NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
Recon WS men in
forest bleed through
colour
CAPTION:
V1 Launch site, PasDe-Calais, France
SA solider in woods zoom in
MS solider moves
sandbag FL
CU hand on gun - pull
focus on ‘Esser’ with
sand bag
OS ‘Esser’ walking to
gun post
LMS sandbag placed
down
BCU gun - LA to
‘Esser’
V/O:
In late 1943, Under pressure to
deliver an operational V1 regiment Colonel
Wachtel
moves his men into the top secret launch
2s LA at gun post
Esser VO:
Throughout the autumn my job was just
‘boring’ guard duty
Gun f/g to ‘Esser MS ‘
b/g
WS to gun post
VWS Tony walking in
forest FR
MS rear Tony walking
down path turns FR to
talk
sites in Northern France
In their ranks is Joseph Esser who is posted
near Lille
It was hardly what I signed up to...
Tony Pollard:
It was a site like this that Esser arrived at. The
facilities were all here ready but the frustrating
thing was that there were no missiles. There
was a problem with supply. But once they
started to arrive the plan was initially to store
them in this building.
Pan L to wall
LA LS wall and pull
out
Tony jumps to floor and shines torch to
camera
LS torch on wall
LMS Tony OOFR
Tony Pollard
This is an 80 metre (260ft) long bunker, and it’s
function was to
Page 1 of 7
NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
CU ‘s of walls
store the missiles. They would have been in
here nose to tail.
Ten of them, one end to the other, with their
wings folded up before they’re assembled.
WS Tony in building with torch
HA as torch light falls
on walls - tilt up to
ceiling
Rear LS Tony walks
away
CU legs walking away
LMS Tonty OOFR
LS to light at doorway
- creep forward
LMS Tony OOFR
Tony Pollard:
For most of their length these buildings are
straight as a die but when you get to one end
they start to curve around and it’s
said that’s to protect from bomb blast if bombs
are dropped on them.
If you see them from above they look like skis
laid on their side and they become known as
ski structures.
LA to doorway - mix
through planes in flight
FR
LA to planes flying
over
LS British plane in
flight
LA MS pilot in cockpit
Aerial shot flying over
countryside
And weapon sites
HA to still aerial shot zoom in to launch site
- animates
Jump cut to tighter
shots
LA to doorway - pan L
along wall
V/O:
By the end of 1943,
the Luftwaffe has lost control of the skies over
France.
All the sites are now vulnerable to Allied aerial
reconnaissance
It doesn’t take long for the RAF to spot the
strange ski shaped buildings
Tony Pollard:
So what we are looking at here for the
Germans is a is a major design flaw - and as
Page 2 of 7
NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
LMS Tony Pollard
OOFR
soon as the Allies see these structures they
know that
something unusual is happening and
something potentially very dangerous
LA Tony walks to
doorway
HA Tony walks out of
doorway and leaves
FL
Still - aerial of site
Flash to tighter shot
LMS Mike Pavelec
OOFL
CU finger points to
photograph
HA photo in hand tilt
up to MS Mike
Graphic showing
launch ramp MS Mike OOFL
Graphic showing
launch site
Recon soldiers in
forests - weapons
pulled down track
MS ‘Esser’ stacking
sand bags
V/O:
The distinctive missile bunkers giveaway the
launch sites
but the secrecy of the V1 programme means
the Allies have no idea
what they are for. It takes an aerial recon photo
of a launch ramp at Peenemunde for them to
make the connection
Dr. Mike Pavelec :
The place we’re
standing and this photograph are very
significant in the history of the V1 because
this is where the Allies took a series of
photographs that actually had a picture
of the V1 on the launch ramp that allowed
them to put two and two together.
The launch ramps were for V1s aimed directly
at London
V/O:
Allied air raids on the sites in Northern France
begin in earnest…
18 year old Airman Joseph Esser is now in
mortal danger
BW archive planes fly
FR
Through ferns to man
swinging axe
LMS SA looking up
‘Incoming!’
