[FPSPACE] Korolev in Germany

[M.Wade@iaea.org]

The time hacks:

1945 April 19 - Decree 8206 of the State Committee for Defence ordered
formation of TsKB-1 - Central Design Bureau 1 - for the purpose of
recovering liquid rocket technology from Germany.

1945 May 2 - Following negotiations Von Braun crosses lines and surrenders
to the Allied Powers.

1945 May 5 - Tsein Hsue-shen interviews Von Braun in Germany as part of Team
Lusty operation for quick assessment of German technology.

1945 May 5 - Russian ground forces occupied Peenemünde.

1945 May 24 - The first group from the TsKB-1 bureau arrived in Berlin
(General Gaidukov was the leader; members included Semenov, Mriykin,
Pobedonsotetsev, V S Budnik, Shaprior, Timofeyev, Chertok, and Volfovich)

1945 June 1 - The TsKB-1 group reached Peenemuende. 

1945 June 20 -  U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull approved the transfer
of von Braun's German rocket specialists. 

1945 June - July - Von Braun at U.S. Army Interrogation Camp, Garmisch
Partenkirchen, Bavaria.

1945 July -  American forces pulled back from areas of East Germany they had
occupied but were allocated to Stalin at Yalta. This included the
underground slave-labour V-2 production facility at Nordhausen.

1945 August - reconstruction of the V-2 had begun by 150 German specialists
lead by Chertok and Isayev at Bleicherode. Bleicherode was selected since it
was well inside the Soviet zone, farther from the prying eyes of the
American (Peenemuende and Nordhausen were both too visible). 

1945 August 9 - A new group of 284 specialists arrived from Russia,
including Korolev, Glushko, Pilyugin, Barmin, and Mishin. 

1945 Sept - Von Braun enters the United States. 

1945 Oct 3 - Project Backfire first V-2 launch. Launch of V-2 from
Altenwalde by German technicians under British direction in order to
document launch procedures.

1945 Oct 15 - Project Backfire third V-2 launch. Third and final launch in
Project Backfire, with allied observors. Glushko, Sokolov, Pobedonostsev;
Korolev and Gaidukov kept outside fence; Von Karman, Merrill, Seifert,
Pickering from US.

A might have been - after losing the moon race, Chertok was fingered as the
'guy who lost us the race' because he hadn't agreed to more forcefully
recruit Von Braun...

==========================
Mark Wade