In 1944, a German aerospace engineer along with his research team invented the first long-range ballistic missile secretly for Nazi Germany during World War II while it was built by concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers under brutal conditions, laying the foundation for both the American and Soviet space programs. The weapon was the V-2 rocket, also known by its earlier German designation, A-4. The programme was led by German engineer Wernher von Braun and other engineers and scientists working for the German military. The development of the rocket started before 1944. By that year, the V-2 had become a weapon used by Nazi Germany against Allied targets.
The V-2 combined rocket propulsion, guidance systems and a ballistic flight path in a way that changed missile development. Its history, however, cannot be separated from the forced labor system used to manufacture it.
