A New Form of Artillery

M79

January 11, 1941
To: Laventry Beria, GUGB
Comrade 1st rank, State Security
Re: Enormoz and Flintlock
From: Pavel Fitin

Our agents have managed to penetrate many of the recent American projects as well as some of the information they have shared with the British. Apparently the United States has not only taken a lead in rocketry, but also in electronics as well. Until recently we noted the irony of Germany maintaining an interest after the American Goddard pushed development in this area. Somehow development of his project was quietly advanced over the last 15 years to a point that permitted a recent launch of over 1000 miles range over their states of New Mexico and Texas, landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently a ship was waiting almost ten miles away and managed to collect data from a probe that the rocket carried with it. The launch succeeded in prompting a flurry of reports in Corpus Christi and several towns in between of the chance of 'aliens' attacking the country. As yet we are unable to get all of the data from the launch itself, their gyroscopes are not sufficient to permit precision targeting on any sort of scale but we can confirm a maximum altitude of over 200km was achieved.

Our interest lay more in the tactical rocketry and ballistics systems for short-range rocket systems. Without some sort of very heavy explosive atop them, long-distance rockets as weapons seems a disproportionate use of resources, though use as terror weapons is still being evaluated. American development of the M9A1 'Bazooka' rocket system permits penetration of over 100mm of armor. Their most interesting developments thus far appear to be a working jet turbine engine at least as powerful as that developed by Frank Whittle (possibly time-and-a-half as powerful) and a project to develop guidance for rockets fired from aircraft. These air-to-air rockets would permit immediate and rapid aerial dominance should they be successfully deployed. Interestingly the Americans may have a solution for that as well, the development of a ground-to-air missile like the ones recently proposed in Germany (Project Firefly). Should these systems be successfully implemented, especially should guidance be improved such that the operators of aircraft be able to use them while airborne, either we will be at a significant disadvantage or overwhelmed before able to formulate a response. Given our recent cooperation with Germany I suggest either collaborating with some of the recent developments in these fields or countering with our own projects.
 
LHB

LHB

Starslayer_D said:
I wonder how they are funding this, as the german rocket development program cost more than the manhatan project. Especially the quality of ther esults displayed.
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That was more a factor of HOW their program was organized than materials cost.

Hitler, being the Socially Darwinian nutbar that he was, thought the best way to set up government and programs was to arrange things so that multiple competing teams, institutions, and the like had overlapping responsibilities. The logic was those who had proven themselves most "fit" through ferocious red tape combat were clearly the ones with the "best" idea. One of the best examples of this was the division of counterintelligence duties between the SD, Abwehr, the Gestapo, and the Kriminalpolezei leading to all kinds of constant, pointless, and wasteful jurisdictional squabbling.

In the case of the V-2 project the same approach led to lots of cost overruns, unnecessary competition, and wasted resources. It didn't help that Germany had very limited access to the materials needed for producing effective rockets and a very limited resource pool due to the demands of the war effort. The end result was the only major weapon project in human history with the dubious distinction of killing more people during its production than it inflicted on the intended targets costing five times as much as the Manhattan Project.
 

Carl Schwamberger

iddt3 said:
Other than tactical intelligence around Pearl Harbor, I'm not aware of *any* successes of the Japanese Intelligence Services, they made the Abwehr (Who had some occasional success, like stealing the Norton Bombsite) look competent.
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Not my expertise, but tangentaly I've learned their signals intelligence was fairly productive 1940 - 1943. It may have been useful before and after those years but I lack information. It is correct Japanese intelligence did not crack the US or British codes & encryption systems. They did however create a very capable signals analysis service. In 1942 neither the US nor British radio security was all that, and the Japanese were able to tease out some useful information from enemy radio transmissions. Dolittle in his biography referes to this in relation to his raid on Tokyo. The Japanese deployed their outer picket ship line in April 1942 in response to monitoring some transmissions from the Hornets escorts as they moved from Hawaiian water towards the north Pacific.

