Friday, March 05, 2010

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


When I was asked to review this book, Hitler's Rockets: The Story of the V-2s by Norman Longmate, I admit,I didn't know much about the subject. But what an eye-opening subject it is.

Before the war even began, Hitler's top military scientists developed the V-2 rockets. They reached speeds of more than 5,000 feet per second and could strike a target 200 miles away with alarming accuracy. They were five stories tall. And from 1944 to 1945, they killed more than 3,000 innocent British civilians and injured twice that many.

It was a weapon that the world had imagined, but had hoped would never exist. Yet it terrorized the people of Great Britain and sent that country's intelligence officers scrambling for information on how to understand it - and stop it. Unfortunately, it also created panic within the government itself, resulting in massive government censorship of the V-2s attacks on British soil.

Through extensive research involving eye-witness accounts, testimonies of German engineers, and archived records, Longmate presents a chilling narrative of a little-known part of World War II history. Period photographs and an impressive bibliography make this a fascinating read, and a long-overdue account of this revolutionary - and deadly - weapon.

Full disclosure to satisfy Big Brother: This book was sent to me to review. I am not making any money off of this review, but did receive the book free of charge.