As Von Braun perused his Ph.D, he was also busy working on a new rocket design, the A1. This incorporated his new and advanced liquid fueled rocket engine. After numerous experiments testing the rocket, the design team and Von Braun finally decided on their final design of the combustion chamber, resulting in the finalization of the rocket design. With this rocket design they started to produce A1 rockets. This rocket did not have the capability to be used in war fare; it was simply just another experiment that Von Braun was conducting. Over the course of numerous experiments of launching the A1s over the Baltic sea, Von Braun was able to improve upon the design and produce an even better design. To conduce these tests the Nazi army produced a large compound to house 2,000 scientists, and 4,000 other personnel.

( secret rocket base where Von Braun is based out of. Image from: https://www.google.com/search?q=v2+factory&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=729&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFqJjK3b_NAhVE1CYKHZmHC9oQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=v2+Peenem%C3%BCnde&imgrc=d_wAWcK_ND6AJM%3A)

After many years of testing Von Braun and his team were able to successfully launch the first A4 rocket on October 3, 1942. While this was a successful flight, it does not mean that the missile is able to be used reliable on the battle field. To make it a proven system, Von Braun took even more of a leadership position and was able to make the flow the of operations better through his strategic personnel placement in key positions and his own excitement about what he could achieve.  However, the British started to catch on to the ongoing testing at this compound. Only a year after the first successful test, hundreds of RAF bombers descended on the compound and crippling its operations. The Nazi believed that they needed to shift their operations to a more secure site however Von Braun was to stay at the old compound to research better rocket designs and help on the Luftwaffe’s jet aircraft. His research was halted when Von Braun was arrested by the Gestapo on charges that he only is only wanting to develop the rocket for space travel not for military purposes. They thought that since he wanted to use the rocket for space travel and he can pilot his own plane, that he would eventually run to the allies and turn over all of his previous work. He was eventually released due to pressure from Hitler and Munitions and Armaments Minister Albert Speer on the Gestapo. Historians believe that he was initially arrested for his denial of Heinrich Himmler’s request for him to join the SS.

( Heinrich Himmler, Google images: https://www.google.com/search?q=himmler&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=685&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRmKSZ3r_NAhVD4CYKHeGQBdIQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=4IFxrCHaXiDv1M%3A)

Eventually Himmler was able to get back at Von Braun by forcefully moving the most current rocket, the V-2, out of research/ production to full-fledged production. He moved the production to an underground work shop in central Germany where he forced local concentration camp workers to not only build the rockets but to also build the underground facility. Here many innocent civilians were worked so hard that many of them died in the process, however this was all in vain. The v-2 rockets were not ready to be mass produced, it would be another year until it truly would be ready. Once the production of V-2 rockets could be established, they were launched at Paris, London just to name a few. The use of these rockets were short lived though. The Russian army was advancing from East while the USA was advancing from the West. Von Braun was terrified for his life since he stated that “I had ten orders on my desk. Five promised death by firing squad if we moved, and five said I’d be shot if we didn’t move.” Seeing that he was in quite a predicament and that if he was to stay he would be captured by the Russians. Calling a secret meeting with other lead scientists, they decided to go and surrender to the USA. This decision allowed them to leave the war with them lives.

Work Cited :

“V2ROCKET.COM – Wernher Von Braun.” V2ROCKET.COM – Wernher Von Braun. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 June 2016.