Norman Longmate - Hitler's Rockets

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On the early history of the rocket, see Jones, ‘Future’, p. 11, and von Braun, pp. 24—37. The ‘red glare’ verse is from Francis Scott Key, The Bombardment of Fort McHenry (1814). On the Paris Gun, see Cruttwell, p. 531, and Dornberger, p. 55. On early German researchers, see Dornberger, p. 32; on his own early life, see Irving, p. 16; on von Braun’s, Dornberger, p. 39. On Dornberger’s plans for the rocket motor, see p. 32; on Reidel, pp. 37—9; on Kummersdorf, p. 33; on the 1932 test, p. 35 and pp. 37—8. On German politics at this time, see Cross, pp. 208—209, and Bullock, pp. 322—4. Dornberger, p. 42, describes the 1934 test and ‘early years of our activity’, pp. 47—8 the ‘secret experiments’ correspondence, pp. 43—4 the dimensions of the A-1, pp. 44—5 the gyroscope problems and p. 46 contains the ‘beginning’ quotation. See also Smith and Kay, p. 646, on the research in general.

On German foreign policy, see Bullock, p. 333; on the search for a new research site, Dornberger, pp. 48—50; on the prevailing exchange rate, Whitaker’ s, p. 202; on the Paris Gun and the ‘military requirements’ for the rocket, Dornberger, p. 56, on Thiel, p. 60, on the ‘young man’ at Peenemünde (in fact Dr Steinhoff), p. 28, on the Greifswalder Oie test, pp. 51—63, on the A-5, p. 75, on Hitler, pp. 71—3, on the first Peenemünde test of the A-5, pp. 66-9; on Peenemünde in general, Smith and Kay, pp. 646-50; on von Brauchitsch’s help, Dornberger, p. 74; on the A-4 test and the ’perfection’ quotation, Dornberger, pp. 17—28.

‘The Hitler Waffe’ report was supplied to me privately but is quoted by Jones, pp. 65—6, who describes his own career on p. 10 and p. 28 and refers to ‘analphabet’ agents on p. 21. On Oberth, see Irving, p. 33; on Lindemann’s family feud and ‘authentic passions’, see Birkenhead, pp. 335—6; on his ‘erroneous assumptions’, Jones, p. 10; on his refusal to make peace with Tizard, Jones, p. 83; on his ‘gleeful sneer’, Snow, p. 13. Lord Boothby is the former minister quoted. On his own work for SIS see Jones, p. 167, on his memo to his superior and the resulting recruits, pp. 322—6, on his own assistant, pp. 37—8, 51 and 144. Irving, pp. 33—4, and Jones, p. 322, give slightly different accounts of the reports from Stockholm. I have followed the latter. On von Thoma, Irving, p. 35, and Jones, pp. 332—3, are agreed. The ‘agents could be briefed’ quotation is on p. 336. On War Office reaction and the two memoes quoted, see Irving, pp. 36-8.

Dornberger, pp. 75—6, describes his ‘begging expeditions’, and pp. 79—82 his reaction to Degenkolb and Saur, on whom see also Irving, p. 136. On the production programme, see Irving, p. 26, and Dornberger, pp. 83, 90—91, 98—9. The valuation of Peenemünde is on p. 85, Degenkolb’s ‘plot’ on p. 100, Hitler’s dream on pp. 93 and 196 and in Irving, pp. 26-7. On VIP visits and the soap in the washroom, see Irving, pp. 56—8; on rivalry with the V-1 my book The Doodlebugs , pp. 26—8 and 41, and Dornberger, pp. 95—9. The Zoo conference is described by Dornberger, pp. 111—13, and its results by Irving, p. 29. On Himmler and the Gestapo, see Dornberger, pp. 172—9, 185—6 and 197, on the visit to Hitler, pp. 101—107 and Speer, pp. 496—7. On the interference with flying-bomb manufacture, see Irving, pp. 87—8 and 93—4, and Smith and Kay, p. 751. Dornberger, p. 110, describes Peenemünde from the air, p. 143 the heroic cameraman, p. 145 his office.