Figure 1.-- |
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Hitler by late 1944 no longer spoke to the German people in sharp contrast to earlier years when he ws a constant presence on German radio. His deteriorating
physical condition, relentlessly depressing reports from the fronts, and the destructon of German cities by Allied bombing were all factors. Hitler's mouth piece Josef
Goebbels became his spokesman. Goebbels raged about vengenance and secrt weapons. There were indeed secret weapons. The world's first combat jet, the ME-262, was introduced in 1944. It was an inovative extremely effective fighter and if properly used could have severely impaired the Allied air campaign. Hitler's interference, however, prevented it from being effectively used. The V1 begining June 13 were used to target London and other British cities after the D-Day landings in June 1944. The V1 could be shot down, but there was no defense against the V-2 balistic missles which soon followed. There were many other projects under development or on the drawingboards. Some like the ME-163B Komet were futuristic concepts. Especially significant, however, was a new generation of jet fighters which would have been ready in 1946. Only the Allied bombing camapign prevented some from actually being built.
The Versailles Treaty severly limited Germany's military capability. Violation of the Trety invited Allied invasion. Even so, the Germany military developed a variety of projects yto circumvenbt ythose restrictions. Some were not viloations. Others were clear violations and thus conducted secretly. Glider clubs provided training for future Luftwaffe pilots. Limits on artillery enduced the Wehrmact to experiment with rocketry which was not covered by 6the Treaty. Here a young Werner Van Braun found financial support for his experiments. German companies set up aircraft production and development facilities in the Netherlands. Tank development took place sureptiously in the Soviet Unoin.
The relatively limited weapons development porogram were rapidly expanded after Hitler and the NAZIs seized power in 1933. Substantial Government funds were directed toward the military and new weapons productions. The highest prioities were airplanes and tanks. The Germans had fought World War I without an effective tank and with a smaller air fleet. They thus knew how effective these weapons were and were determined not to caught behind the llies a econd time. The NAZI weapons development pogram, however, was much more involved. It was the largest and most creative of any country participatong in World War II. The prototypes for moder weapons including jet aircraft, cruise missles, smart bomb, guided mussles, and other systems were devloped by the NAZIs. Many of these weapon systems were developed and used during World War II.
Once the War began, Hitler made fewer public speeches. This was especially true as the War began to go aginst the Germans. Hitler by late 1944 no longer spoke to the German people in sharp contrast to earlier years when he was a constant presence on German radio. His deteriorating physical condition, relentlessly depressing reports from the fronts, and the destructon of German cities by Allied bombing were all factors. Hitler's mouth piece Josef Goebbels became his spokesman. Goebbels raged about vengenance and secret weapons. This was no idle boast, German industry
There were indeed secret weapons. In fact several were actually deployed by the NAZIs. There were many other projects under development or on the drawingboards. It is cleared that the Allied bombing impeded the development and production of some of these weapons systems. Allied air superority may have also been a factor in the German's decission not to use poison gas.
It was German physicists that first demonstrated nuclear fission only jyst before World war II began. Fear of the poosibility of a NAZI bomb enduced the United States to launch the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. The NAZIs had an atmomic weapons program. After seizing Czechoslvakia in March 1939, the NAZIs prohibited the export of uranium. After seizing Norway in 1940, priority was given to the production of heavy water. , but it was not well funded. Hitler had his mind fixed on the War and a hugely expensive weapons system that would take years to develop was not appeling to him, especially one that he could not understand. In addition the German physics academic establishment, perhaps the strongest in the world, was devestated by the NAZI anti-Semetic campaign. Many of the scientits driven from Germany played key roles in the Manhattan Project. Soviet, British, and Amnerican officials scoured Germany for information on their nuclear program after the NAZIs surrendered. They found that the German nuclear efforthad made little real progress. Before the NAZI surrender in May 1945, U-boats were dispatched to Japan with uranium ocide. It is not known what the purpoe of these shipments was.
The Germans began developing smart bombings, decaded before they were first used in Vietnam. The Germans developed the Rastow X-1 guided bomb. It was first used during September 1943 to punish the talians for sihning an armistace with the Allies. The Germans used it to sink the battleship Roma. Later in Italy the Germans used it on the British battleship Warspite.
The Nadaer BA349 was a rocket powered glider.
