European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                F pets lift j we but of it did wot m by Robert Bendiner yank staff writer almost his last breath the late Goebbels promised the late third Reich secret weapons that would Stop the allies in their tracks and change the course of the not after Goebbels passed belatedly into Allied scientists came up with the atomic a secret weapon to end secret the it was re had also been working on an Atonic but on this score their scientists were considerably behind our diverted perhaps by work on those other secrets at which Goebbels had darkly were these really merely the last flight of fancy of Germany Ace liar officers of the american army ordnance technical intelligence Branch have been seeking the the rocket experimental Sta Tion at pee Gemuende on the in numerous German at the giant proving grounds at Hixie Sieben and at Many other spawning grounds of German More than 200 american technical experts drawn from Industrial universities and government agencies have also been making on thespot in while German scientists eager to ingratiate themselves with the con have been sounding off at a great scores of experimental specimens and models of novel weapons have been captured and Are still being subjected to close study people Are generally scared by the most fantastic according to a lieutenant colonel in the ordnance technical intelligence Branch but usually these Are the least practical As Faras winning a War is a Brief tour of an imaginary German Arsenal of advanced chiefly of the screwball and scare should make this the Doest but the weapons Are All to the left As we enter is a curious affair called the wind this experimental specimen was discovered at the Hixie Sieben proving in the wind looking like a factory whistle mounted on the end of a Long was designed to shoot Down our planes with plugs of air fired at High missile that must have appealed on grounds of in practice the Success of this Gadget was strictly the wind gun managed to break one Inch boards at a distance of 200 but it had no effect on aircraft at Normal German scientists interviewed since the War claim that the gun got a tryout in the Battle for the Elbe but its purpose was somewhat the germans now assert that they didst Hope to Down Allied planes with air but merely planned to utilize the guns Power to distort a target they used they to prevent pinpoint bombing of an important no Trace of the weapon was found at the Elbe or on any other Field of Over Here we have an experimental Little number called the the designer of this Small rocket plane appears to have had in mind a Cross Between Abuzz bomb and an its a mid Wing rocket propelled with a probably for a Pilot whose chances for a Safe return Are some what less than the general idea was that the with the great advantage in Speed that rocket propulsion would give Over the usual would plunge into bomber formations the would have the option of ram Ming enemy planes or attacking with the Viper was to be considered sex with the Pilot Given a Chance to escape by Means of an ejecting improvements were added to later experimental models to per Mit the salvaging of the entire rear half of the together with the expensive rocket by Means of so far As we the Viper never reached the combat on this Side we have an experimental Model of curved a device worked out by Ger Man science to enable krauts to fire around Cor ners without sticking their necks this Odd of which several specimens were is in fact an Ordinary German Rifle to which a special barrel attachment and Peri Copic sights have been the end of the barrel is curved on a radius of approximately nine the sighting arrangement enables the firer to hold the weapon at a 32degree Angle and get a rough idea of what goes on around the the invention is not regarded by Ord Nance authorities As a world beater but might Well be useful in brushing off annoying enemy soldiers in the dead area surrounding a next we have an item which the germans Call die this Means and the chances Are that this Oneman rocket launcher does indeed pack a significant the weapon is a nine tube projector which electrically discharges two successive rocket salvos four rounds on the first and five on the its chief purpose is to make it hot for Low flying the rockets Are of 20 if its distance you want in a Shell and you Arent too fussy about where it the rocket assisted Shell in this Corner is your it leaves a 28 railway gun in the usual but 19 seconds after its discharge from the muzzle things begin to a time Fuze in the nose of the projectile goes into igniting a charge of rocket As a result of this extra the Shell stretches its Range from Miles to a gain of 37 per the hitch is that you cant figure that More than half the shells you fire will fall anywhere on a Given line Yards in in other you can count Only on every other Shell Landing within Miles of the it takes this whole Hall to House the battered remains of Dei Gustav which is the germans pet name for what has been called the biggest gun in the according to pcs interviewed by our ordnance technical Intelli gence Only two specimens of this giant were this one was found on the Eastern Gustavs tube is 95 feet and he is capable of firing a Shell a Dis Tance of or 29 this scare weapon was tentatively tried out against the russians at the russians we rent 0fe a out Man Racket it hot a wat Drof Towd for we protector we pfc two Rod rat to the h on weapon called the apparently never used in it wot built to rocket a Small monoplane into enemy bomber like the lumbering 200ton tank known As the Gustav is notable chiefly for his Juiz another of those propaganda efforts that German scientists now complain