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Peenemünde Army Research Center

Coordinates:54°09′N13°48′E/ 54.15°N 13.80°E/54.15; 13.80
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For the village and the World War II Luftwaffe airfield that tested the V-1 flying bomb, seePeenemündeandPeenemünde Airfield.

Peenemünde Army Research Center
Peenemünde,Germany
1943 RAF photo-recon ofTest Stand VIIat the Peenemünde Army Research Center
Coordinates54°09′N13°48′E/ 54.15°N 13.80°E/54.15; 13.80
Site history
Built1937
In useWorld War II
Battles/warsOperation Crossbow(Bombing of Peenemünde in World War II)

ThePeenemünde Army Research Center(‹See Tfd›German:Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde,[a]HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five militaryproving groundsunder theGerman Army Weapons Office(Heereswaffenamt).[3]: 85 SeveralGerman guided missiles and rockets of World War IIwere developed by the HVP, including theV-2 rocket.The works were attacked by the British inOperation Crossbowfrom August 1943, before falling to the Soviets in May 1945.

History

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On April 2, 1936, theaviation ministrypaid 750,000 reichsmarks to the town ofWolgast[3]: 41 for the whole Northern peninsula of the Baltic island ofUsedom.[4]: 17 By the middle of 1938, the Army facility had been separated from the Luftwaffe facility and was nearly complete, with personnel moved fromKummersdorf.[5]The Army Research Center (Peenemünde Ost)[1]consisted ofWerk OstandWerk Süd,whileWerk West(Peenemünde West) was theLuftwaffeTest Site (Erprobungsstelle der Luftwaffe),[6]: 55 one of the four test and research facilities of the Luftwaffe, with its headquarters facility atErprobungsstelle Rechlin.

HVP organization

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Major-GeneralWalter Dornbergerwas the military leader of the V-2 rocket programme and other projects.

Wernher von Braunwas the HVP technical director (Dr.Walter Thielwas deputy director until 1943) and there were nine major departments:[1]: 38 

  1. Technical Design Office (Walter J H "Papa" Riedel)
  2. Aeroballistics and Mathematics Laboratory (Dr. Hermann Steuding)
  3. Wind Tunnel (Dr. Rudolf Hermann)
  4. Materials Laboratory (Dr. Mäder)
  5. Flight, Guidance, and Telemetering Devices (German: BSM) (Dr.Ernst Steinhoff[7]and his deputyHelmut Gröttrup)
  6. Development and Fabrication Laboratory (Arthur Rudolph)
  7. Test Laboratory (Klaus Riedel)
  8. Future Projects Office (Ludwig Roth)[8]
  9. Purchasing Office (Mr. Genthe)

TheMeasurements Group(Gerhard Reisig) was part of the BSM,[9]and additional departments included the Production Planning Directorate (Detmar Stahlknecht),[6]: 161 the Personnel Office (Richard Sundermeyer), and the Drawings Change Service.[10]Erich Apelwas head of a development department,Konrad Dannenbergwas Walter Riedel's deputy,Kurt H. Debuswas engineer in charge atTest Stand VII,andEberhard Reesmanaged V-2 rocket fabrication and assembly.

Guided missile and rocket development

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A launchpad at Peenemünde as depicted in a miniature at theDeutsches Museum

SeveralGerman guided missiles and rockets of World War IIwere developed by the HVP, including theV-2 rocket(A-4) (seetest launches), and theWasserfall(35 Peenemünde trial firings),[11]Schmetterling,Rheintochter,Taifun,andEnzianmissiles. The HVP also performed preliminary design work on very-long-range missiles for use against the United States. That project was sometimes called "V-3" and its existence is well documented.[where?]The Peenemünde establishment also developed other technologies such as the firstclosed-circuit televisionsystem in the world, installed atTest Stand VIIto track the launching rockets.

