American soldiers of the US Army are posing near the captured German underground Mittelwerke factory for production of V-1 rockets.
The Mittelwerke plant was located near town of Nordhausen in Thuringia, where Nazi concentration camp Dora-Mittelbau (known as Dora, Nordhausen) was located, which were also liberated by the US Army.
Mittelwerke factory (Mittelwerke – german “middle plant”) is largest military underground secret plant in mountain range near town Nordhausen. Mittelwerke was intended for nodal assembly rockets and engines with subsequent bench and general tests. The construction of Mittelwerke factory began in August 1943 for the production of V-2 and turbojet engines BMW-03 and YUMO-004, used on fighter jets, bombers. Mittelwerke was used in 1943-1945.
Since 1934, in place of Mittelwerke, in Mount Koshtayn was an underground warehouse of fuel and lubricants for Wehrmacht.
It was decided to expand tunnels to size of plant. Nearby for needs plant there was a concentration camp Buchenwald, but later more than 40 own concentration camps (for example, Dora-Mittelbau) were created.
American troops arrived to Mittelwerke factory in April 1945. They did not encounter armed resistance, as bulk of prisoners were evacuated and security fled when the Americans approached. Before arrival of Soviet troops, Americans took almost all engineers and specialists to Worbis and Witzenhausen, including Werner von Braun and Dornberger.
Location: Nordhausen, Germany
Time when the photo was taken: 1945