 |
| |
|
|
Verto
|
|
MSNBC
quote:
BERLIN - Nazi Germany was not only trying to develop nuclear weapons but actually tested atomic devices near the end of World War II, the publisher of a yet-to-be-released book by a German historian says.
The pre-publication claims by historian Rainer Karlsch drew headlines in German newspapers on Friday, but the publisher of “Hitlers Bombe” (“Hitler’s Bomb”) declined to give details or answer further questions until the book is launched on March 14.
Other historians played down any suggestion the Nazis were anywhere close to taking on the United States in a nuclear war.
Island tests?
According to the publisher, Karlsch says Nazi scientists tested “nuclear bombs” in 1944 and 1945 on the Baltic island of Ruegen and in central Germany under the supervision of the SS, but they were not ready to be deployed before the war ended.
Bernhard Fulda, a lecturer on 20th-century German history at Cambridge University, said even though Germany’s interest in harnessing nuclear energy was well-known, the idea that the Nazis almost won the nuclear arms race was implausible.
“I would dismiss any suggestion that these were tests comparable to those carried out by the Americans as part of the Manhattan project,” he told Reuters, referring to the secret program that led to the Hiroshima bombing of August 1945.
Karlsch has been on the staff of Berlin’s Free and Humboldt universities, publisher DVA said.
DVA spokesman Markus Desaga said the book was based on research reports, construction plans, diaries, aerial photos, spy reports and testimonies of some of the scientists involved.
“Under the supervision of the SS, German scientists tested nuclear bombs on Ruegen and in Thuringia in 1944 and 1945,” Desaga said. Hundreds of prisoners of war and internees died during this process, he added.
Radiation measurements and soil analysis were also used to back up the assertions, he said. He said no further details on the book would be released until its publication.
Karlsch studied economic history and has published books on the development of atomic weapons. He will give no interviews on the book before its publication, Desaga said.
Operational nuclear reactor?
DVA said the book asserts there was an operational nuclear reactor close to Berlin in 1944-45, and that Nazi physicists had drafted a patent for a plutonium bomb as early as 1941.
“The Third Reich was on the verge of winning the race to deploy the first nuclear weapon. Was this Hitler’s final hope, the miracle weapon he talked of in 1944/1945?” DVA said in a statement on its forthcoming title.
The book raises the question of whether the world was on the brink of a nuclear war before Germany surrendered in May 1945.
But Fulda said Germany’s economic resources were so stretched, particularly in the final phases of the war, that it would have had “no chance” of realizing its nuclear ambitions. |
Interesting, but true?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ecthy
|
|
Zhonghuà Rénmín Gònghéguó
Mar 2000
time: 06:34
|
|
why didn't they use it?
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Ecthy
|
|
Zhonghuà Rénmín Gònghéguó
Mar 2000
time: 06:34
|
|
the answer is no. it's just one of those myths made up because noone can go and check any more.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Capt Dizle
|
|
Oh, I wasn't saying it was a fact, I was saying if they had a proto they probably would have battle tested it.
I think they were probably on the way but Germany never had the depth of resources that either the US or Russia could muster. I'd say they had the talent for sure but not the time or resources.
People ought to stop and think about the ramifications of the great "what if". Given that the bomb was developed in this war, given that you could think up some possible scenarios under which things could have progressed differently, well, Hitler could have gotten there first.
Chilling thought.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Dr Strangelove
|
|
I believe that the Germans were supposed to have developed a "dirty bomb", not an actual atomic weapon, but instead a convential high explosive bomb containing radioactive material. Had the long range "New York" bomber been completed it might have carried such a weapon, but by 1945 even delivering a bomb to a less distant allied target like London or Moscow became increasingly difficult. In the end Hitler ordered Germany destroyed because of its failure to execute his will, but his henchmen no longer obeyed him.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
shawnmmcc
|
|
Copy of my post in the WW2 thread.
Reference the A-bomb, the Nazis really were not that close. Between the British commando raids on the Norwegian heavy water supplies/production, and the number of scientists who had fled the Facist regimes in Germany and Italy, they were at a huge disadvantage. They had a limited number of people working on the problem, and had gotten into a practical blind alley - heavy water as the moderator for the reactor, which has real problems from an engineering standpoint. Read the first link that shows how Fermi engineered the first working nuclear reactor. He did some truly brilliant work, and ended up using Cadmium rods and then graphite blocks as a moderator - which are much easier to use from an engineering standpoint. www.ces.clemson.edu/linux/fermi.pdf
Also check out the attached document file from a different source, boredofstudies.org.
The Nazis are not that close. The Yanks are going to have the first A-bomb, period. I to had seen the recent claims about a Nazi dirty bomb, thanks for the info on that.
 Attachment: 1108878522_2004_physics_notes_kv.doc
This has been downloaded 1 time(s).
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:34.
Apolyton Time is 00:34. |
top of page
|
|
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
05-03-2005 05:44
|