Product Description

This title addresses Hitler's use of experimental weaponry and questions whether his campaign would have been a greater success if he had put more of his resources into manufacturing mass produced weapons. Should Hitler have put so much emphasis on the development of "exotic" long range weapons such as the V-series rockets? Or would he have served his war machine better if those resources had been routed into conventional manufacturing? What effect did the V weapons have on British morale, and was it worth the price? This title is also written as a discourse to investigate how WWI set the course for WWII, and how Hitler saw the Treaty of Versailles as a betrayal of Germany and his determination to take revenge on those he saw as responsible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173794 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
This fascinating investigation into Hitler's arms policies investigates the factors which influenced his ideas, and their impact on the world and the outcome of WWII.

As the Second World War entered its final months, Adolf Hitler revealed to his generals the 'secret weapons' that he assured them would bring about a ceasefire (if not victory) in Germany's favour. His V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets would create so much terror among civilians that the British and American governments would be forced to negotiate a peace treaty, he said. But by that phase of the war, Hitler had lost the plot. Each of his weapons cost about as much to make as a fighter aircraft yet carried only slightly more explosive than a conventional bomb. But no one dared to suggest to the Fuhrer that the money would be better spent on re-equipping his retreating army. War historian Roy Irons shows that Hitler deluded no one but himself, and that far from terrorizing the civilians of London, Antwerp, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels and Liege, the weapons caused scarcely a ripple. After all, most of these people had endured months of bombardment early in the war and were hardly likely to capitulate now, with Allied forces closing in on Berlin. One telling photograph in the book shows Londoners going calmly about their business as a flying bomb explodes just beyond the rooftops. While Irons focuses mainly on the development and use of the V1s and V2s, he also examines the muddled thinking that underpinned their creation. For that, he traces Hitler's thirst for vengeance back to 1918 when Germany's 'traitors' surrendered to the Allies. It seemed this thirst turned into a pathological obsession that defied all logic. Irons's writing style is on the dry side of academic so that his book is one for the serious researcher rather than the general reader. It is prolifically annotated and well illustrated, though it reveals little that has not been documented before. (Kirkus UK)

From the Author
In June 1944, a few days after the allied invasion of Normandy, Germany launched the first of her 'vengeance' weapons, the V1 flying bomb, against London. This was followed in September 1944 by the V2 rocket. When the allies took the great Belgian port of Antwerp, essential to secure supplies for a rapid advance into Germany, this port, as well as Liege and other Belgian and French cities, was bombarded by V weapons as well as conventional bombers. A vast array of technical,industrial and raw material resources were channelled by Germany into intricate weapons whose cost was maximised, and whose effectiveness minimised, by their inaccuracy. Why was this so, when the nation's main problem was in the east, where the seemingly unstoppable and avenging armies of the Soviet Union sliced bloodily ever closer - seconded by a rain of fire and destruction by allied bombers, which ruined all attempts to rationalize and develop German industrial might, demanded huge rescources for defence, and terrified, blasted and incinerated its citizens?

The answer lay chiefly in the mind of Hitler. Appalled and infuriated by his experiences in the First World War, where German morale had suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed, the dictator saw will and morale as factors of paramount importance in all things. When approached by contending army and air force rocket scientists and engineers he was first sceptical about the value of their respective wares; but as huge losses in the east, invasion in the west and glaring defeat in the skies over Germany seemed once again to threaten morale, and 1943 began to bear chilling resemblances to 1918, he threw his weight behind the weapons of vengeance,perhaps more in the hope of impressing and inspiriting Germany than demoralising London or destroying Antwerp docks.

The book surveys the development, use and success of the weapons; and explores Hitler's military views and Germany's real options against the background of the great events of the Second World War as they unfolded.

About the Author
Roy Irons was born in Seven Kings, London. He was educated at Cooper's Company's School and, forty years later, at King's College London, where he took a degree in War Studies and History. Roy lives in Coulsdon, Surrey with his wife Erica and daughter Rebecca. He is currently undertaking a research degree at King's College London.