Georg, Friedrich Hitler's Miracle Weapons. Volume 3: From the "America Rocket" to an Orbital Station. Germany's Efforts to Develop Intercontinental Weapons and the First Space Programme

The third volume sheds light on one of the most controversial and least known chapters of Second World War technology the Third Reich's secret quest to develop intercontinental weapons and even the world's first military space capabilities. Following the success of the V-2 rocket, German rocket scientists in Peenemünde and beyond turned their attention to far more ambitious projects. These included the A9/A10 America rocket, a two-stage rocket designed to strike targets on the east coast of the United States from European launch sitesa concept that anticipated the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by more than a decade. Using archival documents, Allied intelligence reports and post-war witness accounts, this book examines how far these programmes had progressed and whether the technical obstacles were closer to being overcome than previously thought. But the ambitions went beyond ICBMs. The book reveals plans for orbital platforms, space stations and even theoretical weapons for use from space including concepts similar to the post-war Star Wars missile defence systems. Were these just fantasies, or were concrete steps taken to realise them? Friedrich Georg explores these questions with a rigorous yet accessible approach, tracing the technical, political and operational aspects of Germany's missile and space ambitions in the final stages of the war. The narrative also sheds light on the secret networks of underground factories, secret test sites and the opaque roles of personalities such as Wernher von Braun, whose post-war career was to shape the space race between the USA and the USSR. This volume challenges long-held assumptions about the limits of Germany's technological capabilities and raises provocative questions about how close the Third Reich came to changing the strategic landscape of the Second World War and perhaps even the post-war period. Richly illustrated with rare photographs, technical drawings and maps, this is a valuable addition to the literature on military technology, rocket engineering and the hidden stories of the Second World War.