German Army Surplus

'Ludy' Toftoy made major impact on city by pleading for Huntsville

It is a famous story, told and retold by commanding generals and city leaders down through the years to show the impact of Holger Nelson Toftoy, better known as "Ludy."

With maps and charts of Redstone and Huntsville arsenals spread in front of him, his hands and knees on the green carpet of Gen. Matthew Ridgeway's office, Toftoy gave his best case for Huntsville.

There were many empty buildings - about 900 of them. What's more, they were on 35,000 acres far from the southern city limits of a small Southern town, perfect for the research and development of rockets and missiles.

But now, in 1949, operations at Huntsville Arsenal, a large producer of mustard gas during World War II, had been shut down. Opening bids for the land were scheduled for Sept. 30, 1949.

Next to Huntsville Arsenal was Redstone, an Army ordnance plant that had been originally used to load ammunition as World War II began. Toftoy's goal was to put all rocket and missile work in one location.

By early 1949, Huntsville was already making rockets at Redstone. Missile work was done at the Army's Research and Development Suboffice in Fort Bliss, Texas.

Toftoy believed those buildings on Huntsville Arsenal that had been used to test poisonous gasses during the war - the ones now vacant - could be used for building and testing missiles.

"General, you can see I'm on my knees about this project," Toftoy told Ridgeway.

Toftoy was regarded as something of a visionary. For years, he had been a strong proponent of missiles and rockets in an era when many considered space travel to be absurd, if not insanity.

In the final days of World War II, Toftoy, then the chief of technical intelligence for Army Ordnance in Europe, was told to examine German equipment that might be used for testing in the United States, principally the V-2 rocket.

His assistant, Maj. James P. Hamill, made contact with Dr. Wernher Von Braun and his German rocket team. After Von Braun and his team surrendered to American forces after the war, he found an advocate in Toftoy.

Toftoy believed Von Braun's team was the "cream of the crop," the true developers of the V-2. Told he could bring only 100 of the 300 German scientists, Toftoy brought 127.

And when Von Braun's team needed a new home in America, Toftoy was convinced Huntsville was the place.

WW2 vet bring back 1943 german k98 mauser byf h I need 135 ...

My father was a Lance Corporal in the 23rd Field Regiment RCA during the war and picked this rifle up in a German foxhole in Belgium in 1944. In order to fit it into his duffel bag to bring it back to Canada he had to cut the stock. It was later reconnected back in Canada. In Canada it has been in the family ever since and has been used lightly for deer hunting. The stock still shows the marks of the conflict, but the steel is in good shape and as you may know is of very high quality. According to my later father, it was much better than the Lee Enfield he carried.

The German surplus, an economic problem in the new Europe

Field and stream

A surplus of memory, chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

Demonstrating reconciliation, state and society in West German foreign policy toward Israel, 1952-1965

Commercial and financial chronicle