Fortunatly for us Japan lacked the resources to build on this capability. Equiping and training more than a hand full of small signals intercept/analysis units was difficult.

iddt3 said:
To what extant have American advances speed up other Counties Jet and Missile program? I would imagine that, aside from direct espionage and Intelligence sharing, that the American success provoked more investment by the other powers, and even rumors could contribute by aiming effort down the right paths at least.
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There are the examples of Udet accquiring a US made dive bomber, and the USSR copying US deigned vehicle motors. Both items occuring in the 1920s. During the same era Belgium and Poland made the decision to use a version of the Browning Automatic Rifle in their armies. I expect some research would reveal other examples. Point here is US technology was part of a global exchange, overt and covert, so it is possible or probable some of this rocket development will pass to other nations.
 

M79

National Archives
Declassified March 4, 2012


Feburary 16, 1941
Progress report, Project 'Babel'
Progress report, Project 'Michael'
Progress report, Project 'Cyrus'

Office of Vannevar Bush
Director, National Defense Research Committee
Limited Distribution: Total copies: 5
Beyond Top Secret
Distribute to:
-Leslie Groves
-Franklin Roosevelt
*Names of other recipients blacked out*
Total Pages: 8
*All but two mostly blacked out*

Our refined J-19 prototypes are able to exceed 21kN thrust and a twin engine fighter prototype dubbed "Starfire" was able to take off yesterday under near-ideal conditions in the Nevada desert. This craft, gentleman, is potentially a game-changer: its top speed achieved yesterday in its third flight exceeded 600 MPH with an endurance of over two hours flight time. We anticipate a service ceiling of over 45,000 feet should this aircraft enter production, but the newly proposed J-22 design would enable more power with equal or less fuel consumption. Interestingly the previous collaboration of General Electric and Allison, among other producers, has apparently ended with GE submitting a design they call "TG-42", that would produce at least comparable thrust for lower weight.

A far more compact radio system and "micronized" RADAR system are being developed for the next generation of aircraft, but for now the newest vehicle-level radios are much lighter than their predecessors. The need for more refined components might also enhance the reliability of existing vacuum tubes by twofold, which at least gives us options about further development proposals. Given the advances in transistor technology we have designed a new "micronized" RADAR system that may be available should the United States enter the war. This newest project, code name "Hotbox", is still very much under development as the latest innovations will help aid development.

Given the degree of funding we are unable to pursue both the TRAGIC and STUPID programs initially proposed. Apparently the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard are already working on projects akin to the STUPID program thus we proceed with design refinements in the TRAGIC program. Atanasoff has stated that the project will not be as powerful as a vacuum tube computer might be, but it should use much less power and be far more reliable. The worry of on G2 section concerning massive amounts of power being drawn by computers and the possibility of locating them by this consumption was enough to consider a dedicated center with power facilities for just such a purpose. Anderson County, Tennessee seems to be the most likely place for establishing a new dedicated Office of Information Analysis (OIA) with dedicated computer facility and research labs.

Series-C mini computers are continuing to undergo refinement though thus far are largely technology demonstrators. Magnetic drum systems and toroidal storage systems are thus far interesting proposals, but probably some time from being as useful as durable storage systems. Dr. John Mauchly of Atanasoff's team has proposed using "delay-line" memory as a means of storage possibly with a mercury tube system. This would permit a much larger array of storage than current systems allow, ironically it also might solve a resolution problem with RADAR and reduction of noise from near-ground objects.

