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From: karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: L-5 Society
Message-ID: <804@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Jan-86 14:18:30 EST
Article-I.D.: petrus.804
Posted: Thu Jan 16 14:18:30 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 06:37:45 EST
References: <12161097670.46.JOSEPH@RED.RUTGERS.EDU> <652@cadomin.UUCP> <2573@amdahl.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
Lines: 33

> > Anybody out there know the rest of this Tom Lehrer song?

You have to get the pronunciation correct:

"'Vunce zee rrrockets are up,
Hoo cares vere zey come down?
Zats not my deparrtment!'
Says Werner Von Braun."

When it was apparent that the Peenemunde facility on the Baltic would be
overrun by the Soviets on their way to Berlin, the Germans at the site
divided into two groups.  The larger one, led by Von Braun, wanted to
surrender to the Americans; the smaller group decided to take their chances
with the Russians.  Von Braun's group was evacuated with as much paper as
they could carry to Oberammergau, the town in the Bavarian Alps famous for
the Passion Play.  There they waited for the northward-advancing Americans.
The initial contact was made by Werner's brother, who he sent out to meet a
couple of American advance scouts.  Von Braun and his men practically threw
themselves into the arms of the Americans; it was hardly a "capture".

As the war ended, the Americans held the area containing the major V2
production facilities. Since we had agreed to turn this area over to the
Soviets in exchange for part of Berlin, we conducted a full-scale raid on
the V-2 factories, smuggling out as many complete V-2's and parts as
possible before the Soviets moved into the territory (which they made part of
East Germany).  The Cold War had started.

There's a fascinating and detail history of the German V-2 project in the
book "The Rocket", by David Baker. This is the companion volume to Baker's
"The History of Manned Space Flight". Both are musts for space history
junkies.

Phil