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Rockets and People
German prisoner of war missile specialists, had decided to conduct demonstration
launches of the very V-2 missiles that had terrorized the Londoners.
All the members of our delegation, except for Korolev, had been sent to
Cuxhaven with the ranks that had been conferred on them. But Korolev, on
instructions from Moscow, had been ordered to change into a captain’s uniform
with artillery shoulder boards and “cannons.” 1 Apropos of this, Pobedonostsev said
that “this artillery captain” provoked considerably more interest among the British
intelligence officers who were watching our delegation than General Sokolov,
Colonel Pobedonostsev, and the other high-ranking officers. One of the Brits, who
spoke excellent Russian, asked Korolev straight out what he did. In accordance with
his instructions and his cover story Sergey Pavlovich responded,“You can see that
I am an artillery captain.” The Brit remarked, “Your forehead is too high for an
artillery captain.What’s more, you clearly weren’t at the front judging by your lack
of medals.”Yes, for our intelligence services this disguise was a resounding failure.
The launches at Cuxhaven took place without a hitch. Filling us in on the
details, Korolev commented ironically about the complete helplessness of the
Brits, who themselves had not participated in the launch preparations at all, being
entirely dependent on the German team. It had been impossible to determine the
missile trajectories because it was overcast. But the launch made an impression.
These missiles were, of course, a far cry from the GIRD rockets that Korolev had
launched with Tikhonravov twelve years previously. At our officers’ club at the
Villa Franka, these first British launches served as an occasion “to celebrate” the
start of training firing teams in the Vystrel group.
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1. Shoulder boards with stitched renditions of cannons indicated service in the artillery forces.