THE LURE, THE LOCK, THE KEY
gyroscope and exhaust deflector vanes, sometimes supplemented by radio control.44 When Major General Walter Domberger, commander of the army works at Peenemuende, pronounced the A–4 operational in 1944, Joseph Goebbels' propaganda machine christened it Vergeltungswaffe zwei (Vengeance Weapon No. 2), or "V–2."45 But for the space-travel devotees at Peenemuende the rocket remained the A–4, a step in the climb toward space.
Although the total military effect of the 3745 V–2s fired at targets on the Continent and in England was slight, this supersonic ballistic missile threw a long shadow over the future of human society. As the Western Allies and the Soviets swept into Germany, they both sought to confiscate the elements of the German rocket program in the form of records, hardware, and people. Peenemuende was within the Russian zone of occupation, but before the arrival of the Soviet forces von Braun and most of the other engineers and technicians fled westward with a portion of their technical data. The Americans also captured the underground V–2 factory in the Harz Mountains; 100 partially assembled V–2s were quickly dismantled and sent to the United States. Ultimately von Braun and about 125 other German rocket specialists reached this country under "Project Paperclip," carried out by the United States Army.46
The Soviets captured no more than a handful of top Peenemuende engineers and administrators. "This is absolutely intolerable," protested Josef Stalin to
Hermann Oberth with key officials of the Army Ballistic Missile Agen- cy at Huntsville, Ala., in 1956. Counterclockwise from the left: Maj. Gen. H. N. T of toy, com- manding general of ABMA, who organized Project Paperclip; Ernst Stuhlinger; Oberth; Wern- her von Braun, Director, Develop- ment Operations Division; and Eberharcl Rees, Deputy Director, Development Operations Division.
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