Michael Neufeld - The Rocket and the Reich

29. Heylandt-Wa Prw 1 (Section 1) correspondence, 28.10.31–29.4.32, and von Horstig report, 2.5.32, in NASM, FE724/a; Reisig, “Peenemünder Aggregaten’,” 46.

30. Heylandt-Wa Prw 1 correspondence, 1.10.32–21.11.32, in NASM, FE724/a; AG f. Industriegasverwertung to von Horstig, 20.11.34, in NASM, FE737; Wa Prw 1 documents on Belz, 21.12.31–25.6.32, in NASM, FE366/3.

31. Nebel, Narren , 133–35; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8, SRCH, WvB Papers. Ley, Rockets , 155–56, claims that the contact was initiated by Nebel, who wrote a “Confidential Memo on Long-Range Artillery,” but it is possible that Ley confused the events of 1930 with those of 1932.

32. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8, SRCH, WvB Papers; Nebel, Narren , 135–37; Becker to Schiessplatzkommando Z, Kummersdorf, 6.6.32, Schneider report, 23(?).6.32, and Schumann (Wahmke) report, 1.7.32, in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft,” 471; Schumann files, BDC.

33. Schneider report, 23(?).6.32, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

34. Ibid .

35. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8–9, SRCH, WvB Papers; WD, “Denkschrift,” c. late 1943, in NASM, FE496; Ley, Rockets , 143–44.

36. Becker to Schumann et al , 25.6.32, and attached drawing, 24.6.32 in NA, T-78/177/6116510-11; WD, V-2 , 23–24; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11, SRCH, WvB Papers.

37. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 9–10, SRCH, WvB Papers; Nebel, Narren , 138. Rolf Engel remembers von Braun making such a Statement in the early 1930s. Engel interview.

38. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 10, SRCH, WvB Papers. For the bland published version see WvB, “Reminiscences,” 130. On von Braun’s politics, see Ley, “Count von Braun,” and Engel’s impressions in Horeis, Rolf Engel , 24.

39. WD, V-2 , 27. WvB’s “Protokoll” of his Gestapo interview, 16.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V), says December 1. The October 1 date in V-2 is incorrect. According to the late 1943 anonymous typescript, “Werdegang… des Professors Dr. von Braun,” in NASM, FE341, he took his Vorprüfung in mechanical engineering (roughly equivalent to a bachelor’s degree) on November 3, 1932, and joined Ordnance the same day. Other secondary sources say November 1, but the 1934 document is closest to the original event.

40. Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft,” 471–72; Schumann, “Wehrmacht,” 135–37; Ordnance-WvB contract, 4.4.33, in SRCH, WvB Papers.

41. Magnus von Braun, Weg, 234, 263; Hüttenberger, “Polykratie”; Kershaw, Nazi Dictatorship , 65–81.

42. WD, “Denkschrift,” c. late 1943, NASM, FE496.

43. Horeis, Rolf Engel , 45–49; Engel interview; Päch, “Rolf Engel,” 232.

44. Horeis, Rolf Engel , 47–49; Engel interview; Franz Mengering, “Die Magdeburger Pilotenrakete,” Corpsstudentische Monatsblätter 41 (March 1933): 140–41, in IWM, MI 14/80KV); Winkler, “Rückstoss-Arbeiten Winkler,” 8.5.43, DM.

45. Winter, Prelude , 44–46; Nebel, Narren , 125–28; Ley, Rockets , 154–59; Raketenflug , no. 8 (April 1933), and other clippings and publications in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

46. Winter, Prelude , 46–47; Raketenflugplatz publications and newspaper clippings, 1933–34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

47. Nebel to von Levetzow, 11.7.33, and Nebel to Bodenschatz, 23.8.33, and associated correspondence in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

48. Schneider Aktennotiz, 14.10.33, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

49. Ley, Rockets , 157–58; von Dickhuth-Harrach to Nebel, 26.10.33, prosecutor’s report, 30.11.33, and Fritz Beck/VfR to Wa Prw 1/I, 15.1.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

50. Becker (Schneider) to V2, 22.12.33, and related documents in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Raabe OHI.

