Fragments of Adolf Hitler's "wonder weapon" found in eastern Poland

"It all started when a resident of Mokre village came to us, claiming that something had fallen on his field during the WWII. The oldest residents remembered that the Germans surrounded the crater and were examining it. It was believed that it could have been a Luftwaffe plane that did not make it to the nearby airfield" - said Andrzej Maziarz from the "Arsenal" Museum of Fortifications and Weaponry in Zamość.

His amazement was beyond measure, when it turned out that buried beneath the ground were fragments of a V-2 rocket, the Wunderwaffe - wonder weapon that had been designed by the Third Reich to prevail in the WWII.

"This is a very rare finding on a national scale. In the spring of 1944, the German were testing the new weapon beside the frontline. The rockets were being launched from a testing ground in Blizne, in Podkarpacie region, and aimed at terrains at the bend of the Bug river. At that point the missiles were far from perfect. Many of the rockets did not reach the target, many hit the ground shortly after being launched, some fell in random places. Most likely, this also happened in this case" - Maziarz said.

A fragment of a so-called nose of the rocket, or warhead, was found. It was torn in two pieces and laid 2,5 metres below the ground.

"We've also found fragments of: control system, electric circuit, aluminum boxes for gyroscopes. Also, a transmission antenna, thanks to which the rocket could be traced. What's interesting is that quite a lot of paint covering the surface of the rocket has been preserved. It has a three-colour camouflage. Light-grey, sandy and green" - said the museum curator.

Unfortunately, no key components of the V2, such as an engine, were found.

"It was probably taken by the Germans shortly after the rocket hit the ground, so that the Allies would not capture the technology" - Andrzej Maziarz said.

All items, weighing around 100 kilograms, will be moved to an exhibition.