Michael Neufeld - The Rocket and the Reich

In January 1939 the new factory planning group was formed as Wa Prüf 11/VI under Ministerialrat (Ministerial Counselor) G. Schubert in Berlin. The factory site itself was called the Fertigungsstelle Peenemünde (Peenemünde Production Plant)—acronym FSP. The two sides of the Army complex were combined as the Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde (Peenemünde Army Experimental Establishment) on September 23, 1941. The abbreviation HVP remained unchanged, while the former HVP became the Entwicklungswerk (Development Works) or EW. The factory was renamed the Versuchsserienwerk (Pilot Production Plant) or VW. A January 7, 1942, Dornberger order shortened the center’s name to Heeresanstalt Peenemünde (Peenemünde Army Establishment) or HAP, probably because it was now a production organization as well as a developmental one. Schubert’s Berlin group was not officially resettled in Peenemünde until June 15, 1942, however.

Attempts to organize A-4 mass production began with the October 23, 1941, order forming the Arbeitsstab Wa A-Vorhaben Peenemünde (Ordnance Office-Peenemünde Project Working Staff). This committee was partially superseded in July 1942 by Detmar Stahlknecht’s Nachbaudirektion (Production Planning Directorate), which was renamed the Technische Direktion Serie (TDS: Technical Directorate for Mass Production) in early 1943, paralleling Wernher von Braun’s position as Technische Direktor (TD: Technical Director) for development. Both reported through Gerhard Stegmaier, the Leiter (Chief) of the Development Works (acronym EW/L), to the Commander (HAP/L or HAP/Kdr.). With Speer’s order on December 22, 1942, to form the Sonderausschuss A4 (A-4 Special Committee), the two preceding production organizations faded away by the autumn of 1943. The Committee was expanded to become Sonderausschuss V-Waffen (Special Committee for V-Weapons) in August 1944 but used cover names—usually Sonderausschuss z.b.V . Paul Storch’s Sonderausschuss elektrischer Zubehör für R-Geräte (Special Committee for Electrical Equipment on R[ocket]-Devices) apparently led a separate existence from roughly mid-1943 to mid-1944.

A May 17, 1943, order from General Fromm, effective June 1, renamed the center Heimat-Artillerie Park 11 (Home Artillery Park 11) or HAP 11, with Karlshagen replacing Peenemünde as the official location. After the August 18 air raid, the VW and EW were merged, preparatory to moving production underground. On September 4, Fromm named Dornberger Beauftragter zur besonderen Verwendung Heer (Army Commissioner for Special Tasks), or BzbV Heer. The rocket general had received the title Der Beauftragte des Wa A für das A4-Programm (The Ordnance Office Commissioner for the A-4 Program) in June, but now he was removed from Ordnance and Wa Prüf 11 altogether.

Dornberger also received the title Artilleriekommandeur (Artillery Commander) 191 or Arko 191 after Hitler gave him tactical command of the A-4 on October 4, 1943. To that title was added the adjective Höhere (Higher), probably in December, making him Harko 191 , but soon thereafter he lost the position. Meanwhile a December 1 Hitler order created Generalkommando LXV. AK z.b.V . (General Command, LXV Army Corps for Special Tasks) to control all V-weapons. After SS Major General Hans Kammler seized the A-4 mobile units at the end of August 1944, he reconstituted them as Division z. V . ( zur Vergeltung , “for Vengeance”). About the same time Himmler named him Sonderbeauftragter 2 des Reichsführers-SS (Special Commissioner 2 of the Reichsführer-SS), acronym Sb 2.

On December 15, 1943, the liquid-fuel rocket program was removed from Wa Prüf 11 and constituted as Wa Prüf 10; solid-fuel rocketry remained under the old designation. Wa Prüf 10 became Wa Prüf (BuM) 10 in July 1944 or thereabouts, reflecting the separation of the Ordnance Development and Testing Division into two divisions, Ballistik und Munition (Ballistics and Munitions) and Waffen und Gerät (Weapons and Equipment), paralleling an earlier split of the Industrielle Rüstung (Industrial Armament, that is, Procurement) Division in 1940.

During the last two years of the war a number of limited-liability companies ( Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung or GmbH), technically private but government-owned, were created for the rocket program. The first was Mittelwerk GmbH (Central Works, Ltd.), on September 24, 1943, followed by the Wasserbauversuchsanstalt GmbH (Hydraulic Engineering Experimental Establishment, Ltd.) for the wind tunnel group that was evacuated to Kochel, Bavaria. A Steinbruchverwertungs-Gesellschaft mbH (Quarry Utilization, Ltd.) was created in late 1943 or early 1944 to run the Vorwerke (Engine Test Works) at Schlier and Lehesten, but it was later absorbed by the Mittelwerk. On August 1, 1944, the development sections of HAP 11 became the Elektromechanische Werke GmbH (Electromechanical Industries, Ltd.), acronym EW The remaining Army base administration became the Versuchsplatz Karlshagen (Karlshagen Test Range).

On January 13, 1945, Speer ordered the formation of the Arbeitsstab Dornberger (Dornberger Working Staff) within the Armaments Ministry (which was called the Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition from March 1940 to September 1943 and the Reichsministerium für Rüstung und Kriegsproduktion thereafter). On February 6 Kammler subordinated the Working Staff Dornberger to himself. Göring had named him the head of a Programm “Brechung des Luftterrors” (Program for Breaking the Air Terror) on January 26, as well as V-1 commander. In the latter capacity, he folded the V-1 units into an upgraded Armeekorps z.V . (Army Corps “for Vengeance”). After the evacuation of Peenemünde to Thuringia, the EW became the core of the Entwicklungsgemeinschaft Mittelbau (Central Construction Development Cooperative). With the further evacuation of five hundred personnel to Bavaria, the Peenemünde organization can be said to have effectively dissolved.

Arch.: Peenemünde Archive Report

Arm.Min.: Armaments Ministry

BA: Bundesarchiv Koblenz

BA/MA: Bundesarchiv/Militärarchiv Freiburg

BDC: Berlin Document Center

CTR: Chemisch-Technisches Reichsanstalt

DM: Deutsches Museum Munich

EW: Entwicklungswerk or Elektromechanische Werke

FE: Fort Eustis

FOIA: Freedom of Information Act

FSP: Fertigungsstelle Peenemünde

HAP: Heeresanstalt Peenemünde

HAP 11: Heimat-Artillerie-Park 11

HVP: Heeresversuchsstelle (or -Versuchsanstalt) Peenemünde

INSCOM: U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command

IWM: Imperial War Museum

KG: Kreiselgeräte GmbH

KL: Konzentrationslager

LC: Library of Congress

LZ: Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH

NA: National Archives

NASM: National Air and Space Museum

OKH: Oberkommando des Heeres

OKW: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

OHI: Oral history interview (deposited at NASM)

OSI: Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Justice Dept.

RLM: Reichsluftfahrtministerium

RSIC: Redstone Scientific Information Center

SRCH: Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville

VW: Versuchsserienwerk

WD: Walter Dornberger

WvB: Wernher von Braun