HISTORY:
** Adolf Hitler's plan to break British morale during the months after the D-Day landings in June 1944 involved the invention and implementation of the world's first rocket delivered warhead – the V1, or 'Doodle Bug' as it was christened by Londoners. Thousands were launched from their sites in the Low Countries against the British capital, killing 6,184 people and injuring 17,981.
As the launch sites for the V1 were captured by Allied forces advancing through Belgium and into the Netherlands, a new, more terrifying rocket now hit London in mid-September, seemingly out of thin air – the V2. A streamlined rocket which stood as tall as a four-storey building, the V2 was highly advanced technology. Powered by a rocket engine burning a mix of alcohol-water and liquid oxygen, it blasted its way to the edge of space, before falling back to Earth at supersonic speed. Unlike the successes allied pilots and anti-aircraft crews had enjoyed shooting down the slower and more cumbersome V1, the V2 struck London almost undetected. It truly was Hitler's terror weapon made devastatingly real, causing over 30,000 casualties and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, with the randomness of the strikes unnerving the British public even though their destructive capacity was less than the Blitz in 1940-41.
But Winston Churchill's intelligence chiefs of SOE had known of the weapon weeks before it first struck the mainland as the Nazi boffins (led by Werner Von Braun who would go onto fame with the US Apollo Missions in the 1960s) tested the V2 in Eastern Europe. Away from prying eyes. Or, so they thought. In Stealing Hitler's Rocket, historian Guy Walters will reveal the true extent to how much we knew of this modern-day weapon and the operation by the Polish resistance to enable Britain and her allies to prepare for the day of reckoning. **
** Quoted from the back cover of the book and the Bloomsbury Publishing website.
THE BOOK:
Bloomsbury Publishing has released Stealing Hitler's Rocket, The Incredible WWII Operation to Stop a Nazi Superweapon as a 282-page softcover book, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches in size. Included with the text are black and white photographs, a black and white illustration and a black and white map. The book has a 2026 copyright, a publication date of June 4, 2026, and the ISBN is 978-1-0359-1085-4.
THE TEXT:
Author Guy Walters provides a well written and informative text detailing Polish underground’s mission to capture and transport a German V2 rocket to the Allies during World War II. The author starts the book providing a history on Germanies rocket program and discusses both the V-1 and V-2 rockets. Information is provided on subjects such as the individuals that worked in the program such as Wernher von Braun. It is discussed how the Peenemünde facility was used for the development and construction of the V-2 rocket and as a test launching area. The author details how after the Peenemünde facility was bombed and destroyed by Allied bombing, the German’s moved the entire program and related equipment, materials and personnel to Poland where the work continued. The author also details how slave labor was used in the program utilizing individuals from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and the work they performed and the conditions in which they worked and lived and the treatment they were subjected to. The steps that the Polish underground took in collecting evidence of V-2 rocket testing and the happenings at the production facility as well as the finding, dismantling, hiding and transporting the V-2 rocket is well detailed. The actions and preparations taken by the Royal Air Force to fly to the location of the hidden rocket components, load and return with them is discussed in detail as are the actions taken after the successful transporting of the rocket. I feel that Guy Walters has covered the subject of the Polish underground’s mission to capture and transport a German V2 rocket during World War II well and has provided the information in an easy-to-read chronological format which the detail-oriented reader will benefit from. Guy Walters doesn’t use what I refer to as fluff writing where a large amount of non-essential extra text is provided just to help fill the pages. As I read through the text, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Grammar and spelling might not be an important factor to everyone however it is something that I take notice of and pass on my findings. The text, however, isn’t perfect and does contain flaws. Examples of the errors are like those on Page 130 where in the first paragraph the author wrote about a V-1 rocket hitting a chapel in Wellington Barracks on June 18th. In the next paragraph the author wrote that due to that bombing, RAF bombers were sent to destroy V-1 launch ramps on June 16th. On Page 201 the author wrote “armorers cleaned the twin Brownings in the Dakota’s tail”. C-47/Dakotas were not equipped with twin Browning machineguns in the tail as the aircraft design would not accommodate rearward facing machineguns. On Page 213 the author wrote, “The pilot nodded but did not start the engines yet”, which is a contradiction in detail as on Page 209 the author had written, “the British crew killed one engine to reduce noise; the propeller slowed, blades glinting in the moonlight. The other engine idled, ready for a quick departure if anything went wrong”. On Page 233 the author wrote “the crates were loaded into a larger Dakota”. The crates being referred to were unloaded from one Dakota and later loaded onto a different Dakota. The C-47/Dakota was not produced in various sizes during World War II. Even with the errors, the author provides a great deal of information and as a reader that knew nothing about the events that led to the Allies capturing a complete V-2 rocket, I found myself to be well informed on the subject upon finishing the book.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS:
There is a total of 34 black and white photographs included in this volume. There are no color photographs featured. Author Guy Walters chose subject specific photographs and did not include photographs that strayed from the main subject of the book. The photographs include subjects such as key individuals involved with the rocket program, development and testing facilities, Axis and Allied aircraft, rockets, the damage done by the rockets and other related subjects. The photographs are subject specific; however, the quality of most of the photographs is not the best. Most of them are too dark and unclear, which makes for poor viewing. I don’t know if that is how the original photographs appear or if their appearance is from the printing process. However, it should be noted that this can be typical for the discussed period of history and consideration needs to be given to the fact that most of the photographs are over eighty years old
THE CAPTIONS:
The captions go into very specific detail as to the actions taking place, dates and locations, individuals names, the country of origin of the military personnel shown, aircraft types, squadron names and other such pertinent information. As I read through the captions, I didn’t notice any spelling or grammatical errors, yet they aren’t perfect. Such as on Page 78. The caption for the upper photograph showing two standing individuals states “workers standing inside a half section of one of the rockets”. The two individuals in the photograph are soldiers in combat uniform and not civilian workers”. The captions are well written and explain the accompanying photographs nicely.
MAP:
There is one basic black and white map included that focuses on Germany and Poland during World War II. The map shows the locations of key cities and pinpoints seven key points of interest such as the Peenemünde Army Research Center, the Kummersdorf Army Weapons Development Center and the Blizna V-2 launch site.
CONCLUSION:
This is a very nice reference book that contains a well written informative text, subject specific photographs and more, all detailing the Polish underground’s mission to capture and transport a German V2 rocket during World War II. The photographs are of a poorer quality and the text contains errors, mostly regarding the detailing of the C-47/Dakota aircraft. Even with its flaws, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to others as it will be a welcome addition to one’s personal military reference library.
Bloomsbury Publishing’s, Stealing Hitler's Rocket, The Incredible WWII Operation to Stop a Nazi Superweapon, is also available as:
Ebook (Epub & Mobi), ISBN: 978-1-0359-1084-7
and
Audiobook, ISBN: 978-1-0359-1087-8
Bloomsbury Publishing’s, Stealing Hitler's Rocket, The Incredible WWII Operation to Stop a Nazi Superweapon is also available as a Kindle version through Amazon.
PRICE:
UK £22.50 / US $29.00 / CAN $42.00
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/discover/head-of-zeus/
This book was provided to me by Head of Zeus and Bloomsbury Publishing Inc. Please mention that you saw the book reviewed here on the KitMaker Network when making your purchase. Thank you.
