Forgotten & Found

A history podcast focused on the forgotten pieces of our past that shape our world today. From urban legends to lost heroes, Forgotten & Found focuses on stories you won't find in your basic history textbook.

The Origins of Santa Claus and Modern Christmas 12/16/2024

The Puzzling Fate of Jefferson Davis 12/09/2024

The Puzzling Fate of Jefferson Davis What happened to Jefferson Davis after the Civil War? Did he stand trial for his role in the nation's bloodiest conflict? Did he face the hangman's noose? Why does the figure of Davis seem to drop out of the history books after the events of 1865? Join us in discovering the surprising fate of one of America's most divisive figures. Opening Music "Space 1990-B" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License * Begin Show Notes * Jefferson Davis’s Fate Hook On April 9th, 1865, the guns of the Civil War finally went quiet. Meeting in the spacious parlour of the home of Wilmer McLean in Appomattox, Virginia, the two most eminent generals at the time exchanged small talk and discussed the terms of surrender. Despite being known as Unconditional Surrender Grant, the Union general offered extremely favorable terms to his vanquished foe. After fighting until the bitter end, Confederate General Robert E. Lee was out of options. He was outnumbered. He was cornered. And his troops had hardly eaten in nearly a week. General Grant allowed the Army of Northern Virginia to return home on parol with their sidearms and their horses along with a generous helping of rations to ease their hunger. To many, this marked the unofficial end of the American Civil War. But for others, this was just the beginning of a long ordeal. The war had been headed up by two warring presidents. The Union was led by Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the greatest leader in American history, while the South was headed by Jefferson Davis, a capable politician in his own right. On April 9th, many believed that a meeting between these two men was inevitable, but less than a week later, everything changed when a shot rang out at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC, punctuated by the chilling words Sic Semper Tyrannus. There will always be tyrants. With the death of Abraham Lincoln, any hope for a peaceful dissolution of the Confederate Government seemed to melt away. Jefferson Davis was connected to the assassination, and a generous reward of $100,000 was offered for his capture. There were many in the Union who were now determined to see Jefferson Davis tried for the assassination of Lincoln. Meanwhile, Davis began a long trek south, south and farther south. He was pushed out of Richmond after the Union armies closed the noose around the city. And he was deprived of his largest army and his best general by the events at Appomattox. So Davis took his closest advisors and allies and fled. Davis still hoped that he could reorganize the scattered remnants of the Confederate Army and make a final bloody stand in the West where most of the Union armies had vacated in a bid to besiege Richmond and trap Lee in the east. From April 9th onward, Davis moved into southern Virginia, then through the Carolinas, and finally ended up in Georgia, where he was constantly pursued by Union cavalry, hoping to cash in on the bounty. On the morning of May 10th, 1865, Davis was sleeping in a camp set up along a creekbed near Irwinville, Georgia when he was awoken by the sound of gunfire. He emerged from his tent and found himself surrounded by cavalry of the First Wisconsin and Fourth Michigan regiments. Davis was taken into custody and many at the time believed that this was the beginning of the end of Jefferson Davis. But that proved not to be the case. Not only did Davis outlive his rival, Lincoln, he would also outlive both President Andrew Johnson and President Grant. Jefferson Davis somehow managed to evade the hangman’s noose and live to the ripe old age of 81. But how? How did the leader of the United States’s greatest rebellion manage to survive what seemed like a guaranteed death sentence? Why wasn’t Davis prosecuted and sentenced to death for his crimes against the United States? Intro Hello everybody, and welcome to Forgotten & Found, a history podcast. I am your host Grant Piper and today we are going to be talking about the puzzling fate of Jefferson Davis. The period directly following the American Civil War is one of the most turbulent and least understood in all of American history. When the guns went silent at Appomattox, Jefferson Davis seemingly vanishes from the history books. Most people do not know what happened to the Confederate leader, and many understandably assume that he was hanged for his crimes. But he wasn’t. In order to understand how remarkable this is, we need to look at some other prominent examples of people who were executed for treason against the United States. Many of these people were killed for far less than leading a full scale rebellion against the United States. So let us look at those who were not as fortunate as Jefferson Davis and then see what happened to Davis in the wake of his arrest in May of 1865. Other Executions On October 16, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown stole into Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He and a small band of like-minded ruffians cut the telegraph lines and arrested the watchman of the local armory. Indeed, it was the armory that was at the center of Brown’s plans. The goal was to secure the armory, and the nearby rifle factory, in a bid to gain weapons for a slave uprising. With Harper’s Ferry captured, Brown wanted to haul the weapons south to the nearby plantations and arm any slaves willing to fight for their freedom. John Brown was every plantation owner’s nightmare. While Brown captured the armory, and the town, with no resistance, he blundered by allowing a single train of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to pass through the town.The train dutifully stopped at the next station, which still had its telegraph wires intact, and sent a missive to their headquarters in Baltimore. The news quickly reached nearby Washington and a contingent of Marines was dispatched to capture John Brown. The Marines, under the leadership of one Robert E. Lee, surrounded John Brown and captured him in just three minutes. Brown was arrested despite protesting that he would rather die than being taken in. While he was shot, none of the bullets were fatal. Brown was quickly tried and convicted of treason and sentenced to death. The date of his execution was December 2nd, 1859, mere weeks after the failed