Who invented nuclear. Who invented the atomic bomb? History of the atomic bomb

The history of human development has always been accompanied by war as a way to resolve conflicts by violence. Civilization has suffered more than fifteen thousand small and large armed conflicts, losses human lives are in the millions. Only in the nineties of the last century there were more than a hundred military clashes, with the participation of ninety countries of the world.

At the same time, scientific discoveries and technological progress made it possible to create weapons of destruction for all more power and sophistication of application. In the twentieth century nuclear weapons have become the peak of massive destructive impact and an instrument of politics.

Atomic bomb device

Modern nuclear bombs as a means of defeating the enemy are created on the basis of advanced technical solutions, the essence of which is not widely publicized. But the main elements inherent in this type of weapon can be considered on the example of the device of a nuclear bomb with the code name "Fat Man", dropped in 1945 on one of the cities of Japan.

The power of the explosion was 22.0 kt in TNT equivalent.

It had the following design features:

• the length of the product was 3250.0 mm, while the diameter of the bulk part was 1520.0 mm. Total weight over 4.5 tons;
• the body is represented by an elliptical shape. In order to avoid premature destruction due to hit by anti-aircraft ammunition and undesirable effects of a different kind, 9.5 mm armored steel was used for its manufacture;
• the body is divided into four internal parts: the nose, two halves of the ellipsoid (the main one is the compartment for the nuclear filling), the tail.
• the nose compartment is equipped with rechargeable batteries;
• the main compartment, like a bow, to prevent the ingress of harmful media, moisture, creating comfortable conditions for the operation of the boron sensor, they are evacuated;
• the ellipsoid housed a plutonium core, covered by a uranium tamper (shell). He played the role of an inertial flow limiter nuclear reaction, providing the maximum activity of weapons-grade plutonium, by reflecting neutrons to the side of the active zone of the charge.

Inside the nucleus was placed the primary source of neutrons, called the initiator or "hedgehog". Represented by beryllium spherical shape with a diameter 20.0 mm with an outer coating based on polonium - 210.

It should be noted that the expert community has determined such a design of a nuclear weapon to be ineffective and unreliable in use. Neutron initiation of the unguided type was not used further. .

Operating principle

The process of fission of the nuclei of uranium 235 (233) and plutonium 239 (this is what the nuclear bomb consists of) with a huge release of energy while limiting the volume is called a nuclear explosion. The atomic structure of radioactive metals has an unstable shape - they are constantly divided into other elements.

The process is accompanied by the detachment of neurons, some of which, falling on neighboring atoms, initiate a further reaction, accompanied by the release of energy.

The principle is as follows: reducing the decay time leads to a greater intensity of the process, and the concentration of neurons on the bombardment of nuclei leads to a chain reaction. When two elements are combined to a critical mass, a supercritical one will be created, leading to an explosion.

Under domestic conditions, it is impossible to provoke an active reaction - high speeds of approach of elements are needed - at least 2.5 km / s. Achieving this speed in a bomb is possible by using combining types of explosives (fast and slow), balancing the density of the supercritical mass, producing an atomic explosion.

Nuclear explosions are attributed to the results of human activity on the planet or its orbit. Natural processes of this kind are possible only on some stars in outer space.

Atomic bombs are rightfully considered the most powerful and destructive weapons of mass destruction. Tactical use solves the tasks of destroying strategic, military facilities, ground-based, as well as deep-based, defeating a significant accumulation of equipment, enemy manpower.

It can be applied globally only in pursuit of the goal of complete destruction of the population and infrastructure in large areas.

To achieve certain goals, fulfill tasks of a tactical and strategic nature, detonations of nuclear weapons can be carried out:

• at critical and low altitudes (above and below 30.0 km);
• in direct contact with the earth's crust (water);
• underground (or underwater explosion).

A nuclear explosion is characterized by the instantaneous release of enormous energy.

