Hitler's Dream of Destroying NYC

Adolf Hitler long dreamed of bombing New York City and spent numerous years and multiple projects attempting to reduce America's greatest city to rubble. This episode dives into the results of his efforts and pulls back the curtain on the lengths that those in Nazi Germany would go to kill American civilians during World War II.

* Begin Transcript *

On the evening of November 29, 1944, two men swam ashore through cold waters. The men had been put in by the German U-boat – U-1230 off the foggy coast of Maine. They were German spies tasked with gaining information about America’s military and industrial capabilities. Germany was sorely behind the intelligence game. They lacked the human elements that were provided by communist supporters and French resistance agents that the Allies enjoyed.  – And thanks to the clever use of Native American languages, they could not break US military codes. Men like the two crawling ashore in rural Maine were the only way that Germany could gain accurate and useful intelligence from far flung enemies. 

 

The first agent, William Colepaugh, was an American who had defected to Germany. The second, Erich Gimpel, was a professional German intelligence agent fluent in English. The pair rented an apartment in New York City, choosing a building with wood framing so as to not disturb their radio communications. Their mission seemed unfocused. Gimpel wanted to build a radio transmitter from which he could make reports back to the Fatherland and encouraged Colepaugh to track ships coming and going from the city’s prominent harbor. 

It quickly became clear that Colepaugh had no stomach for espionage. Instead of pursuing the mission, Colepaugh instead embarked on a tour of the city’s bars, theaters and women. – And despite his superior training and heart for the mission, Erich Gimpel also found himself unable to resist the charms of the city. New York was not a city at war. While rationing was common, the citizens of America seemed happy and free. Their homes were not destroyed, and their bars were open late into the night, free from the fear of aerial bombardment. It was a far cry from the situation in Europe.

 

The two men spent between $1,500–2,700 in the course of a single month, which equates to $26,000 to $50,000 today. Most of the money went to bartenders who received generous tips, along with lavish food, shows, and quality clothing.

On December 21st, Colepaugh abandoned Gimpel and sought out the advice of a friend in the city. He had screwed up and no longer wanted to be a spy in the employ of Germany. Colepaugh made off with $48,000, nearly a million dollars today, and decided to turn himself in. Instead of living on the lam, Colepaugh wanted to make contact with the FBI in hopes of sparing his life. As American spy, he would surely face the death penalty if discovered. 

On December 26th, 1944, Colepaugh was arrested by FBI agents after spending Christmas with his friend. Gimpel was subsequently arrested on December 30th on information given by Colepaugh. It turns out that the FBI had already been looking for two German agents after their U-boat sank a Canadian ship shortly after putting them ashore. Turning himself in proved to be a good decision for Colepaugh. 

During the subsequent interrogation, the FBI noted that Colepaugh was:

A somewhat unstable New Englander but impressed his interrogators as attempting to tell the truth. [H]e is intelligent, very observant, and has an extraordinary visual memory for details. His attitude toward the interrogators was friendly and cooperative. He was always careful to distinguish between eye witness evidence and hearsay. The interrogators were under the impression that his helpfulness was inspired by the hope of escaping the death penalty.

His partner was more inscrutable. The FBI report on Gimpel read in part:

Gimpel was a very difficult subject for interrogation. He was a professional German espionage agent, thoroughly indoctrinated in security. He believes that the death penalty awaits him and that nothing he can do will mitigate his sentence. He was untruthful on several occasions with his interrogators and told them only what he believed they already knew. His statements are of very little value.

 

During the interrogation Colepaugh divulged to the FBI that there was a pack of U-boats making for America towing long range V-2 rockets in hopes of bombing New York City and Washington DC. The claims alarmed American officials who had seen the destruction that these missiles could inflict first hand in places like London and the Netherlands. The idea that these rockets could be headed to the United States, or worse, already be in place off the coast, was something that the Americans could not, and would not, ignore.

– While fanciful sounding, this idea of V-2 rockets lurking in the oceans spoke to a deep desire on the part of Adolf Hitler to make average American citizens feel pain. In fact, Hitler had long been dreaming, and scheming, of ways to bomb the United States and had earnestly hoped to one day see New York City reduced to the rubble that was now so commonly found in Europe.