Tilt up to MS ‘Esser’
looking up and running
FR
WS 2s running
MS ‘Esser’ runs FR smoke fills screen
Page 3 of 7
NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
MS falls to camera looks up
LA to planes in sky
HA WS to plane over
land - bomb explodes
POV from plane as
bombs explode
HA explosion fills
screen
POV walking through
forest - Tony IFR and
turns FL
Turns and moves FR
to crater
WS Tony walks into
crater and looks round
HA to feet on ground
tilt up to tony as talks
V/O:
The Allies drop over 120,
thousand tons (120million kg) worth of bombs
on the Nazi’s V-weapon
sites
Tony Pollard:
The impact of those Allied air raids is still plain
to see in the forest which is pock marked with
huge bomb craters.
Look at the size of this one. And its…This must
be a 500 pound bomb
that’s landed here
All over the
site there are lumps of concrete where
buildings have been hit by bombs raining
down.
Ariel shots to bombs
exploding
V/O:
Nearly all of the one hundred V1 launch sites
are heavily bombed long before they become
operational
LMS Tony Pollard
OOFL
Tony Pollard:
The V1 programme is facing catastrophe and
an entire rethink is required. The crews have to
evacuate these sites and what they need to do
is regroup, and rethink and come up with an
entirely new strategy.
Sa men at desks
Caption V1 Command
HQ, France,
December 1943
OS to rear Wachtel
standing
LA SA Wachtel man
hands him papers
VO
At his headquarters in France
the pressure is building on regiment
commander Max Wachtel - ….he has no idea
how the Allies discovered the V1 sites.
Page 4 of 7
NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
OS man at desk to
Wachtel standing
MS Tony OOFR
Tony Pollard:
Wachtel realises that the secret of the V1
missile is out and he’s absolutely paranoid that
the French Resistance are watching his every
move so he takes some extreme measures.
Graphic MAP –
MODIFIED SITES
V/O:
Wachtel changes tactics
The original launchers are abandoned
And construction begins on a hundred and
thirty small carefully concealed launch sites
The relics of one are buried in the forest at
Bois De St Remy
Tilt up from grass to
trees
LA to trees - track
under
SA MS Tony moves FL
Making his way behind
trees
BCU leaves
HA walking FR tilt up
as speaks and walks
FL
LMS moving FR tilt
down to moss covered
stone and clears with
hand
WS Tony by end of
ramp
HA POV to ramp end
Move to 2nd
Tony Pollard:
I could do with a machete in some of this stuff.
One, two, three, four. ….Maybe more over
here. Looks as though it’s lined in the right
direction.
This is the end of the ramp.
These concrete plinths are all that’s left of the
V1 launch pad that was here.
V/O:
The new sites consist of two or three
permanent structures heavily camouflaged in
dense woodland.
Page 5 of 7
NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
Shot Description
Audio Transcript
BCU ramp end - zoom
in
MS Tony Pollard
OOFL
BC branch pull focus
to structure b/g
MS Tony OOFL
LS to forest Tony
centre frame
CGI ramp built
Tilt up to Tony OOFL
CU branches pan R to
ramp end - flash
through images of
complete ramp
BW Archive LS men
pull V1 into position
AB SA
LS forest - pan R
through trees
MS Tony OOFL
Tony Pollard:
This new type of site had fewer buildings, they
were smaller, sometimes they were made out
of wood just temporary structures
on concrete bases, but there are essentials
that would have had to have been here. We
need a control room where the firing
mechanism would be - we’d need a
demagnetisation room
V/O:
The biggest change is the launch ramp.
The plan is to deliver it in prefabricated
sections that are only assembled at the
last minute. This keeps the chances of the
Allies detecting the site to a minimum.
Tony Pollard:
We’ve got the essential ramp but it’s as simple
as possible, very quickly erected
in the days before a launch
Tony Pollard:
The rest of the site is just dispersed and small
scale, there’s need to be some sort of storage
for the missiles.
But we’re not looking at these massive long
sheds where dozens of these things can be
kept at one time. We’re really looking at
something more akin to a mobile artillery
battery here
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NAZI MEGA WEAPONS
V1: Hitler’s Vengeance Missile
POST PRODUCTION SCRIPT
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