On the Crest of Fear: V-Weapons, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Last Stages of World War II in Europe

This essay looks closely at psychology and escalation dynamics within war. It argues that the appearance of the V-1 flying bomb, V-2 rocket, and other German “secret weapons” in the summer of 1944, combined with Hitler’s unanticipated counteroffensive in December, had a significant escalatory effect on World War II’s last months in Europe. Such weapons coincided with jarring Anglo-American battlefront setbacks and acute manpower shortages. To hasten Germany’s defeat before more “secret weapons” appeared, Anglo-American leaders redoubled their destructive strategic bombing campaign, focusing on eastern German cities to insure the westward progress of Russian armies. The violence unleashed still weighs heavily on the Western conscience and remains a source of debate.