51. Horeis, Rolf Engel , 22–23, 50–51; WvB “Protokoll” of Gestapo interview, 16.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V). Becker’s rank was Generalmajor (Major General), but I shall translate ranks according to their American equivalents. In the German system of that time, Generalmajor was the lowest general officer’s rank.

52. Winter, Prelude , 47–50; Becker (Schneider) to V2, 22.12.33, and von Horstig marginal notation on Technik voran! 15 (November 5, 1933) in IWM, MI 14/801(V); WD to W.A.(I), (?).7.34, and Arndt/RLM to Ordnance, 18.7.34, in NASM, FE366/3.

53. Horeis, Rolf Engel , 50; Nebel, Narren , 139; Polizei-Major Funcke/Hamburg to Bodenschatz, 27.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V). When I interviewed Engel, he denied that he had met Seldte, as is asserted in Gartmann, Men , 96–97, so the contact may have come through Nebel. Any discussion of Engel’s membership in Nazi organizations is drawn from his SS officer file in the BDC and not from the interview.

54. Wolfke/Warsaw to Nebel, 13.1.34, Nebel to Hitler, 20.2.34, Schneider Aktennotizen, 23.2.34 and 16.3.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

55. Stud (Schneider) to Röhm through Wehrmachtsamt, mailed 10.3.34, and Becker (Schneider) to Wa Wi, 3.5.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

56. Marginal notations of von Horstig and Schneider on Nebel to Reich Finance Minister, 20.2.34, Schneider Aktennotiz, 28.5.34, and Ohnesorge/Post Ministry to Seldte, 15.6.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

57. Von Horstig (Schneider) to Abwehr, 4.6.34, Schneider Aktennotiz, 28.6.34, and Zwengauer (Dornberger) to Abwehr, 7.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Nebel, Narren , 139; Gartmann, Men , 97.

58. Nebel, Narren , 139–40; Dornberger Aktennotiz, 10.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

59. On Nebel, see IWM, MI 14/801(V), BA/MA, RH8/v.1226 and NA, T-175/155. Engel has made contradictory statements about his group’s fate. In one version, Walter Thiel and Wernher von Braun, among others, pressured him to work for Ordnance. He was then forced to close the group when Hitler issued an order giving the Army a monopoly over rocketry. But no written evidence for such an order exists. Horeis, Rolf Engel , 51–52; Gartmann, Men , 97–98; and Päch, “Rolf Engel,” 234. In the other version, he was threatened by a Gestapo representative, but surveillance stopped when a fellow student leader introduced him to Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS Security Service, or SD, and administrator of the Gestapo. The group folded when he was transferred to the Nazi student leadership in Munich in 1935. Engel interview. Engel’s “Lebenlauf” of 16.2.40 in his SS officer file, BDC, shows that he probably became an SD informant in 1936.

60. Wa Prw 1 material on Brügel, 22.6.34–30.6.35, in NASM, FE366/3.

61. Rudolph OHI, 17–28; Franklin, American , 38–43; Ordnance–Pietsch contract and statement, 15.5.33, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1225; WvB evaluation of Rudolph motor, 18.8.34, in NASM, FE727/c; Rudolph file, BDC.

62. Material on inventors is in BA/MA, RH8/v. 1221–26, some of which is in NASM, FE366. The Oberth material is in RH8/v.1226. See also WD, “Denkschrift,” c. late 1943, FE496.

63. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11, SRCH, WvB Papers.

64. WD, “German V-2,” 395; AG f. Industriegasverwertung to Schneider, 10.11.32, in NASM, FE724/a.

65. Wa Prw I-Heylandt correspondence, 1.10.32–15.12.33, in NASM, FE724/a.

66. Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 24, IWM, German Misc. 148; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 12–13, SRCH, WvB Papers. WD, V-2 , 27, erroneously places Riedel at Kummersdorf in late 1932.

67. WvB, “Beiträge,” 29–31; WD, V-2 , 23–26; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11, SRCH, WvB Papers.

68. WvB memo, 14.12.33, in NASM, FE727/c; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11, SRCH, WvB Papers.

69. Wa Prw I correspondence and documents on aluminum firms, 13.4.33–15.9.33, in NASM, FE744; WvB, “Beiträge,” 30.