Blizna Historical Park

During the Second World War, Blizna was the main location for testing and launching V-2 rockets – the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missiles. The rocket programme moved there after the earlier site at Peenemünde was bombed. Blizna operated from November 1943 to July 1944, when it was destroyed the Red Army. It was built quickly using slave labour from the concentration camp Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager. The infrastructure included roads, a narrow-gauge railway, barracks and bunkers. It was camouflaged by imitation farm buildings and cottages but was discovered by Polish resistance fighters and British Intelligence. Work to create the Historical Park on the site was begun by the municipality of Ostrów in 2008. Several structures are reconstructed: an observation trench, a barracks, a chapel, a section of security fence, railway tracks and a life-size model of a V-2. Other remains are interpreted by panels and markers on the ground. Scale models, artefacts found on the site, military vehicles, planes, weapons and a V-1 are also presented.