald.html Cheers Marc

Thanks for the details on this interesting photo.

You're welcome Marc

A closer view from the ground:

This is great! The bridge looks so close to this today, makes me miss living in Sydney.

Except the trains have been shunted off the side because of how many cars there are.

I love exploring our history, I recently assisted my daughter with a project on the building of the Sydney Harb Bridge and whilst I didn't have access at the time to this site I had the pleasure of locating various photo's which I saved and reprinted via a USB and a Store, my daughter intends keeping her "A" mark for this assignment, the pics make it so realistic as though you were there taking pics

Its interesting that there appears to be train lines on both sides of the bridge where these days the line is only one side.

Great stuff State Library. There were trains on that side (as they still are today) and I think trams ran on the opposite side where cars now drive.

Really old history here!

My photos of this station (here and here) are history too because the station has been moved earlier this year
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Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)

Diederik Thanks a lot for showing us your recent photos of the railway station - and thanks for the information that the station has been moved (which makes the photos even more valuable)! Actually, parts of the whole town are about to be moved...since the ground is damaged by the mining industry. Read more about it on Wikipedia - in English or in Swedish. /Anna B.

What kind of locomotive is shown here?

oaktree_brian_1976 It is a D-locomotive, built by ASEA. I asked about it on Twitter and got a link to an article on Wikipedia. :) / Anna B.

Oh cool, thanks!