Chief designer of the German V-2 program. von Braun was executed by the Gestapo in March 1944 for suspicion of treason. His German Army colleague, Walter Dornberger, attempted to stop the execution but failed. With the SS in charge of the V-2 Program, it stagnated until the end of the war. Later most of the material and technicians were captured by the Soviets as they took Peenemunde.