Leading to the defeat of objects and a person as follows:

• shock wave. An explosion above or on the earth's crust (water) is called an air wave, underground (water) - a seismic explosive wave. An air wave is formed after a critical compression of air masses and propagates in a circle until attenuation at a speed exceeding sound. It leads to both direct defeat of manpower, and indirect (interaction with fragments of destroyed objects). Action overpressure makes the technique non-functional by moving and hitting the ground;
• Light emission. Source - the light part formed by the evaporation of a product with air masses, in case of ground application - soil vapors. Exposure occurs in the ultraviolet and infrared spectra. Its absorption by objects and people provokes charring, melting and burning. The degree of damage depends on the removal of the epicenter;
• penetrating radiation- this is neutrons and gamma rays moving from the place of the rupture. Impact on biological tissues leads to ionization of cell molecules, leading to radiation sickness of the body. Damage to property is associated with molecular fission reactions in the damaging elements of ammunition.
• radioactive infection. In a ground explosion, soil vapors, dust, and other things rise. A cloud appears, moving in the direction of the movement of air masses. Sources of damage are fission products of the active part of a nuclear weapon, isotopes, not destroyed parts of the charge. When a radioactive cloud moves, a continuous radiation contamination of the area occurs;
• electromagnetic impulse. The explosion accompanies the appearance of electromagnetic fields (from 1.0 to 1000 m) in the form of an impulse. They lead to the failure of electrical appliances, controls and communications.

The combination of factors of a nuclear explosion inflicts damage to the enemy’s manpower, equipment and infrastructure in different levels, and the fatality of the consequences is associated only with the distance from its epicenter.

History of the creation of nuclear weapons

The creation of weapons using a nuclear reaction was accompanied by a number of scientific discoveries, theoretical and practical research, including:

• 1905- created the theory of relativity, stating that not a large number of substance corresponds to a significant release of energy according to the formula E \u003d mc2, where "c" represents the speed of light (author A. Einstein);
• 1938- German scientists conducted an experiment on the division of an atom into parts by attacking uranium with neutrons, which ended successfully (O. Hann and F. Strassmann), and a physicist from the UK gave an explanation for the fact of energy release (R. Frisch);
• 1939- scientists from France that when carrying out a chain of reactions of uranium molecules, energy will be released capable of producing an explosion of enormous force (Joliot-Curie).

The latter became the starting point for the invention of atomic weapons. Germany, Great Britain, the USA, Japan were engaged in parallel development. The main problem was the extraction of uranium in the required volumes for experiments in this area.

The problem was solved faster in the United States by purchasing raw materials from Belgium in 1940.

Within the framework of the project, called Manhattan, from 1939 to 1945, a uranium purification plant was built, a center for the study of nuclear processes was created, and the best specialists were attracted to work in it - physicists from all over Western Europe.

Great Britain, which led its own developments, was forced, after the German bombing, to voluntarily transfer the developments on its project to the US military.

The Americans are believed to be the first to invent the atomic bomb. Tests of the first nuclear charge were carried out in the state of New Mexico in July 1945. The flash from the explosion darkened the sky, and the sandy landscape turned to glass. After a short period of time, nuclear charges were created, called "Baby" and "Fat Man".

Nuclear weapons in the USSR - dates and events

The formation of the USSR as a nuclear power was preceded by long work individual scientists and government institutions. Key periods and significant dates of events are presented as follows:

• 1920 consider the beginning of the work of Soviet scientists on the fission of the atom;
• From the thirties the direction of nuclear physics becomes a priority;
• October 1940- an initiative group of physicists came up with a proposal to use nuclear developments for military purposes;
• Summer 1941 in connection with the war, the institutes of atomic energy were transferred to the rear;
• Autumn 1941 years, Soviet intelligence informed the country's leadership about the start of nuclear programs in Britain and America;
• September 1942- studies of the atom began to be done in full, work on uranium continued;
• February 1943- a special research laboratory was created under the leadership of I. Kurchatov, and the general leadership was entrusted to V. Molotov;

The project was led by V. Molotov.

• August 1945- in connection with the conduct of nuclear bombing in Japan, the high importance of developments for the USSR, a Special Committee was created under the leadership of L. Beria;
• April 1946- KB-11 was created, which began to develop samples of Soviet nuclear weapons in two versions (using plutonium and uranium);
• mid 1948- work on uranium was stopped due to low efficiency at high costs;
• August 1949- when the atomic bomb was invented in the USSR, the first Soviet nuclear bomb was tested.

The quality work of the intelligence agencies, which managed to obtain information on American nuclear developments, contributed to the reduction in the development time of the product. Among those who first created the atomic bomb in the USSR was a team of scientists led by Academician A. Sakharov. They developed more advanced technical solutions than those used by the Americans.

Atomic bomb "RDS-1"

In 2015-2017, Russia made a breakthrough in improving nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, thereby declaring a state capable of repelling any aggression.

