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Critical Mass
Critical Mass
 
The Real Story of the Birth of the Atomic Bomb and the Nuclear Age
 
by Carter P. Hydrick
 
Copyright (c) 1998 by Carter P. Hydrick
 
 _______________________________________
 
Contents
 
Introduction i
 
Prologue 1
 
Part One - The Uranium Bomb
 
 
 
 
 
 
Part Two - The Plutonium Bomb
 
6Timing109
 
7Hanford122
 
 
Part Three - Martin Bormann
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ______________________________________
 
- Introduction -
 
This micro-history is suggested as the result of newly discovered,very significant events that occurred during the closing weeks of World War Two.As the story of Critical Mass unfolds, it questions the foundations ofthe traditional history of the making and use of the first atomic bombs as well
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Critical Mass
as our understanding of the Nuclear Age. The facts reveal not only importantnew information about the race to produce the bomb; but the new information helpsus understand how the sum of the history of man was combined in one brief momentto create a critical mass in humanity that shattered the old world foreverand ushered in the Nuclear Age.
 
The previously secret (now declassified) unpublished military, state,intelligence and Department of Energy documentation cited throughout CriticalMass suggests that the atomic bomb was not fully developed and built byAmerican scientists and technicians, as the traditional and long-standinghistory asserts. Instead, the evidence shows that enriched uranium and otheratomic bomb components developed by Nazi Germany were surrendered to UnitedStates forces during the final weeks of the war - probably according toprearranged surreptitious agreements - and were a vital part of the materialsused to create the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Theevidence indicates that without these materials the United States would havefallen short of achieving its nuclear weapons objectives.
 
Interwoven into this story - in fact, integral to it - is provocativeevidence that connects Hitler's behind-the-scenes right-hand man, Nazi PartyChief Martin Bormann, to Germany's very nearly successful effort to create anatomic bomb; and to Germany's last-ditch efforts to transfer that technologyto Japan. Evidence also suggests that Bormann, at the latest possible moment,turned against his Asian ally and decided to hand the keys of world dominion -in the form of the atomic bomb - to any Allied country that would treat withhim. Thus Bormann covertly negotiated a separate, and very secret, personalpeace with the United States that allowed him to disappear from the front pageof history and slide silently between the shadows of a murky past and aphantasmal future.
 
The events that initiated this story have each lead to astounding newrevelations that had the net effect of continually, and, seeminglyunendingly, expanding the scope of this book. As a private citizen whoresearched and wrote the book around the demands of a full-time job and who,with the aid of generous friends and family, financed the research andwriting, generating unlimited resources to constantly expand the book's scopewas impossible. Despite desires to throw light in every corner, provingthe premises presented in Critical Mass has, of necessity, been circumscribedto proving the following basic assertions:
 
1. That the Manhattan Project was not successful producing all of theneeded enriched uranium - isotope U235 - in time to fulfill its atomicbomb requirements, nor was it successful creating a triggering device forthe plutonium bomb without the help of captured German components.
 
2. While not proving conclusively that uranium was enriched in Germany, it wouldbe demonstrated that there was potential in Germany, despite the traditionalhistory that states otherwise, for the Nazi program to successfully enrichU235. Enrichment would have been in quantities that could have supplied thebomb-grade uranium needed by the United States to complete its atomic bombproject. Also, that Germany successfully developed a triggering mechanism usablefor the plutonium bomb.
 
3. That U235 for the uranium bomb, and infrared fuses for the plutonium bomb,were obtained by the U.S. from Germany and were transferred into the possessionof the Manhattan Project and ultimately used in the bombs dropped on Japan.
 
As a matter of sufficiently authenticating the above assertions, I have triedto obtain a minimum of two corroborating pieces of evidence to validate thetheories presented. In almost every case, as will be seen, this has
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Critical Mass
been accomplished. In many, three or more proofs are given. In a fewinstances only one piece of evidence is extant; but taken on the whole,the accumulated evidence is considerable if not incontrovertible.
 
The question may be asked that, with the hundreds if not thousands ofbooks, articles and histories that have been written about the making of thefirst atomic bombs, how can any new and unpublished information be added tothe chronicle. Remarkably, the answer, in part, is that very few of the writersof those histories ever saw any of the original records of the most seminalevents that constituted the makings of the bombs. As far as I can tell, I wasthe first to review the actual uranium enrichment production records, theshipping and receiving records of materials sent from Oak Ridge to Los Alamos,the metallurgical fabrication records of the making of the bombs themselves, andthe records and testimony regarding failure to develop a viable triggeringdevice for the plutonium bomb. Of the 38 boxes of Oak Ridge records held inthe Southeast Regional Archives in Atlanta, Georgia I had pulled for review,only four had been opened since their declassification in 1967 and 1978. I wasthe first to open and cull through many of these boxes, and within thesecontainers I found many critical documents. And there are boxes that remain,their declassification seals yet unbroken.
 
Apparently, the authors described above have relied on personal accounts andthe administrative, strategic and general records harbored in the NationalArchives in Washington for their research. The critical daily production recordsof Oak Ridge and elsewhere have been all but ignored, though they revealimportant information not previously considered in other histories, andalthough they tell a different story than that presently believed. Even ifthose authors had read, assimilated and interpreted the available records,the discrepancies may have been considered anomalous and possibly would havebeen ignored when compared against the overpowering reputation of thetraditional history. Most of that history can be traced in theme and contentto Manhattan Project Commanding General Leslie Groves' book on the subject, NowIt Can Be Told.
 
Now It Can Be Told presents the story of the making of the atomic bomb thatthe United States government needed the world to hear at the time. Therewas, undoubtedly, justification for this guarded approach considering theexigencies of the era. The chronicle of history should be correctedwhen opportunity allows, however - though it all too often is not - forthe understanding and benefit of generations to come. And, frankly, forthe recognition of all those who played a part, as well as the enlightenmentof those who simply desire to know the truth. Democracies especially depend onan informed citizenry to safeguard the proper use of power and appropriateoversight of important military and political policy. Certainly not allinformation and actions of a government at war or in conflict withanother sovereignty can be reviewed on an open basis contemporaneously withthe critical events. But as timely issues are resolved or neutralized bynew events, it is incumbent upon that democratic society to carefully reviewand analyze the events and equitably judge the system and the peopleinvolved. Through this course we ensure the nation's best interests werepreserved, and make whatever adjustments are necessary to provide a guide forfuture like endeavors.
 
Other official and semi-official accounts of the Manhattan Project andthe programs that competed against it have been written, the best among thembeing Richard Rhodes' exceptional Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Making OfThe Atomic Bomb. Critical Mass attempts in no way to re-document theotherwise reliable historical elements of a very complex and detailed subject,
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