Re: german atomic bomb research


"Diamond Jim" <jbanks2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"WaltBJ" <waltbj01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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First, considering the fact that to make a militarily effective 'dirty
bomb' (as opposed to a civilian nuisance weapon) requires say a hundred
plus pounds of highly radiocative isotopes - trying to scrounge enough
natural substances would be a herculean task, eliminating the
possibility of using radium, etc. Using cyclotrons and other
accelerators to produce artificial radioisotopes would never yield
enough to be an effective weapon. And since Heisenberg never got a
uranium reactor to reach criticality, there went the possibility of
using artificially produced fission products. The real wonder was that
Hitler never used his nerve gas stockpile, a truly terrifying weapon.
Walt BJ

One story, I heard at Edgewood Arsenal in MD years ago when speaking to
senior officers attending a chemical warfare overview course, seems to
have
some basis in fact. It was, whenever German photo-recon aircraft took
photos
of allied supply dumps they keep seeing a large number of gas cylinders.
Some German Intelligence said that these cylinders contained
industrial/medical gas mostly oxygen and nitrogen. But there were so many
of
them that the German High Command (supported by other intelligence
sources)
didn't really believe that that many cylinders were needed for that
purpose,
and said that it was other gas. (Mustard and Chlorine were the usual
suspects.)

There was a release of mustard gas when German bombs struck a US cargo
ship
early in December 1943 in Bari, Italy. There were over 600 casualties due
to
the Mustard gas released when the ship sank. More than 10% of the
casualties
died from the gas.

As these mysterious cylinders had already been seen in the supply depots
since the US forces first landed in North Africa, it was believed by many
Germans that they really held poison gas, to be used if Germany used
poison
gas. As far as I know no poison gas was ever unloaded from US ships in
continental Europe during the war. I believed it remained stockpiled on
board ships and in Great Britain (Scotland????).


The Germans never realized the large quantities of industrial gas
especially
Oxygen and Nitrogen that the US forces used. Oxygen of course was used for
medical and aircraft systems, also welding. Nitrogen was used in most
optics, all hydro-pneumatic recoil systems of US artillery, aircraft
systems
etc.

The Germans also never realized the efficiency of the US supply system,
which stockpiled huge quantities of material, just in case it would be
needed. The US was the most industrialized country in the world at the
time,
and other countries just couldn't understand how much material the US
could
produce. Hey, no other country ever packed toilet paper with every meal
("C"
or "K" ration) it fed to its front line combat troops.

Diamond Jim



Somewhere I read a comment from a German soldier that it was when he
realised that the US troops were given bubblegum that he knew it was all
over - the resources that must have been to spare to ship such nonessentials
from the US to Normandy!


.

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