Critical Mass, by Carter Plymton Hydrick

Extensively referenced (and relatively convincing) thesis on how the U.S. procured German enriched uranium for use in production of its atomic bombs near the end of World War II. The book is divided into two distinct parts. The first being the timeline and production obstacles associated with the Manhattan Project 1942 -1945. This gives a nice background to some of the basic physics behind the atomic bomb (minimal), the political and military backdrop to the Manhattan Project under General Groves and the production problems associated with enriching uranium. There is also a nice section on parallel efforts in Germany to do the same under the Nazi regime. Equally detailed in this first section is information on the capture/surrender of a German U-Boat which, according to this theory, delivered German enriched uranium and German timing fuses necessary to the production of American bombs. The second part of the book is a carefully constructed argument as to how Martin Bormann orchestrated the delivery of these German materials to the Americans in exchange for his escape from Germany during the last days of the Reich in 1945. There are nice (brief) sections on how Martin Bormann rose to influence in the Nazi regime and arguments both for and against him escaping Germany alive. The author makes a genuine effort to draw conclusions based on best available evidence – some compelling, much lacking. Due to the dearth of hard evidence to support his hypothesis (e.g. that Martin Bormann survived the war), the author is left with an argument based on circumstantial evidence. Many of the author’s references are other books while some are actual government documents. At times the book has a conspiratorial tone. But, to his credit, the author comes clean and admits the paucity of hard evidence and is transparent with his belief in his thesis. It is likely that the truth will never be known. But what is known is that the U.S. managed to detonate two atomic bombs in Japan and lead the charge into the nuclear age. A good read if you are interested in military history or just like a juicy “how the U.S. government conspired to hide this from the world” book.