Patrick Skene-Catling

Hitler’s devastating secret weapon: V2, by Robert Harris, reviewed

Harris’s latest novel combines detailed rocket science with vivid descriptions of terror-stricken London in 1944

V2s being prepared for firing in 1944. Credit: Getty Images. 
issue 10 October 2020

After Stalingrad, Hitler desperately needed an encouraging novelty. Wernher von Braun, Germany’s leading rocketeer in the second world war, expertly and persuasively briefed him on the latest secret weapon, a powerful ballistic missile, with a film to demonstrate its capabilities. Hitler was enchanted. He said: ‘Gentlemen, I thank you. If we had had these rockets in 1939, we should never have had this war.

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