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Rating: 
Summary: They were in it up to their elbows.
Review: (A numerical rating, as above, is required by the
new Amazon format. It is offensive to this
reviewer and explicitly disavowed.)
Author Piszkiewicz recounts the whole history of
German rocketry, from its beginnings through the
rocketeers' pact with the Devil, and on to their
historical rehabilitation at the hands of the
Americans who wanted their expertise.
Piszkiewicz sets the record straight, reminding us that Wernher von Braun, for instance, was a Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in the SS who went to
Buchenwald personally to select slave laborers to
staff his V-2 missile plants.
Very interesting reading for students of the origins
of the Space Age, military history buffs, and others
who would understand the practical applications of
realpolitik.
Rating:
Summary: They were in it up to their elbows.
Review: (A numerical rating, as above, is required by thenew Amazon format. It is offensive to thisreviewer and explicitly disavowed.) Author Piszkiewicz recounts the whole history of German rocketry, from its beginnings through the rocketeers' pact with the Devil, and on to their historical rehabilitation at the hands of the Americans who wanted their expertise. Piszkiewicz sets the record straight, reminding us that Wernher von Braun, for instance, was a Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in the SS who went to Buchenwald personally to select slave laborers to staff his V-2 missile plants. Very interesting reading for students of the origins of the Space Age, military history buffs, and others who would understand the practical applications of realpolitik.
Rating: 
Summary: Incomplete
Review: Misses the imprisonment for high treason on march 15th 1943, og Rieder VB and Dr Grottning. This was for saying in public that germany was losing the war and that they were more interested in building spaceships than weapons of war. Also the A4 was not a cost effective weapon. If the efforts had been put into fighter planes WWII would have dragged on alot longer. One ton of HE for the industrial cost of 6 jet fighters was probably the biggest sabotage of the nazi effort ever made. All it did was benifit spaceflight and science. Unbalanced. No historical perspective sensationalist trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Very biased historical revision of Von Braun
Review: Piszkiewicz does a good job with getting the historical documentation down but fails miserably when he outs his obvious anti-Von braun spin to them. He constantly speculates without facts about Von Braun's thoughts, beliefs and motives, always casting them in a negative manner. He goes into detail about Himmler's attempts to eliminate Von Braun and the danger that posed and still castigates Von Braun for not acting to help the Dora workers. He dedicates the book to the V2 and Dora victims which seems to be why he wrote this revisionist tale. It is his way to find someone to blame and Von Braun seems to be as good as target as any for the author to attack. He admits the V2 was not an effective weapon yet he ignores the huge drain on resources that it had on the German war machine. This drain was praised by Winston Churchill for keeping more planes and guns off the field of battle, saving lives. He also twists quotes and facts out of context, a sin for a historian. This book is not about history so much as it is an attempt to discredit Von Braun. No documentation or factual evidence is ever presented to show Von Braun could have done anything to help the Dora workers. Von Braun was not a saint but neither was he a war criminal.
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