How I recall the look of terror on that German academics face as you tried to do a hill start in his priceless VW. 😉 As to the V3 Supergun, there is a very good series from 2002 called "Doodlebug Summer" recounting the experience of civilians in Kent, Sussex and SE London under the V1 and V2 bombardment. North West Kent and SE London were particularly heavily hit by V2s, as you know, due to Garbo sending false intel to Berlin that they were overshooting central London, which they were not, and when they adjusted the range NW Kent took a beating. Indeed, the last civilian killed by enemy action in the UK was killed by a V2 strike the site of which is in the next street over to mine in Orpington. The series talks about the V3, and one chap, a kid at the time, reckoned that they Germans had been testing it, and that shells had landed near his village. The producers drew a straight line on a map from the V3 site to London, and it passed right over his village. So, who knows how ready they were. But the promised sustained rate of fire, even if the planned 25 (?) guns had been built would not, in my view, have been achievable. The time to load the projectile would have been reasonable. But what about all the booster side charges up the barrel? Once again, thanks for a great article, Walt, and for suffering my ramblings. 👍
The point on Thalidomide is a terrifying and tragic one. The way people were used as guinea pigs whether they were alive or dead makes me feel sick. Doing research into the history of my own condition, epilepsy, (as a couple of ancestors had it - though the word was never used) left me feeling empty when it came round to reading about how the Nazis thought and dealt with neurological conditions. From reading it seems difficult to work out if the Nazis knew the difference between a neurologist and other specialists….. or perhaps that was deliberate
c.1957 your grandparents, father and one of his sisters were involved in a car crash in Windsor Great Park. Car avoided an army vehicle and turned over. All survived, including the car a robust Daimler, and all passengers were taken to nearest hospital. Whilst your father had a small fracture in a lumbar vertebrae not then discovered until many years later when X-rayed for back problems, his sister was pregnant and was given priority attention by the doctors. She had morning sickness and had taken Thalidomide. The baby was deformed and due to the accident it had died. She went on to have 3 perfect children later.
This article has prompted significant random 5:30am googlings on my part. I love that concrete henge thing. The Sarin thing is pretty interesting. I knew about that and it's fascinating that they were so afraid of a worse response that they didn't use it even when they got desperate. It makes you think about what we read today: that Putin will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if he gets desperate enough. I mean why didn't the Germans use Sarin towards the end? They had literally nothing to lose...
Very interesting article, Guy - thank you. I didn’t know about sarin and thalidomide. The Bell and flying saucers were discussed in some detail in The Hunt for Zero Point by Nick Cook, which was in essence a book about anti-gravity.
I knew some of the less nutty stuff. It reminds me of the Ahnenerbe and the lunatic nonsense they searched for; lampooned in Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Arc. Years ago I read an article about German archaeologists roaming around Tibet or Mongolia (I think) looking for lost Aryans. And of course to their discredit the Nazis did invent the cruise missile and ICBM.
This thing about archaeologists is definitely true. Years ago, (before I entered the noble profession of PR) I did an archaeology degree and we were taught about the Nazi archaeologists going round Mongolia looking for evidence of Aryans. They also cited Hindu swastikas as evidence of a historical Aryan connection to the Germans
There is a doco all about the Ahnenerbe and how their twisted research in the Himalayas and such fascinated Himmler. Can't recall which UK channel it was on, possibly Yesterday. Have a search. I've no idea how accurate it was, but a good watch.
Interestingly Nazi Germany did experiment with flying discs, of sort. The Sack AS-6 was built by an eccentric aeronautical engineer using bits he could fly and it did fly very briefly In 1944, but was undergoing modifications when the war ended
Revell literally make a 1:72 model of a Nazi flying saucer (Haunebu II) with an accompanying grey description: “The existence and feasibility of this striking model from the time of the Second World War cannot be proven historically. Allegedly work began on this spherical aircraft in 1934. Its propulsion and the neutralisation of centrifugal forces inside the aircraft was achieved employing Vril energy fields. Airworthy prototypes of the Haunebu II with speeds of up to 6000 km/h first flew in mid-1943 but did not finish the flight test phase due to the effects of war.”
The news of this Revell model from Chris is the most interesting historical revelation I've heard in a while. More interesting than anything Guy has come up with (sorry Guy).
