targeted to hit London and Antwerp.
V2-Rocket in the Peenemünde Museum
The Horten Ho 229 was a prototype fighter/bomber combination, designed by Reimar and Walter Horten, and it was the first wing-powered jet aircraft in the world.
Horten Ho 229
The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (“Hummingbird”) was a single-seat, open-cockpit intermeshing-rotor helicopter. It was the first series production helicopter in the world.
German helicopter Fl 282 Kolibri
The Fieseler Fi 103R was a manned version of the V-1 flying bomb, intended for attacks in which the pilot was likely to be killed.
Fieseler Fi 103R, code-named Reichenberg
The Me 163 Komet was a rocket-powered fighter aircraft, which was the only one ever to be deployed.
Messerschmitt Me 163
The Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow") was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, which was much faster than its counterpart Allied fighters.
Me 262A at the National Museum
of the US Air Force in Dayton
The Dora was the name of one German ultra-heavy railway gun which weighed 1,350 tons. It fired shells that weighed seven tons, with a 47-kilometer range.
Dora gun
The StG 44 (Sturmgewehr 44) is considered by many historians to be the first modern assault rifle.
StG 44
The Zielgerät 1229 (ZG 1229), aka Vampir, was an infrared device developed for the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle, designed to offer the night-vision advantage.
Vampir infrared device for night vision
The Sarin Gas was discovered in 1938 by two German scientists who were attempting to create a strong pesticide. In mid-1939, the formula for the agent was passed to the chemical warfare section of the German Army Weapons Office, which ordered that it be brought into mass production for wartime use. A number of pilot plants were built, and a high-production facility was still under construction by the time World War II ended. Although sarin could be incorporated into artillery shells, for some reason Germany decided not to use nerve agents against Allied targets too close to home. This gas was used with devastating effects in a Tokyo subway during the 1995 attack of the Aum Sect.
NAZI OCCULTISM
Nazi occultism is a concept where it is difficult to separate historical facts from post-war fantasies. The latter are numerous, especially from the ‘60s onward. Two books helped this surge in Nazi occultism: Pauwels and Bergier's The Morning of the Magicians (1960) and Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear of Destiny (1972). After these, any book that tackled the Nazi occultism theme was sure enough to make strong sales, well above 50,000 copies for the worst among them.
The only researched academic book to have seriously studied this field is The Occult Roots of Nazism (1985, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke). It links the late 19th century ariosophist theories to the Thule Society, and possibly to the very beginnings of the Nazi Party. The only proven aspects of Nazi occultism are Himmler's known interest in the matter and the researches he ordered.
It is nonetheless obviously true that the twelve years of the Nazi era are like a breach in the fabric of history. The Nazi standards and values may be seen as the archetype embodiment of an evil empire compared to our own civilization, but they are above all values from the Absolute Elsewhere, as Pauwels and Bergier put it rightfully in their best-seller.
At this stage, it is hence more than necessary to determine the real facts concerning Nazi researches, expeditions and beliefs before we can properly evaluate post-war fantasies and cheap Internet Nazi myths. Let’s stress, though, that these myths are still best-selling as many readers prefer anything but the truth as long as it thrills them like a good TV series would.
The Hollow Earth Theory
Although this theory is merely a notion which was dismissed by the scientific community as early as the late 18th century, it still has advocates today.
During the Nazi era, the Hollow Earth Theory had