According toWalter Dornberger,"Rockets worked under water." In the summer of 1942, led byErnst Steinhoff,Pennemünde worked on sea launches, either from launching racks on the deck of a submerged submarine, or from towed floats. Dornberger summarized the launches from a depth of 30 to 50 feet (9 to 15 metres), "A staggering sight it was when those twenty heavy powder rockets suddenly rose, with a rush and a roar, from the calm waters of the Baltic."[12]

Aerodynamic Institute

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Thesupersonic wind tunnelat Peenemünde's "Aerodynamic Institute" eventually had nozzles for speeds up to the record speed ofMach 4.4(in 1942 or 1943), as well as an innovativedesiccantsystem to reduce the condensation clouding caused by the use ofliquid oxygen,in 1940. Led by Rudolph Hermann, who arrived in April 1937 from theUniversity of Aachen,the number of technical staff members reached two hundred in 1943, and it also included Hermann Kurzweg of theUniversity of LeipzigandWalter Haeussermann.[13]

Heimat-Artillerie-Park 11

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Initially set up under the HVP as a rocket training battery (Number 444),[2]Heimat-Artillerie-Park 11 Karlshagen/Pomerania[2]: 125 (HAP 11) also contained the A-A Research Command North[2]: 65 for the testing ofanti-aircraftrockets. ThechemistMagnus von Braun,the youngest brother of Wernher von Braun, was employed in the attempted development at Peenemünde ofanti-aircraft rockets.[2]: 66 These were never very successful as weapons during World War II. Their development as practical weapons took another decade of development in the United States and in theU.S.S.R.

Peenemünde V-2 production plant

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In November 1938,Walther von Brauchitschordered construction of an A-4 production plant at Peenemünde, and in January 1939,Walter Dornbergercreated a subsection of Wa Pruf 11 for planning the Peenemünde Production Plant project, headed by G. Schubert, a senior Army civil servant.[14]By midsummer 1943, the first trial runs of the assembly-line in the Production Works atWerke Südwere made,[15]but after the end of July 1943 when the enormous hangarFertigungshalle 1(F-1, "Mass Production Plant No. 1" ) was just about to go into operation,Operation Hydrabombed Peenemünde. On August 26, 1943,Albert Speercalled a meeting withHans Kammler,Dornberger, Gerhard Degenkolb, and Karl Otto Saur to negotiate the move of A-4 main production to an underground factory in theHarzmountains.[4]: 123 [16]In early September, Peenemünde machinery and personnel for production (includingAlban Sawatzki,Arthur Rudolph,and about ten engineers)[1]: 79 were moved to theMittelwerk,which also received machinery and personnel from the two other planned A-4 assembly sites.[17]On October 13, 1943, the Peenemünde prisoners from the small F-1 concentration camp[18]boarded rail cars bound forKohnsteinmountain.[17]

Operation Crossbow

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See also:Bombing of Peenemünde in World War IIandV-1 and V-2 Intelligence

Two Polish janitors[19]: 52 of Peenemünde's Camp Trassenheide in early 1943[19]: 52 provided maps,[20]sketches and reports toPolish Home Army Intelligence,and in June 1943 British intelligence had received two such reports which identified the "rocket assembly hall", "experimental pit", and "launching tower".[4]: 139 The Allies also received information about theV-1andV-2 rocketsand the production sites from the Austrian resistance group around the priestHeinrich Maier.The group later discovered by the Gestapo was in contact withAllen Dulles,the head of the US secret service OSS in Switzerland, and informed him about the research in Peenemünde.[21][22][23]

V-2 launch in Peenemünde (1943)
V2 in the Peenemünde Museum

As the opening attack of the BritishCrossbow operationsagainst German rocket weapons, theOperation Hydrabombing raid attacked the HVP's "Sleeping & Living Quarters" (to specifically target scientists), then the "Factory Workshops", and finally the "Experimental Station"[24]on the night of August 17/18, 1943.[25]The Polish janitors were given advance warning of the attack, but the workers could not leave due to SS security and the facility had no air raid shelters for the prisoners.[19]: 82 Fifteen British and Canadian airmen who were killed on the raid were buried by the Germans in unmarked graves within the secure perimeter. Their recovery at the end of the war was prevented by the Russians authorities and the bodies remain there to this day.[26][page needed]

A year later on July 18,[27]August 4,[7]: 111 and August 25,[4]: 273 the U.S.Eighth Air Force[1]: 141 conducted three additional Peenemünde raids to counter suspected hydrogen peroxide production.[28]