First atomic bomb tests

After testing an experimental nuclear bomb in the state of New Mexico in the summer of 1945, the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki followed on August 6 and 9, respectively.

completed this year atomic bomb

In 1949, under conditions of increased secrecy, the Soviet designers of KB - 11 and scientists completed the development of an atomic bomb, called RDS-1 ( jet engine"WITH"). On August 29, the first Soviet nuclear device was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. The atomic bomb of Russia - RDS-1 was a product of a "drop-shaped" shape, weighing 4.6 tons, with a volume part diameter of 1.5 m, and a length of 3.7 meters.

The active part included a plutonium block, which made it possible to achieve an explosion power of 20.0 kilotons, commensurate with TNT. The test site covered a radius of twenty kilometers. Features of the test detonation conditions have not been made public to date.

On September 3 of the same year, American aviation intelligence established the presence of traces of isotopes in the air masses of Kamchatka, indicating the testing of a nuclear charge. On the twenty-third, the first person in the United States publicly announced that the USSR had succeeded in testing the atomic bomb.

The Soviet Union refuted the statements of the Americans with a TASS report, which spoke of large-scale construction on the territory of the USSR and large volumes of construction, including explosive, work, which attracted the attention of foreigners. The official statement that the USSR had atomic weapons was made only in 1950. Therefore, disputes still do not subside in the world, who first invented the atomic bomb.

The one who invented the atomic bomb could not even imagine what tragic consequences this miracle invention of the 20th century could lead to. Before this superweapon was experienced by the inhabitants of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a very long way had been done.

A start

In April 1903, Paul Langevin's friends gathered in the Parisian Garden of France. The reason was the defense of the dissertation of the young and talented scientist Marie Curie. Among the distinguished guests was the famous English physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford. In the midst of the fun, the lights were put out. announced to everyone that now there will be a surprise. With a solemn air, Pierre Curie brought in a small tube of radium salts, which shone with a green light, causing extraordinary delight among those present. In the future, the guests heatedly discussed the future of this phenomenon. Everyone agreed that thanks to radium, the acute problem of lack of energy would be solved. This inspired everyone to new research and further perspectives. If they were then told that laboratory works with radioactive elements will lay the foundation for a terrible weapon of the 20th century, it is not known what their reaction would be. It was then that the story of the atomic bomb began, which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians.

Game ahead of the curve

On December 17, 1938, the German scientist Otto Gann obtained irrefutable evidence of the decay of uranium into smaller elementary particles. In fact, he managed to split the atom. In the scientific world, this was regarded as a new milestone in the history of mankind. Otto Gunn did not share the political views of the Third Reich. Therefore, in the same year, 1938, the scientist was forced to move to Stockholm, where, together with Friedrich Strassmann, he continued his scientific research. Fearing that fascist Germany will be the first to receive a terrible weapon, he writes a letter with a warning about this. The news of a possible lead greatly alarmed the US government. The Americans began to act quickly and decisively.

Who created the atomic bomb? American project

Even before the group, many of whom were refugees from the Nazi regime in Europe, was tasked with developing nuclear weapons. The initial research, it is worth noting, was carried out in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the government of the United States of America began funding its own program to develop atomic weapons. An incredible amount of two and a half billion dollars was allocated for the implementation of the project. Outstanding physicists of the 20th century were invited to carry out this secret project, including more than ten Nobel laureates. In total, about 130 thousand employees were involved, among whom were not only the military, but also civilians. The development team was led by Colonel Leslie Richard Groves, with Robert Oppenheimer as supervisor. He is the man who invented the atomic bomb. A special secret engineering building was built in the Manhattan area, which is known to us under the code name "Manhattan Project". Over the next few years, the scientists of the secret project worked on the problem of nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium.

Non-peaceful atom by Igor Kurchatov

Today, every schoolchild will be able to answer the question of who invented the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. And then, in the early 30s of the last century, no one knew this.

In 1932, Academician Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov was one of the first in the world to start studying the atomic nucleus. Gathering like-minded people around him, Igor Vasilievich in 1937 created the first cyclotron in Europe. In the same year, he and his like-minded people create the first artificial nuclei.

In 1939, I. V. Kurchatov began to study a new direction - nuclear physics. After several laboratory successes in studying this phenomenon, the scientist gets at his disposal a secret research center, which was named "Laboratory No. 2". Today, this secret object is called "Arzamas-16".

