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Chapter 21
Operation “Ost”
There were more and more complaints from the higher-ups. This time it was
coming from General Kuznetsov, GAU’s authorized representative, to the effect
that his officers were not receiving materials and satisfactory technical information
from the Germans. One of the high-ranking artillery officers who had visited
Bleicherode told me bluntly, “We have the impression that you Russian aircraft
specialists already have a better understanding of this technology than the Germans
here. But the mortar and artillery specialists aren’t receiving the materials to study.”
They also accused me of setting a very high pay scale and food rations for the
Germans. We obtained rations and issued them with the consent of the SVAG,
who were striving to show that German scientists were being provided with both
moral and material support, despite the burdens of the postwar period. Germans
with engineering and doctorate degrees at the Institute RABE received the
following food rations every fourteen days: sixty eggs, five pounds of butter, twelve
pounds of meat, and a fully sufficient amount of bread, sugar, vegetable oil, potatoes,
cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages.Their monthly salary of 1,400 Marks was
issued without any deductions. Soviet scientists back home in Moscow during
those years would not have dreamed of such conditions. Despite our incentives,
however, we still did not have “the right Germans” working for us.We needed to
stir up a second wave and get some real specialists.
The institute had now become a well-organized enterprise, and we were not
ashamed to invite people to undertake good and interesting work.We undertook
efforts in two areas.The first, which Pilyugin took on, was to offer scientists and
highly qualified engineers in specific specialties the opportunity to work for us
through the SVAG Thuringia directorate, where there were already many good
administrators. Prior direct involvement in rocket matters was not a prerequisite.
This personnel program quickly led to the discovery of prominent specialists who
made valuable contributions, even though they had not previously worked at
Peenemünde.
This is how Dr. Kurt Magnus joined us. Dr. Magnus was a first-class theoretician
and engineer in the field of gyroscopes and theoretical mechanics. He quickly
acquired an understanding of the gyroscopic platform technology and announced
that he would take on all gyroscopic problems. He summoned Dr. Hans Hoch, his
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