The origin of Pen & Sword Books is closely linked with its sister company, the Barnsley Chronicle; one of the UK's oldest provincial newspapers, established in 1858, and one of the few weeklies still in private ownership. The first books published by the company were in response to public demand following of a series of articles published in the newspaper: Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks told the story of crash sites in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park, and a further weekly feature on the history of two Kitchener battalions, known as the Barnsley Pals, aroused a thirst for more information. Following on from the success of those books, a number of local history paperbacks were produced along with a series of battlefield guidebooks. Battleground Europe proved immediately successful, and the company made the decision to launch a book publishing arm of the group. Pen and Sword specializes in all areas of military history, naval and maritime, aviation, local history, genealogy, social history, transport, discovery and exploration, archaeology, nostalgia and true crime. With over 350 books published every year, Pen & Sword has established itself as a specialist book publisher.

Jean Paul Pallud was born in France in 1949 and lives with his wife Marie Francoise in the picturesque Alps. He studied physics at Grenoble University, graduating as a physicist engineer. As an author, he has specialized in World War Two history and has been involved with the After The Battle series for over 43 years with his first submission in 1979. His After The Battle: Then and Now books include: Battle of the Bulge (1985); Blitzkrieg In The West (1996); German Coastal Radar Stations (2021); Operation ‘Dragoon’ and Beyond (2023); Operation “Torch”; (2019); The Desert War (2022); and First Manned Rocket Launch (2024).

This 288-page English language hard Cover book was released in the United States on March 6, 2025. This is a 7.25” x 10.00” hard cover book with a separate glossy paper jacket. This text and photographs are printed on glossy paper. The color photograph on the front cover depicts the first ballistic missile attack in history on September 8, 1944. The Lehr-und-Versuchsbatterie 444 launched two V-2 rockets targeted for Paris. The first, fired at 8:40 am, disappeared and was thought to have exploded in flight. The second was fired at 11:00 am, hitting south-east of Paris at Maisons Alfort. Six people were killed and 36 were injured. The top black and white photograph on the rear cover shows the damage from this attack with a color photograph to its right that shows this site today. The center photographs shows a then and now of a V-2 rocket attack at Warwick Court, Holborn, in central London. This missile was launched from Loosduinen in the Netherlands on November 25, 1944. Five people were killed with injured in the blast. The bottom of the cover shows the results of V-2 missile attacks was on central Antwerp on November 27, 1944. 128 civilians and 29 soldiers were killed at the intersection of De Keyserlei, Frankrijklei, and Teniersplaats. I counted 373 black and white photographs and 71 color pictures.

Jean Paul Pallud launches off with a short introduction and a discussion of the “Groundbreaking Technologies” starting in the 1920s. The enthusiasm of the future of space vehicles was fully embraced by many young German students, notably Wernher von Braun and Hermann Oberth. It didn’t take long for the German military to notice and soon a search for a site to test large rockets was underway. This ended up being Peenemünde, a remote area located on a long sand-spit where the Peene river empties into the Baltic Sea. An aerial photograph taken by a de Havilland Mosquito of 540 Squadron on June 23, 1943, is shown on Page 13. The rocket test stand can be spotted at the center left of the photograph. More than 18,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians worked at Peenemünde, with thousands of others working at research centers and universities across Germany. The next four chapters cover the four revenge weapons in more detail.

The genesis of cruise missiles began in World War I with the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, the Kettering Bug, and the Siemens-Schuckert Torpedogleiter. Development continued between the wars, but Germany’s Fiesler Fi 103, or V1 was the first operational cruise missile. Accuracy was basically limited to a city area with a range of about 160 miles. The black and white photograph on Page 47 depicts the assembly of a V1. Once the wings were attached, the missile was suspended and pointed at its target while the compass adjustment was completed. This suspension gear can be seen directly above the center of the fuselage in this photograph. The autopilot was set and the flight altitude was entered into the barometric height command. The technician at the front is adjusting the magnetic compass that interfaces with the master gyro. Sharp eyes will notice the technician with a large hammer in front of the port wing.

The V2 was the world’s first long range ballistic missile and was the first artificial object to travel into space. These supersonic weapons had no audible warning and no effective defense with over 3,000 attacking Allied targets. The capability of the V2 missile was available in late 1941, but it was only considered an ultra-expensive artillery shell. That changed when the winds of WW2 shifted. Testing continued into 1944, but remnants of the missile tests began entering Allied hands. Flight break-up remained problematic until the forward end of the rocket was reinforced to reduce re-entry issues. Actual operational use didn’t occur until September 1944 and accuracy was still an issue. The transfer of a V2 missile from a transport wagon is shown on Page 125. Here, a crane lifts the V2 from the transport wagon [Vidalwagen] to the Meillerwagen [transport / launch wagon]. The Meillerwagen would transport the missile to the launch site and raise the missile to the firing stand.