Our attempts to produce an artificial satellite thus far have run into some interesting problems. The sub-orbital launch of the Company system was in fact a partial failure, the third stage was supposed to separate more effectively and permit a true sub-orbital launch with return to the Alaskan frontier or Pacific Northwest. However, given the launch distance of just over 1000 miles and apogee of 100 miles, it does permit the beginnings of discussion for a manned sub-orbital flight. We propose to do this by building a facility at Cape Canaveral Florida as previously discussed and beginning construction of the 'Batallion' launch system. Also, the prototype 'Colonel' launch system under construction for evaluation. 'Colonel' is a single-stage launch system that permits a payload of 2500kg to be sent over 500 miles away at less than 1/3 the cost of a 'Major' engine. It is the use of a new type of cryogenic engine and cutting-edge materials which make this possible. Design work is already underway on a 'Brigade' launch system specifically for flight of a sub-orbital manned platform along with a 'Division' system for true orbital flight and placement of artificial satellites. At this time the design of vehicle 'Mercury' would be a one-man pod designed to be launched above 100 miles altitude and return to the Earth with various scientific experiments using a dog them a chimpanzee prior to the launch of a human being. Also, the potential to place a reflective balloon into low orbit and transmit signals directly across the Atlantic or Pacific might be of use for future conflicts. Triangulation by such a system, if sufficiently advanced, could even serve as a locating system.
 

M79

National Archives
Declassified March 4, 2012

Colonel Walter Dorneberger
Peenemunde Army Weapons Research Center
Special Weapons Testing Section
Streng Geheim
March 18, 1941

With the discovery of the plans for the American 'Lieutenant' system and the design specifications for the 'IDIOT' system courtesy of both Abwehr and other sources, we believe we have achieved a series of technical breakthroughs. Our own A4 rocket has been upgraded with inspirations from the American project to have almost 50% more projected range with greater reliability. We also believe that instead of a year from now a test flight is feasible in four months. Dr. Walter Thiel has also begun work ok a revised A9 project with six of the A4 motors forming a second stage with an additional A4 motor on top. This might permit a wider launch range of 1200 km instead of the currently predicted 315 km based on the latest revisions. Use of the 'IDIOT' computational device design has also inspired a new design from the Luftwaffe contractor Dr. Konrad Zuse who reports a design for both a 'Z4' and 'Z5' computer system. The rumors of a new replacement or augmentation for the vacuum tube are of great interest, especially given the call for such in the design 'model' components in the design schematics.

Our work on a surface-to-air missile system also continues under Project Firefly. Using the 'Sergeant' system as a basis, our missile can achieve an altitude of 5.8km successfully on multiple firings. Unfortunately mass production will be a concern given the fuels involved, though we are working both to upgrade the warhead to a target of 40kg fragmentary device and maximum altitude of 12km. Secrecy being essential to success we are also watching the local populace with great scrutiny as we found a janitor trying to sneak items to the Polish 'Home Army' recently. He and four of his fellow guest workers were executed as examples. I find it strange that the Luftwaffe is not embracing our work more and invite any general officers interested to witness our demonstration of air-to-air missile systems at their leisure.
 

M79

National Archives
Declassified March 4, 2012


April 28, 1941
Progress report, Project 'Babel'
Progress report, Project 'Michael'
Progress report, Project 'Cyrus'

Office of Vannevar Bush
Director, National Defense Research Committee
Limited Distribution: Total copies: 15
Beyond Top Secret
Distribute to:
-Leslie Groves
-Franklin Roosevelt
*Names of other recipients blacked out*
Total Pages: 12
*Six mostly blacked out*

As stated in last month’s paper, “Starfire" continues its refinement and in its second refinement achieved 670 MPH with an endurance of over two hours flight time. Our latest design for “Nova”, a larger two-engine fighter, anticipates a service ceiling of over 50,000 feet with more power with equal or less fuel consumption and a four-hour endurance. General Electric proposes their "TG-42", known as J-47 internally, will be ready for mass production no later than year’s end. So far their prototypes seem capable of producing 25kN thrust though this is improving.

"Hotbox" prototypes are faring well in basic testing with their power consumption much lower than those of the transistor-based radios currently in use. While a field model is not ready for mass production the promises of the prototype are alluring. Radio range is over 200 miles and might be enhanced with time. RADAR prototypes are not as far along and use of klystrons is being considered as a stopgap but for now no in-flight RADAR is thought to be plausible in the next few months.

