Walter Dornberger and Albin Sawatzki

Dr.ing. h.c. Walter Dornberger (right), Major General in the Heereswaffenamt, with Albin Sawatzki, Director of the Production Planning Dept. in the "Mittelwerk", at the missile test site in Blizna, Poland, June 1944. Source: Walter Frentz Collection.

Albin Sawatzki (born October 6, 1909 in Danzig; † May 1, 1945 in Warburg) was a German engineer and was responsible for the series production of the A4 surface-to-surface missile in the underground Mittelwerk during the final phase of the National Socialist German Empire. Sawatzki, a member of the NSDAP since May 1933, was initially operations manager at Henschel & Sohn in Kassel, where he was responsible for tank production. He was responsible for the manufacture of the VI Tiger armored vehicle. In July 1943, Sawatzki was appointed to the A4 Special Committee, which dealt with issues relating to the testing and production of the A4, by Armaments Minister Albert Speer as head of the Series Production Working Committee. Initially he was based in the Peenemünde Army Research Center and, after the bombing of the Peenemünde Army Research Center, in Nordhausen from the beginning of September 1943. From February 1944, Sawatzki finally became a member of the management of Mittelwerk GmbH as director of the planning department. Sawatzki's working committee prepared the mass production of the rocket, including the establishment of underground factories. The most famous production facility, the Mittelwerk in the tunnel system in Kohnstein, was in operation for over a year. There, prisoners from the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp had to drive the tunnels under catastrophic conditions and later, in some cases, also produce rockets. In 1944, Sawatzki also became Technical Director at Henschel. Because of his “services to German armaments”, Sawatzki received a grant of 30,000 RM from Adolf Hitler. Shortly before the end of the war, Sawatzki evaded the evacuation of 450 rocket specialists to the Alpine fortress in Oberammergau, which began on April 6, 1945, and did not implement the destruction of the tunnel in Kohnstein ordered by the SS. On April 11, 1945, the US Army marched into Nordhausen and Niedersachswerfen and discovered the underground tunnels in Kohnstein, in which, in addition to the prisoners of the concentration camp, more than 10,000 people from the area had found refuge. On April 13, 1945, Sawatzki was mistreated by former prisoners and on April 14, 1945, he was interrogated by the US Army. He died under unknown circumstances on May 1, 1945 in Warburg, Westphalia.

Major-General Dr. Walter Robert Dornberger (born September 6, 1895 in Gießen; † June 27, 1980 in Obersasbach) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World War I and World War II. He was a leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket program and other projects at the Peenemünde Army Research Center. Dornberger was born in Gießen and enlisted in 1914. In October 1918, as an artillery lieutenant Dornberger was captured by United States Marines and spent two years in a French prisoner of war camp, mostly in solitary confinement because of repeated escape attempts. In the late 1920s, Dornberger completed an engineering course with distinction at the Berlin Technical Institute, and in the Spring of 1930, Dornberger graduated after five years with an MS degree in mechanical engineering from the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg in Berlin. In 1935, Dornberger received an honorary doctorate, which Col. Karl Emil Becker arranged as Dean of the new Faculty of Military Technology at the TH Berlin.

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German Nebelwerfer

In a gun emplacement on the Eastern Front, August 1942. / Photos by Ernst Franck

 

Schweres Wurfgerät 41 (28/32 cm Nebelwerfer 41 für 28 cm Wurfkörper Spreng / 32 cm Wurfkörper Flamm).

The Nebelwerfer were German grenade launchers developed during the First World War. They were later developed into rocket launchers and were a common weapon of World War II.

Schweres Wurfgerät 40/41:
The heavy throwing device 40 (wood) and the heavy throwing device 41 (steel) could fire both the 28 cm explosive device and the 32 cm flameproof device. In the case of the throwing device 40, four wooden packing boxes weighing 30 kg were housed on a 52 kg frame. It was replaced in 1941 by the heavy throwing device 41 (steel), in which four rockets were housed in a 20 kg steel packing box on a 110 kg steel frame.

28-cm-WK-Spr:
The 28 cm WK Spr was the propellant for the 15 cm launcher grenade 41 with an over-caliber warhead with a wall thickness of 1 mm. With a length of 1260 mm and a total weight of 82 kg, the warhead designed for pressure (gas strike) carried 50 kg of explosives. Because of the small propellant charge, only a range of around 1900 m was achieved and the spread was considerable. Since it was an area weapon, however, the spread could be accepted. The great effect earned the weapon the name "Stuka on foot", because of the starting noise it was also called "Howling Cow".