The target direction of this center was a serious research and development of nuclear weapons. Now it becomes obvious who created the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union. There were only ten people on his team then.

atomic bomb to be

By the end of 1945, Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov managed to assemble a serious team of scientists numbering more than a hundred people. The best minds of various scientific specializations came to the laboratory from all over the country to create atomic weapons. After the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Soviet scientists realized that this could also be done with the Soviet Union. "Laboratory No. 2" receives a sharp increase in funding from the country's leadership and a large influx of qualified personnel. responsible for such important project appointed Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. The enormous labors of Soviet scientists have borne fruit.

Semipalatinsk test site

The atomic bomb in the USSR was first tested at the test site in Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). On August 29, 1949, a 22 kiloton nuclear device shook the Kazakh land. Nobel laureate physicist Otto Hanz said: “This is good news. If Russia has atomic weapons, then there will be no war.” It was this atomic bomb in the USSR, encrypted as product number 501, or RDS-1, that eliminated the US monopoly on nuclear weapons.

Atomic bomb. Year 1945

In the early morning of July 16, the Manhattan Project conducted its first successful test of an atomic device - a plutonium bomb - at the Alamogordo test site in New Mexico, USA.

The money invested in the project was well spent. The first in the history of mankind was produced at 5:30 in the morning.

"We have done the work of the devil," the one who invented the atomic bomb in the United States, later called the "father of the atomic bomb," will say later.

Japan does not capitulate

By the time of the final and successful testing of the atomic bomb Soviet troops and the Allies finally defeated Nazi Germany. However, there was one state that promised to fight to the end for dominance in the Pacific Ocean. From mid-April to mid-July 1945, the Japanese army repeatedly carried out air strikes against allied forces, thereby inflicting heavy losses on the US army. At the end of July 1945, the militarist government of Japan rejected the Allied demand for surrender in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration. In it, in particular, it was said that in case of disobedience, the Japanese army would face rapid and complete destruction.

President agrees

The American government kept its word and began targeted bombing of Japanese military positions. Air strikes did not bring the desired result, and US President Harry Truman decides on the invasion of American troops into Japan. However, the military command dissuades its president from such a decision, citing the fact that the American invasion would entail a large number of victims.

At the suggestion of Henry Lewis Stimson and Dwight David Eisenhower, it was decided to use a more effective way to end the war. A big supporter of the atomic bomb, US Presidential Secretary James Francis Byrnes, believed that the bombing of Japanese territories would finally end the war and put the US in a dominant position, which would positively affect the future course of events in the post-war world. Thus, US President Harry Truman was convinced that this was the only correct option.

Atomic bomb. Hiroshima

The small Japanese city of Hiroshima, with a population of just over 350,000, was chosen as the first target, located five hundred miles from the capital of Japan, Tokyo. After the modified Enola Gay B-29 bomber arrived at the US naval base on Tinian Island, an atomic bomb was installed on board the aircraft. Hiroshima was supposed to experience the effects of 9,000 pounds of uranium-235.

This hitherto unseen weapon was intended for civilians in a small Japanese town. The bomber commander was Colonel Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. The US atomic bomb bore the cynical name "Baby". On the morning of August 6, 1945, at about 8:15 am, the American "Baby" was dropped on the Japanese Hiroshima. About 15 thousand tons of TNT destroyed all life within a radius of five square miles. One hundred and forty thousand inhabitants of the city died in a matter of seconds. The surviving Japanese died a painful death from radiation sickness.

They were destroyed by the American atomic "Kid". However, the devastation of Hiroshima did not cause the immediate surrender of Japan, as everyone expected. Then it was decided to another bombardment of Japanese territory.

Nagasaki. Sky on fire

The American atomic bomb "Fat Man" was installed on board the B-29 aircraft on August 9, 1945, all in the same place, at the US naval base in Tinian. This time the aircraft commander was Major Charles Sweeney. Initially, the strategic target was the city of Kokura.

but weather not allowed to carry out the plan, hindered by a large cloud cover. Charles Sweeney went into the second round. At 11:02 am, the American nuclear-powered Fat Man swallowed up Nagasaki. It was a more powerful destructive air strike, which, in its strength, was several times higher than the bombing in Hiroshima. Nagasaki tested an atomic weapon weighing about 10,000 pounds and 22 kilotons of TNT.

The geographical location of the Japanese city reduced the expected effect. The thing is that the city is located in a narrow valley between the mountains. Therefore, the destruction of 2.6 square miles did not reveal the full potential of American weapons. The Nagasaki atomic bomb test is considered the failed "Manhattan Project".

