7 Wernher von Braun 7from the Ordnance Department for Braun, who then did
research at a small development station that was set up
adjacent to Dornberger’s existing solid-fuel rocket test
facility at the Kummersdorf Army Proving Grounds near
Berlin. Two years later Braun received a Ph.D. in physics
from the University of Berlin. His thesis, which, for reasons
of military security, bore the nondescript title “About
Combustion Tests,” contained the theoretical investigation
and developmental experiments on 300- and 660-pound-
thrust rocket engines.
By December 1934 Braun’s group, which then included
one additional engineer and three mechanics, had success-
fully launched two rockets that rose vertically to more
than 1.5 miles (2.4 km). But by this time there was no
longer a German rocket society; rocket tests had been
forbidden by decree, and the only way open to such
research was through the military forces.
Since the test grounds near Berlin had become too
small, a large military development facility was erected
at the village of Peenemünde in northeastern Germany
on the Baltic Sea, with Dornberger as the military com-
mander and Braun as the technical director. Liquid-fueled
rocket aircraft and jet-assisted takeoffs were successfully
demonstrated, and the long-range ballistic missile A-4
and the supersonic anti-aircraft missile Wasserfall were
developed. The A-4 was designated by the Propaganda
Ministry as V-2, meaning Vengeance Weapon 2. By 1944
the level of technology of the rockets and missiles being
tested at Peenemünde was many years ahead of that
available in any other country.
Work in the United States
Braun always recognized the value of the work of U.S.
rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard. “Until 1936,” said