Atanasoff ans his team achieved a serious breakthrough with the TRAGIC mark II, its reliability is phenomenally improved even if its overall capacity is reduced. G2 section applauded the development of these systems literally as their power drain is enough to be handled by large dedicated power plants instead of several plants dedicated to one facilty. Anderson County, Tennessee will be home for the new Office of Information Analysis (OIA) with dedicated computer facility and research labs that are already under construction. Dr. John Mauchly of Atanasoff's team is already pursing "delay-line" memory as a means of storage for more advanced systems (possibly a mercury-based tube system as previously described).

We succeeded in launching an orbital satellite on April 21, unfortunately we have no way of getting it back and the transmitter appears to be malfunctioning. Thus far we note the excessive vacuum and cold even in low-Earth orbit. We know the orbit is stable and should last for at least two years, but any hope of further exploration in this area is being put on hold pending improvement in the technology to improve its resiliency. The marked amount of radiation is also of concern, any person travelling in this environment will require significant radiation protection as well as an artificial environment to sustain them. The air pressure is near-vacuum, the temperature near-zero kelvin, and the radiation enough to burn human flesh without difficulty. Any attempt to build a sub-orbital reconnaissance vehicle will require more shielding than previously thought, for now focus should be directed at high-altitude aircraft like the new ‘Shimmer’ design.
 

Cash

^^^This^^^

Good work! So the researchers understand that radiation is more harmful than first thought iOTL. Any chance that the Soviet agents inside the research projects will be caught any time soon?
 
NHBL

NHBL

GREAT to have this back :)

I have been really enjoying this timeline, and look forwards to seeing more of it. I wonder if the German or Russians will miss the part about the radiation in orbit? :evilsmile:
Looking forwards to more.

(On another note, where is the funding coming from. The USA has the resources--but either Congress allocated more funding, or something else is being trimmed.)

With radar more advanced, will the radar operators that call in a raid warning on December 7, 1941 be believed? Or will that whole incident be butterflied away?
 

M79

Declassified, German State Archives, October 31, 2012
Eight page report, six entirely blacked out

May 22, 1941

Technical Assessment Report
From: Office of Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch
To: Army High Command, Luftwaffe High Command
Streng Geheim!
Burn after reading!

Our recent foray into modifying the A3 series of rockets with the new developments out of the United States of America and United Kingdom comes to fruition. With the "Firefly" initiative, now redesignated Brown Shirt Mk 1 after the color of protective paint around its main engine, four remotely towed aircraft were destroyed in five attempts. Earlier this week the next phase of testing began, it ended less than 48 hours ago and shows much promise. This Brown Shirt Mk 2, or SA-2, is able to achieve an altitude of approximately 17km with a lateral range of 15km. Although mass production will take time to upscale, we have already noted success with the system - last week a large raid of British bombers discovered that their time is limited. Of the ten prototypes launched, nine achieved hits and eight aircraft were lost. One was a glancing blow but still managed to create significant damage to the tail section according to our fighters that followed the aircraft afterwards. Our work with these "transistors" has enabled a tracking device based on heat signatures which works beautifully against a frigid sky.

Work also continues on our A4 project, the assistance from technical documents from the American project is invaluable and should allow a prototype test in three months. Our scientists say this saved them 12-15 months of research time and should narrow the "rocket gap" substantially. Use of the new "Butterfly" system is also progressing but micronizing the necessary technology for a possible air-to-air missile with such tracking capabilities is proving very difficult. With additional time I think we should be able to provide not only improved missile systems, but the use of land-based "tracker rockets" could improve our anti-tank capacities significantly. I will strive to include these at the next report.
 

Cash

Another update! Great! Glad to see this TL active again.

One point: Apparently the American projects are riddled with Soviet and German foreign agents. Was U.S. counterintelligence (J. Edgar's FBI) really that sloppy, even in pre-war days?
 