Japan surrendered

On the afternoon of August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced his country's surrender in a radio address to the people of Japan. This news quickly spread around the world. In the United States of America, celebrations began on the occasion of the victory over Japan. The people rejoiced.

On September 2, 1945, a formal agreement to end the war was signed aboard the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Thus ended the most brutal and bloody war in the history of mankind.

For six long years, the world community has been moving towards this significant date - since September 1, 1939, when the first shots of Nazi Germany were fired on the territory of Poland.

Peaceful atom

A total of 124 nuclear explosions were carried out in the Soviet Union. It is characteristic that all of them were carried out for the benefit of the national economy. Only three of them were accidents involving the release of radioactive elements. Programs for the use of peaceful atom were implemented only in two countries - the United States and the Soviet Union. Nuclear peaceful energy knows an example of a global catastrophe, when years at the fourth power unit Chernobyl nuclear power plant the reactor exploded.

Sergey LESKOV

On August 12, 1953, the world's first hydrogen bomb was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. It was the fourth Soviet test of a nuclear weapon. The power of the bomb, which had the secret code “RDS-6 s product,” reached 400 kilotons, 20 times more than the first atomic bombs in the USA and the USSR. After the test, Kurchatov turned to the 32-year-old Sakharov with a deep bow: “Thank you, the savior of Russia!”

Which is better - Bee Line or MTS? One of the most pressing issues of Russian everyday life. Half a century ago, in a narrow circle of nuclear physicists, the question was equally acute: which is better - an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, which is also thermonuclear? The atomic bomb, which the Americans made in 1945, and we made in 1949, is built on the principle of releasing colossal energy by splitting heavy nuclei of uranium or artificial plutonium. A thermonuclear bomb is built on a different principle: energy is released by the fusion of light isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. Materials based on light elements do not have a critical mass, which was a major design challenge in the atomic bomb. In addition, the synthesis of deuterium and tritium releases 4.2 times more energy than the fission of nuclei of the same mass of uranium-235. In short, the hydrogen bomb is a much more powerful weapon than the atomic bomb.

In those years, the destructive power of the hydrogen bomb did not scare away any of the scientists. The world entered the era of the Cold War, McCarthyism was raging in the United States, and another wave of revelations rose in the USSR. Only Pyotr Kapitsa allowed himself demarches, who did not even appear at the solemn meeting at the Academy of Sciences on the occasion of Stalin's 70th birthday. The question of his expulsion from the ranks of the academy was discussed, but the situation was saved by the President of the Academy of Sciences Sergei Vavilov, who noted that the first to be excluded was the classic writer Sholokhov, who skimps on all meetings without exception.

In creating the atomic bomb, as you know, intelligence data helped scientists. But our agents almost ruined the hydrogen bomb. The information obtained from the famous Klaus Fuchs led to a dead end for both Americans and Soviet physicists. The group under the command of Zeldovich lost 6 years to check the erroneous data. Intelligence provided the opinion of the famous Niels Bohr about the unreality of the "superbomb". But the USSR had its own ideas, to prove the prospects of which to Stalin and Beria, who were "chasing" the atomic bomb with might and main, was not easy and risky. This circumstance must not be forgotten in fruitless and stupid disputes about who worked harder on nuclear weapons - Soviet intelligence or Soviet science.

The work on the hydrogen bomb was the first intellectual race in human history. To create an atomic bomb, it was important, first of all, to solve engineering problems, to launch large-scale work in mines and combines. The hydrogen bomb, on the other hand, led to the emergence of new scientific areas - the physics of high-temperature plasma, the physics of ultrahigh energy densities, and the physics of anomalous pressures. For the first time I had to resort to the help of mathematical modeling. Lagging behind the United States in the field of computers (von Neumann's devices were already in use overseas), our scientists compensated with ingenious computational methods on primitive arithmometers.

In a word, it was the world's first battle of wits. And the USSR won this battle. Andrei Sakharov, an ordinary employee of the Zeldovich group, came up with an alternative scheme for the hydrogen bomb. Back in 1949, he proposed the original idea of ​​the so-called "puff", where cheap uranium-238 was used as an effective nuclear material, which was considered as garbage in the production of weapons-grade uranium. But if this "waste" is bombarded by fusion neutrons, which are 10 times more energy-intensive than fission neutrons, then uranium-238 begins to fission and the cost of producing each kiloton decreases many times over. The phenomenon of ionization compression of thermonuclear fuel, which became the basis of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, is still called "saccharization". Vitaly Ginzburg proposed lithium deuteride as a fuel.