Evacuation

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As with the move of the V-2 Production Works to theMittelwerk,the complete withdrawal of the development of guided missiles was approved by the Army and SS in October 1943.[29]On August 26, 1943, at a meeting inAlbert Speer's office,Hans Kammlersuggested moving the A-4 Development Works to a proposed underground site in Austria.[30]After a site survey in September by Papa Riedel and Schubert, Kammler chose the code nameZement(cement) for it in December,[29]and work to blast a cavern into a cliff inEbenseenearLake Traunseecommenced in January 1944.[2]: 109 To build the tunnels, aconcentration camp(a sub unit ofMauthausen-Gusen) was erected in the vicinity of the planned production sites. In early 1944, construction work started for the test stands and launching pads in the AustrianAlps(code nameSalamander), with target areas planned for theTatra Mountains,theArlbergrange, and the area of theOrtlermountain.[31]Other evacuation locations included:

Thuringia

For people being relocated from Peenemünde, the new organization was to be designatedEntwicklungsgemeinschaft Mittelbau(English:Mittelbau Development Company)[1]: 291 and Kammler's order to relocate toThuringiaarrived by teleprinter on January 31, 1945.[1]: 288 On February 3, 1945, at the last meeting at Peenemünde held regarding the relocation, the HVP consisted of A-4 development/ modification (1940 people),A-4bdevelopment (27),WasserfallandTaifundevelopment (1455), support and administration (760).[1]: 289 The first train departed on February 17 with 525 people en route to Thuringia (includingBleicherode,Sangerhausen (district),andBad Sachsa) and the evacuation was complete in mid-March.[3]: 247 

Occupied Poland

Another reaction to theaerial bombingwas the creation of a back-up research test range, theBlizna V-2 missile launch sitein southeastern Poland. Carefully camouflaged, this secret facility was built by 2000 prisoners from the concentration camp at theSS-Truppenübungsplatz Heidelager.[34][page needed]The Polish resistanceHome Army(Armia Krajowa) captured an intact V2 rocket here in 1943. It had been launched but didn't explode and was laterretrieved intactfrom theBug Riverand transferred secretly to London.[35]

Post-war

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The last V-2 launch at Peenemünde happened in February 1945, and on May 5, 1945, the soldiers of the Soviet2nd Belorussian Frontunder GeneralKonstantin Rokossovskycaptured the seaport ofSwinemündeand all of Usedom Island. Soviet infantrymen under the command ofMajor Anatole Vavilovstormed the installations at Peenemünde and found "75 percent wreckage". All of the research buildings and rocket test stands had been demolished.[36]

End of April 1945, a group of more than 450 important rocket scientists from Peenemünde were captured by the U.S. Army inOberammergauwhileWernher von Braun,Walter Dornbergerand several others surrendered inReutteon May 2, 1945. As part ofOperation Paperclip,a group of 127 engineers was eventually contracted for the continuation of the work at theWhite Sands Proving Groundsin the USA.[37][38]: p. 202-221 Only a few members of the previous HVP staff, such asHelmut GröttrupandErich Apel,signed a contract with the Soviets and were forcibly transferred to the USSR as part ofOperation Osoaviakhimin October 1946.[38]: p. 222-253 

Although rumors spread that theSoviet space programrevived Peenemünde as a test range,[39]more destruction of the technical facilities of Peenemünde took place between 1948 and 1961. Only the power station, the airport, and the railroad link toZinnowitzremained functional. The gas plant for the production ofliquid oxygenstill lies in ruins at the entrance to Peenemünde. Very little remains of most of the other Nazi German facilities there.

ThePeenemünde Historical Technical Museumopened in 1992 in the shelter control room and the area of the formerpower stationand is an anchor point of ERIH, theEuropean Route of Industrial Heritage.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^An alternative spelling isHeeresversuchsstelle Peenemünde,[1]: 36 andHeeresanstalt Peenemündeappears on a German document withWasserfallvelocity calculations.[2]: 78 

