Intel source on V 1 and V 2 rockets

[South]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/worl ... ml?mcubz=3

Good afternoon all,
I hope this section is appropriate for the above hyperlinked article. Admittedly, not sure.
The above link is from today's, 30 Aug 17 obituaries in the New York Times.
Jeanne de Clarens was an amateur "spy"... intel agent / intel officer ...who sought and obtained infor on the V 1 and V 2 rockets.
The linked obit is loaded with history. She had spent some time in Ravensbrück.

~ Bob
Virginia, USA

[wm]

They wrote there that:

In London, intelligence analysts, led by Reginald V. Jones, marveled at the quality of the information they were receiving from Paris, notably a startling document called the Wachtel Report. Delivered in September 1943, [...]
Relying on this information, the British organized several bombing raids against the plant, which delayed development of the V 2 and spared untold thousands of lives in London.

There was only a single British attack on Peenemünde - in August 1943, it was ordered on 29 June 1943, so it couldn't be organized thanks to information delivered in September 1943.
Even more before September 1943 the Allies received dozen or so reports about the V 1/V 2, and even captured some parts of a V 1 that crashed on Bornholm.

So of course Jeannie Rousseau existed and was a hero, but what has been written about her doesn't add up.
But that's ok, the article was written by a restaurant critic (yes, really).

[South]

Good morning Wm,

The New York Times is a source for one to personally develop past events. It is not a record of events. It is an opinion-molding vehicle. See: THE KINGDOM and the POWER, Gay Talese, 1966, Lib of Congress Catalog Card Nr 73-81757.

Restaurant critics, folk singers eg Joan Baez, talk show hosts, etc are not less accurate - nor deceptive, for that matter - than our "historians" and "analysts" in Washington, D.C. and New York City.

History is "the agreed-upon lies": Napoleon.

~ Bob
Virginia, USA

[Sheldrake]

A remarkable story and sad to see another of the WW2 generation die.

The NYT Obituary would have been far better informed if they had made an internet search. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_and_V-2_Intelligence

The story of the how the allies found out about the German secret V - "Revenge" weapons programme is far more complicated and drew on far more sources than "Jeannie Rousseau."

Had the obituary writer bothered to read wikipedia the NY Times would not have published such ill informed history that does not do justice to its gallant subject.

[South]

Good afternoon Sheldrake,

As per my post to Wm above, the NYT is not a history book. Plus, the NYT has substantially changed. No longer is it considered the nation's "document of record". Had the NYT wanted to publish the material you mentioned, they would have. At one time, their military editor was Hansen Balden. Brig Gen S.L.A. Marshall was a contributor. Those days in re the NYT are.......history.
~ Bob
Virginia, USA

[wm]

It seems the initial article was written in 1998 by David Ignatius (an opinion writer and suspense/espionage fiction novelist) and later adopted uncritically by others. Ignatius interviewed Jeanne de Clarens and simply used everything she said without cross checking facts.
An interesting fact during the interview she wasn't able to speak German at all.

[WW2ARCHIVER]

I believe there where multiple attacks on Peenemünde.