Posted on 03/14/2005 8:55:54 AM PST by NormsRevenge
BERLIN (AP) - Nazi Germany tested a crude nuclear device in March 1945, killing hundreds of people in a massive explosion south of Berlin, a German researcher claims in a new book published Monday.
That the Nazis conducted nuclear experiments has been known for decades, but "Hitler's Bomb," by Berlin academic Rainer Karlsch, suggests they may have been closer to building an atomic weapon for military use than previously believed. No independent corroboration of the claims was immediately available.
"German physicians did not lag behind their colleagues in the United States and Britain in their understanding of theory," Karlsch told a news conference. "They knew what a plutonium bomb was and what a uranium-235 bomb was."
What Nazi Germany lacked was enough fissile material - such as enriched uranium - to make a full-size, functioning nuclear bomb, he said.
Other researchers already have theorized that the Nazis conducted crude nuclear experiments, but Karlsch said he has discovered additional evidence, notably in the archives of the former Soviet Union.
The book cites postwar witness accounts and Soviet military intelligence reports to back up its theory of a March 3, 1945, experimental nuclear test blast at the Nazis' Ohrdruf military testing area, but it offers no direct documentary proof.
Karlsch acknowledged he had no positive proof the Nazis conducted a nuclear test blast, but he hoped his book would provoke more research. Soil samples that Karlsch had analyzed for his book found the presence of radioactive isotopes, he said.
Witnesses reported a bright flash of light and a column of smoke over the area that day, and residents said they had nausea and nosebleeds for days afterward, Karlsch says.
One witness said he helped burn heaps of corpses inside the military area the next day. They were hairless and some had blisters and "raw, red flesh."
Karlsch concludes that the blast killed several hundred prisoners of war and Nazi inmates forced to work at the site. Two months later, on May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered after the Soviets captured Berlin.
Ohrdruf, located in the southeastern state of Thuringia, was a Soviet military base after World War II.
I agree w/ the ???:, typifies the mindset of the 'wacko leftists', throughout time..can't see the forrest, because of the damn trees.
Are there any records on that? I'd like to investigate the actual numbers of ME's that flew, were shot down and were captured.
My info comes from the aviation museum and may not be complete.
I got this from various documentaires on the History channel and from a few WW2 books. Adolf Galland was shot down while trying to land by a mustang and wounded in early 1945. He was out for the rest of the war. Another German ace was shot down trying to take off and was killed. Another suffered serious burns that scarred his face severely. I can't remember his name. I know the Time-Life WW2 books had some stuff on this.
Thanks, I'll look that up. That certainly must have been an elite corp of pilots.
Putting aside the peripherals of the war itself, you just can't help wondering what those guys were thinking. The worlds first jet airplane, and they were flying it.
Except for take off and landing, once they were in the sky, they were untouchable.
Yeah, it was formed by Galland after he was demoted by Goering. He took a group of the best surviving aces, got priority for 20 or so 262's, and made quite a splash in the last three months of the war, doing what he was demoted by Goering and Hitler for demanding that the Luftwaffe do on a large scale. Hitler wanted bombers and though defensive use of the ME-262 was stupid. Galland argued passionately for a large production and use of jet fighters and was removed from his high position in the Luftwaffe. He ended the war in the same position he started it in, a squadron commander.
You are forgetting that their scientists and the V2 Rocket technology were quintessential elements for the US and USSR missile programs.
He is also forgetting that neither ours, or the Soviet's space programs would have blossomed as they did.
Some folks just can't adjust to the fact that good can come from evil.
Case in point.
In the navy, we build survival equipment for flyers who go in the drink in super cold water. After WWII the navy had to rethink much of what it "knew" about the situation. The reason they were able to come up new tech on the subject was because of the "experiments" that the Japanese conducted on American and Chinese POWs.
We now know EXACTLY how long a man will live in sub freezing sea water.
Many men died giving us that info.
Good insight.
And you are forgetting - no you never knew - that Warner Von Braun and his colleagues based their programs on the experiments made by the American rocket scientist, Dr. Robert H. Goddard in the early 1900's. In 1914, Goddard was awarded the patent for the liquid fuel rocket and the multi-stage rocket. The German Rocket Society of 1927 was founded upon Goddard's writings on his rocket experiments. They considered Goddard their "Founding Father".
BTW, Willie Messerschmitt also used American, "NACA", airfoil sections in the ME-109 and 262. The immortal R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Supermarine "Spitfire", also availed himself of US aerodynamic research from Langley in the design of the excellent wing of that airplane.
In the final analysis, all the "Vunder Veapons" that the Krauts invented were actually copies of someone else's work, usually American. On May 7, 1945, all air, land and sea forces, as well as all the weapons of the "Third Reich", were either damaged, destroyed, or captured by the Allied Forces. After all is said and done, Nazi Germany was nothing but a looser.
You have a pissy attitude!
I saw a documentary on the History Channel that said the same thing - the Nazis had built a dirty bomb. But there was no indication it had been tested. From this write up it sounds pretty iffy, all based on some circumstantial evidence.
....;^)
A totally gratuitous phrase indicating an attitude and, for me, diminishing the impact of the interesting facts you provided.
Well, did you ever know then? If you had, you would have known that the German rocket program, including the rocket powered "Komet", was using technology that was patented in America in 1914 and you would not have posted that Americas rocket programs were based on German Rocketry programs. There is often an assumption, particularly among Americans of German descent, that Germany "invented everything" and lost WWII only because Hitler was an idiot. Not true. The only truly great German weapon of WWII was the 88mm gun. As an anti-aircraft weapon, "88's" were responsible for more downed bombers than German fighters.
The word "verity" is another word for truth. Most of the time truth is fact. What you posted as fact was historically inaccurate. You have just gotten more accurate.
Does not alter the fact that you are an egotistical *****.
I beg your pardon. It was you and your "ego" that fired the first shot with..."you're forgetting"....and then proceeded to correct me with your bogus information. I can not help it if you expose yourself to the return fire of fact. Maybe you should have just kept silent.
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