"Schweres Wasser"

[Klaus]

Have a look at this article. It's about the german "atomic bomb".


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4348497.stm

What do you think?
Was this possible?
Could German Scientist have managed this?
If succsessful, Would it have changed the outcome of the war?

[Jim O]

Here's the key part of that article:

"The eyewitnesses he puts forward are either unreliable or they are not reporting first-hand information; allegedly key documents can be interpreted in various ways," said the influential news weekly Der Spiegel.

"Karlsch displays a catastrophic lack of understanding of physics," wrote physicist Michael Schaaf, author of a previous book about Nazi atomic experiments, in the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

"Karlsch has done us a service in showing that German research into uranium went further than we'd thought up till now, but there was not a German atom bomb," he added.

It has also been pointed out that the United States employed thousands of scientists and invested billions of dollars in the Manhattan Project, while Germany's "dirty bomb" was allegedly the work of a few dozen top scientists who wanted to change the course of the war.

Karlsch himself acknowledged that he lacked absolute proof for his claims, and said he hoped his book would provoke further research.

But in a press statement for the book launch, he is defiant.

"It's clear there was no master plan for developing atom bombs. But it's also clear the Germans were the first to make atomic energy useable, and that at the end of this development was a successful test of a tactical nuclear weapon"

But who knows for sure? Good pick up on that article. Thanks!

Would it have changed the course of the war? I doubt it. There was really no saving Germany in Spring 1945 with even a few dozen "dirty bombs".

[Klaus]

I would think that if they had 2 working bombs, that they would have tested it on London or some other big city.At leat thats what I would have done. but on the other hand they already had lost the war and had to fear the revenge of the victors. Even if it was not ready for mass production it could have had a big psychological impact.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Klaus

Even if it was not ready for mass production it could have had a big psychological impact.

Good point. And that might well have had an impact on events in Japan in August 1945, though not on the ultimate outcome of the war in Asia. In fact, it might have slowed down surrender and allowed the Russians to invade the northernmost Japanese isalnd of Hokkaido which they had plans to do in late August of 1945, after finishing in Manchuria. That may have resulted in a very different post-war situation with a partitioning of Japan similar to that of Korea and Germany.

[Klaus]

You think the Japanese would have had no chance against the Russians?

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Klaus

You think the Japanese would have had no chance against the Russians?

I wouldn't say "no chance" but given that the US was prepared to invade the southern island(s) at around the same time, the Japanese would have had a two front war on their home islands. They were blockaded and had virtaully no oil at that point, and the populace was starving. Even their fishing fleet (what was left of it) was ineffective because waters were mined, etc. With overwhelming air and naval superiority the Allies would have been victorious, though it would have been a bloodbath, particularly for the Japanese.

[Klaus]

Ok, I get your point. I am not an Expert on this theatre, but I thought that the Japanese had very little Tank support. Am I correct?

[Lancer44]

Originally Posted by Jim O

quoted from Karlsch:"It's clear there was no master plan for developing atom bombs. But it's also clear the Germans were the first to make atomic energy useable, and that at the end of this development was a successful test of a tactical nuclear weapon"
.

In 1972 I went with my father for a great holiday exploring Klodzko area in southern Poland. There was hard to find motel or hotel, so we had to find private "Bed and breakfast".
Once we had luck and stayed overnight in nice old house owned by German "autochtone", as they were called during communist era.

He was very nice old bloke. My father bought a bottle of VAT69 which this time in Poland costed $2.85 and they were talking.
Grandpa Helmut told us about frantic soviet investigations right after the war in 1946.
Soviets were trying to find German reactor hidden somewhere underground in this area. Some officers were billeted in Helmut's house and they were drinking every night talking loudly. They did not know that Helmut was Russian POW in WWI and he learned russian quite well.
Thanks to this linguistic ability he was somewhat allowed to stay in his house and survive deportations of Germans. He said: "Anytime they come I just started to yell at them in russian...and they left me alone.

I will try to find more about this interesting area and post it later.
I heard that nearby were uranium mines exploited by soviets - prisoner were employed and many of them died.

Cheers,

Lancer44

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Klaus

Ok, I get your point. I am not an Expert on this theatre, but I thought that the Japanese had very little Tank support. Am I correct?

I'm not sure what they had on the home islands. I know in Manchuria they had few if any tanks and never expected Soviets to be able to use them there because of the terrain. They were wrong about that.

[Klaus]

Seems like they made a fatal error. But than again a lot of things happened in this war that was thought of to be impossible.