35011 RHEINBOTE-BORSIG RHEINBOTE ON THE MEILLERWAGEN

The Rheinbote (another designation: V4) was a German short-range ballistic missile prototype from the Second World War. The Rheinbote was a four-stage missile with a range of 160 to 220 km, capable of carrying a high-explosive warhead weighing up to 40 kilograms. The first work on the Rheinbote began in 1943 at the Rheinmetall-Borsig company. Their goal was to create a relatively cheap to produce and - above all - easy to transport ballistic missile, which would be able to fill the gaps in the barrel artillery of the German armed forces. Finally, a relatively long (11.4 m high) and streamlined missile was created, which in the last phase of the flight was able to accelerate to 6800 km / h. Most likely, the first combat use of this type of missile took place in November 1944, when they were fired upon by the port of Antwerp, already occupied by the Allies. During the war, it was possible - most likely - to produce about 220 missiles of this type, of which at least 200 were used in combat, mainly on the Western Front.