The Germans also developed effective helicpters and were beginning to use them in operations. The FA-330 autogyroi was deployed on u-boats. About 200 u-boats were equipped. They appear to have been observation plaforms, but the purposes are not completely known. The Germans developed both autogyros and true helicoptors. The FA223 was developed as a trnsport helicopter, but production facilities were destroyed in air raids. The most sophisticxated helicopter waas the FL-282. It was a high-perdormance helicopter with some of the capabilities of a modern attack hlicopter. The Germans ordered 1,000, but the production facilities were heavily damaged in air raids.
The Germans developed a number of sophistixated misle weapons. There wre two surface to air missleswhich if they could have been ofroduced in numbers could hav devestated Alliued air fleets. The Henkel HS 117 was one. The Messerschmitt Enzion was even more effective because it was radar guided. There werealsoanti-ship missles. The Hensel HS-293 was used to sink the HMS Egret.
Germany's limited industrial capacity and failure to puts it economy on a war fotting early in the war prevented it from building long range bombers. The Luftwaffe, however, developed protoypes that were capable of reaching New York and other Atlantic-coast cities. These planes could have been constructed in 1944, but the Allied bombing made it impossible. The Germans also developed plans for a giant wing jet bomber.
The Germans developed an effective combat jet, but mismanagement by Hitler meant that it had little impact on the War. Jet propulsion was one of the many weapons systems that the German s were working on. The first successful jet plane was built by Heinkel and flew in August 1939, a few days before the German invasion of Poland. The Germans were so sucessful in 1939-40 that military production was scaled back, especially futuristic weapons that could no immediately help the War effort. In part this reflected Hitler's fear that shortages on the home-front would affect morale and public support for the War effort. Only after the invasion of the Soviet Union and the first major reverses were ome of the new weapn's system given priority. One of the most successful was the ME-262 jet. Both the British and Americans were working on jet planes, but the Germans were several years ahead. The world's first combat jet, the ME-262, was introduced in 1944. There were 1,400 ME-262s built. The Allied bombing did not prevent the the construction of the ME-262, but according to one Messerschmitt enginner, "The bombing slowed us down." If Hitler hadn't delayed development, it could have been available to twart the Normandy Invasion. If it had been used in a coordinated fashion as a fighter, it could have ravaged the Allied bombing campaign. Clearly defending German civilians was not high on Hitler's priorities. Hitler's interference, however, prevented it from being effectively used. Hitler wanted it used as a fast bomber. [Pest, p. 670.] He wanted revenge which meant a bomber. Large numbers of ME-262s were used a tactical bombers rather than fighters. This not only diluted the impact on the Allied air campaign, but it gave the Allies time to develop tactics to use against them. The ME-262 was more sluggish on turns and vulnerable on tackeoffs and landings. American fighters targetted airfiekds where thge ME-262s were based. In addition the air campaign was drastically reducing the supply of aviation fuel. This restricted both operations and pilot training.
Some weapons like the ME-163B Komet were futuristic concepts. One of the secret German weapons was the Messerschmitt (ME) 163B
rocket plane, the first combat rocket plane. The plane was not ready for comat use as the Allies poured into Germany. The Luftwaffe was,
however, desperate and pushed by the NAZIs, deployed it against Allied bombers. The ME-163B Komet was the only operational rocket-powered aircraft of World War II. The plane was capable of spectacular performance, it had higher climb rates and speeds than any other plane deployed in the War. It was also the most dangerous.
One of the unanswered questions about World War II is why poison gas was not used. Gas had been widely used on the during World War I. Military planners in Britain assumed that the NAZIs would use it when war broke out. Every British citzen, incliding children were issued gas masks. There wee even masks for babies. They were also issued in France, Italy, and Germany. Major combattant countries (America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union) had large stocks of poison gas in their arsenals. They employed gas in China. The question arrises as to why it was not employed in the War, especially in the air war.
The Germans were developing an even larger tank than the Tiger and Super-Tiger. They were limited , however, because the prototype could not bge moved over existing bridges.
The Germans worked feaverishly on improved U-boats, especially after the Allies developed effective anti-submarine tactics and weapons by 1943. The Germans also worked on midget sunmarines. The Negan was a sunmersible torpedo, but did not prove very effective, The Beaver was a midgit sunmarine. The real achievement was the Type-21 U-boat. It was the first real submarine with ground-breaking technology. The Germans were, however, to build many, in large part because of the strategic bombing camapign.