M79

June 1, 1941
To: Laventry Beria
Comrade 1st rank, State Security
Re: Enormoz and Flintlock
From: Pavel Fitin

Comrade Beria, I believe that the Germans are preparing an offensive on our Western borders and that time is of the essence. German aircraft, troops, tanks, and supplies are positioned on our border in depth with foci apparently aimed on Brest-Litovsk, Memel, Odessa, Smolensk, and Kiev. While the delay in Yugoslavia and Greece proved meddlesome the use of rocket systems to disrupt Western air forces was impressive. I suspect no more than seven days until the strike is ready to commence upon us despite the sweet honey from German leadership and repeated statements about no intention of aggression. Consequently I have begun moving our laboratory in Brest-Litovsk to Orel but fear that the more advanced prototypes will not be ready to be moved in time, thus they are ordered destroyed. Our communication center there is at risk of falling as well and I recommend it be moved or silenced while time remains.

Enclosed is a disturbing development from the United States. Although a seemingly innocent photograph of a model of the earth, the picture appears to be in fact a picture of the Earth itself taken from an altitude of over 250km. Although the Americans are not able to place a satellite into Earth orbit yet, it appears they may be working towards the capacity to do so. Such a device could have a plethora of uses, from as mundane as weather prediction, to as serious as secure military reconnaissance and communications. If at all possible I recommend that we begin work to such an end as soon as possible lest the Soviet Union find it has a ceiling of 15km.
 

M79

National Archives
Declassified March 18, 2013


July 16, 1941

Office of Vannevar Bush
Director, National Defense Research Committee
Limited Distribution: Total copies: 4
Beyond Top Secret
Burn after reading
Distribute to:
-Leslie Groves
-Franklin Roosevelt
*Names of other recipients blacked out*
Total Pages: 3
*All mostly blacked out*

Gentlemen the German invasion of Russia on June 7, 1941 puts the world in a precarious position. Should Moscow fall the Germans will have the largest army in the world not only ready to march across Asia and Africa but also to challenge civilization anywhere it exists. We may stand at the precipice of a new Dark Age and difficult decisions must be made. To that end I agree with the president's decision to begin shipping components and plans for our Bazooka rocket system to the USSR immediately alongside the Lend-Lease program already in place. We are already developing a new system two generations ahead of the one discussed, and our intelligence units indicate that the Russians might already have the system due to the infiltration of Communist spies throughout the program. The initiation of discussions towards an atomic weapon of some sort are also not immune, the recent debriefing of three Communist agents and a German spy indicate that there is an ideology that we are developing weapons so powerful that a counterweight must be permitted to exist. Technology only goes so far to this end, in order to prevent greater leakage of secrets the coordination of our own research and that of the United Kingdom is being carefully tailored.

More interestingly our latest Starfire prototype has performed beyond expectations. Our "Nova" prototype had branched into two different plans, now called "Canuck" (heavy fighter) and "Scorpion" (tactical fighter), both are also coming along well and expected to become our first mass-produced jet fighters. With the development of jet engines accelerating quickly, both Allison and GE seem eager to test their latest engines and evolving prototypes in these aircraft. The "Canuck" aircraft seems most promising, the potential for GE to deliver their promised J47 engines in December proposes a fighter with a 2000 mile range, carry three Hispano 20mm cannons, and likely hold six of the evolving "Sunrise" rockets. These heat-seeking missiles track heat signatures like those of aircraft against the cold of the sky, we are also working on an infrared tracking system to the same effect. So far we are able to combine them effectively but reliability is a problem we are striving to improve. Combat losses out of British raids on German factories is proving a very serious problem, but the use of scrap aluminum shreds seem to foil the German systems so far. Our own RADAR systems are also improving, "Hotbox" has evolved into the APS-1 system, its range is limited but with improvements it should make a viable system in time for the rollout of the Scorpion and Canuck systems. Ground systems are also evolving, work has begun on a proposal to build a ground-based system dubbed FPS-1 with a target of 75 mile radius and 35,000 feet altitude detection.
 
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