Abstract
While the lack of propellants as factor in the strategic defeat of the Luftwaffe in WWII has been well documented, the centrality of liquid oxygen to the German rocket program has been overlooked. Based on new archival research of surviving V-2 files, this study argues that building and protecting the liquid oxygen supply network, given the “use it or lose it” characteristics of the substance, became the over-riding operational focus of military program leadership. The scope of oxygen supply was neither reduced nor challenged throughout the war, suggesting the Reich saw a strategic role for the weapon.
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Cite this article
Georg Schmundt-Thomas, “Bottleneck: The Supply of Liquid Oxygen for the German V-2 Rocket,” The Journal of Military History 90, no. 1 (January 2026): 86–113.