Intro

Hello and welcome to the inaugural episode of Forgotten and Found, a history podcast. I am your host Grant Piper. Since this is my first episode, I want to introduce myself. I am a writer that got my start on Medium.com where I am one of the foremost history experts. If you want to see what I am all about you can check out my work at GrantPiperWriting(dot)Medium(dot)com. There you can find over a thousand articles on a variety of topics that I have put together over the past four years. 

I have a deep passion for history and research, and after years of writing and plumbing history’s most obscure depths I have found a plethora of topics that I cannot wait to share with you. While I have years of experience writing and researching, this is my first foray into the world of podcasting. My wife came to me and said that I should look into starting a podcast to which I replied that one does not simply start a podcast. But that is exactly what I am attempting to do.

So, without further ado, let us jump back into the story. It is a story about murderous intent and fantastical military inventions. It is about a dark dream to see America’s greatest cities reduced to ash from the mind of history’s foremost madman and villain, Adolf Hitler himself.

Hitler Never Intended To Fight The United States

Looking back, it is hard to believe that initially Hitler had no intentions of fighting the United States. He believed that the US would be a serious threat to his plans for Europe and had gone out of his way to keep the Americans out of the war. He hoped that America’s isolationism would keep them at arm’s length long enough for Germany to secure mastery over Europe. Hitler told an interviewer in 1941 that invading the United States was about as feasible as invading the moon. – And he wasn’t wrong. Hitler knew that Germany had no means to directly attack or affect the United States and would not have those capabilities for a long, long time. Years or perhaps even decades. 

The plans to keep the Americans out of the war came crashing down in 1941 when Japan launched a surprise attack against the fleet docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

While Germany and Japan had signed a military pact, they never truly cooperated with one another. Germany had no warning about Japan’s intentions to drag the United States into the conflict and was just as surprised as the Americans when Japanese Zeroes dived out of the sky on December 7th. While Germany was not yet prepared to face the Americans head on, Hitler honored the pact and declared war on the United States in short order.

War Situation In 1944

Fast forward to 1944 and the situation for Germany is getting desperate. D-Day had kicked off in June, which rapidly led to the liberation of Paris and large swaths of France while severely depleting the Germans’ western armies. In the east, German troops continued to be smashed by the vengeful armies of the Soviet Union. Operation Bagration, one of the largest military offensives in history, had liberated Belorussia and inflicted 500,000 casualties on the Germans in just two short months. The front lines were racing toward the German homeland, an idea that had seemed inconceivable two short years earlier. 

Even as Hitler’s grand war began to crumble around him, he never gave up on his ideas for killing Americans in America. Killing them in Europe was not stemming the tide of battle so he continued to hope and dream of a day when he could unleash his fury and vengeance on the people living and working on the homefront. 

The first, and perhaps most promising, of these ideas materialized in the form of the Amerikabomber, a long ranged plane specifically designed to reach New York City from Germany and return in a single trip. The idea for the Amerikabomber was officially raised in 1942, shortly after the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. 

The Amerikabomber

While the idea of the Amerikabomber was officially rushed up the chain of command in 1942, the idea had its roots as far back as 1938. Before World War II even started, the Luftwaffe's commander-in-chief Hermann Göring said in a speech:

"I completely lack the bombers capable of round-trip flights to New York with a 4.5-tonne bomb load. I would be extremely happy to possess such a bomber, which would at last stuff the mouth of arrogance across the sea."

While Goring, and many other Nazi officials, dearly wished to possess such a bomber, the technology was not feasible. The only way to reach the United States with German planes would be to launch them from the Portuguese Azores. While Portugal was neutral from 1939 until 1944, they were not keen on letting Germany base long ranged bombers aimed at the United States, which would have stripped them of their neutral status and put them at odds with their long term allies, Britain. Bombing New York by air seemed out of the question. But still, the development of the Amerikabomber was given considerable time and attention.

Ignoring the problem of the neutrality of the Azores for the moment, German engineers put together two plans for bombers capable of reaching US soil. The first design was based on the Messerschmitt Me 261, an ultra long range reconnaissance plane that was the only one in the German arsenal with any real chance of crossing the Atlantic and making it home. The second was the Junkers Ju 390, a design based on the Junkers Ju 290. The problem was the vast distance between New York City and Europe. A round trip would require 11,680 kilometres or 7,260 uninterrupted flight miles. – No refueling. No breaks. And little in the way of friendly bases in between. 

