World War Two
In August 1943 — as Rudolph was ready to begin production of the V-2, the British bombed Peenemünde. The V-2 production facility was moved to the Mittelwerk facility near Nordhausen. Mittelwerk was originally a gypsum mine that was being used as a storage facility and was being excavated for production facilities. The labor force consisted of prisoners who were eventually housed at the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Rudolph was in charge of moving the equipment from Peenemünde to Mittelwerk, working under Albin Sawatzki. After the plant was in place, Rudolph was operations director for V-2 missile production. Sawatzki decreed that fifty were to be produced in December. Given the labor and parts issues, Rudolph was barely able to produce four rockets that were later returned from Peenemünde as defective.
In 1944, Himmler convinced Hitler to put the V-2 project directly under SS control, and in August replaced Dornberger with SS General Hans Kammler as its director.
In January 1945 the SS ordered all of the civilians and prisoners, including Rudolph and his team, to attend a public hanging of several prisoners accused of sabotage. By March 1945, production had stopped due to a lack of parts and Rudolph and his staff were moved to Oberammergau where they met von Braun and others from Peenemünde. They finally surrendered to the U.S. Army and were transported to Garmisch.
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