The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemunde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era by Michael J. Neufeld

Author:Michael J. Neufeld [Neufeld, Michael J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781588344663
Google: L6BfBgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00DACWBMK
Goodreads: 18050492
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
Published: 1995-01-02T02:00:00+00:00

HIMMLER TAKES AN INTEREST

Besides Speer, one other top Nazi leader began to pay close attention to the Army rocket program: the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler. He had been informed of the October 3 success and had shown some previous interest in rocketry. In addition to promoting the development of solid rockets for the Waffen-SS (the military wing of the SS, which was growing into a rival of the Army), he had promoted the career of Helmut von Zborowski, an enthusiastic SS officer who was pioneering nitric acid rocket technology at BMW Aircraft Engines in Berlin. But it was probably Hitler’s endorsement of the A-4 in late November 1942 that induced Himmler to take a look at the Army’s new weapon. Less than three weeks later, on December 11, he traveled to Peenemünde for his first visit to the complex. While there he witnessed the embarrassing failure of the A-4/V9, which blew up and crashed after only four seconds.20

Five days after the visit, one of Himmler’s chief deputies, Gottlob Berger, wrote the Reichsführer-SS at the request of an old friend from southwest Germany, Gerhard Stegmaier. Berger headed the SS Main Office, which was responsible, among other things, for recruiting. The letter reads:

The Peenemünde Army Establishment is deeply impressed with the visit of the Reichsführer-SS even today. Lt. Col. Stegmaier, who was happy as a small child about his special greeting from the Reichsführer-SS, asks to convey the following message:

The section chief, Col. Dornberger, wishes to make an official presentation to the Führer, together with the developer [of the missile], Dr. v. Braun, in order to hold discussions with the Führer and to hear his views and wishes, especially regarding the deployment possibilities of the device.

The decisions that the Führer would lay down would then give a clear direction to the already ongoing partial preparations for deployment.

I await further orders.21

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