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As a German I have very mixed feelings about von Braun. On the hand he was an impressive engineering leader but he was also a war criminal that used slave labor
by maxxxxx 7y ago
As a German I have very mixed feelings about von Braun. On the hand he was an impressive engineering leader but he was also a war criminal that used slave labor under terrible conditions without hesitation. I would have prefer him going to jail for a few years after the war.
- mikeash 7y agoOn the plus side, he helped the Nazis waste a tremendous amount of resources that could have prolonged the war if used more effectively. I don’t know how much credit you can give him for that since it wasn’t his intent, but it’s something.
- kristianp 7y agoOn the V2, or something else?
- mikeash 7y agoOn the V-2. It cost the Germans more than it cost the Americans to develop the atomic bomb, and had no military benefit for the Germans.
- jopsen 7y agoMost notably, the Americans had more funds to burn through..
- mikeash 7y agoRight. It’s not that it cost them more, relative to their much smaller economy. It just cost more, period.
- tobylane 7y agoNot specifically disagreeing with the "no military benefit" but this is a map of V-2 use on England. https://www.wrsonline.co.uk/big-ben-rocket-strikes/1944-v2-rocket-attacks-map/ https://www.wrsonline.co.uk/big-ben-rocket-strikes/1944-v2-r...
- mikeash 7y agoNow compare with the locations of military bases, war-related factories, etc. It’s not precisely zero. The civilian casualties had an economic impact which would have affected the war effort, and at least a few soldiers were killed as well. But it’s negligible.
- maxxxxx 7y agoHe wasted a tremendous number of innocent lives so no credit for him.