Irradiate Israel! Egypt's Secret Nazi Missiles Plan

TL;DR

Egypt recruited former Nazi V2 scientists to build ballistic missiles secretly armed with radioactive cobalt, biological, and chemical weapons aimed at destroying Israel.

Key Points

• 1.Egypt's President Nasser hired ex-Nazi scientists starting in late 1961 to build missiles at the secret "Factory 333," paying them well since West Germany banned domestic rocket research funding.
• 2.Two missiles were unveiled at a Cairo parade on July 23, 1962: the Al-Zafir (376 km range, 500 kg payload) and the Al-Qahir, both liquid-fueled and initially unguided.
• 3.Austrian scientist Dr. Otto Yokl secretly tipped off Israel that Nasser planned to arm the missiles with plague, chemical weapons, and radioactive waste; Mossad confirmed Egypt had bought cobalt 25x their medical needs.
• 4.Mossad chief Iser Harrell launched Operation Damocles in September 1962, targeting scientists with parcel bombs (one blinded a secretary, another killed five Egyptian technicians), shootings, and kidnappings.
• 5.Lawyer and arms dealer Heinz Krug, 49, disappeared in Munich; two separate accounts suggest he was either executed by ex-SS commando Otto Skorzeny (working for Mossad) or tortured in Israel then killed in Cairo.
• 6.The operation unraveled when Israeli agents were arrested in Switzerland for coercing Dr. Girka's daughter; the scandal forced Harrell to resign, but by end of 1963 most scientists had quit, permanently stalling Nasser's missile program.