Target, America: Hitler's Plan to Attack the United States

by James P. Duffy

Did Hitler mean to pursue global conquest once he had completed his mastery of Europe? In this startling reassessment of Hitler's strategic aims, Duffy argues that Hitler fully intended to bring the war to America once he had achieved his ambitions in the Eurasian heartland. Detailed here for the first time are the Third Reich's plans for a projected series of worldwide offensives using the new secret weapons emerging from wartime research. Duffy also recounts other Axis schemes to attack American cities through the use of multistage missiles, submarine-launched rockets, and suicide missions against ships in the New York harbor. Taken together, these plans reveal just how determined the Axis powers were to attack the United States.

Whether or not German forces could even reach America has been long debated. What is certain is that Wehrmacht planners explored various options. In 1942, a secret plan was submitted to Hermann Göring for the use of long-range bombers against targets across the globe. The scheme, prepared by a select group within the Luftwaffe, is believed to be the result of direct discussions with Hitler. Long rumored to exist, this document was recently discovered in the military archives in Freiburg. Duffy provides the first detailed analysis of the plan and places it in the context of Germany's global war objectives.

Genres: History, World War II

178 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2004

Reviews

[Rick Bachman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting "what-if" scenarios supported by somewhat flimsy evidence but a quick read and another bit of information to add to the WW2 database in my head.

[Eric Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a great idea for a book: a review of the all the German plans, some completely bonkers, some plausible, to strike back at the United States during the Second World War. One of the striking things about that war (and the First World War as well) is that at no point was the security of the American homeland in any real danger. No other major power had that experience in the war, and most suffered terrible and ongoing attacks.

The German plans (and some Italian ones thrown in as well) included long range bombers that could be refuelled over the Atlantic by U-boats, early versions of intercontinental ballistic missiles, midget submarines and even a “space plane” that would bomb U.S. cities from the upper stratosphere. Most of the ideas generated some memos and little more. The author has found some lovely “artists impressions” of weapons that were never — thankfully — built.

So, yes, a great idea for a book. But sadly, not a very good book. The author seems to rely entirely on popular secondary sources, many quoted so often that one wonders how much research actually went into the book. And there are loads of glaring errors (there is no such country as “Columbia” nor a people called “Columbians”; the Germans had not yet invaded the USSR in 1940, and so on).

The constant references to “us” (meaning Americans) is strange, in particular when jumping forward decades. To write that Osama Bin Laden “underestimated the American people and then paid severely for it” in a book published in 2004 when the terrorist leader had not even be caught yet is, well, odd.

Perhaps if the author had focussed on one or two of the plans and done serious research on them, this would have been a more interesting book.

[Craig Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting info - detailed

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Duffy's "Target America" is an interesting, if sometimes uneven, look at how the Germans aspired to attack the United States during World War II. He chronicles several different efforts the Nazis undertook -- long-range aircraft nicknamed "America Bombers;" early versions of ICBMs based on the V-1 and V-2 weapon design; U-boats armed with missile launchers -- in hopes of taking the war back to the American homeland. While almost all of these plans never came close to fruition, Duffy does a good job shedding light on the efforts the Germans put into these plans, and offers a nice assortment of illustrations and weapons diagrams. Unfortunately the book seems to be in need of bit of editing and fact-checking, as there are a small number of factual errors. Also, since Duffy covers both German and Italian efforts to strike the American mainland, it seems a shame not to have also covered the Japanese efforts to attack the U.S. (especially since they were actually the only Axis power to successfully hit North American targets). Still, this is an overall interesting book on a little-known area of WW2.

[Luke Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite sensationalist title and art this seems a reasonably well grounded exploration of a very "out there" topic. The short summary is that the Germans did a fair amount of imaginative thinking, much of it unrealistic, but not all but that nothing got past the prototype stage. That being said a raid or two on the U.S. In the spirit of the Doolittle Raid, but the impact would have been similarly limited to distracting Americans rather than causing substantive damage.
So the four stars is for the quality of the exploration of the topic, not the significance of it.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even prior to World War II, Hitler was planning for the invasion of America and domination of the war as discussed in his second book. Duffey does a decent job of dissecting Hitler's invasion plan and tying world events into it. Many drawings and schematics and drawings from the plan are included. The author worked from copy five of ten of the original plan. An excellent dissertation of a little known historical document.

[Kym Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found within these entertaining pages is no comprehensive text but instead it covers a period in history where two German leaders entertained the potential idea of invading or at least attacking mainland USA, the main focus is on Hitler's Germany and its more fantastic suggested schemes. Most are early stage plans where nothing left the drawing board>
A good read which can help one to look for further reading on this topic.

65 %

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, easy to read with lots of information that is to the point. I've studied Adolf Hitler in great detail for several years and this is one of the better books and it sheds light on a subject (domestic attack on USA) that is not covered often or in some cases at all. Anyone wanting to learn about Hitler or a World War II buff needs to check this out.

[Matthew Rands · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short detailed