Shturmbanführer American Heights
On the first spring day of this year at 17.49, Coordinated Universal Time, from the SLC-3E launch complex based on the United States Air Force Vandenberg in the roar of the Russian propulsion system and solid fuel boosters, the Atlas-5 launch vehicle went to heaven. The satellite NROL-79, belonging to the National Directorate of Military Space Intelligence, was located under its head fairing. The March launch was the 70-m launch of the Atlas-5 - a real American workhorse for launching a military payload.Meanwhile, the numerous family of these “horses” originates from the first American ICBM, “bred” not by American “breeders”, but by a team of Nazi rocket engineers under the leadership of SS navigator Führer Werner von Braun, who received “epaulets” personally from the hands of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler. Moreover, both its first MRBD, the launch of the satellite and, of course, the triumphal conquest of the Moon, America is obliged to the former Nazi.
TO NEW SHORE
This year can be called a jubilee year for the American rocket science. The first American Atlas ICBM with a range of 8800 km after two unsuccessful tests successfully started almost 60 years ago, in December 1957 of the year. By this time, the German team had already done a lot to strengthen the defense of their new customers.
When I was still young, when I was just starting, as they say in Western films, “to work for the government,” I discovered the truth, which still eats from an inexhaustible source of evidence. For the most part, Americans get everything as a famous cute animal. The area of strategic weapons planning is no exception. A vivid example of this is the “motley” life and work of the Germans in creating a nuclear missile. weapons in the U.S..
... 2 May 1945, a group of seven people led by von Braun, the main developers of the Third Reich rocket weapons, - having crossed the Bavarian Alps, surrendered to the Americans in Austria. It must be said that the allies only in general represented who fell into their hands. In the last military year, the US government approved the secret Overcast program (from March 1946 of the year, the Clip program), the purpose of which was to bring the maximum number of German military specialists to the United States.
True, American intelligence knew about the "weapon of retaliation" - the V-2 rocket, developed entirely by von Braun. She also knew that in the last months before the German surrender, the personnel of the rocket range in Northern Germany Peenemuende was evacuated to South Germany, in the alpine foothills, in a place with the beautiful name Oberammergau. Military intelligence officers rummaged around and every corner of the Mittelwerk underground rocket factory in Central Germany seized by American tankers in mid-April. One did not know, or rather, did not understand the military-political leadership of the United States - the significance and role of missile weapons in future wars. Moreover, the "insight" will pass to them rather soon. First of all, the American military at that time was interested in the "atomic project", which, according to numerous intelligence reports, was successfully carried out by the Germans, as well as new models aviation equipment, communications, etc. The missile component in this list was far from the first place.
On the successes of the Reich in the field of ballistic weapons, we will talk later. And now let's see what the German rocket specialists were doing in their “new fatherland”.
- Do you think you can become a citizen of the United States?
- I will try ... (from the interrogation of Werner von Braun by the Americans in May 1945 of the year).
At the end of the summer of 1945, von Braun, Ph.D. in physics, a graduate of the Swiss Higher Technical School and the Berlin University of Technology and six of his satellites with the same educational qualifications arrived on American soil. They attached as a curator ... one soldier with incomplete technical education, 26-year-old Major Hammila, who represented the Office of Artillery and Technical Supply of the Ground Forces (US Army). The major of the command even set a task: think (!) How the Germans can help in assembling and subsequent testing of Fau missiles removed from Germany, and most importantly, deal with the 14 and missile documentation on them removed from Mittelverk.
It must be said that, unlike his command, which, as we see, was overstretched, inventing tasks for the Germans, Hammell himself clearly smiled. After all, he "commanded" the color of German rocket thought. In addition to von Braun, the pioneers of rocketry Walter Riedel and Arthur Rudolph, production manager at the Mittelwerk plant, were among the “magnificent seven”. The main developer of the guidance system, in particular, the gyros for Fau, the key components of the rocket, was worked out in the group of von Braun's brother Magnus. If anyone in the world could help the Americans create their own rocket science, it is only this team.
Work has begun to boil. In early October, 1945 was brought to the group and located in a desert area near the town of El Paso, Texas. The launch site for future launches was decided to be deployed in 80 km on the old White Sands artillery range in the state of New Mexico. The Americans formulated by that time a more specific task. The Germans had to inform the military commanders, big business and the scientific community about the production technology of ballistic missiles, as well as to carry out test launches of captured Fow - about 100 pieces.
Meanwhile, the American command was very cool about promising missiles - most likely because of its novelty, unclear destructive ability, and difficulties in deployment. This explains, apparently, the carte blanche that the Americans gave to the team of von Braun in the work on the components of German missiles.
