The Rocket and the Reich
The Rocket and the Reich

Author: Michael J. Neufeld

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2013-09-10

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1588344673

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WINNER OF THE DEXTER PRIZE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY Launched by the Third Reich in late 1944, the first ballistic missile, the V-2, fell on London, Paris, and Antwerp after covering nearly two hundred miles in five minutes. It was a stunning achievement, one that heralded a new age of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles. Michael J. Neufeld gives the first comprehensive and accurate account of the story behind one of the greatest engineering feats of World War II. At a time when rockets were minor battlefield weapons, Germany ushered in a new form of warfare that would bequeath a long legacy of terror to the Cold War, as well as the means to go into space. Both the US and USSR's rocket programs had their origins in the Nazi state.

The Rocket and the Reich
The Rocket and the Reich

Author: Michael J. Neufeld

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 9780029228951

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The story behind one of the greatest engineering feats of World War II. The Rocket and the Reich is the paradoxical tale of the creation of a technology that would prove so valuable to Allied powers after the war but ultimately proved a failure to the Germans during it. Two 8-page photo inserts; 6 maps and diagrams.

Von Braun
Von Braun

Author: Michael Neufeld

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2017-04-12

Total Pages: 626

ISBN-13: 0525435913

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Curator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.

Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich
Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich

Author: Terry C Treadwell

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2025-02-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 180399908X

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Throughout much of the Second World War the Nazis' military technology was far more advanced than anything the Allies could produce. Part of the German arsenal were rocket and jet aircraft, the first of which, the Heinkel He 178, first took to the air on 27 August 1939. It was followed by other icons of aviation such as the Messerschmitt Me 262 that had an engine with a thrust of 1,350lbs, and the famous V-1 (Doodlebug), over 9,500 of which were fired at Britain resulting in 22,892 casualties. In Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich, aviation historian Terry C. Treadwell tells the story of the planes and weaponry that represented the cutting edge of aviation technology. He details their design, development and application and the struggles of those who built them. The German scientists and engineers were always under pressure from the German High Command during the conflict, and as it drew to a close they were caught between the Allies who wished to control them, and the SS who would stop at nothing to prevent them falling into Allied hands. Complimented by over 200 illustrations, Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich provides unrivalled insight into the aircraft that made Germany an almost indomitable enemy.

Our Germans
Our Germans

Author: Brian E. Crim

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2018-01-15

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1421424401

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A gripping history of one of the United States' most controversial Cold War intelligence operations. Project Paperclip brought hundreds of German scientists and engineers, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, to the United States in the first decade after World War II. More than the freighters full of equipment or the documents recovered from caves and hastily abandoned warehouses, the German brains who designed and built the V-2 rocket and other "wonder weapons" for the Third Reich proved invaluable to America's emerging military-industrial complex. Whether they remained under military employment, transitioned to civilian agencies like NASA, or sought more lucrative careers with corporations flush with government contracts, German specialists recruited into the Paperclip program assumed enormously influential positions within the labyrinthine national security state. Drawing on recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the State Department, Brian E. Crim's Our Germans examines the process of integrating German scientists into a national security state dominated by the armed services and defense industries. Crim explains how the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency enticed targeted scientists, whitewashed the records of Nazis and war criminals, and deceived government agencies about the content of security investigations. Exploring the vicious bureaucratic rivalries that erupted over the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of pursuing Paperclip, Our Germans reveals how some Paperclip proponents and scientists influenced the perception of the rival Soviet threat by volunteering inflated estimates of Russian intentions and technical capabilities. As it describes the project's embattled legacy, Our Germans reflects on the myriad ways that Paperclip has been remembered in culture and national memory. As this engaging book demonstrates, whether characterized as an expedient Cold War program born from military necessity or a dishonorable episode, the project ultimately reflects American ambivalence about the military-industrial complex and the viability of an "ends justifies the means" solution to external threats.

The Nazi Rocketeers
The Nazi Rocketeers

Author: Dennis Piszkiewicz

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780811733878

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Explores the development of the V-2 rocket. A sobering testimony to the consequences of corrupted genius.

Germany's V-2 Rocket
Germany's V-2 Rocket

Author: Gregory P. Kennedy

Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 9780764324529

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Germanys V-2 looks at one of the major technological advances of the Second World War, the V-2 ballistic missile. Although dwarfed by todays giant rockets, the V-2 represented a quantum leap beyond anything previously built. During the last six months of the war in Europe, Germany launched thousands of these missiles against the Allies. This book traces the origins and development of the V-2, from groups of individual experimenters in the 1930s to its use as a weapon system. Particular emphasis is paid to such topics as the structure and components of the missile, its ground support equipment, and field procedures. After the war, the V-2 formed the foundation for the space programs of the Soviet Union and United States. Information is included on previously ignored V-2 launches in the United States.

Wernher von Braun: Revolutionary Rocket Engineer
Wernher von Braun: Revolutionary Rocket Engineer

Author: Rachael L. Thomas

Publisher: ABDO

Published: 2019-01-01

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13: 1532159900

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Meet Wernher von Braun, who developed the booster rocket that won the Space Race for the United States! Follow von Braun's story from his early work developing the V-2 ballistic missile to his development of the Saturn V booster rocket that took Apollo 11 to the moon. Infographics, historic photos, and a glossary enhance readers' understanding of this topic. Additional features include a table of contents, an index, a timeline and fun facts. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Operation Paperclip
Operation Paperclip

Author: Annie Jacobsen

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2014-02-11

Total Pages: 626

ISBN-13: 0316221058

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The “remarkable” story of America's secret post-WWII science programs (The Boston Globe), from the New York Times bestselling author of Area 51. In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery. They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S. space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War? Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including previously unseen papers made available by direct descendants of the Third Reich's ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and dossiers discovered in government archives and at Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century. In this definitive, controversial look at one of America's most strategic, and disturbing, government programs, Jacobsen shows just how dark government can get in the name of national security. "Harrowing...How Dr. Strangelove came to America and thrived, told in graphic detail." —Kirkus Reviews

Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race
Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race

Author: Wayne Biddle

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-09-28

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 0393541290

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A stunning investigation of the roots of the first moon landing forty years ago. This illuminating story of the dawn of the space age reaches back to the reactionary modernism of the Third Reich, using the life of “rocket scientist” Wernher von Braun as its narrative path through the crumbling of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi regime. Von Braun, a blinkered opportunist who could apply only tunnel vision to his meteoric career, stands as an archetype of myriad twentieth century technologists who thrived under regimes of military secrecy and unlimited money. His seamless transformation from developer of the deadly V-2 ballistic missile for Hitler to an American celebrity as the supposed genius behind the golden years of the U.S. space program in the 1950s and 1960s raises haunting questions about the culture of the Cold War, the shared values of technology in totalitarian and democratic societies, and the imperatives of material progress.