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Title: Hitler's Rockets

Subtitle: The Story of the V-2s

Author: Norman Longmate

Narrator: Steve West

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 31 votes

Genres: History, World

Publisher's Summary:

Britain was the first country to ever suffer a ballistic missile attack from beyond its borders. This book tells the story of that attack. During 1942 and 1943, confusing rumours circulated about the German development of a 'giant rocket'. Most experts, including Winston Churchill's own scientific adviser Lord Cherwell, declared that such a weapon was impossible. It was only after the patient sifting of European intelligence that the most influential doubters were convinced such a weapon was being built. Then on 8 September 1944, the first V-2 landed in Chiswick. Between then and the final rocket impact on 27 March 1945, more than a thousand landed on British soil, killing nearly three thousand people and seriously injuring more than six thousand.

Arriving at supersonic speed, without warning, and with the defenses powerless against them they did enormous damage and had a serious effect on morale. In Hitler's Rockets, Norman Longmate tells the story of this technically brilliant weapon, the ancestor and forerunner of all subsequent ballistic missiles. He reveals the devious power-play within the German armed forces and the Nazi establishment which so influenced the creation of the rockets. He also shows through contemporary documents and protagonists' accounts how the British intelligence skillfully pieced together often contradictory evidence as it sought to establish the true nature of the threat.

Editorial Reviews:

Rumors that the Nazis had developed a new weapon capable of traveling at a supersonic speed surfaced during the early 1940s, but Winston Churchills scientific advisor deemed the technology to be impossible. Yet, in 1944, the unthinkable happened: Britain came under a ballistic missile attack - courtesy of the German armed forces - from outside its borders. Hitlers Rockets, by author and military historian Norman Longmate, recounts the history of this deadly weapon, featuring Englishman Steve West performing the text with his sonorous, dulcet voice.

Members Reviews:

Excellent history of the V-2

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, absolutely. The book is a serious but accessible history of the V-2 program, covering the key developments in rocketry technology the made the V-2 possible in the late 1930s; the military and political imperatives that propelled its development by the Reich (but not by the allies) in the final years of the war; it's operational success and strategic failure; and ultimately, the V-2's role as the direct precursor of all strategic nuclear missiles, especially those which defined balance-of-power during the Cold War. It succeeds in doing all of this.

The level of technical detail is just-right for the average reader interested in learning more about this fascinating niche of warfare during WW II, and early modern ballistic rocketry more generally, and the pace is quick and entertaining. The book does not offer much if any new insight on military strategy and doctrines of Hitler and the Reich, but limits its scope to the V-2 program and it's impact (or lack thereof) on the air war in Europe.

Very good history.