The German aviation ministry paid 750,000 reichsmarks to the town of Wolgast on the 2nd of April 1936. This transaction secured the Northern peninsula of the Baltic island of Usedom as a remote location for Germany's primary rocket testing ground.
Major-General Walter Dornberger led the military side of the V-2 rocket programme while Wernher von Braun served as the technical director until Dr. Walter Thiel took over that role in 1943. Nine major departments operated under their command with specialized experts like Walter J H Riedel or Hermann Steuding leading specific areas.
Several German guided missiles including the V-2 rocket, Wasserfall project, Schmetterling, Rheintochter, Taifun, and Enzian were developed by the facility. Preliminary design work on very-long-range missiles for use against the United States was sometimes called V-3.
Operation Hydra bombing raid attacked the Sleeping and Living Quarters on the night of August 17/18, 1943. The U.S. Eighth Air Force conducted three additional raids between July 18 and the 25th of August 1943 to target suspected hydrogen peroxide production sites.
The complete withdrawal of guided missile development was approved by the Army and SS in October 1943 due to Allied bombing campaigns. Hans Kammler suggested moving A-4 Development Works to an underground site in Austria during a meeting at Albert Speer's office.
Soviet soldiers under General Konstantin Rokossovsky found seventy-five percent wreckage at Peenemünde when they captured Usedom Island. All research buildings and rocket test stands had been demolished by retreating forces before the capture occurred.