Customer Reviews

Hitler's Rockets - The Story of the V-2s

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This is a book for people in two groups; those who lived during World War II when Adolf Hitler unleashed his secret weapon, the V-2 missile, or those who have a career in the rocket and space industry and want to learn the origins of the engines that now deliver hardware into orbit on a monthly basis. This book has very few details about the configuration of the A-4 engine or missile that it powered; those are to be found in many other comprehensive volumes that trace the development of this rocket. This book was not intended to convey that information. The technical descriptions are somewhat incomplete and confusing. For example the author explains that "the fuel was a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol." Both should be called "propellants". The term "fuel" is reserved for the alcohol. The liquid oxygen is the "oxidizer". The combination should not be referred to as a "mixture". A mixture would be shock sensitive and would freeze. The propellants are "mixed" in the combustion chamber of the engine. There is only a diagram of the missile with several photographs of the missile, the bombed-out Peenemunde, and the destruction delivered in England. The value of the book is in the exacting detail the author provides of the information, the planning, the mistakes, the bureaucratic organizations, and the politics in Germany and England that influenced the production of this weapon as well as the defenses against it. The many chapters describing the destruction, death, and injuries at the impact sites and reaction of the populace in England testify to the extensive research by the author. The book should be read for that information. Even though the achievement of an operational V-2 missile is considered a technological marvel and an example of science put to evil uses, the question addressed by the book is whether the final product was worth the expenditure and the effort it took to serve Hitler's purpose. The author attempts to provide the reader with the data to draw his or her own conclusion.

First of all, this particular topic has always intrigued me. I've read Walter Dornberger's fine book "V-2" which details the engineering and development of the first ballistic missile, and have made a mental comparison for my evaluation of this book.

It is NOT an engineering-oriented book, but details the V-2, or as the author and German scientists call it, A-4, as a combat weapon and chronicles the efforts British intelligence to learn of it's existence and combat it's employment.
Having the engineering background from previously read books, the political wrangling of the various intelligence gathering units in Churchill's government was pretty dry stuff. I found the details of utilization of the rocket as a weapon to be somewhat more interesting, but after a step-by-step and blow-by-blow analysis of many of the "incidents"as A-4 impacts or hits were called, I became pretty bored. Needless to say, the War was not won or lost by use of the A-4 (V-2), but had more of these weapons been available earlier in the war they would certainly had a greater impact on the final outcome.

Overall a somewhat interesting book, but written in a terribly dry British manner. Recommended reading for a WW II buff, but there are several other possibilities that a reader might find more interesting.

The author interleaves a description of German rocket development during WWII with efforts by the British government to discover whether or not rockets were being developed there. The author makes good use of this back-and-forth structure in the first half of the book. My only criticism is that he seems to have fallen victim to 20-20 hindsight in that those government and intelligence people who doubted the existence of a German rocket program are portrayed as closed-minded, and even vindictive, while those convinced of the program's existence are shown to be doggedly-determined to follow through.

The second half of the book is mostly a detailed description of rocket damage in Britain - chapter after chapter. Even horrific events lose their impact through repetition. There is very little back-and-forth in the latter part of the book, which would have been improved by giving more information about goings-on in Germany.

I enjoyed the book, but did a lot of skipping in the second half.

Despite the drama of the V2 rocket campaign, it was set against the backdrop of Berlin and Dresden, and the end of the war was already in sight. Hitler's Rockets makes an important contribution to this important chapter of modern history, which still continues in the form of Libya's SCUD missiles. I found it useful to read this book in combination with "V2" the novel (Kindle)V2, which adds a human perspective to this inhuman application of "perverted science".

I was very happy with the condition of this book and I was surprised how quickly I recieved it. I purchased it for a friend who is very picky about his books and he was extremely pleased. Saved a lot of money too.

I ordered this book secondhand, from the seller princelight7, The seller sent it priority post with no extra charge and it arrived within 7 days (from the US to New Zealand). It was in immaculate condition, and I would certainly order from this seller again.