Operation Crossbow

Mr. Duncan Sandys, sir.

Good afternoon, sir.

Come in, Duncan.

Sit down.

There's a vital job to be done.

The outcome of the war

may depend on how you handle it.

You've read these reports

that the Germans are developing long-range rockets

in order to bombard Britain.

Yes, I have, but they're extremely vague

and, in some respects, contradictory.

But they can't be ignored.

If London and the channel port

should come under heavy bombardment,

We would have to abandon our plan

to land in France next year.

I want you to find out quickly

whether this rocket threat is real

and, if so, to recommend how we should tackle it.

Do you want me to do this

as well as my job at the ministry of supply?

You think you could manage both?

Well, I'll just have to do with rather less sleep.

Your first task will be to collect all the evidence you can...

And then tell the war cabinet what you think about it.

Right, sir.

By the way...

How are your legs since the accident?

Bloody awful.

Huh.

Ach so. Der fuhrer.

Well, there we are.

Have they got a long-range rocket?

We've all seen the reports from intelligence.

Now perhaps you'd let me have your reactions.

Professor Lindemann.

Not very intelligent.

Would you elaborate on that?

I can.

Some of our agents could be wrong...

There you are!

And some would be right.

Well, these are wrong.

What makes you think that?

If you were a scientist, you'd know you cannot get reliable results

without solid propellants, such as cordite.

With a cordite- propelled rocket carrying a worthwhile warhead,

you'd need no less than 50 tons of it--50 tons.

Our biggest rocket has only 50 pounds.

Now, I ask you a question, gentlemen--

if we here admitted, which we do not,

the possibility of a rocket project in Germany,

what would you do?

Well, there are 3 avenues of approach, as I see it.

Firstly, I'd go over all the aerial photographs we've got,

and I'd try and get some new ones.

Next I'd interrogate all the available prisoners.

And then, of course, I'd send in more agents.

And then?

If, after that, I still believed they'd got rockets,

I'd recommend bombing their installations

to destroy them before they got off the ground.

That's precisely what the Germans want you to do,

to divert our bombing effort for more important targets.

Look, I'm a scientist.

In peacetime, there are no secrets in science.

And in 4 years of war, they couldn't have advanced that far.

Even a less spectacular advance--

it would have reduced their war effort immensely.

Look, Boyd, send back your agents.

Tell them to take a closer look.

Well, now, what about this report

that the Germans are recruiting technicians from the occupied countries?

I can vouch for that report.

But you can't vouch for the rocket report?

Agents are like scientists, Professor.

Some are good...

And some are not so good.

In my opinion,

The whole thing is a wild-goose chase.

Well, that remains to be seen.

As a scientist,

I was taught to be sure of my facts.

In war, decisions almost always have to be taken on incomplete knowledge.

If you wait until you're certain,

you're sure to be too late.

Mmm...

What's the matter with that man?

He may be a brilliant scientist,

but he can't always be right.

As far as I'm concerned,

he hasn't explained away our intelligence report.

Just because he can't build a rocket

doesn't mean to say the Germans can't.

Say, just for the sake of an argument,

let's assume they have got one in the experimental stage.

Now, where would they test it?

Obviously not in one of the occupied countries

because they couldn't trust anybody.

Well, they'd take it as far away from us as possible

to make it difficult to bomb.

Somewhere near the sea

so the duds wouldn't do any damage and wouldn't leave a trace.

So it's got to be the Baltic, hasn't it?

[Pilot speaking German over P.A.]

[Pilot speaking German over P.A.]

[Pilot shouting in German over P.A.]

Sir?

Sir, would you come and look at this, please?

What am I supposed to be looking at?

There, sir. On the left.

I don't know, babs.

We know they're extending that airfield.

Could it be anything to do with that?

Dredging operations.

- Drains. - Hmm.

Hello, Kenny. What did they want in London?

Oh, they want us to probe every sortie for rocket installations.

James, would you take this, please?

Rocket installations?

What are they supposed to look like?

Nobody knows.

We have to look for something unusual.

They're new weapons, of course,

so we can't expect to see anything we've seen before.

So unusual we wouldn't even notice them?

Maybe.

Something you wouldn't even notice...

Sir, there is something...

I spotted it the other day.

Look.

There.

See?

Take a look at these.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute!

The place is called Peenemünde.

Where is it?

It's on the Baltic coast.

You see, there's a new---a new power station

they just built here at Copen.

It's much too big for ordinary use.

There's power lines radiating about all over the place.

And up there among the trees, there's some new workshops.

Down here, there's some reclamation work.

I don't see what this has got to do with rockets.

All these installations seem to me to be perfectly consistent

with the idea of the place being

a rocket-firing establishment.

What about these circular earthworks in the woods here?

Mightn't they be test stands for launching rockets?

They're not going to put a firing point

in the middle of the island.

It'd be too risky.

If they have any, they'll put them right on the coast.

Well, whatever they are, it's quite certain

the Germans aren't making all this effort just for our benefit.

Well, I'm not going to believe your fairy tales

until you show me a photograph of a rocket.

Well, we'll just have to go on photographing until we find one.

Flight officer babington Smith, sir.

- Sir? - How do you do?

I hear you've got something new on Peenemünde.

- Yes, sir. - Yes, the NH-60 covers there.

It's all ready for you.

How many times have we photographed it altogether?

- 10 times now, sir. - I see.

Am I supposed to look at anything in particular?

Just here on the coast.

I think this'll interest you.

It's just in the middle of that elliptical earthwork.

Next to that sort of observation tower.

The torpedolike object on the transporter.

Oh, yes. Yes, I can see it.

We can estimate the size.

It's about 38 feet long, sir.

Could it be?

Well, we've never seen anything like it before, sir.

The shape's right--

the observation tower, the whole setup.

I'd take a heavy bet on it.

Yes, I think you're right.

It's a bloody great rocket.

It's a balloon.

You can't be serious.

It's a barrage balloon,

I'm interested to hear you say that--

it's a barrage balloon.

Partially deflated, of course.

On a downgrade transporter?

Why not?

The shape's convenient-- about 7 feet across

and 50 feet in length, I'd imagine.

Yes, but these vehicles are designed to carry up to 25 tons.

Putting a barrage balloon on it would be like--

like putting a lightweight jockey on an elephant?

It's a balloon.

Well, the photographic interpreters tell us it's a rocket,

And I'm quite satisfied it is.