15 March 1946, the first launch of a missile assembled in America took place - unsuccessful. An emergency radio signal rocket blew through 19 seconds after launch. The first success came on 10 in May of the same year, when the rocket reached an altitude of 170 km and flew over 48 km. By the middle of 1946, there was no longer any doubt about the combat capabilities of the German ballistic weapon. In addition, the von Braun group managed to disassemble and arrange tons of documentation, as well as compiled and distributed to the authorities (through Hammila, naturally) a lot of information material on rocket production.
By that time, having felt the success of the rocket enterprise, the Americans share the go-ahead for the entry into the US of 118 German specialists, selected by von Braun, as well as their family members. By the way, it is impossible not to mention one most interesting episode, which, among other things, demonstrates how, to put it mildly, the Americans at that time were not serious about missile weapons and its main creator.
14 February 1947, Wernher von Braun, accompanied by one (!) American officer sent ... to Germany! The reason is simple: he yearned for his bride - the 18-year-old baroness, the beautiful Marie-Louise von Quistorp. The Americans, without blinking, released the future of their missile triumph overseas. The wedding ceremony took place on March 1 in the Lutheran church of the Bavarian town of Landshut, and at the end of March 1946, having stayed in Germany for more than a month, von Braun returned to Texas with his young wife and his parents.
Where our residency looked - I will not put my mind to it. After all, in April 45, which was practically useless from a military point of view, General Andrey Vlasov, and the future creator of Atlas, Jupiter, Saturnov and Pershing, were technically able to "squeeze out" ...
FIRST ROCKETS
In April, 1950 of the year, the von Braun group, which now includes, in addition to German specialists, 500 American military personnel, 120 civilian civil servants and several hundred employees of General Electric Corporation - the main rocket contractor of the army - are moving to Huntsville, Alabama, in artillery shells technical service. After the start of the Korean War 1950 in June, the group was tasked to develop a ground-to-ground ballistic missile with a range of 800 km.
Here we must dwell on a very interesting and mysterious moment. Despite the demands of the Artillery Technical Directorate of the Army, von Braun, by that time the head of the guided missile department, in other words, the main developer of the army’s rocket technology, drastically changes the terms of reference and represents a rocket with a range of only 320 km, but with an 3 t mass of , which made it possible to equip this weapon with a nuclear warhead.
What guided von Braun, going in defiance of their customers? Maybe he had his own ideas about which missiles are more important in future local military conflicts? Or take into account the experience of the recent past?Nevertheless, the new rocket, which was first dubbed "V-2", then "Ursa Major" ("Big Dipper"), and ultimately - "Redstone" ("Red Stone") successfully launched as part of flight design tests with Cape Canaveral 20 August 1953 of the year and became the first American tactical missile with a nuclear warhead. In the middle of 60-s based on Redstone, von Braun is developing a line of Pershing tactical missiles Pershing-1 and Pershing-1. And in the 1975 year, already fatally ill, he is preparing a groundwork for the famous MRSD "Pershing-2", which the Americans marked out in Europe at the beginning of the 80's. By the way, it was the presence of this rocket that predetermined in many respects the successful conclusion in 1987 of the current short-range and medium-range missile treaty.
In the summer of 1955, the von Braun group comes up with a project to create a full-scale MRSD with a range of 2400 km and a throwing 1 T mass. The three-stage rocket created by the Germans, called the Jupiter-X, showed the 3200 km range during tests. Moreover, the combat control of the rocket was envisaged both from the ground position region and from the surface ships. Adopted at the end of the 50-s, the Jupiter was deployed in 1961 for a short time at US Air Force bases in southern Italy and Turkey.
WITH A DREAM ABOUT SPACE
The end of 1955 and the beginning of the next was a very happy time for von Braun. In September, 1955, he became a full-fledged citizen of the United States, and in February, 1956, he was appointed to the prestigious position of director of the design department in the finally created Directorate of ballistic missiles of the Ground Forces. However, further fortune has changed its trajectory.
The manner of Americans to practice the principle of "both yours and ours", when you do not want to make a certain decision, has long been known. We see something similar in the rocket-space program of those years, which is closely connected with the von Braun group.
As early as the beginning of 1947 of the year, while in El Paso, the former SS Sturmbannführer openly stated that he had a program for the development of space technology and interplanetary expeditions. This is what, in particular, suggested von Braun. The spacecraft based on the upgraded V-2, a three-stage liquid-propellant rocket for launching a satellite into space (will also be made by the carrier Juno based on the Jupiter, and the legendary lunar Saturn); return cruise missile with an aircraft landing (at the beginning of the 70-s, the United States promptly developed and built the space shuttle Space Shuttle in the shortest time possible).
