Hitler's Bombe: Fact or No?

[Kuciwalker]

[Mr. Harley]

Warplanes of the Third Reich by William Green.

[Tassadar500]

I never really understood this. Why did Russia have such a large army?

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


No they didn't.

As of 1945 the only working nuclear reactors ever built were in the US

That may be so - but I do know a small experimental nuclear related facility of some kind was discovered - it may have been a centrifuge or something like that. US troops found it - Heisenberg and his students were using it. It was in a building disguised as a house. I saw film of it.

I can't find a link. Type Nazi reactor into google these days and all you get is Iraq and Bush links

[KrazyHorse]

Centrifuge is quite possible. Could also have built a bombardment chamber to create microscopic quantities of transuranic elements.

Either way, they were not yet at the point where they had built a self-sustaining nuclear reactor (the only realistic way to get mass quantities of plutonium), nor had they thown as much into the brute-force method of centrifuging uranium as had the US in 1942.

They were certainly working on the problem, but the amount of engineering effort involved was well beyond their capacity in any reasonable timeframe.

If Heisenberg had managed to get an reactor going early in the warinstead of rejecting graphite as a moderator then they might have had a shot at it. The actual effort involved would have been much lower, with higher ingenuity required.

[KrazyHorse]

Checked up again. The Germans had in fact built several test reactors, but their insistence on the use of heavy water would have made reaching criticality difficult, and the fact that they had to move around constantly in 1944 and 1945 put criticality beyond their reach. They never managed to create a self-sustaining reaction, although they did manage to demonstrate neutron multiplication on a number of occasions.

They needed at least the same 30+ months of working reactors that the Americans needed to build their first plutonium bomb. Probably more. They had a few very good physicists, but were lacking in the sheer mass of brainpower the US was able to assemble for Manhattan.

[Alexander's Horse]

That fits with what I recall - what was discovered showed a. the nazis were more advanced than the allies suspected but b. their efforts were experimental and primitive and there wasn't a chance they could produce a bomb in the near future because there wasn't enough invested by a long shot.

Most people don't realise the massive engineering and financial investment that went into the A bomb. Some argue only the US was capable of it. The Soviets got hold of the nuclear secrets in 1944/5 but didn't produce a bomb for 5 years.

This one reason why Germany opted for rocket and jet development.

[Mr. Harley]

The Axis may have had the minds at first, but in response to their politics and policies a large number fled both Germany and Italy. In addition, I saw an interesting special - may have been the same one that I saw on the Hitler - I mean History Channel. They showed how they were multiple projects working on nuclear weapons, just that Heisenberg was number one. The Nazi prediliction for individual beauracratic fiefdoms did a very good job of difusing their effort.

(oh, and AH - my little girl, who is sitting on my lap, pointed to your sig and said "Horse, HORSE .... ride ride" She's two today, and loves horses)

[Joseph]

From the Introduction of Miracle Weapons
'I refused to use a weapon which could have destroyed the whole of civilization'. Those words were spoken by Hermann Goring when he was arrested by the Allies on 7 May 1945.

In one book, I came across a piece of information that aroused my curiosity. In 1945, Allied troops in Prague were said to have captured a Heinkel He 177 that was equipped to drop nuclear weapons.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
I never really understood this. Why did Russia have such a large army?

Because it was the largest nation in the world, afraid its neighbors may have aggressive intents and thus needed a huge force to secure the country and ward off all possible aggressors, which to someone like Stalin was basically every single state out there with the possibility of attacking the USSR, Poland, Germany, Japan, the UK, the US, France, you name it.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Joseph
From the Introduction of Miracle Weapons
'I refused to use a weapon which could have destroyed the whole of civilization'. Those words were spoken by Hermann Goring when he was arrested by the Allies on 7 May 1945.

In one book, I came across a piece of information that aroused my curiosity. In 1945, Allied troops in Prague were said to have captured a Heinkel He 177 that was equipped to drop nuclear weapons.

so where are these nukes then?

[Joseph]

Try to upload a page but it did not work.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
That fits with what I recall - what was discovered showed a. the nazis were more advanced than the allies suspected but b. their efforts were experimental and primitive and there wasn't a chance they could produce a bomb in the near future because there wasn't enough invested by a long shot.

Most people don't realise the massive engineering and financial investment that went into the A bomb. Some argue only the US was capable of it. The Soviets got hold of the nuclear secrets in 1944/5 but didn't produce a bomb for 5 years.

This one reason why Germany opted for rocket and jet development.

exactly. As I said earlier. It took 10% of all the electricity in the U.S. for Oak Ridge. It took the entire war to get enough Uranium-235 for 1 bomb!! And look at the size of oak ridge during the war! Do you think allied bombers wouldn't have noticed that?

germany had ****. heavy water doesn't do ****. Until you show me some uranium or plutonium, then I'll continue to believe they had nothing.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Dissident


so where are these nukes then?

The Russian and the US took them.
Dis how do you drop a bomb that you did not build on H. Japan? How come the Soviets were so fast in building a bomb after the war. Their Hyd. came just 2 years after ours.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse


That may be so - but I do know a small experimental nuclear related facility of some kind was discovered - it may have been a centrifuge or something like that. US troops found it - Heisenberg and his students were using it. It was in a building disguised as a house. I saw film of it.

I can't find a link. Type Nazi reactor into google these days and all you get is Iraq and Bush links

There were several research sites. KWA Kaiser Wilhelm Institut in Berlin-Dahlem, Gottow HWA, Miersdorf near Berlin, Prague area (Skoda), & Thuringia.