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German scientists developed a number of what might be called Precision guided missles. They were short-range weapons that could be guided after launch on to a moving target. This made them very valuable military werapons. Many of these German guided missles systems had bugs, but if the Germans had had more time, and here we are talking about months, not years, they could have become very effective weapons systems. The Allies had nothing like these weapons. The Americans were experimenting with remotely guiding planes into targets, but not with any guided rocket weapons. There was a complele panoply in the German aresnal. There were 1) surface to surface, 2) surfce to air, 3) air to air, and 4) anti-ship missles. We do not know of any air to surface missles. Several missles were developed for these different basic types. There were verifiable instance of these werapons being used to bring down bombers and destroy ships. They were not for the most part, however, used opertationally. Here a major factor was the Allied stratehic bombing campaign which by 1944 was destroying German industry and the transportation system. Priority was given to the V-1 and V-2 weapons even though they were not trtue military weapons.
The Germans in addition to the long rage V-1 and V-2 also developed some short range varriants. hese included the Rheinbote, the A4b, and the Ruhrstahl X-7 (Rotkäppchen) guided anti-tank missile.
Germany developed surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. None of these were perfected to the pont that they were deployed operationally, but they were used on an experimental basis and did damage and bring down Allied air craft. Many Allied air crews reported seeing these rockets. The accounts suggest that they were not rare sitings, but usually only one rocket was reported. This suggests that the Germans never used them in large numbers. They were never made in large numbers, both because of technical problems and the Allied strategic bombing campaign. The V-1 and V-2 programs were given higher priority. We assume this reflected Hitler's mindset of destroying whole Allied cities not a few attacking bombers. Allied air crew reportys generally do not identify the type of rocket. And some aircraft were brought down. There were several different SAM missle types. They included: the Enzian (Gentian), Rheintochter (Rhine Daughter), Schmetterling (Butterfly) (an air-to-air variant was planned), Wasserfall (Waterfall), and Feuerlilie (Fire Lily). The Messerschmitt Enzion was named for a genus of mountain flower (Gentian) was a surface-to-air missile that was the first known weapon to use an infrared guidance system. The missile was tested during the lateter stages of the War. It was a complicated weapon system which encountered many technical problems and was eventually cancelled. The Rheintochter was a SAM ordered by the Heer and an air-launched version was designed, but never developed. The Henschel HS-117 Schmetterling (Butterfly) was a futuristic-looking surface-to-air missile guided by radio control. An air-to-air version was planned. The Wasserfall was a radio-controlled SAM based on the V-2 design,, but much smaller because it only need to reach the height of Allied bombers over German cities.
The Germans developed three air-to-air missiles. Only one was guided. The unguided ones were the R4M rocket and the Werfer-Granate 21 (a variant of the Nebelwerfer rocket). The Ruhrstahl X-4 was a guided air to air rocket. Scirntisdts were also designed, including the X-7 and X-10.
Germans scientists developed two anti-ship missiles. The Fritz X was an anti-ship missile. The Henschel Hs 293 was an air-to-ship gliding guided bomb. The Germans used anti-ship missiles against allied shipping, most notably in the Mediterranean (1943). Afterwards loss of air superority restricted the ability to use air to ship weapns. Loss of air bases in Italy and France meant that the Luftwaffe had little opportunity to engage shipping (1944).
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