Japan Was 'Days Away From Test' Of A-Bomb

Independent (UK) ^ | 8-5-2002

[warped]

I had an oppurtunity in 10th grade to attend a 3 week long writer's workshop at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Richard Rhodes came during that time and spent a day with my class (about 12 students). He discussed the writing and research process for "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", as well as other writer's craft topics. It was wonderful, and he's a very interesting man.

[Rockpile]

http://www.usmc.mil/sgtmaj/smmc14.nsf This is the web page for the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps

[gitmo]

Hell, I haven't asked him about this stuff in years and now it's too late.

I know what you mean. :o(

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Those are now marketed under the commercial brand-name "Ramen".

[Raynham Iron]

I have a newsletter that covers the Japanese Army's of Harbin - Unit 731 who had enought
disease to kill 1/2 of the world population.
Two parts of the Japanese Empire worked on the A-Bomb but the lack of uranium and the primitive state of the processing handicapped an actual a-bomb. The popular publication "War World II" actually argured that the japanese set off one bomb off Korea - but they are very wrong. If anyone would like a copy feel free to ask for a copy.

[6ppc]

Agreed. Rhodes won a well deserved Pulitzer for it. Great book, a must read. Dark Sun, the sequel about the H bomb wasn't as good but still worth reading.

[Willie Green]

Hey now, don't be slamming ramen like that. That stuff kept me from starving in college.

And you never noticed that it glows in the dark?

[Bedford Forrest]

They had an excellent fighter plane (the Zero)

You better look up the provenance of the Zero. The design was by Vought, which design was rejected by the US Army after the loss of a couple of the prototypes. Vought requested and received from the War Department permission to sell the engineering drawings to the Nips. The rest as they say, is history. The Nips fixed the flutter problem and put the thing into volume production. Good airplane early in the war but dog meat against a Corsair - another Vought winner.

[First_Salute]

Small world.

[spectre]

I agree with your post #55. I read a book five years or so ago called "Heisenberg's War" that chronicled the brilliant mathemetician's role in Germany's atomic weapon's program. The book stated that Heisenberg determined in 1942 that an atomic bomb was possible.

The book then detailed why Germany would never produce one.

Among the reasons:

Hitler would not (actually COULD not) commit the massive resources required to research, test and fabricate the weapon.

.Also, Germany was unable to spare any additional scientific and engineering talent to this new enterprise.

Consequently, Heisenberg and company never got past the theoretical and early experemental stage. I believe that they had a lab in Berlin that was conducting critical mass experiments, but that it was bombed out of existence in late 1944 before any conclusive results.

When Heisenberg was captured (interesting in itself), the sum total of the German nuclear weapons program was a few hundred pounds of research and engineering papers - and, if I remember correctly, some nuclear material (heavy water experiment stuff).

And yes, we agree again. Japan was NEVER in the game, except in this authors's mond.

[Bedford Forrest]

Sgt. Major isn't a Marine rank.

Really?? What are you smoking, boy????

[Brush_Your_Teeth]

Japan's scientists focused more on biological weapons then nuclear. In mongolia they killed thousands of people testing their bio weapons. A nuclear weapon at that time could takeout a city but bio weapons then could destroy an entire nation. I guess its just not as sexy for the media as a big mushroom cloud.

[6ppc]

Also documented in "The German Atomic Bomb" by David Irving published in 1967.

[First_Salute]

You have been doing your homework.

[Grut]

OK, I stand corrected, but there've only been Sgts. Major of the Marine Corps since 1959 and then only one at a time. Are you saying that your source is one of these fourteen men?

[irv]

-Tom Lehrer, 1960(ish)

Closer to '69, I think it was. A real classic!

[cynicom]

Oppenheimer, Hall and several other scientists that were communists. Traitors to their adopted country.

[Old Professer]

Everybody can win the game on Monday.

[BenLurkin]

>On one hand it would be nice if the Japanese would re-arm and provide military muscle to help protect their (and our) economic interests in the Far East.
>On the other hand, maybe its just as well they don't. . .