But official America did not react ... Moreover, from the very beginning of the work of the Germans in the US, the authorities "flirted" both with the first, promising freedom of action, and with numerous opponents of the "German trace" in the national cosmonautics. Moreover, the Ministry of Defense, in every way indulging in the work of von Braun, who represented the interests of the army, nevertheless kept looking back at the commands of the Air Force and Navy, which the Germans (and quite rightly) saw their direct competitors in creating missile weapons and carriers for orbital load.
As a result, at the beginning of 1957, after good luck with the Jupiter rocket and its transfer to the Air Force, then Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson made the choice - he limited the army to operational tactical missiles, and gave the development of ICBMs and BRSD in charge of "pilots and sailors." At the same time, the Ground Forces and Werner von Braun himself were officially barred from space exploration.
“I assume that when we finally reach the moon, we will have to go through Russian customs,” said Werner von Braun once.
The result is world famous. The American rocket-space coquetry ingloriously ended on October 4 1957, when the whole world heard the call signs of the world's first artificial earth satellite (AES), launched into the orbit by the P-7 rocket Sergey Korolev. While Washington was arguing over whether to allow von Braun to get down to business, the USSR 3 November launched the 508-kilogram second satellite with dog Laika on board. It became clear that in Moscow everything was ready for the world's first space flight of man.
After five days, the authorities gave Von Braun the formal permission to take part in the launch of the first American satellite. A special press release from the Ministry of Defense said: “The Minister of Defense instructed the Ministry of Land Forces to start launching a satellite of the Earth using a modified Jupiter-X missile.
However, the desire to sit on two chairs turned out to be stronger than common sense for the administration of President Harry Truman and the military. 6 December 1957 of the year, ignoring von Braun's warnings, the Americans made a widely publicized attempt in the press to launch a satellite using an Avangard rocket developed by the Navy's firm Glenn L. Martin. With a huge concourse of writing and shooting journalistic fraternity rocket climbed 1,2 m, then overturned and exploded. A polutorakilogrammovy satellite was thrown into the bush, from which began to reach the plaintive squeak of his radio signal. Some unnecessarily exalted lady journalist could not stand it: “Go, someone, find and finish it!” - says in his book “Werner von Braun. The man who sold the moon "space explorer Dennis Pishkevich.
31 January 1958 of the year built by von Braun in record time, the four-step version of the Jupiter, called the Juno, launched the first US satellite, the Explorer 1.
More Germans did not reach. 5 May 1961, three weeks after the flight of Yuri Gagarin von Braun on a Redstone-3 launch vehicle, sends the first American, Alan Shepard, into space under the Mercury program. And finally - the finest hour of the German rocket pilot. 16 July 1969 of the year is still the only one of its kind heavy rocket carrier Saturn-5, capable of launching 140 tons of cargo into space, carrying the first earthlings to the Moon. And July 21 on the lunar surface, the first traces of man - the American astronaut Neil Armstrong.
... Now he can do anything. He controls half the budget for NASA, easily meets with the presidents and ... dreams of a Martian expedition. But questions remain. Why so drastically reduced the range of shooting "Redstone"? How was it possible, as if on a beaten track, to develop space carriers? Why did the first thoughts about the Space Shuttle sounded at the end of October in the orbiter stage “Columbia” that were transmitted by NASA to 1968 in March, and before that they had been testing for a little less than four years? And finally, why did von Braun, who was very far from projecting, speak so confidently about his cosmic possibilities? And maybe something really was in the store?
"PASSION" ON THE ROCKET FOR AMERICA
In America, Werner von Braun did not get tired of repeating in numerous interviews that, of course, he had plans in Germany to create much more powerful rockets than Fau, but things had not advanced further than a dream. Is it so?
But first, let's deal with the “Redstone”. Recall that this rocket was being prepared for deployment in the south of Korea as a weapon against the communist North, that is, it would perform tasks similar to the non-nuclear V-2 rocket in 1944 – 1945. And what, in fact, were the results of the use of "weapons of retribution"?
As is well known, the Germans launched an 8 attack on September 1944 of the year with a raid on London and Paris. Then the British demolished several wooden buildings, but there was no more serious damage at all. A single rocket flew to Paris without causing any harm. Over the next seven months, the Germans fired X-NUMX V-1300 missiles over targets in England. A number of urban neighborhoods were destroyed, and 2 people died. During the same period, Antwerp was hit by 1055 rockets; slightly more to Paris and other major European cities. According to rough estimates, 1265 was killed and “2724” people were seriously injured from “Fau” strikes in Europe. 6467% - civilian population. Allied military infrastructure had no damage. In other words, the military-economic, and the political effect of the bombing of V-99 rockets is zero.
