Flak Rockets

deas for flak rockets originated before the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. The commander of Lehrstab III, the Reichswehr department responsible for flak artillery research, and the later Inspector of Flak Artillery, Oberst Gunther Riidel, made secret studies before submitting their proposals to revolutionise air defence in a memorandum to the Army Weapons Office (HWA). It is interesting to observe how the Weimar government was often left in the dark on new weapons ideas such as this, the HWA being a culpable party in this respect. Though it found the idea of powerful flak rockets attractive, the HWA was wary of innovations, and the project advanced only slowly, solid-fuel rockets not being seriously considered until 1935. In the early summer of 1941, Oberst Walter Dornberger and Dr Wernher von Braun sketched a small-scale version of the A-4 (later V-2) as a flak rocket, but this seemed less important at the time than a powerful weapon in the offensive role which against which there was no defence.