‘Gentlemen’ — he tried a winning smile — ‘I apologise for my abruptness. It is a bad habit caused by overwork. If I seemed insensitive, it was because I have had little sleep in the past two weeks. As to this matter of your scientists, let me say that I will look into it immediately. As you may know, they were arrested by the Gestapo and are currently in custody in Stettin. The SD had nothing to do with their arrest. It is my understanding, though, that they were arrested because they spoke publicly of the fact that it had never been their intention to build war rockets, that everything they had done was directed towards their personal goal of travel in space.’
Muller was beginning to regain some of his confidence as he talked; and studying both men, he decided that a touch of the lash was in order to remind them who he was.
‘They have, in effect, admitted to swindling the Reich out of millions of marks to further their own ends. I might add that the first notation in the file was entered personally by Reinhard Heydrich, in August of 1941. If convicted of those charges, I need hardly tell you gentlemen of their fate. The wire noose is reserved for traitors.’
Bethwig stared at him in astonishment as he recalled that dinner discussion with Heydrich in Swinemunde three-no, by God, only a little over two years before. As long ago as that, the SD had been preparing ….
This time it was Dornberger’s turn to explode, repeating his demand that they be released immediately or, at least, turned over to civil authorities for investigation of the charges. The argument grew vicious with Muller threatening to bring charges against both men based on their own extensive files, which he kept tapping with a large, meaty forefinger, until Dornberger challenged him to do so. At that point Muller, recalling his previous decision not to be pushed into mistakes, backed off and once more became conciliatory, promising to do what he could to have the three men released.
They drove from SS headquarters in Prinz Albrechtstrasse to Tempelhof where Bethwig boarded a transport for Peenemunde, while Dornberger returned to the city for a hurried meeting with Major Klammroth of the OKW Counter-intelligence Department. As the aircraft made its way north at low level to avoid marauding fighters Bethwig stared out at the blank greyness, wondering if Himmler had somehow learned that their carefully guarded lunar project was still very much alive. If so, there was more than a grain of truth in the Gestapo charges, and God help them all.
A car was waiting for him at the airfield. Franz was tired beyond belief and went directly to his new house overlooking the storm-lashed beach north of Trassenheide, the only positive result of his association with the SS. The house was cold, and he lit the fire laid by the Polish housekeeper. Warming himself before the fireplace, he watched the waves tumbling on to the beach, depressed by all that had happened.
The A-10’s fourth launch, his first as project director, had been a near disaster. The new directional gyroscope had worked perfectly both in static tests and on the A-4 vehicle that had been made available to them. It had failed, however, in the A-10, causing it to veer off course in the first seconds of flight and head inland over Germany. The controller had no choice but to destroy the rocket. The power plant had performed flawlessly, and that in itself was some consolation. His engineers had subsequently discovered that the gyroscope mounting had given way under the unexpectedly high vibration from the new turbo-pumps used to pressurise the fuel tank. Steps had been taken both to reduce the vibration and to increase the strength of the mounting. In a marginal notation on his last report Himmler had professed himself satisfied with his explanation, yet now there was this business with von Braun less than a week later.
