“And since I have a little time, I plan on showing you just that, Herr Anderson. Come, we shall talk as we walk,” Kammler said as he rose from his chair. He came around the desk and motioned for the men to bring Eric and Anna along.
“First we shall stop just two doors down from this one,” he said as he left the room. The group walked down the hallway until they came to a finely carved wooden door surrounded by a red marble. In the marble beside the door, the words were etched: ‘Adolf Hitler — 1889–1947.’ The large polished wooden door was opened and everyone went inside.
Anna gasped as she entered the room. In the center of the room was a single spotlighted glass sarcophagus, slightly tilted so that the body inside could be viewed easily. Adolf Hitler was illuminated by the spotlight. He was lying in his brown formal uniform with the garrison belt. His left hand was crooked so that it was gripping the front of the belt, much like he hid in public appearances. The red arm band shown brightly in the light and his Iron Cross still adorned the uniform coat. His hat was wedged under his arm. Although his eyes were closed, it appeared as if he would open them at any minute. Almost together, the General and his men came to attention and gave the Nazi salute. The effect was stunning and most disturbing. Anna grasped Eric’s arm. Words tried to come out of her mouth, but were stifled even before she could mouth them.
“Is this really him?” she asked in a whisper.
Kammler spoke in a low, almost reverent tone. “Yes, this is our beloved Führer. As the war ended a group of us were able to rescue him from the bunker. A double took his place. We brought him here to safety. He died in February, 1947, in the house your father unfortunately discovered. But before he died, he and I made plans for a new Germany — one built on superior German thought, skill and duty. We took our time and planned until no questions could be asked and no chances taken. It was our Führer who gave us the dream and our Führer who got us started. I felt you needed to see him so you would know what is about to happen is reality and not some dream,” he said. Breaking his eyes away from Hitler, he stared into Eric’s face. “Now you shall see the brilliance of this man,” he said forcefully.
The men took Eric and Anna out the door again and through a checkpoint and another set of doors. They entered a huge cavernous space brightly lighted. To one side was a set of thick glass windows in equally thick concrete. Men were moving around inside and sitting at a number of consoles. On the other side were four very large steel doors. The doors were nearly 50 feet high and twenty feet wide and had large hydraulic pistons on each side to open and close them.
Eric and Anna were astounded that all this was under the very house they were living in. The questions flew through Eric’s mind. What is going on here? How did all this go undiscovered? Why had these men waited since 1945 to do this? Kammler had stopped talking but led the group to one set of doors.
“I can almost ready your mind, Herr Anderson. You want to know what we are getting ready to do and how we could go unnoticed. It is very simple. We went unnoticed because we did not want anyone to find us. Our numbers are few but particularly loyal. We learned that patience would work in our favor. And this is the result,” he said as he pressed a button on the concrete wall.
The hum of hydraulics pierced the cavern as slowly the doors opened inward. Inside was a huge rocket. It was painted a mottled light gray and had the swastika emblazoned on the side. The rocket was sitting in a 25 foot wide circular silo lined with concrete. The rocket sat in the silo which was already 45 feet deep. The tip of the rocket rose another 40 feet, some 10 feet below a concrete cap. There were two stages. The second stage appeared to sit inside the end of the larger first stage. It was more slender and had what appeared to be a cockpit near the tip.
“This is our nation’s greatest creation,” Kammler gloated, “the A-10 rocket with the A-9 second stage.” He pointed toward the cockpit canopy. “You see, we are still very far above what you have been able to achieve in all your American technology,” he said. “We sent a man into space in 1945!” he nearly shouted with glee.
Eric stared in wonder at the machine in front of him. This was far above his understanding of history and technology. None of this was supposed to have happened, yet there it was, poised for flight. He shook his head and asked, “I knew you had what we called the V-2 rockets, but this is so much bigger. How could you be so far ahead of both the US and the Soviets?”
Kammler was beaming with pride. For so long he had wanted to show others the work he had now spent nearly eighteen years doing. True, it had been taken step by agonizingly slow step, but in the end it had all been exactly as he and his Führer had planned. Within moments the dream would become a reality. There was time to allow the young people to understand. He placed his hands behind his back, much like a teacher, and looked at both Eric and Anna.
“The answer is quite simple,” said Kammler. “You are exactly where we want you to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come now, Herr Anderson. Look at your history. At the end of the war, what did your government do? Here were all these brilliant German scientists still working in their shops developing extraordinary things. Like any conqueror you took all the scientists you could find and shipped them back to the United States. The Russians did the same thing. But what you didn’t know was that we planned and orchestrated who would go where. In that way we could firmly control what was being done and just how far your rockets could go,” said Kammler.
“Are you telling me Von Braun is working for you?” Eric asked incredulously.
“Von Braun?” Kammler exclaimed. “Von Braun only does what Von Braun wants to do. We had a great deal of difficulty keeping that man focused on the priorities. All he wanted to do was put a man in space. There was a war on and the priority in Germany was weapons. He was always forgetting that,” he said. “No, we were glad to make sure he went to the Americans. I hope he is giving them as many headaches as he gave me. But there were several others still loyal to the Führer working with him. We made sure the Russians got a number of our people too. Very democratic is it not?”
Eric could not believe what he was hearing. If true, it meant both the United States and the Soviet Union were being manipulated by the very Nazis they supposedly defeated in 1945. If so, where would it ultimately lead? But the rocket in front of them was much larger than the Redstone, Atlas or Titan rockets currently used in America. How could it have been developed and not known about?
“Herr General, I’m amazed at what you have here. But with you sending off your own scientists, how was this developed? Such things cost billions of American dollars,” Eric said.
“Very true, young man. But this missile was developed late in the war. I was able to save two of the very best of our scientists to perfect it and make it ready. Our small band of loyal Nazis has worked very hard to have the missiles ready. As far as costs, let’s just say we have what you would call an offshore account,” Kammler said.
“You keep calling these missiles. It looks to me as if these rockets are designed to carry men into space,” said Anna jumping into the conversation.
Kammler looked at her and smiled. “Originally, they were designed to carry pilots to guide the warheads to their target; however because of some assistance from the American Army, we were able to obtain a much better guidance system.”
“The stolen army truck! Herr Dresner said it held electronic parts and that the Americans were very secretive about it,” Eric blurted out.
“Exactly. We found out through our contacts that the truck was carrying updated guidance systems for the Jupiter missiles in Turkey. I was able to obtain systems for each of our missiles.” Kammler looked back at Anna. “And you are right young lady. These are missiles, not simply some of Von Braun’s man carrying rockets. Each of these missiles can fly over 5,000 miles and strike their target with their atomic warhead.”