The NAZIs in 1944 launched a revolutionary campaign against Britain--using cruise (V-1) and balistic (V-2) missles. Intelligence played a key role in the Allied response. [Keegan]
V-1 - Buzz Bombs: The V-1 was essentially a primitive cruise missle, but without a sophisticated targetting mechanism. The Germans begining June 13 used the V-1 to target London and other British cities after the D-Day landings. V stood foer "vengence", retribution for the Allied bombing of Germany. The Germans launched about 13,000 buzz bombs accross the Channel at England. Only about 2,500 of these hit the intended targets, primarily London. The V-1 could not be accurately targeted. They were lucky to hit a city, but even this was difficult because the Luftwaffe at this stage of the wae could not even manage air recognisance over Britain. The British were able to deal with the V-1 offensive in a number of ways. In accurate news reports mislead the Germans in how to target the weapns. Anti-aircraft guns were rushed to the Channel coast. The RAF intensified fighter patrols.
V-2 - Balistic missles: The V1 could be shot down, but there was no defense against the V-2 balistic missles which soon followed. The V-weapons had been supported by Hitler because of their potential as terror weapons which could strile at British cities. Because of their lack of accuracy, however, they had no real value as a military weapon. The German scientists had developed plans for larger missles that could hit New York and other East Coast American cities. A Dutch reader tells us, "I have seen and heard the V-2 weapons in 1944/45 when I was a boy of 16 in the Netherlands. Many of them were launched from occupied Holland and Belgium to target England. They were extremely fast, sometimes like a lightning bolt and they made a loud, whistling sound. Quite a few did not function right and exploded in the air or came down in the fields or on houses and buildings often with disastrous results. We started seeing them at the end of 1944 and in the beginning of 1945. Several came down in our neighborhood. Most of them were launched near The Hague in the Netherlands and Antwerp, Belgium." Werner von Braun and other German rocket scientists after the War were brought to the United States through Operation Paper Clip. Both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union scoured Germany after the War for German scientists. The rocket scientists were some of the most sought after. They played a promonent role in the American space program. The German scientists were put to work in Huntsville, Alabama and other places for the development of the national space program in order to beat the Soviets during the Cold War. Without them the United State missle program would have lagged behind the Soviet program with very serious potential reperussions in the Cold war. Also the United States would not have been able to have put a man on the moon as early as it did. The Russians tried to do that also, but did not succeed. It always has been an embarrassing subject to have used the knowledge and expertise of German sientists. The connection of these scientists with the NAZIs is a matter of conjecture among historians. Some charge that they were committed NAZIs. Others that they were primarily focused on rocketry and space and only the German military offered the funding needed to persue their work. The V-2s in particular were built by slave laborers working in horrific conditions in underground facilities. A reader writes, "I think it shameful that the inventors (rocket scientists von Braun and his team) immediately after the war in 1945 were brought to the United States to be enployed in further development and research of the American space program."
An assessment of the German secret weapon program reverals that it failed to play a decisive role in World War II. Only the ME-262 jet plane emerged as a potent military weapon and mismanagement of the program, primarily because of Hitler's interference, prevented the plane from having a significant impact. Surprisingly it was the American sectret weapon program, the Manhattan Project, that was to succeed in developing a decisive war ending weapon--the atomic bomb. In one of the great ironies of history, the NAZIs who wanted desperately to create terrible weapons and had a sciebtific establishment capable of doing so failed. And America, the great power most reluctant to go to war, suceeded in creating a weapon which because of its destructive power ushered in a whole new era--the Atomic Age. There were a variety of reasons that the NAZIs failed.
early German victories in World War II gave the NAZIs in essence command of te continent of Europe with emense industrial and sciebntific potential. Remember that until after World War II, Europe commanded scientific fields. This is reflected in Nobel prizes and many other measures. Hitler could have used this potential to intensify the development of new weapon's systems. Instead, after the fall of France (1940), many weapon's systems were cut back, most notably the jet aircrafft program. The decession was to focus on weapns that were of immediate use.
The Allied bombing clearly had a negative impact on the NAZI war industries. The overall impact of the bombing impaired industrial activity. But the impact on weapons development and production program was not just a general one. There are who weapons programs that were estroyed by bombing. The V-1 prpgram at Peenamunde was delayed when that center was bombed. Especially significant was a new generation of jet fighters which would have been ready in 1946. Only the Allied bombing camapign prevented some from actually being built.
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage Books: New York, 1974), 844p.
Keegan, John. Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to al-Qaeda (Knopf, 2004), 387p.
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