The V3 “England Cannon” was a large caliber smooth bore gun that used a series of parallel charges to accelerate a fin stabilized shell. This multi-chamber gun concept dates back to 1857 with a US inventor, Azel Storrs Lyman. Azel was granted a patent but was never successful due to the technology of the time. A French engineer pursued a similar idea and was granted a patent in 1864. The French decided to manufacture this type of gun in response to the Fredrich Krupp Paris Gun that was bombarding Paris from 78 miles away, but never came to fruition due to the end of the war. France collapsed under the German invasion in 1940 and the plans for this gun were discovered. German August Coenders thought he could solve prior problems and proceeded to build a 20mm multi-chambered prototype gun which showed promise. A 150mm cannon that was built at Hillerslben to test internal ballistics can be seen on Page 158. Two full-size batteries were in the process of being built in tunnels near Mimoyecques in Northern France, 103 miles from the intended target of London. RAF Bomber Command’s 617 Squadron ended all progress with the Tallboy deep penetration ‘earthquake’ bombs. Two shorter guns of 160’ were built in late 1944 near Trier, Germany. The new target was Luxemburg, and the first gun fired five high-explosive shells. The second gun fired 183 shells between January 11, 1945, and February 22, 1945.

The Rheinmetall V4 Rheinbote [Rhine Messenger] was a short-range ballistic missile. This four-stage solid fueled rocket was developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig and first test flights were conducted in 1943. There was no internal guidance, the V4 was purely a point and shoot missile on a ballistic trajectory, which limited accuracy. The V4 is shown on its launch trailer on Page 191. The first operational unit was Artillerie-Abteilung 709 using officers that trained in testing at Leba and Waldheim. A lack of the functional launch ramp vehicles delayed the first attack by several weeks, but the unit finally opened fire on December 24, 1944. Their target was Antwerp, Belgium, but damage was limited. This was due to the manufacturer increasing the range of the V4 by over 50 km, but this was not communicated to Artillerie-Abteilung 709 due to secrecy.

Jean Paul Pallud follows up with the scramble to round up the German scientists, engineers, and technicians by the Allied forces. This includes the British effort, “Operation Backfire”, the American effort, “Operation Overcast” / “Operation Paperclip”, the Russian effort, “Operation Osoaviakhim”, and France’s LRBA [Laboratoire de Recherches Ballistic and Aerodynamic]. The Allies were interested in all German technology, but ballistic missiles were the driving force and all four countries developed them. The de Havilland Propellers Blue Streak ballistic missile was ultimately not pursued into production due to costs and the eventual procurement of America’s Polaris missile. “Operation Paperclip” delivered two key V2 scientists to the American space program: Kurt Debus who became NASA’s director and Wernher von Braun, who became the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle program. The final 32 pages focuses on the ‘Then and Now’ concept and is largely in color. It focuses on V-weapons in museums and historical sites.

The sections include:

• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Groundbreaking Technologies [Page 13]
• Operation ‘Hydra’
• V1, The First Cruise Missile
• Towards Operational Deployment
• LXV. Armeekorps z.b.V.
• Into Action: Firing at England [Page 47]
• Hasty Withdrawal
• Into Action, Antwerp and London
• Assessment
• V2, The First Ballistic Missile
• Launch Bunkers
• Towards Operational Deployment
• Chaotic Command Situation [Page 125]
• Into Action
• Division z.V.
• V2 Operations
• The End
• Assessment
• Hochdruckpumpe, The ‘England Cannon’
• HDP Bunker at Mimoyecques [Page 158]
• Firing Trials at Misdroy
• Into Action: Firing at Luxemburg and Belfort
• Rheinbote, 4-Stage-Rocket
• Firing Trials at Leba and Waldheim [Page 191]
• Into Action: Firing at Antwerp
• End of the Third Reich
• Liberation at Nordhausen
• ‘Dora’ Trial
• Division z.V. Into Captivity
• Capture of Von Braun
• Kammler’s Disappearance
• V-Weapons, Victims and Damage
• Operation ‘Backfire’
• Finding Rockets and Experts
• Three Launches
• From ‘Paperclip’ To The Moon
• USSR, France, and Great Britain War Booty
• Space Conquest
• V-Weapons Then and Now
• Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum
• Mittelbau-Dora Memorial
• Blizna Historical Park
• V-Weapons Bunkers, Then and Now
• V1s and V2s In Action, Then and Now
• Surviving V-Weapons [Page 288]

There is no shortage of V1 and V2 kits available in injected plastic. The V1 cruise missile is available in 1/700, 1/350, 1/144, 1/72, 1/48, 1/35, 1/32, and 1/18 scales. There are several kits of the V1 missile launch rail and many post-war variants and Luftwaffe ’46 variants are also available. One can find the V2 ballistic missile is 1/700, 1/350, 1/160, 1/144, 1/87, 1/76, 1/72, 1/69, 1/48, 1/35, and 1/24 scales. This includes post-war developments of the V2, such as the Bumper program and transport and fuel vehicles. The V3 Hochdruckpumpe is more problematic as I was unable to find any kits available. The V4 Rheinbote is available in 1/72 and 1/35, and several include the Meillerwagen launch vehicle. This Pen & Sword Books’ Then and Now series provides a great reference for historians and modelers. This volume, at 288 pages, is that and at a great price. There are 444 photographs and technical drawings that are printed on glossy paper. If you have any interest or are going to build any of the vengeance weapons, this is your book.

My thanks to Casemate Publications, Pen & Sword Books and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!