Failure To Launch Mittelwerk, Hitler's Rocket Factory: Part 5
Dec 17, 2025
Explore the chilling history of Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory where the V-2 rockets were made using forced labor. Discover the transformation from mining to constructing the brutal Dora camp. Learn about eerie SS purges, a daring Soviet POW escape, and the extreme conditions in the largest subcamp, Elric, where starvation and even cannibalism occurred. Delve into the high mortality rates of Hungarian Jewish children assigned to labor and the aftermath of liberation that revealed the harrowing legacy of this dark chapter in history.
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Specialists Vs. Transport Commandos
- Mittelwerk organized prisoners by skill: specialists assembled V-2s while transport commandos did brutal manual labor.
- This division concentrated deaths among unskilled miners and transport workers who were most replaceable.
Kammler's Anthill Ambition
- Kammler pushed to convert Konstein Hill into a vast underground aviation and weapons hub under Sonderstab Kammler.
- That expansion multiplied subcamps and worksites, dramatically raising prisoner deaths for largely pointless projects.
Mittelbau As An Administrative Network
- 'Mittelbau' became the umbrella administrative name for Dora plus many subcamps and worksites by late 1944.
- Camps and worksites were distinct: camps housed prisoners, worksites were where they labored and could be fed from many camps.