25. On the Paris Gun, see Klein, Vom Geschoss, 28–35, 56–57, 72–73; Ludwig, “Die ‘Hockdruckpumpe’,” 144; WD, V-2, 47–48; WD, “European Rocketry,” 253–54; WD, “German V-2,” 398. On surprise in Becker’s thought, see Schumann, “Wehrmacht,” 135. The solid-fuel rocket program’s close connection to chemical warfare, leading to the battlefield Nebelwerfer of World War II, and Oberth’s discussion of the ballistic missile’s utility for long-range poison gas attacks make it certain that Becker and his subordinates also discussed the possibility of using liquid-fuel missiles for chemical warfare against civilians. But the only document that even hints that they advocated it is the war diary of General Franz Halder, Chief of the Army General Staff (1938–42). Halder records a tour of a chemical weapons plant with Becker on September 26, 1939. Poison gas and the use of the long-range rocket against London are mentioned but are not clearly linked; see Halder, Kriegstagebuch, 1:85. Müller, “World Power Status,” 190, overinterprets this cryptic entry. If Ordnance believed in the 1930s that ballistic missiles would be decisive if equipped with chemical warheads, all documents mentioning this idea must later have disappeared.
26. Becker to AG f. Industriegasverwertung, 16.10.31, in NASM, FE724/a; Winter, Prelude, 52. By some accounts there was an important meeting on December 17, 1930, in which Colonel Karlewski, head of the Testing Division, backed increased funding for rocket development. But in the absence of original documents such exactitude is suspicious; the chronology in the memoirs of this period is often demonstrably in error.
27. Riedel, “Raketenentwicklung,” 11–14, IWM, German Misc. 148; AG f. Industriegasverwertung to von Horstig, 20.11.34, in NASM, FE737; Rudolph OHI, 6–15; Franklin, American, 24–27; Ley, Rockets, 146; Winter and Neufeld, “Heylandt’s Rocket Cars.”
28. Frey (for Hess and Hitler) to Nebel, 19.2.30, and Grundtmann (for Göring) to Nebel, 18.3.32, in NA, T-175/155/2685593–94; Nebel to Bodenschatz, 23.8.33, in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Nebel, Narren, 16–17; Nebel handbill in Winter, Prelude, 174; Horeis, Rolf Engel, 17–18; W Kechmann article, Berliner Zeitung, 12.6.32, in WvB Papers, LC, box 53, scrapbook 1; Baumgarten-Crusius, Rakete.
29. Heylandt-Wa Prw 1 (Section 1) correspondence, 28.10.31–29.4.32, and von Horstig report, 2.5.32, in NASM, FE724/a; Reisig, “Peenemünder Aggregaten’,” 46.
30. Heylandt-Wa Prw 1 correspondence, 1.10.32–21.11.32, in NASM, FE724/a; AG f. Industriegasverwertung to von Horstig, 20.11.34, in NASM, FE737; Wa Prw 1 documents on Belz, 21.12.31–25.6.32, in NASM, FE366/3.
31. Nebel, Narren, 133–35; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8, SRCH, WvB Papers. Ley, Rockets, 155–56, claims that the contact was initiated by Nebel, who wrote a “Confidential Memo on Long-Range Artillery,” but it is possible that Ley confused the events of 1930 with those of 1932.
32. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8, SRCH, WvB Papers; Nebel, Narren, 135–37; Becker to Schiessplatzkommando Z, Kummersdorf, 6.6.32, Schneider report, 23(?).6.32, and Schumann (Wahmke) report, 1.7.32, in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft,” 471; Schumann files, BDC.
33. Schneider report, 23(?).6.32, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
34. Ibid.
35. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 8–9, SRCH, WvB Papers; WD, “Denkschrift,” c. late 1943, in NASM, FE496; Ley, Rockets, 143–44.
36. Becker to Schumann et al, 25.6.32, and attached drawing, 24.6.32 in NA, T-78/177/6116510-11; WD, V-2, 23–24; WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 11, SRCH, WvB Papers.
37. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 9–10, SRCH, WvB Papers; Nebel, Narren, 138. Rolf Engel remembers von Braun making such a Statement in the early 1930s. Engel interview.
38. WvB, “Behind the Scenes,” 10, SRCH, WvB Papers. For the bland published version see WvB, “Reminiscences,” 130. On von Braun’s politics, see Ley, “Count von Braun,” and Engel’s impressions in Horeis, Rolf Engel, 24.
39. WD, V-2, 27. WvB’s “Protokoll” of his Gestapo interview, 16.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V), says December 1. The October 1 date in V-2 is incorrect. According to the late 1943 anonymous typescript, “Werdegang… des Professors Dr. von Braun,” in NASM, FE341, he took his Vorprüfung in mechanical engineering (roughly equivalent to a bachelor’s degree) on November 3, 1932, and joined Ordnance the same day. Other secondary sources say November 1, but the 1934 document is closest to the original event.
40. Ebert and Rupieper, “Technische Wissenschaft,” 471–72; Schumann, “Wehrmacht,” 135–37; Ordnance-WvB contract, 4.4.33, in SRCH, WvB Papers.
41. Magnus von Braun, Weg, 234, 263; Hüttenberger, “Polykratie”; Kershaw, Nazi Dictatorship, 65–81.
42. WD, “Denkschrift,” c. late 1943, NASM, FE496.
43. Horeis, Rolf Engel, 45–49; Engel interview; Päch, “Rolf Engel,” 232.
44. Horeis, Rolf Engel, 47–49; Engel interview; Franz Mengering, “Die Magdeburger Pilotenrakete,” Corpsstudentische Monatsblätter 41 (March 1933): 140–41, in IWM, MI 14/80KV); Winkler, “Rückstoss-Arbeiten Winkler,” 8.5.43, DM.
45. Winter, Prelude, 44–46; Nebel, Narren, 125–28; Ley, Rockets, 154–59; Raketenflug, no. 8 (April 1933), and other clippings and publications in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
46. Winter, Prelude, 46–47; Raketenflugplatz publications and newspaper clippings, 1933–34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
47. Nebel to von Levetzow, 11.7.33, and Nebel to Bodenschatz, 23.8.33, and associated correspondence in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
48. Schneider Aktennotiz, 14.10.33, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
49. Ley, Rockets, 157–58; von Dickhuth-Harrach to Nebel, 26.10.33, prosecutor’s report, 30.11.33, and Fritz Beck/VfR to Wa Prw 1/I, 15.1.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).
50. Becker (Schneider) to V2, 22.12.33, and related documents in IWM, MI 14/801(V); Raabe OHI.
51. Horeis, Rolf Engel, 22–23, 50–51; WvB “Protokoll” of Gestapo interview, 16.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V). Becker’s rank was Generalmajor (Major General), but I shall translate ranks according to their American equivalents. In the German system of that time, Generalmajor was the lowest general officer’s rank.
52. Winter, Prelude, 47–50; Becker (Schneider) to V2, 22.12.33, and von Horstig marginal notation on Technik voran! 15 (November 5, 1933) in IWM, MI 14/801(V); WD to W.A.(I), (?).7.34, and Arndt/RLM to Ordnance, 18.7.34, in NASM, FE366/3.
53. Horeis, Rolf Engel, 50; Nebel, Narren, 139; Polizei-Major Funcke/Hamburg to Bodenschatz, 27.7.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V). When I interviewed Engel, he denied that he had met Seldte, as is asserted in Gartmann, Men, 96–97, so the contact may have come through Nebel. Any discussion of Engel’s membership in Nazi organizations is drawn from his SS officer file in the BDC and not from the interview.
54. Wolfke/Warsaw to Nebel, 13.1.34, Nebel to Hitler, 20.2.34, Schneider Aktennotizen, 23.2.34 and 16.3.34, in IWM, MI 14/801(V).