References

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  1. ^abcdefghiOrdway, Frederick I. III;Sharpe, Mitchell R.The Rocket Team.Apogee Books Space Series 36. pp. 36, 38, 79, 117, 141, 285, 288, 289, 291, 293.
  2. ^abcdefKlee, Ernst; Merk, Otto (1965) [1963].The Birth of the Missile:The Secrets of Peenemünde.Hamburg: Gerhard Stalling Verlag. pp. 44, 65, 66, 78, 109, 117, 125.
  3. ^abc Dornberger, Walter(1954) [1952].V2- Der Schuss ins Weltall: Geschichte einer grossen Erfindung[V2-The Shot into Space: History of a great invention]. Esslingen: Bechtle Verlag. pp. 41, 85, 247.
  4. ^abcdIrving, David(1964).The Mare's Nest.London: William Kimber and Co. pp. 17, 139, 273.
  5. ^WGBHEducational Foundation.NOVA:Hitler's Secret Weapon (The V-2 Rocket at Peenemünde)motion picture documentary, released in 1988 by VESTRON Video as VHS video 5273,ISBN0-8051-0631-6(minutes 20:00-22:00)
  6. ^abNeufeld, Michael J. (1995).The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era.New York: The Free Press. pp.55,88, 161, 202, 204–6, 222, 247.ISBN978-0-02-922895-1.
  7. ^abHuzel, Dieter K. (1960).Peenemünde to Canaveral.Prentice Hall. p. 37.
  8. ^"Dahm, Werner Karl".Peenemünde Interviews.National Air and Space Museum.Archived fromthe originalon October 17, 2003.RetrievedOctober 23,2008.
  9. ^McCleskey, C.; D. Christensen."Dr. Kurt H. Debus: Launching a Vision"(PDF).NASA. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on September 17, 2008.RetrievedOctober 23,2008.
  10. ^Huzel. pp 149, 225
  11. ^Pocock, Rowland F. (1967).German Guided Missiles of the Second World War.New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc. p. 107.
  12. ^Dornberger, Walter (1954).V-2.New York: The Viking Press, Inc. pp. 214–216.
  13. ^Neufeld. 88
  14. ^Neufeld. 1995. p119, 114
  15. ^Middlebrook, Martin (1982).The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17–18 August 1943.New York: Bobbs-Merrill. p. 23.
  16. ^Neufeld 1995 p 202
  17. ^abNeufeld 1995. p206
  18. ^Neufeld. 1995 p222
  19. ^abc Garliński, Józef(1978).Hitler's Last Weapons: The Underground War against the V1 and V2.New York: Times Books. pp. 52, 82.
  20. ^"Poland's Contribution in the Field of Intelligence to the Victory in the Second World War".Archivedfrom the original on September 24, 2019.RetrievedNovember 9,2008.
  21. ^Peter Broucek "Die österreichische Identität im Widerstand 1938–1945" (2008), p 163.
  22. ^Hansjakob Stehle "Die Spione aus dem Pfarrhaus (German: The spy from the rectory)" In: Die Zeit, January 5, 1996.
  23. ^Christoph Thurner "The CASSIA Spy Ring in World War II Austria: A History of the OSS's Maier-Messner Group" (2017), pp 187.
  24. ^"Peenemünde - 1943".Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).GlobalSecurity.org.Archivedfrom the original on December 4, 2010.RetrievedNovember 15,2006.
  25. ^Warsitz, Lutz (2009).The First Jet Pilot - The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz.England: Pen and Sword Books Ltd. p. 63.Archivedfrom the original on December 2, 2013.RetrievedOctober 30,2009.
  26. ^McLeod, Mike; Feast, Sean (2020).The Lost Graves of Peenemünde.London: Fighting High Publications.ISBN978-1-9998128-9-8.
  27. ^Neufeld. 247
  28. ^Irving. 273,309
  29. ^abNeufeld. p205
  30. ^Neufeld. 204
  31. ^Irving. 123,238,300; Klee & Merk. 109
  32. ^Hunt, Linda (1991).Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945 to 1990.New York: St.Martin's Press. p. 31.ISBN0-312-05510-2.
  33. ^Reuter, Claus. The V2 and the German, Russian and American Rocket Program. May 2000. S.R. Research & Publishing. 978-1894643054.pages 114-115; 137
  34. ^Rockets and People,Boris Chertok
  35. ^"Pustkow Concentration Camp (Poland)",jewishgen.org,archivedfrom the original on March 14, 2007,retrievedMay 15,2013
  36. ^Ley, Willy(1958) [1944].Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel.New York: The Viking Press. p. 243.
  37. ^McGovern, James (1964).Crossbow & Overcast.W. Morrow. pp. 93–196.ASINB0006D7M16.
  38. ^abMichels, Jürgen; Przybilski, Olaf (1997).Peenemünde und seine Erben in Ost und West: Entwicklung und Weg deutscher Geheimwaffen[Peenemünde and its heirs in East and West: Development and Traces of Secret German Weapons] (in German). Municj.ISBN3-7637-5960-3.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  39. ^Ley, Willy (October 1959)."For Your Information".Galaxy.p. 73.RetrievedJune 14,2014.
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