they had to pro Duce in order to satisfy the nazi chiefs that they had the biggest in the Over Here we have the complicated in two factories at our men found specimens of this wire controlled Glide x4 a winged rocket designed to be fighter planes bucking a heavy bomber forma it is guided to the target electrically by Means of insulated wires connecting the missiles controls with a control unit in the Parent air after its High explosive charge has been the wires Are Cut and the Parent Craft on its merry Ouk Arsenal museum is necessarily very in in addition to exhibits which Are being kept under wraps at least for the time there Are others that cannot be shown for the simple reason that they Are either still in the blueprint stage if actually still to be located by our in this category is the submarine with which the germans were experimenting on Toplitz Lakein the austrian this was a pet project of a Heini Ich with 14 was arrested by men of the i8th infantry when a Shoemaker informed the americans that he had seen a big Metal fish jumping from the water into the air and undersea boats that shot out fiery Determann destroyed his apparatus before our hoops but according to a new York times lie had made considerable Prog the claim is fired from a depth of 300 feet beneath the surface of the on reaching the an proceeded to travel like another Batch of blueprint weapons was re ported John chief of the ordnance services enemy technical intelligence Branch in the Eto in an exhaustive piss inter Keck touched lightly on such gems a Ina make projectile imposed a series of each of in turn and successively setting the next in a perfected missile designed to explode within 10 Yards of a increasing the a Mit a rare Jurs Orri popular Sci my and those trash Hollywood productions which Boris Karluf none of the instruments far can touch the plans for tins culled Sun this project would perhaps not Worth discussing As a secret weapon if it had not been soberly reported by our ordnance officers As the work of those same men who produced Al and scientists with their practical engineering minds and their distaste for the fan the Sun which the germans Are reported to have believed might be ready some where Between 1995 and was planned As a reflector three Kilometres Square that probably to he made of metallic this Gigantic Mirror would be so placed As to focus the heat of the Sun on an area marked for destruction by the of the 21st once exposed to this the doomed would shrivel the Waters around if would come to a High and in the twinkling of a Sunbeam All life would crumble into where would the Woi id conquering tvs Tector have to be situated that simple on a space platform some Miles above the surface of the at that some physicists be the gravitational pull of the and the centrifugal Force of an the Force with which it is thrust upwards from the Earth would cancel the result of this balance is that the space instead of tumbling Down to Earth or Drifting off through Circle around the Earth like a with relation to any particular Point on the earths surface it would be and its Crew would no Moi feel themselves being whirled through space than we groundings do Here below one More question remained to Girt out to this Point in space and haul along the Neces sary materials for building Trie platform a the German scientists was talking glibly about then pet they were still not Clear As to How Thev would go about achieving this enormous distance maximum distance of the v2 is 30u Miles it the appeared to or confident trial n 50 years it would be entirely b possible to work out the necessary american scientists have been Quick to Point out serious flaws in the Sun gun and a few have dismissed the notion As completely some deny that Gravity is neutralized at others emphasize the enormous difficulty in reaching that and still others Point out that Light to be brought to a Sharp focus must be reflected from a Sharp pointed Light which could not be done by reflecting the huge disc of the Sun through a Mirror More than a mile Square do site the Ripley Quality of wind Sun guns and semicircular Rifle Ameri can ordnance men Are not inclined to underestimate the achievements of German scientists in the second world according 10 press the Reichs scientists themselves complain that nazi bigwigs compelled them to waste time and Energy dreaming up scare weapons of lilt it practical but it cannot be forgotten that these scientists developed the which before the revelation of the atomic bomb was frankly described by one ordnance officer As the greatest technical feat of the v2 itself is far from being a secret weapon at this late but efforts to improve its performance constituted one of the chief preoccupations of German the were to increase the Range of this rocket bomb and at the same time increase its the first of these objectives involves the development of a now fuel one that would pro vide greater Energy at a lower Given such a the second problem might More easily be the More efficient the the More space and weight that can be spent on tin business end of the the exploring new forms of particularly were extremely hopeful about the future of some of those inter viewed since veday talked about postwar prospects and predicted transatlantic Mai carry ing rockets within the next few they also predicted that 15 to 20 years from now there be to fuels to carry passe Gerae Oss Atlantic m 40 is generally believed that War in e o Liu it any will see a and deadly development of three principles first applied in Liu it i atomic missiles guided of Remote control the made Able in Al Ruvvo id now or ordnance Kep tin Bailie the Dun Ani match the secret Gustov desc Atuf 95foot German propaganda