Gave yourself in this report von Braun? Naturally. It became obvious that the effective use of ballistic missiles of that time is possible only if there is an incredibly powerful warhead, namely nuclear. The era of high-precision weapons was still far away, and the Korean War was becoming more and more violent, so the decision of Von Braun to equip the Redstone with a nuclear warhead due to the firing range is a solution to the cold mind of a pragmatist.
Then to the 1944 year we turn another question. Did the Reich leadership give themselves in this report? If yes, then seriously talk about the prospect of "retribution" with the help of "Fau", to put it mildly, stupid. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that the main German military-technical personnel engaged in the development of missile weapons was counting on a military breakthrough precisely due to ballistic missiles. Perhaps they were mistaken, having fallen under the zombie influence of the nearest Hitler leadership and the maniac himself, the Fuhrer? The further fate of these people in the service of the United States showed that the Nazi hysteria at the last stage of the war did not bother them. In this case, it is reasonable to assume that the German arsenal of advanced weapons was about to fill up with something completely unexpected.
4 January 1945, General George Patton - the hero of the American Blitzkrieg in Normandy - writes in his battle diary: "We can still lose this war." Why? After all, the last major German offensive in the Ardennes clearly failed; The Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force reigned euphoria. However, the general was not happy.
The fact is that the general, by the nature of his service, knew what, after a long time, remained under the highest security classification and became public knowledge already in our days. We are talking about the American intelligence program "Passion", which provides for a comprehensive study of materials related to German developments in the field of aviation and nuclear missiles.
According to US intelligence, the German leadership, including Hitler, really regarded the V-2 missile as a real weapon of retaliation, but only with a nuclear warhead. Published in a few years ago in Russian, the book of the American researcher Joseph Farrell “The Brotherhood of the Bell”. SS Secret Weapons ”cites the words of Lieutenant-General Donal Pata, Deputy Commander of the United States Air Force, which he spoke in 1946 year addressing the Society of Aviation Engineers:“ The Germans were preparing missile surprises for the whole world and for England in particular, which is considered would change the course of the war if the invasion of Germany was postponed by only half a year. ”
Passion members found evidence that the Nazis successfully tested 1944 on the Baltic island of Rügen at least twice on a small nuclear device in the autumn of XNUMX.
In this case, the task of the seemingly senseless German offensive in the Ardennes in the winter of the 1944 – 1945 becomes clear. After all, the breakthrough to the western part of Belgium, where the Germans knocked out 1944 by December, was the main goal of the offensive, since in this case it was possible to resume the rocket firing of the UK with V-2 missiles, whose firing range was only 320 km. The nuclear bombing of London would allow the Führer to complete the creation and use his main super-weapon - ballistic nuclear missiles with intercontinental firing range, that is, ICBMs.
After the war, the general manager of the German Peenemünde Rocket Center, General Walter Dornberger, acknowledged that the creation of an ICBM capable of hitting New York and other targets on the east coast of the United States, as well as any targets in the European part of the United States, was created in 1939. And by the middle of summer 1940, the first two-stage samples of such missiles were manufactured. There was a question of fuel. Apparently, the Germans almost had not enough time to solve this problem ...
At one of the factories for the production of rockets "V-2" American experts found drawings of missiles with an estimated range 5 thousand. Km. It is noteworthy and the recognition during the interrogation of one of the German rocket engineers: "We planned to destroy New York and other American cities, starting the operation in November 1944 of the year."
In addition, American intelligence found in the former salt mines almost fully assembled jet heavy bombers capable of bombing industrial facilities in the eastern United States and returning to Europe via the Atlantic. In this regard, captured photographs of German pilot's high-rise spacesuit suits are impressive. Apparently, in the plans of the Reich was at least a manned suborbital space flight.
In 140 and German documents collected under the Passion program, the Americans found evidence that the work on the “rocket for America” was in full swing. A number of variants of the guidance system were considered, from a manned vehicle with a pilot dropping by parachute to installing a radio beacon on the Empire State Building.
Were found and drawings of the rocket, using the so-called package scheme, which uses a common fuel tank for all marching stages and launch accelerators, which run and operate simultaneously. After completion of the work accelerators are reset.
In other words, we see the classic layout of the future American reusable transport spacecraft "Space Shuttle". Obviously, both the future shuttle and powerful combat missiles and launch vehicles existed in the Reich not only in the form of our hero’s thought forms. The war lasted a little longer, and it is unknown what other insignia would have decorated the black SS uniform of the American citizen, Baron Werner von Braun.
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