Wernher von Braun - Father of the V-2

There are many legends about Wernher von Braun, probably because his renown or infamy lies strictly in the eye of the beholder. He was the father of the V-2 rocket, which killed thousands of innocent civilians in England, France, and Belgium. He was also a key figure in the American space pro-gram that landed a man on the moon.

Therefore the stories told of von Braun will vary widely. One story is that he intended to fly to England in the middle of the war to turn over to the Allies top-secret documents on German rocket research. Another story is that he had once explained why he became a member of the SS by saying, “It was just an honorary title—like being made a Kentucky colonel.”

Portrayed as hero or villain, Wernher von Braun was one of the most brilliant scientists of the war. His work on the German rocket program revolutionized modern warfare.

Creating a New Weapon of War

Wernher von Braun was born in 1912 in Wirsitz, which was then a part of Germany. As a young engineering student, he became interested in the exploration of outer space. He met with other young Germans with similar interests. Many of them ended up doing research for the German military, and von Braun joined the ordinance department four months before Hitler (Number l) came to power.

By 1937, von Braun was hard at work at Peenemuenden, developing new weapons. Hitler had a tendency to blow hot and cold on programs that temporarily caught his attention, and this was the case with the rocket program. But once the war broke out, Hitler became more concerned with what his troops were doing on the battlefield than what scientists were doing in the laboratory. In 1942, following a successful V-2 launching, the program received high priority.

When Hitler felt the program was not going fast enough, he assigned Himmler (Number 65) to take charge of it and increase weapon production. At this point von Braun, who refused to cooperate with Himmler, was arrested. Hitler rescinded Himmler’s order and von Braun went back to work.

Rockets of Mass Destruction

The two weapons most associated with the young scientist are the V-l and the V-2. (The “V” stood for “vengeance.”)

The V-l was basically an unpiloted jet plane filled with high explosives. Called a “buzz bomb,” it was launched into flight with just enough fuel to reach the designated target. It would then fall to the earth and explode. The V-l could be shot down before reaching its target, and about half of them were blasted out of the sky.

The V-2 was far more sophisticated. It was a ballistic missile, a rocket ship fueled with liquid oxygen. Because it flew at a high altitude, there was no defense against it once it was launched. The only way to fight it was to take out the launching pads.

The rockets were produced by slave labor in underground factories in the Harz mountains. Living conditions for the laborers were unbelievably horrible. They were undernourished, were brutally overworked, and lived in wretched slave quarters.

The V-2s were extremely effective in causing death and destruction, but their inventions came too late in the war to save Hitler.

New Allies

As the war wound down, von Braun and members of the scientific staff surrendered to the Western allies. The Soviets would acquire their own group of German scientists and engineers for their own weapons program.

After the war, Walter Dornberger, one of the top German scientists, was placed on a war criminals list. He was never tried, but he came to America to work for the U.S. Air Force.

Wernher von Braun was now at the start of a new career: working for the U.S. Army. He and his colleagues became part of an American missile program. Von Braun became a naturalized American citizen and a key figure in the space program for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He made major contributions to the successful moon landings.

He resigned from the government program in 1972 to work in private industry. He died in 1977.