Rheinbote

Common card · No. 440643

Rheinbote (lit. 'Rhine Messenger'), also known as Rh Z 61/9 and Raketen-Sprenggranate 4831, was a German four-stage, solid-fuel, unguided ballistic artillery rocket developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig during the Second World War. Sometimes referred to in postwar literature as V-4, by analogy with the V-1 and V-2 vengeance weapons, the weapon was assigned the code name Meteor by the Wehrmacht. This short-range ballistic rocket was intended to provide long-range mobile artillery fire without the logistical burden of railway guns or very heavy artillery. Unlike the liquid-fuelled V-2, Rheinbote used a sequence of solid-fuel stages. It carried only a small warhead and its unguided ballistic flight made it too inaccurate for effective military use. Rheinbote was the first multi-stage rocket used operationally in warfare. It was used against Antwerp at a time when the city’s port functioned as one of the principal Allied logistical bases in north-west Europe. These launches were conducted from the...

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