32-cm-WK-Flamm:
The 32 cm WK flame had the same propellant charge, the warhead with a maximum diameter of 33.7 cm carried 50 liters of flame oil and a dismantling charge of 1.6 kg. With a length of 1300 mm and a total weight of 79 kg, a range of around 2200 m was achieved. One hit set fire to an area of ​​around 200 m² (for example, a square of around 14 × 14 meters). It was customary to mix a rocket salvo so that the ratio of high explosive ammunition to flame ammunition was five to one. For example, the SdKfz 251/1 Ausf. B with a throwing frame usually carried five 28 cm WK Spr and a 32 cm throwing body Flamm in individual throwing frames attached to the side.

28/32-cm-Nebelwerfer 41:
The 28/32 cm Nebelwerfer 41 was a trailer solution for the projectiles of the heavy throwing device that were already in use and could be shot down from the trailer. There was no longer any need to load the launcher frame with the heavy bullets and a quick change of position could be made after the shot. For greater stabilization, the trailer received a folding support with a spur plate. Straightening with straightening attachment 35 was carried out for the height with a ratchet and for the side with a crank. With retractable inserts, it was also possible to shoot with the 28 cm bullet with this system. The projectiles were ignited electrically by incandescent fuse 40 without delay. The shooting took place at least 3 minutes after another. Reloading took about 5 minutes and only the top three frames were loaded at a short distance. Introduced in 1941, but due to its short range (approx. 2,000 m), the weapon was rarely used.

 

 

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Generalmajor Walter Dornberger

Generalmajor Dr.-Ing. h.c. Walter Dornberger was born in Giessen, Germany on 6th September, 1895. He joined the German Army in 1914 and during the First World War was captured by the French Army and was held as a prisoner-of-war until 1919.

Dornberger remained in the army and in 1925 was sent to the Charlottenberg Institute of Technology to study ballistics. While at Charlottenberg he met a young student, Wernher von Braun, and fellow member of the German Society for Space Travel.

In 1932 Dornberger was placed in charge of the solid-fuel rocket research and development in the Ordnance Department of the German Army. Dornberger recruited Wernher von Braun and in 1934 they successfully built two rockets that rose vertically for more the than 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles).

In 1937 Dornberger was appointed military commander of rocket research station at Peenemunde. Braun became technical director of the establishment and he began to develop the long-range ballistic missile, the A4 (V2 Rocket) and the supersonic anti-aircraft missile Wasserfall.

During the Second World War Dornberger and Braun began working on a new secret weapon, the V2 Rocket. This 45 feet long, liquid-fuelled rocket carried a one ton warhead, and was capable of supersonic speed and could fly at an altitude of over 50 miles. As a result it could not be effectively stopped once launched. He later commented: "This is the first of a new era in transportation, that of space travel. So long as the war lasts, our most urgent task can only be the rapid perfection of the rocket as a weapon. The development of possibilities we cannot yet envisage will be a peacetime task."

Albert Speer told Adolf Hitler: "The A-4 is a measure that can decide the war. And what encouragement to the home front when we attack the English with it. This is the decisive weapon of the war, and what is more it can be produced with relatively small resources. Speer, you must push the A-4 as hard as you can! Whatever labour and materials they need must be supplied instantly. You know I was going to sign the decree for the tank program. But my conclusion now is: Change it around and phase it so that A-4 is put on a par with tank production. But in this project we can use only Germans. God help us if the enemy finds out about this business."

The V2 Rocket was first used in September, 1944. Over 5,000 V-2s were fired on Britain. However, only 1,100 reached their target. These rockets killed 2,724 people and badly injured 6,000. After the D-Day landings, Allied troops were on mainland Europe and they were able to capture the launch sites and by March, 1945, the attacks came to an end.

With the Red Army advancing on the Peenemunde Research Station, Wernher von Braun surrendered to the US Army. Braun and 40 other scientists working on rocket technology were taken to the United States where they worked on the development of nuclear missiles.

Dornberger was arrested by Allied forces and spent two years in England as a prisoner. He emigrated to the United States in 1947 where he worked as an adviser on the development of guided missiles. He later worked for the Bell Aircraft Corporation and on the Air Force-NASA Dyna-Soar project. Walter Dornberger died in Baden-Wurttemburg, West Germany, on 27th June, 1980.

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/07/album-foto-berwarna-jenderal-heer.html
https://spartacus-educational.com/GERdornberger.htm