On May 20, 1944, near Sarnak on the Bug River, soldiers of the Home Army (AK) found an unexploded German V-2 rocket. Two months later, its key elements reached London.

During World War II, the Germans conducted research work aimed at introducing new types of weapons into production and combat use. One of them was the V-2 rocket, developed by a team led by Werner von Braun. Work on it was carried out in the center in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom, where both production lines and a test site were located. Information about the rocket was obtained by the intelligence of the Home Army of the Polish Underground State.

The report on the center was sent to London. On the night of August 17/18, 1943, it became the target of a bombing raid by British aviation. The Germans then decided to transfer the production of rockets to the “Dora” factory complex, carved in the mountains by prisoners of KL Buchenwald. The training ground was moved in the area of Blizna between Rzeszów and Mielec in German-occupied Poland where further tests were carried out. Fired missiles flew about 300 km to the north and fell, exploding in the area of Sarnak on the Bug River.

The Germans tried to scrupulously collect the remains of the missiles. The Home Army quickly obtained information about the attempts by the occupiers. Polish local conspirators found missile elements and delivered them to occupied Warsaw, where they were studied by Polish scientists, led by aviation engineer Antoni Kocjan. The results of the research were sent to London on an ongoing basis.

On May 20, 1944, a V-2 missile fell into the Bug, but it did not explode. It was found by the Home Army soldiers and hidden from the Germans. After dismantling, its elements were delivered to Warsaw, where a decision was made to transport them to England. As part of the Operation Bridge III near Tarnów, the British C-47 Dakota plane landed on the night of 25/26 July to be loaded with key elements of the rocket with an analytical report by Polish scientists. Despite the problems with the take-off in the morning, the plane safely landed in Italy. From there, V-2 parts were delivered to Great Britain. After the end of World War II, Werner von Braun and his team worked on the development of a missile program in the US.