Despite the fact that it was the Messerschmitt frame that had the best chance of traversing these distances, it was the Junkers design that was chosen for the project. 

This was all being dreamed up in 1942 and by 1943 it became clear that the plan was already in trouble. The German high water mark had been reached and the war was now contracting. Germany was already starting to feel the bite of shortages in fuel and metal. These resources, in addition to things like time and brainpower, were rapidly drying up, and fewer and fewer were being given to the Amerikabomber project. Germany needed every ounce of aluminum and every drop of fuel for the desperate battle that was emerging on the Eastern Front and in Italy.

With the prospects of developing a new long range heavy bomber dimming, German planners would float another idea with the same goal but one now mirroring their growing desperation.

Mirroring their Japanese counterparts, the following German plan was a suicide bomber. Instead of having one plane make a single uninterrupted round trip they asked a new question. What if they loaded a mid ranged bomber onto the back of a larger plane and used the tandem to reach America? A Heinkel He 177 would carry a Dornier Do 217 to the edge of its range before releasing the second bomber. The Dornier would then fly to New York, drop its deadly payload and then ditch into the sea off the coast where the crew would be scooped up by waiting U-boats. This plan eliminated the need to conduct the harrowing round trip and used planes that Germany already had in its arsenal. Both were good things that could advance the Amerikabomber project given the circumstances.

This plan was feasible. 

– At least, more feasible than building an entirely new long range heavy bomber from scratch, especially given the deteriorating military situation. But instead of being spiked by technical problems or concern for the aircrew, this idea was undone by friction between the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. 

– The Kriegsmarine pointedly said that they could not spare even a single U-boat for a Luftwaffe operation. With no way to retrieve their pilots, and unwilling to fully commit to the path of true suicide bombers, the piggyback plan was shelved for good in 1943. It seemed as though there were no viable options for striking the United States via the air. 

 

At this point, the plan could have been shelved for good. Perhaps even should have been shelved. Attacking the United States was not in the cards. But Hitler wasn’t looking for viable options. He was looking for revenge. 

If Hitler wanted to strike America, he was going to have to come up with a Plan C. Or a Plan V. 

 

While technological development was scarce in the way of aircraft, Germany was having a Renaissance in the field of rocketry. The Allies may have mastered the design and construction of massive long ranged bombers, but it was the Germans who perfected the art of the rocket. If Hitler could not strike New York via plane, perhaps he could hit the city with rockets, as he would do with London.

 

True to his character, Hitler lovingly called the V-2 rocket a “vengeance weapon” which would primarily bring the pain and destruction to the British, and hopefully American, people in the same way that clouds of Allied bombers had brought pain to the German people. 

V2 Rockets

In November of 1944, an American airman by the name of William Liscum Borden was returning from a bombing run over the Netherlands when he spotted a V-2 Rocket in flight. The rocket had been launched from a secret site in Northern Europe and was bound for London.

 

Borden later wrote of the sight saying:

It resembled a meteor, streaming red sparks and whizzing past us as though the aircraft were motionless. I became convinced that it was only a matter of time until rockets would expose the United States to direct, transoceanic attack.

These words would have been music to Adolf Hitler’s ears.

 

V-2 rockets were the only true wonder weapon that the Germans managed to fully bring into production. The V-2 rocket stood 46 feet tall and was capable of reaching heights of fifty miles above the Earth. (In fact, the V-2 rocket was the first manmade object to ever make it into space.) The rockets flew at twice the speed of sound and struck silently. They could not be detected by World War II-era radar and they carried a payload exceeding one ton. Unlike bombers, or V-1 flying bombs, the rockets gave no indication before they were about to strike which made them the perfect weapon for targeting civilians or homefront workers. Bombers and flying bombs gave off telltale buzzing or whistling that alerted those below that an explosion was imminent. The silent and destructive nature of the V-2 rocket caused them to be dubbed “flying gas mains” since they exploded seemingly without warning, like errant gas. 

The V-2 rockets were fearsome and terrifying and it gave Hitler his last and best shot at finally striking New York City. Six years after the first mention of the Amerikabomber program, and nearly two years after it was decided that planes could not be used to hit New York, there was one last attempt to level a skyscraper in North America.