How I recall the look of terror on that German academics face as you tried to do a hill start in his priceless VW. 😉 As to the V3 Supergun, there is a very good series from 2002 called "Doodlebug Summer" recounting the experience of civilians in Kent, Sussex and SE London under the V1 and V2 bombardment. North West Kent and SE London were particularly heavily hit by V2s, as you know, due to Garbo sending false intel to Berlin that they were overshooting central London, which they were not, and when they adjusted the range NW Kent took a beating. Indeed, the last civilian killed by enemy action in the UK was killed by a V2 strike the site of which is in the next street over to mine in Orpington. The series talks about the V3, and one chap, a kid at the time, reckoned that they Germans had been testing it, and that shells had landed near his village. The producers drew a straight line on a map from the V3 site to London, and it passed right over his village. So, who knows how ready they were. But the promised sustained rate of fire, even if the planned 25 (?) guns had been built would not, in my view, have been achievable. The time to load the projectile would have been reasonable. But what about all the booster side charges up the barrel? Once again, thanks for a great article, Walt, and for suffering my ramblings. 👍
I always enjoy and appreciate your ramblings!!!
The point on Thalidomide is a terrifying and tragic one. The way people were used as guinea pigs whether they were alive or dead makes me feel sick. Doing research into the history of my own condition, epilepsy, (as a couple of ancestors had it - though the word was never used) left me feeling empty when it came round to reading about how the Nazis thought and dealt with neurological conditions. From reading it seems difficult to work out if the Nazis knew the difference between a neurologist and other specialists….. or perhaps that was deliberate
c.1957 your grandparents, father and one of his sisters were involved in a car crash in Windsor Great Park. Car avoided an army vehicle and turned over. All survived, including the car a robust Daimler, and all passengers were taken to nearest hospital. Whilst your father had a small fracture in a lumbar vertebrae not then discovered until many years later when X-rayed for back problems, his sister was pregnant and was given priority attention by the doctors. She had morning sickness and had taken Thalidomide. The baby was deformed and due to the accident it had died. She went on to have 3 perfect children later.
How shocking. 😪
This article has prompted significant random 5:30am googlings on my part. I love that concrete henge thing. The Sarin thing is pretty interesting. I knew about that and it's fascinating that they were so afraid of a worse response that they didn't use it even when they got desperate. It makes you think about what we read today: that Putin will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine if he gets desperate enough. I mean why didn't the Germans use Sarin towards the end? They had literally nothing to lose...
The problem with Sarin, I think, is delivering it effectively...
That makes some sense. I had assumed it was because they were afraid the allies would respond in kind. What you say makes more sense
Very interesting article, Guy - thank you. I didn’t know about sarin and thalidomide. The Bell and flying saucers were discussed in some detail in The Hunt for Zero Point by Nick Cook, which was in essence a book about anti-gravity.
I knew some of the less nutty stuff. It reminds me of the Ahnenerbe and the lunatic nonsense they searched for; lampooned in Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Arc. Years ago I read an article about German archaeologists roaming around Tibet or Mongolia (I think) looking for lost Aryans. And of course to their discredit the Nazis did invent the cruise missile and ICBM.
This thing about archaeologists is definitely true. Years ago, (before I entered the noble profession of PR) I did an archaeology degree and we were taught about the Nazi archaeologists going round Mongolia looking for evidence of Aryans. They also cited Hindu swastikas as evidence of a historical Aryan connection to the Germans
Thanks
There is a doco all about the Ahnenerbe and how their twisted research in the Himalayas and such fascinated Himmler. Can't recall which UK channel it was on, possibly Yesterday. Have a search. I've no idea how accurate it was, but a good watch.
If only Himmler had known Walt Disney’s number. We would have had a very different version of “Frozen”. I guess he simply had to “Let it go”.
Interestingly Nazi Germany did experiment with flying discs, of sort. The Sack AS-6 was built by an eccentric aeronautical engineer using bits he could fly and it did fly very briefly In 1944, but was undergoing modifications when the war ended
Also another one to add ... still not sure if Horten Ho 229 was indeed the first plane with stealthy-ish capabilities... ?
Revell literally make a 1:72 model of a Nazi flying saucer (Haunebu II) with an accompanying grey description: “The existence and feasibility of this striking model from the time of the Second World War cannot be proven historically. Allegedly work began on this spherical aircraft in 1934. Its propulsion and the neutralisation of centrifugal forces inside the aircraft was achieved employing Vril energy fields. Airworthy prototypes of the Haunebu II with speeds of up to 6000 km/h first flew in mid-1943 but did not finish the flight test phase due to the effects of war.”
The news of this Revell model from Chris is the most interesting historical revelation I've heard in a while. More interesting than anything Guy has come up with (sorry Guy).
What is a vril energy field? We need to know! I want one of these models.
Brilliant. Landkreuzer was totally bonkers!! Never knew that about Sarin and Thalidomide.