Michael Neufeld - The Rocket and the Reich

70. WvB, “Beiträge,” 31–35; WvB memo, 14.12.33, in NASM, FE727/c.

71. Chefkonstrukteur/Wa Prw 3 to von Horstig, 28.6.33, in NASM, FE74/b; WvB, “Beiträge,” 35, 43; WD, V-2 , 32–33.

72. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11–12, SRCH, WvB Papers; WvB, “Beiträge,” 37, 43–44; Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 24–25, IWM, German Misc. 148. The oft-repeated assertion that the A-1 was abandoned because it was “nose heavy” is misleading.

73. WvB, “Beiträge,” 26–28; Reisig, “Peenemünder ‘Aggregaten’,” 44–45.

74. WvB, “Beiträge,”; WvB doctoral exam records, 16.5.34–27.7.34, in Humboldt University archive, Phil. Fak. 759.

75. Keilig, Das Deutsche Heer , 211/19; Schumann, “Wehrmacht,” 137; WD, V-2 , 29.

76. Schneider order, 30.11.34, and Allgemeines Heeresamt to von Horstig, 11.12.34, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945; WD denazification questionnaire, 14.7.47, in NA, RG 319, IRR files, WD dossier; Rudolph OHI, 51–52; WD, V-2 , 36; Ordway and Sharpe, Rocket Team , 23–24.

77. WvB report on A-2 launches, 28.1.35, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945.

1. Schneider order, 15.1.35, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945; WvB, “Denkschrift,” 18.1.35, in NASM, FE727/a.

2. WvB, “Denkschrift,” 18.1.35, in NASM, FE727/a.

3. Von Horstig to Becker, 4.2.35, and related documents in BA/MA, RH8/V.1260; Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 32–33, and figs. 55, 56, 56a, IWM, German Misc. 148; WvB to von Horstig, 23.11.35, in NASM, FE727/a.

4. Zanssen note, 20.5.35, and marginal comment by “D.” on von Horstig (Zanssen) to Wimmer/RLM Tech. Office, 22.5.35, in NASM, FE746; Baeumker to Becker, 10.10.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).

5. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 16, SRCH, WvB Papers; von Richthofen to von Horstig, 6.2.35, Zanssen (WvB) report, 16.2.35, von Horstig (Zanssen) to RLM/LC II, 19.2.35, and Junkers report of 18.12.34 in BA/MA, RH8/v.1221.

6. Zanssen and WvB report, 26.3.35, on Schmidt visit, in DM, (FE722); Schmidt, “On the History…,” in Benecke and Quick, History, 375–84.

7. Walter-Ordnance correspondence, 15.10.34–29.11.34, in NASM, FE727/c; H. Walter, “Development of Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets in Germany,” in Benecke and Quick, eds., History , 263, and I. Sänger-Bredt, “History…,” 326, idem; Becker (Zanssen) to RLM, 9.4.35, and WvB note to Zanssen, 30.6.35, in DM, (FE722).

8. Constant, Origins, 178–204; Zanssen note, 20.5.35, and Aktennotiz, 22.5.35, in NASM, FE746.

9. Von Horstig (Zanssen) to Wimmer, 22.5.35, in NASM, FE746.

10. WvB, “Stellungnahme,” 27.6.35, and von Horstig minutes of 27.6.35 meeting in NASM, FE746.

11. WvB, “Stellungnahme,” 27.6.35, NASM, FE746.

12. WvB NSDAP file card, BDC; WD denazification questionnaire, 14.7.47, NA, RG 319, IRR files, WD dossier; Nuss, “Einige Aspekte,” 440–42. Dornberger in V-2 , 20, and “German V-2,” 394–95, asserts that when Ordnance had gone looking for contractors in the early 1930s, no one was competent or interested. That is at best a half-truth, as the fate of the Heylandt group demonstrates. See also Klein, Vom Geschoss , 94.

13. Von Horstig minutes of 27.6.35 meeting in NASM, FE746; von Richthofen minutes of 27.5.35 RLM/LC II meeting in NA, T-971/73 (no frame nos).

14. Draft agreement, 2.9.35, of Ordnance, RLM, Heinkel and Junkers, WvB to Lorenz/RLM/LC I, 25.10.35, Kirchhoff to WvB, 10.1.36, Kirchhoff to DVL, 10.1.36, and WvB to Lorenz, 24.4.36, in NASM, FE746; WvB to von Horstig, 23.11.35, in NASM, FE727/a.