Rocket Submarines

Codenamed Proofstand Twelve, the Germans had successfully tested a rocket launching platform that could be towed by U-boats. The successful test reignited hope that “distant strategic targets” could be hit by V-2 rockets far from the German homeland. A report on Proofstrand Twelve reads in part:

This project opens up the possibility of attacking, with the Apparat F, off enemy coasts (for example, northern England or eastern America), very distant but strategically important targets that are currently out of range. In addition, it deceives the adversary about the real range of the missile and, at additional costs, offers new strategic and political opportunities.

While initial tests were successful, the feasibility of shipping these platforms across the Atlantic, with the large rockets stowed away, seemed distant. The Atlantic was crawling with British and US destroyers. Furthermore, due to the size of the V-2 rocket, only one, maybe two, could be towed by a single U-boat. That meant that to make any real impact on a city as large as New York, a whole wolfpack would have to be deployed. 

 

In late 1944 and early 1945, there simply weren’t enough submarines left. Precious diesel fuel was dwindling away and the German high command was already heavily rationing the precious fuel across an increasingly desperate set of frontlines. Trying to attack America now, when all seemed lost, felt like a fool’s errand.

But that would not stop the Germans from trying. In his final days, Hitler was a fool running a helluva lot of errands.

Operation Teardrop

In April of 1945, when the war was surely lost, Germany deployed seven Type Nine submarines from bases in Norway bound for the United States. In the end, at the last gasp, the Germans would attempt to see out Hitler’s dream of striking the United States. Unfortunately, the Allies had broken Germany’ secret military codes years earlier and the Americans were on alert for just such a desperate move. As soon as the submarines were confirmed to be headed for the United States mainland, Operation Teardrop was launched. 

 

Operation Teardrop was a largescale naval operation that had been planned in 1944 to counter just such a move by Germany. The United States mustered 42 destroyers and 4 escort carriers to defend American soil from the U-boat threat. As the submarines steamed for North America they ran into lines of destroyers arranged in depth. It didn’t take long for the destroyers to start picking up contacts. And the battle begun.

A flurry of fighting, stalking and waiting broke out in the North Atlantic. The destroyers circled, looking for their prey, while the U-boats attempted to evade the blockade and reach their mustering positions. But Germany was no match for the overwhelming firepower brought to bear by the United States. Of the seven submarines deployed, five were sunk. Four were lost with all hands. The crew of one U-boat managed the impossible and survived the sinking of their submarine. These survivors were subsequently scooped up and interrogated. Some post war reports say that the German survivors from Operation Teardrop were tortured. –  Why?  – Because the Americans were desperate to learn whether the submarines had truly been outfitted with rockets aimed at American cities.

But under torture, it was found that not a single U-boat had been equipped with long ranged rockets. The plan had been scrapped last minute and the Wolfpack’s actual mission had been to disrupt shipping and draw anti-submarine forces away from Great Britain. 

Adolf Hitler’s grand plans to see American cities burn had never come to fruition. 

He had failed. 

Despite fantastical ideas, wonder weapons, advanced planning and years of work, not a single German bomb, rocket or missile would strike civilian targets within the United States. 

The idea of equipping submarines with rockets was frightening and it kicked off a flurry of research and testing that eventually led to the creation of modern ballistic missile submarines. Today, the ballistic missile submarine is the backbone of modern navies around the world. Today’s submarines are the result of feverish attempts by Adolf Hitler to hit the United States with V-2 rockets in the waning days of World War II. 

While thousands of Americans worked diligently at home supporting the war effort in their own individual ways, they had little idea that the leader of Germany had tried his best and tried for years, to kill them while they slept, while they worked and while they wondered if their boys overseas were ever going to return home. Thankfully, they never suffered the fate dreamed for them by the deranged minds of the Third Reich.

Outro

Thank you for listening to the first of what I hope will be many podcast episodes to come. Please subscribe to get updates when new episodes drop using your favorite podcast source. Tune in to wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes will be coming out on a weekly basis. I hope to break up the year into seasons with ten to twelve episodes each, with a short break in between to assess how the podcast is doing and take feedback from you, the audience. If you want to read more about some of these topics, be sure to head over to GrantPiperWriting.Medium.Com. I will also be posting the transcript down below so you can read exactly what I read while making these episodes. Thank you again and I hope to catch you all next time on Forgotten and Found. Be good and God bless.