raid. John Brown’s last words were: I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done. Brown was forced to ride atop his own coffin on the way to the gallows where he was hanged at 11:15 a.m. John Brown was pronounced dead 35 minutes later by the coroner. Less than two months after the raid at Harper’s Ferry, John Brown was dead. Tried, convicted, and executed all in brisk and efficient order. Another case worth referencing is the execution of one William Bruce Mumford in 1862. In May of 1862, Union naval forces landed at New Orleans and seized the city in short order. The Union had always vastly outclassed the Confederacy in terms of naval assets, and the South had no defense against well organized coastal raids and amphibious invasions. Union forces entered the town and ordered that all Confederate flags be removed from important government buildings, such as the Mint. These actions angered the pro-Confederate citizens who protested in the streets. During the protests, William Bruce Mumford, climbed up and tore down the Union flag. Mumford then carried the flag to the mayor of the city and presented it to him. It seemed like a simple act of protest in a dire situation. On May 1st, 1862, Union Major General Benjamin Butler saw Mumford wearing a piece of the Union flag as a badge of honor and decided that such insolence could not go unpunished. Mumford was arrested on orders of Butler, who was now the leader of the city under wartime martial law. Butler was charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors against the laws of the United States, and the peace and dignity thereof and the Law Martial” and sentenced to death. On June 7th, Mumford was hanged in the courtyard of the mint where he had ripped down the flag. Mumford was a veteran and he invoked what he saw as the true spirit of the United States during his final remarks and upheld his patriotism for the Confederacy. He was hanged by the neck until dead. Again, less than two months after being arrested, Mumford had met his final end at the hands of the Union. Lastly, we must look at the most recent executions for treason against the United States in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, commonly known as The Rosenbergs. During the emotional start of the Cold War, the Rosenbergs were accused of spying for the Soviet Union. The couple, married for eleven years at the time of their arrest, was accused of passing along US military and technological secrets, including information about American radar and sonar along with plans for advanced jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. The Rosenbergs had managed to recruit sources working on the Manhatten Project during World War II and had passed along vital nuclear information to the Soviets. During their trial, they were given the death penalty because their actions were perceived to have gravely harmed the security and safety of the United States. They were even blamed for the American casualties suffered as a result of the Korean War. The judge said in part: I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. Indeed, by your betrayal, you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. The pair was arrested in 1950, convicted in 1951, and executed in 1953. They were sent to the electric chair, where they were shocked until dead. If the indirect cause of 50,000 American casualties in Korea warranted the death penalty, what did 642,427 Union casualties, including 110,000 dead, warrant for Jefferson Davis? The Imprisonment of Jefferson Davis Let us rewind back to May of 1865 where Jefferson Davis had just been arrested for treason and in connection to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As we have seen, there was ample precedent at the time, for a speedy trial and execution. Many believed that Davis would be hanged by the end of the summer. Davis was quickly marched to Fort Monroe in Virginia, one of the Union’s most formidable fortresses which had managed to hold out for the entire Civil War. Davis was placed into a casement, a dank cement room which was designed to store volatile gunpowder and cannon balls. He was placed under guard morning and night, forced to eat meager meals and was not allowed to leave the room. Initially, he was even placed in clunky iron fetters which bound his ankles. He was allowed no visitors, not even supervised visits by his wife. A close eye was kept on him to ensure that he didn’t attempt to escape, contact any sympathizers, or commit suicide. During his imprisonment in the uncomfortable casement, Davis kept up his spirits by planning for his eventual trial. Against all common sense, Davis was actually looking forward to his trial. He was relishing it. Davis believed that a public trial would give him the best and last, chance to defend his views. Davis vehemently believed in the right of succession. He believed that the initial action of secession was legally valid. A trial would give him the perfect opportunity to defend himself, not to the courts which he cared little for, but to the American people as a whole. The government knew of Davis’s plans for a grand display at his trial for treason and was immediately wary. Some feared that allowing Davis to speak would reignite the embers of the Civil War, which were still scorchingly hot. Would letting Davis speak at a trial be akin to letting Marc Antony speak after the death of Julius Caesar? After a few months in solitary confinement, Davis was allowed to read more materials than just his Bible. Newspapers and books were brought in at his request. Then Davis was allowed to leave the casement for exercise including walks by the water. Finally, in early 1866, he was allowed to see his wife, Varina again. Then, in September of 1866, Davis was permitted to live under house arrest in a four room apartment with his wife. Public sentiment was slowly changing. Instead of viewing Davis as a traitor needing to be hanged immediately, many now saw him as a prisoner, indeed even a political prisoner, who deserved to be treated like an aristocrat or a proud fallen enemy. Keeping Davis in irons and under guard was unbefitting to the class and character of the newly reunited United States of America. This was a rapid and surprising change of heart for those in the North who were previously seen as bitter enemies of the South. With the change in public sentiment and the knowledge that Davis was both an expert orator and deft politician, new questions were raised about how exactly to try Davis. Unlike those who were executed in recent years, the public profile of Jefferson Davis would not allow for a quick trial. Any trial for