Vengeance 10

‘But, they are waiting to destroy us,’ Bethwig protested. ‘Didn’t they try in 1919 and almost succeed? We were sold out then, but there were still enough loyal Germans to resist total destruction. Then they tried to destroy our economy by insisting on unjust war reparations. And now the Jewish merchants and bankers have joined with the capitalists to urge the Slavic nations to attack our blood-German people held prisoner within their borders. Only, we will fool them. The Führerhas seen to it that Germany is much stronger than they expect. I tell you, Wernher, the coming war means the life or death of Germany, and to win it we will need war rockets.’

‘Damn it, Franz, you sound like one of those radio propagandists.’ Von Braun turned away, plainly anxious not to be drawn into another political argument. ‘I… of course, you’re right’ — he relented ‘but still, it seems such a waste of time and energy.’

‘Not really.’ Franz grabbed his arm and brought him to a stop. ‘If we go about it correctly, we can turn it to our advantage.’

‘Is that so? How?’ Von Braun was teasing now, but Franz remained serious.

‘If war comes, it is certain that England and France will be drawn in by virtue of their alliance with Poland. Unless we can defeat them immediately, the war will go on, and ultimately the United States must be drawn in. Her sympathies have always lain with England and against us. Everyone in Berlin says that Hitler is frightened of the United States becoming involved again and is determined the mistakes of the last war will not be repeated. But even so, it is almost certain the Americans…’

‘Franz, get to the point. Politics give me a headache.’

‘Just a moment, Wernher, it is important to follow the reasoning. War has become a matter of who can produce the most and best weapons and maintain adequate supply lines. English and French industries are exposed to our bomber aircraft, American factories are not. If we are to fight America, we must destroy her industrial capacity — you’ve heard Dornberger and others say that a hundred times. Now, if our rockets had a transatlantic capacity…’ He let the thought trail off.

Von Braun shook his head. ‘A range of up to six thousand miles would be needed. The guidance problem alone is almost insurmountable. You know we are a long way from there.’

Bethwig knelt and drew two circles in the sand, one large, the other a metre away and smaller. The moonlight was so bright that von Braun had no trouble seeing as Bethwig wrote their Latin names beneath each circle: terra, luna. He then drew a curving line to connect the two.

‘This is the ballistic trajectory of a rocket flying to the moon. We are agreed there is no way to carry sufficient fuel for powered flight the entire distance, so the rocket will coast under its own momentum once it enters space.’ He drew a deep breath.

‘The main difficulty will be in climbing out of Earth’s gravity well. Once out, as long as sufficient velocity is achieved — on the order of eleven point two kilometres per second — the rocket will be pulled by the moon’s gravitational attraction towards itself.’ He reinforced the curving line with a finger. ‘In short, as long as proper velocity is achieved, there is no way the rocket can miss the moon. Agreed?’

‘Of course. Why…?’

Bethwig held up a hand for patience. ‘Reverse the process.’ And he described another, flatter curve from moon to Earth. ‘The same laws of physics hold true. The flight will be faster, as Earth’s gravitational pull is much stronger than the moon’s. But the result is the same.’

‘True, within reason…’ von Braun began, but again Bethwig shushed him.

‘You and I once calculated that a lunar rocket must carry at least a five-thousand-kilogram payload and have a total thrust equal to three million kilograms. Now, when you come right down to it, there is no need to separate the military and civilian aspects of space travel. The oldest military axiom in the world requires that you always hold the high ground. Therefore the objective is the same: to transport a human being to the moon.

‘A speed of eleven point two kilometres per second is required to overcome Earth’s gravity in order to reach the moon. But to escape from the moon requires only two point four kilometres per second. In short, we need only double the speed attained by the A-Five. Tonight Dornberger described that rocket to Speer — the A-Four.’

Von Braun studied Bethwig’s smug expression. ‘I’ll be damned,’ he said slowly. ‘Are you suggesting we fire rockets from the moon to Earth?’ The thought took hold, and he exclaimed, ‘Good God, Franz, that would be an invincible weapon, wouldn’t it!’