V-WEAPON CONSTRUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 25522, 28 June 1945, Page 6

V-WEAPON CONSTRUCTION

HUGE UNDERGROUND FACTORY 60,000 SLAVE WORKERS EMPLOYED (Rec. 11.15 a.m.) LONDON, June 27. It is estimated that 20,000 foreign slave labourers died in constructing a huge underground factory in the Hartz Mountains, near Nordhausen, where V-ls and V-2s were manufactured, says the Associated Press correspondent at Nordhausen. Two main tunnels, each 2,oooyds long- and about 250yds apart, wide enough to take railway trucks, lead through the mountains. Forty-six minor tunnels, leading off them at right angles, contain stock and store rooms, welding and drilling machines, presses, toolshops, heating, and air-conditioning plants, and assembly lines. Former Avorkers state the noise of the machinery was deafening, as the tunnels acted as sound conductors and amplifiers, causing nervous breakdowns.

The Americans have taken 100 complete V-2s from the factory in the past few weeks for testing and scientific work. The British and French have also taken many samples, but plenty of specimens will be left when the Russians occupy the factory. The variety and quantity of materials in the factory stagger the imagination. The Germans worked the slave labourers two 12-hour shifts, 30,000 in a shift. The workers' movements were limited to within the section of the plant where they were employed, hence they had no knowledge how. a complete V-2 was made.