Davis (or Lee, or any other high profile Confederate figure) was guaranteed to be a circus. Any attempts to try Davis, despite the fact that his crimes seemed obvious and his case open and shut, would have to be handled carefully. How To Try JD The question about what to do with Jefferson Davis was an interesting one. Looking back, it seems obvious that the president of the Confederate States of America should have been quickly put on trial for treason. But President Andrew Johnson puzzled over the issue for months. Johnson was a suspected Southern sympathizer, and he was torn about what to do with Davis. The initial charges brought against Davis implicated him in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Those charges were now defunct as John Wilkes Booth had been captured, and no links could be drawn between the disgruntled actor and the Southern President. Then, it was floated that Davis be charged by a military tribunal for war crimes, specifically the mistreatment of American prisoners at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. But again, no definitive link between Davis and the charges could be found. Trying Davis unsuccessfully would have been a travesty, and the government could not risk an acquittal in any type of courtroom. Frustrated with Johnson’s inability to make a decision regarding the fate of Jefferson Davis, Congress passed a resolution in June of 1866 calling for Davis to be tried for treason. The resolution passed resoundingly with a vote of 105 to 19. But questions persisted. Davis’s lawyers already postulated that Davis could not be charged with treason because he had forsaken his US citizenship during secession. His native Mississippi was no longer a part of the United States when Davis was tapped to become the president of the Confederacy, so he was not liable for treason. Again, these arguments sent jolts of fear through the government that a trial would give legal validity to the idea of secession. The Union had just fought the bloodiest war in American history to prove once and for all that secession was not valid. They could not risk having that statement undone in a courtroom by lawyers and orators. Meanwhile, Unionists, veterans and freemen began singing a diddy which had the lyrics “Oh we'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree” in it. This song proved to be problematic. It spoke to a deep anger and a thirst for vengeance on the part of some living in the Union. On the one hand, the government wondered if they hanged Jefferson Davis it would be the end of it. However, there was always the worry that Jefferson Davis would only be the start. Would those singing the lyrics, Oh we'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree, then demand to hang every person who had participated in the rebellion? In that case, the United States could easily slide into a period not dissimilar to the Terror which had gripped France during the French Revolution. Would suspected ex-Confederates be dragged into the public square and hanged, one after another, until there were none left? That was a situation that the United States could not abide. Such a broad reprisal could kick off a guerilla movement in the South, which was already being watched closely with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Or worse, it could reignite a war. If the South believed that their fate was death and that there was no hope for amnesty or clemency, why not continue fighting? Charged With Treason Despite their misgivings, Congress mandated that Davis be charged, so he was indicted. With an official indictment on the books, the time came to transfer Davis to civilian custody. Up until this point, Davis was in military custody. Now, the legal system demanded that Davis be given his rights as due to him as a US citizen. Remember, the United States had to treat Davis like citizen because treating him like a foreign combatant would give life to his arguments that he wasn’t a US citizen under the guise of secession. Therefore, Davis was allowed to be released on bail and wait to stand trial like any regular US citizen. On May 13, 1867, Davis was transferred to civilian custody and offered bail of $100,000, roughly $2 million today. Davis’s bail was raised by prominent citizens in the Union including the likes of Cornelius Vanderbilt and Horace Greenley who were eager to see due process seen out. Many in the Union now wanted to show that their system, the rightful legal system, was legitimate and robust. Allowing Davis to be treated properly, and given his rights, was a vindication of the American system which was to be contrasted against Davis’s vision of the legal system which claimed that secession was legitimate and legal. Upon his release, Davis immediately traveled to Quebec where he was reunited with his children, and other members of his family who had fled fearing repsials from the United States. Davis was allowed to remain in Quebec while the government prepared its case. He was kept under watch to ensure that he did not flee further or attempt to contact anyone in the South. He did neither. Jefferson Davis continued to believe that his fate demanded that he give account for himself in a courtroom and he was eager to unleash his legal arguments and deepest convictions before his peers. Trial Preparations and Pardon The government asked for multiple delays in the trial as they prepared their case. They were gathering evidence to show that Davis provided arms and orders for the Southern invasion of Union territory in Maryland and Pennsylvania. They were afraid that Davis would argue that the war was purely defensive and that he only armed his armies for the purposes of defending Southern territory. The fact that Confederate armies crossed the border into the Union gave them legal liscense to charge Davis with treason. But the underlying legal questions about secession and the uniqueness of Davis’s character in position continued to bewilder the Union lawyers. The trial was delayed from 1867 to 1868 and then it was delayed again until 1869. Meanwhile, questions about Johnson’s fitness for office, the state of the South and the ultimate goal of Reconstruction were being hotly debated. There were two leading factions in the Reconstruction debate. One the one side, there were those who wanted to see the... /episode/index/show/ce7f1cda-b396-41da-bc10-618f8ac64eaf/id/34355305

Hitler's Dream of Destroying NYC 12/02/2024

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... /episode/index/show/ce7f1cda-b396-41da-bc10-618f8ac64eaf/id/34252800

Forgotten & Found

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