15. WvB minutes of 16.10.35 meeting in NASM, FE746. Ernst Heinkel claims in his memoirs that he “met” von Braun in November and set up a rocket aircraft project as a private venture that had little or nothing to do with the Luftwaffe and Ordnance. The foregoing document shows this story to be nonsense. Heinkel, Stürmisches Leben , 448–50; Constant, Origins, 197–98.

16. Constant, Origins , 198; Heinkel works to WvB, 5.12.35, and WvB to Alpers/RLM/LC II, 14.12.35, in NASM, FE746.

17. WD, V-2 , 38, 40.

18. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 18, SRCH, WvB Papers; WD denazification questionnaire, 14.7.47, in NA, RG 319, IRR files, WD dossier; WD, V-2 , 40.

19. WD, V-2 , 40–41.

20. Von Richthofen minutes of 6.1.36 meeting, in NA, T-971/73 (no frame nos.); “Lageplan-Skizze” of 18.1.36 in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945; WD, V-2 , 37–38; Rudolph OHI, 33–35.

21. WvB, “Reminiscences,” 135. Unfortunately the corresponding page is missing from the manuscript version. This published version was heavily rewritten by an editor and no doubt overdramatizes the story even more than the original.

22. WD, “German V-2,” 397; WD, V-2 , 38–39; WvB, handwritten “Kostenaufstellung betr. Übungsplatz Peenemünde,” c. 4.36, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945. What Göring thought of the interservice rocket alliance is unknown, but he must have at least approved of it.

23. WD, “European Rocketry,” 253–54. See also WD, V-2 , 47–48, and WD, “German V-2,” 398.

24. Ludwig, “Die ‘Hockdruckpumpe’,” 144; Klein, Vom Geschoss , 28–35, 56, 72–73.

25. David Irving in Mare’s Nest , 18–19, has already made some of the same points. On the possibility that Ordnance was interested in using the ballistic missile for gas warfare, see note 25 of Chapter 1.

26. Murray, German Military Effectiveness , 1–38.

27. Schabel, “Wunderwaffen?” 19.

28. Genstbd.H.3.Abt.Att.Gr.I to Ordnance, 4.2.36, forwarding 4.1.36 “Science News Letter,” in BA/MA, RH8/v. 1945; von Horstig to Akimoff, 25.8.36, in NASM, FE366/4; Goddard, “Liquid-propellant Rocket Development”; WD, “German V-2,” 400; WD Vortragsnotiz, 14.12.39, and WD to Leeb, 26.8.40, in NASM, FE349.

29. Germany, Das Deutsche Reich , 1:371–532.

30. WD, V-2 , 39–41; von Richthofen report on 1.4.36 meeting with Kesselring in NA, T-971/73 (no frame nos).

31. Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft”; Huzel, Peenemünde , 107; Reisig OHI, 1989, 24; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 20, SRCH, WvB Papers; WD, V-2 , 37–38.

32. Reisig OHI, 1989, 26–27; WD, V-2 , 139; WD performance evaluation of WvB, 11.9.37, in SRCH, WvB Papers.

33. Becker order, 12.5.37, in NA, T-77/797/5528603–4; “Organisations-schema Werk Ost,” c. 1937, in NASM, FE348; Ordway and Sharpe, Rocket Team , 31; Tessman OHI, 10–13; WD, V-2 , 40–41.

34. WD, V-2 , 48, 50–53.

35. Todt letter, 11.7.36, Riedel/Nebel patent of 3.8.36, Ordnance–Nebel–Riedel contract of 2.7.37 in NA, T-175/155/2685617–22 and 2685578–80; Ordnance correspondence on Nebel, 1936–37, in IWM, MI 14/801(V); WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 19–20, SRCH, WvB Papers; and Reisig OHI, 1989, 55–56. The patent payment was probably based on the RM 72,000 paid to the Heylandt company for patents it received for its rocket car work. See Heylandt–Wa Prw 1 correspondence, 7.9.34–21.5.35, in NASM, FE749.

36. WvB, “Kostenaufstellung,” c. 4.36, in BA/MA, RH8/v.1945; WvB to Lorenz/RLM/LC I, 24.4.36, in NASM, FE746.

37. Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 35, IWM, German Misc. 148; WvB German pilot logs and licenses in SRCH, WvB Papers; WvB SS officer file card, BDC; Tschirschwitz/DVL reports, 16.6.36 and 19.8.36, in NASM, FE746; WD, V-2 , 124.

38. Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 35–36, IWM, German Misc. 148; Tessmann OHI, 38–39; WD, V-2 , 125, states that the cabin was at the opposite end of the “carousel,” but he is contradicted by Riedel and Tessman.