Michael J. Neufeld. The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemuende and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. New York: The Free Press, 1995. xii + 368 pp. $25.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-02-922895-1.
Reviewed by J. D. Hunley
Published on H-German (March, 1995)
This impressively researched narrative pro‐ Key Technologies"; "Peenemuende's Time of Trou‐ vides a signifcant addition to the extensive litera‐ bles"; "Hitler Embraces the Rocket"; "Speer, ture on the Peenemuende rocket development Himmler, and Slave Labor"; "The Move Under‐ center and the A-4 (or V-2) rocket developed ground"; and "Rockets, Inc." An epilogue on "Peen‐ there. Existing accounts such as Frederick Ord‐ emuende's Legacy" completes the book. Neufeld way and Mitchell Sharp's The Rocket Team, Ord‐ argues convincingly that under the leadership of way and Ernst Stuhlinger's Wernher von Braun, Dornberger and Wernher von Braun, the Peene‐ and David Irving's The Mare's Nest, while still muende organization achieved a working rocket useful in many ways, are much more anecdotal. by developing three key technologies: large liquid- The same is true of memoirs by fgures like Dieter propellant engines, supersonic aerodynamics, and Huzel and Walter Dornberger. Even the account guidance and control. He describes systematically by Heinz Dieter Hoelsken, Die V-Wafen is much how, under the brilliant leadership of Dr. Walter broader in its coverage and does not provide the Thiel, the propulsion engineers developed im‐ detail available in Neufeld's book. It stands alone proved injection, an 18-pot pre- chamber system, in the literature for its thorough coverage, exten‐ a spherical combustion chamber, a combination sive research in archives on both sides of the At‐ of flm and regenerative cooling, and a shorter lantic, and specifc citations of sources for virtual‐ nozzle than previously used. These developments ly every paragraph. Moreover, in many areas made the unprecedentedly powerful 25-ton-thrust Neufeld provides completely new information engine for the V-2 possible. Neufeld discusses in and interpretations. similar detail the work of Drs. Rudolf Hermann Following a prologue recounting Huzel's rec‐ and Hermann Kurzweg plus other aerodynami‐ ollections from the summer of 1943, Neufeld of‐ cists in resolving problems with fn design, stabili‐ fers chapters on "The Birth of the Missile"; "The ty in the transonic region, heat transfer, and drag Founding of Peenemuende"; "Breakthrough in to ensure the rocket's stability in fight. The third technology Neufeld highlights, guidance and con‐ H-Net Reviews trol, was the greatest problem. He provides a thor‐ Neufeld concludes by noting the twin legacies ough account of the work under Dr. Ernst Stein‐ of Peenemuende: On the one hand he notes that hof, who was "less brilliant than Thiel and Her‐ "the German Army rocket program was greatly in‐ mann" but a good manager and administrator. fuenced by--and integrated into-- the structures The topic is technologically complex, but Neufeld and practices of the Nazi regime." On the other, he successfully presents to the general reader the de‐ states that the "A-4/V-2 was and is the grandfather velopment of gyroscopes, Helmut Hoelzer's mix‐ of all modern guided missiles and space boosters," ing device, hydraulic vane servomotors, engine and that it led both to positive achievements in cutof devices, and a guide beam. Together they space and the threat of nuclear destruction. Obvi‐ were not precise enough to make the V-2 a fully ously, there can and will be a variety of responses efective weapon. Still, they served as prototypes to this book by knowledgeable readers. Some are for guidance and control systems in subsequent already outraged, but most cannot fail to be im‐ rockets and missiles. pressed by Neufeld's research and his technical Among the interpretations Neufeld presents mastery of enormously disparate and scattered is an emphasis on the importance of Dornberger's sources. While many readers will disagree with and von Braun's leadership in designing and de‐ some of his conclusions, my own research sug‐ veloping the V-2, the signifcance of Dornberger's gests only two criticisms. Although Neufeld is not in-house concept for keeping development cen‐ wrong to stress the in-house nature of the A-4 de‐ tered at Peenemuende, and the two leaders' suc‐ velopment efort, and though he indicates many cess in achieving lavish funding and support for cases of contributions from outside universities the project from Army Ordnance, the Army High and frms, the latter were more integral to devel‐ Command, and the Nazi state. Neufeld also shows opment than Neufeld suggests. Second, while the that there is little evidence to support previous ar‐ technology developed at Peenemuende contrib‐ guments that development was signifcantly de‐ uted signifcantly to later rockets and missiles, it layed by sometimes comparatively low priorities is an exaggeration to call the A-4 the grandfather for materials and Hitler's initial reluctance to sup‐ of all of them. For example, largely independent port the missile. The author also refutes earlier developments at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in apologies by asserting that Dornberger was an en‐ California during World War II and afterwards thusiastic supporter of Hitler, that he and von contributed signifcantly to later liquid- and espe‐ Braun were both signifcantly involved with the cially solid-propellant rockets and missiles. These employment of slave labor, and that chief produc‐ include the Aerobee, Scout, Pershing, Polaris, and tion engineer Arthur Rudolph "was not just the Minuteman plus the solid rocket boosters of the manager of slave labor [by concentration camp Space Shuttle. Such criticisms aside, The Rocket inmates at the infamous Mittelwerk underground and the Reich is an impressive achievement and production facility for the V-2s] but also an advo‐ essential reading for anyone interested in the his‐ cate of it." These claims by Neufeld will obviously tory of rocketry and of the development of tech‐ trouble admirers of these men, and his interpreta‐ nology in Nazi Germany. tions may not be the only ones possible. Yet those Copyright (c) 1996 by H-Net, all rights re‐ who wish to contest these points will need to con‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft sult the documents he cites, some of them from educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ German archives, before they can ofer plausible thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ rejoinders. tact [email protected].
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Citation: J. D. Hunley. Review of Neufeld, Michael J. The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemuende and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era. H-German, H-Net Reviews. March, 1995.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=29
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