Zalesie

In the autumn 1943, the Germans began sketching a new superweapon that would compensate for their shortfall in the air war. The weapon was called the V3 cannon and was in a way a further development of the V1 (flying bomb) and V2 (missile). The difference was that the V3 was a super cannon capable of firing multiple arrow-shaped rockets at enemy targets, particularly England. For this purpose, the Germans began to build a V3 base inside a mountain in Mimoyecques in northeastern France. At the same time, the construction of a test facility in Zalesie, east of Swinoujscie began in present-day Poland. During the war Zalesie was in Germany and was called Laatziger Ablage. It was also close to Peenemünde (now Germany) where the Germans developed V1 and V2. At Zalesie, the Germans had three launch ramps built on a slope. To hide the purpose of the test facility, it was called Pumpwerk Misdroy and the cannon was also called Hochdruckpumpe (HDP). Between May and July 1944, several tests were carried out with mixed results, but eventually the Germans were forced to finish the tests as a result of technical problems. The V3 base in Mimoyecques was never operational because it was destroyed by a bombing raid in July, 1944.