24. Work Begins on the Superguns
In May of 1943, Albert Speer, the Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production, gave his boss a bit of good news amidst the gloom caused by many of the Fuhrer’s failed endeavors. Hitler was informed that work had begun on the new super guns that could fire hundreds of rounds an hour and hurl their special projectiles over extremely long distances. An underground complex was dug in the Pas de Calais in northern France, across the narrowest stretch of the English Channel that separated Nazi-occupied Europe from England. It lay six miles inland – estimated to be safe from seaborne commando raids and British Royal Navy guns – and 103 miles from central London.
It would house the Vergetlungswaffe 3, German for “Vengeance Weapon 3”. The superguns, whose name was shortened to the V-3 Cannons, and also known as “The London Cannons”, were to be aimed at the British capital, which the Nazis hoped to destroy. The underground complex was to include over 165 kilometers of tunnels, dug by German workers and slave laborers. The network of tunnels was to be linked to 5 inclined shafts, in which 25 huge gun tubes were to be laid, all aimed at central London. A similar complex would be built nearby, and once both were completed, 50 superguns would wreak havoc upon the enemy capital.
