HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: The Secret history of the Rockets and Flying Crafts of the Third Reich Volume 2 - From the V-1 to the A-9; Unconventional short- and medium-range weapons
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Average customer review:Product Description
Following on from the success of volume 1, Friedrich Georg's second book in the series covers unconventional short- and medium-range weapons. In particular, this volume includes a wealth of information about the V-rocket programme, not just the more familiar V-1 and V-2, but special variants of these two rockets as well as later experimental craft and weaponry. Following a fascinating examination of pre-war efforts to build flying bombs, the author examines the V-1 and V-2 projects in great detail. Particular attention is paid to special variants that have previously received little coverage. These include the V-2 A-4 'America Rocket', and V-2s designed to carry nuclear and radiological warheads. The capability of the Germans to deploy such weapons is also discussed. A large number of weird and wonderful projects that never left the drawing board are examined, including the FR-35, V-6, V-101, Waterfall and Naval EMW A-7 rockets. The fascinating final section examines German plans to utilise such rocketry against London and Paris in 1945, as well as recounting the activities of V-weapons on other fronts, including Italy, Yugoslavia and the Eastern Front. The text is supported by b/w photographs and 16 superb pages of colour artwork, including profiles, computer-generated images of designs that never flew, and pictures of the author's own models
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1309206 in Books
- Published on: 2005-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 136 pages
Customer Reviews
Hold On!!
Since the Berlin Wall fell a whole new generation of investigator has arisen in Germany. Friedrich Georg is one of these and he has uncovered a whole new world of facts regarding secret German weapons and technology. But this is not the kind of book you read in one sitting. It takes time for the mind to get around what Mr. Georg has uncovered. You can curl up in you favorite chair for this book but not with a glass of wine. Skip the wine, you will need a drink afterward.
Mr. Georg uncovers new weapons and new delivery systems. How about "Nipolit", "N-stoff", radiological warheads, and atomic cannon, the A4-b and A-9A? How about the V-3 and the V-4? Were some of these actually launched? What is the mysterious long distance rocket called the V-101? There is much more. Nor is this science fiction, Mr. Georg's work actually comes with sources so that those interested can verify what is being disclosed.
Right now a storm is raging in Germany over the findings of Mr. Georg and others among academicians. This book will place you in eye of this storm while lifting the veil of secrecy off what has been hidden for the last sixty years.
Anyone interested in technology, weaponry, or the hidden history of these topics in Germany will find this book fascinating. I recommend this book without reservation.
Why our space program had German scientists
Bob Hope is famously quoted as saying after we landed on the moon, "I wanted to call NASA to congratulate them, but I don't speak German."
As with all the best humour, it is the strong link to reality that makes it all the more amusing.
How is it that the US was able to beat the Soviets to the moon? How is it that the US was able to develop a successful multi-stage launch vehicle AFTER being a distant second to the Soviets from 1957 to 1963.
Friedrich Georg claims that it is due in part to the previously unknown work done in Nazi Germany during World War Two. He addresses this matter in HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: The Secret history of the Rockets and Flying Crafts of the Third Reich Volume 2 - From the V-1 to the A-9. As is obvious by the title, author Georg is writing a multi-volume volume series on german high-level weapons R&D programs. This volume addresses the development tactical and strategic delivery systems for the NBC weapons discussed in his first volume: HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems volume 1 - Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine.
Using data he claims was unaccessible until after 1990 because it was sequestered in the German Democratic Republic, Georg describes how the German missle programs beginning with the well-known V1 and V2, but then goes own to present information on additional, far more sophiscated vehciles that would have the capability of hiting targets in the US.
He also provides previously unknown information about plans to install V1 and V2 sites in Ilaty as well as the last ditch efforts by the Germans to launch nuclear-tipped missiles at England.
Not limited to text, this book also includes excellent scale drawings and models of the various weapons and delivery systems, as well as what few photographs have survived.
Friedrich Georg should be commended for his diligent attention to detail in relating this fascinating trove of information.
A Lot of Previously Unknown Material
This book asks an interesting question: After the V-1 Buzz Bombs and the V-2 rockets were in production and use, what were the scientists and engineers working on next.
Then it attempts to answer that same question. And the answer is a whole range of new and different weapons. Some of these were big and designed for attacking the United States after being launched from Germany. Some were small guided weapons to be launched from aircraft against high priority targets.
There are several brief discussions on the German nuclear weapons programs. This includes missile designs with proposed nuclear warheads. I am skeptical of the authors interpretation of these designs. What little information I've seen on the German program says that they made very little progress, even that the basic fundamental theories that Werner Heisenberg were so badly flawed that even if they had been able to gether the components it is likely that they would have blown themselves up rather than actually produced a bomb.
The first bombs were big - 5000-7000 pounds, Heisenberg's design was much bigger than that. Note that just because I'm skeptical doesn't mean that the German scientists weren't working on the problem.
This book covers development areas that have been generally ignored in the press. I presume that it is in part based on information from what was East Germany that wasn't available until recently.
The book appears to have been put together based on relatively little hard information. But after that many years, it isn't surprising that projects which never came to pass would be hard to find out about at all.


