10
10
0
On September 20, 1945, German rocket engineers, including Werner von Braun, arrived in the United States. An excerpt from the article:
"The pressing need to secure the cream of enemy assets was obvious, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on July 20, 1945 codified many different intelligence efforts into Project Overcast.
This provided the initial guidelines for seizing, holding, using, and returning enemy nationals. After the surrender of Japan, however, protests broke out over the use of former enemy personnel for national military purposes. This forced a name change, and, in March 1946, the effort to gather top-secret Nazi technology became known as Project Paperclip.
The term “Paperclip” stemmed from the fact that dossiers of the most highly valued scientists were flagged with paperclips.
The initial driving factors behind Overcast-Paperclip were complex. The armed services wanted to use German capabilities in the war against Japan. The State Department’s primary concern was preventing a resurgence of German might, as had occurred after World War I. Underlying this was a pervasive desire to exploit the intellectual capital of the former enemy for the future.
The program was controversial; nearly all the sought-after scientists and engineers had connections to the Nazi party, the German war effort, or even, in some instances, to war crimes. Despite a universal reluctance to deal with anyone connected to the Nazi regime, necessity forced the military authorities to skirt the rules prohibiting their use."
"The pressing need to secure the cream of enemy assets was obvious, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on July 20, 1945 codified many different intelligence efforts into Project Overcast.
This provided the initial guidelines for seizing, holding, using, and returning enemy nationals. After the surrender of Japan, however, protests broke out over the use of former enemy personnel for national military purposes. This forced a name change, and, in March 1946, the effort to gather top-secret Nazi technology became known as Project Paperclip.
The term “Paperclip” stemmed from the fact that dossiers of the most highly valued scientists were flagged with paperclips.
The initial driving factors behind Overcast-Paperclip were complex. The armed services wanted to use German capabilities in the war against Japan. The State Department’s primary concern was preventing a resurgence of German might, as had occurred after World War I. Underlying this was a pervasive desire to exploit the intellectual capital of the former enemy for the future.
The program was controversial; nearly all the sought-after scientists and engineers had connections to the Nazi party, the German war effort, or even, in some instances, to war crimes. Despite a universal reluctance to deal with anyone connected to the Nazi regime, necessity forced the military authorities to skirt the rules prohibiting their use."
Project Paperclip - Air Force Magazine
Posted from airforcemag.com
WWII World War Two
American History
War Crimes
Technology
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 5
6
6
0
SGT (Join to see)
Werner von Braun is/was an enigma. SS Major, Nazi Party Member, war criminal (he used slave labor at his installations), and prescient scientist who wanted to further space travel. His arrogant smile when captured always bothered me.
(3)
(0)
SPC Woody Bullard
SGT (Join to see) - Von Braun's arrogant smile was because he knew his value to the United States future space travel program. He knew the U.S. wanted his expertise and would treat him much better than the Soviets would had they captured him and he was right.
(1)
(0)
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
SGT (Join to see) I agree but sometimes you need to go to the dark side.
(1)
(0)
2
2
0
One excellent example is Adolf Hitler's rocket engineer Wernher Von Braun who designed and developed the Third Reich's "Vergeltungswaffe 2" the retaliation/vengeance weapon V-2 used to bomb England. Wernher Von Braun held the rank of SS Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in the SS-Schutzstaffel branch of the Nazi Wehrmacht from 1937 to 1945. After Von Braun was brought to America he became one of the top rocket engineers in the U.S. space program leading to the Apollo 11 moon landing mission. Von Braun was chosen to escort President John F. Kennedy through the space program building explaining the program to President Kennedy. What a change from a SS Officer and Adolf Hitler's top rocket engineer designing the V-2 to America's top rocket engineer in the Apollo program.
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google