Work on the atomic and hydrogen bombs proceeded in parallel. Even before the atomic bomb tests in 1949, Vavilov and Khariton informed Beria about the "sloika". After the infamous directive of President Truman at the beginning of 1950, at a meeting of the Special Committee chaired by Beria, it was decided to speed up work on the Sakharov design with a TNT equivalent of 1 megaton and a test period in 1954.

On November 1, 1952, on Elugelub Atoll, the United States tested the Mike thermonuclear device with an energy release of 10 megatons, 500 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. However, "Mike" was not a bomb - a giant structure the size of two-storey house. But the power of the explosion was amazing. The neutron flux was so great that two new elements, einsteinium and fermium, were discovered.

All forces were thrown at the hydrogen bomb. The work was not slowed down either by the death of Stalin or by the arrest of Beria. Finally, on August 12, 1953, the world's first hydrogen bomb was tested in Semipalatinsk. The environmental consequences were horrendous. The share of the first explosion for the entire time of nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk accounts for 82% of strontium-90 and 75% of cesium-137. But then no one thought about radioactive contamination, as well as about ecology in general.

The first hydrogen bomb was the reason for the rapid development of Soviet cosmonautics. After the nuclear tests, the Korolyov Design Bureau was given the task of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile for this charge. This rocket, called the "seven", launched the first artificial satellite of the Earth into space, and the first cosmonaut of the planet, Yuri Gagarin, launched on it.

On November 6, 1955, the test of a hydrogen bomb dropped from a Tu-16 aircraft was carried out for the first time. In the United States, the drop of the hydrogen bomb did not take place until May 21, 1956. But it turned out that Andrei Sakharov's first bomb was also a dead end, and it was never tested again. Even earlier, on March 1, 1954, near Bikini Atoll, the United States blew up a charge of unheard of power - 15 megatons. It was based on the idea of ​​Teller and Ulam about the compression of a thermonuclear assembly not by mechanical energy and a neutron flux, but by the radiation of the first explosion, the so-called initiator. After the ordeal, which turned into casualties among the civilian population, Igor Tamm demanded that his colleagues abandon all previous ideas, even the national pride of the “sloika” and find a fundamentally new way: “Everything that we have done so far is of no use to anyone. We are unemployed. I am sure that in a few months we will reach the goal.”

And already in the spring of 1954, Soviet physicists came up with the idea of ​​an explosive initiator. The authorship of the idea belongs to Zeldovich and Sakharov. On November 22, 1955, a Tu-16 dropped a bomb with a design capacity of 3.6 megatons over the Semipalatinsk test site. During these tests, there were dead, the radius of destruction reached 350 km, Semipalatinsk suffered.

Ahead was a nuclear arms race. But in 1955 it became clear that the USSR had achieved nuclear parity with the United States.

Truth in the penultimate instance

There are not many things in the world that are considered indisputable. Well, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I think you know. And that the Moon revolves around the Earth, too. And about the fact that the Americans were the first to create an atomic bomb, ahead of both the Germans and the Russians.

So did I, until four years ago an old magazine fell into my hands. He left my beliefs about the sun and the moon alone, but faith in American leadership was shaken quite seriously. It was a plump volume in German, a 1938 binder of Theoretical Physics. I don’t remember why I got there, but quite unexpectedly I came across an article by Professor Otto Hahn.

The name was familiar to me. It was Hahn, the famous German physicist and radiochemist, who in 1938, together with another prominent scientist, Fritz Straussmann, discovered the fission of the uranium nucleus, in fact, starting work on the creation of nuclear weapons. At first, I just skimmed through the article diagonally, but then completely unexpected phrases made me become more attentive. And, ultimately, even forget about why I originally picked up this magazine.

Gan's article was devoted to an overview of nuclear developments in different countries of the world. As a matter of fact, there was nothing special to review: everywhere except Germany, nuclear research was in the pen. They didn't see much point. " This abstract matter has nothing to do with state needs., said British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain around the same time when he was asked to support British atomic research with public money.

« Let these bespectacled scientists look for money themselves, the state has a lot of other problems!" — this was the opinion of most world leaders in the 1930s. Except, of course, the Nazis, who just financed the nuclear program.
But it was not Chamberlain's passage, carefully quoted by Hahn, that caught my attention. England does not interest the author of these lines much at all. Much more interesting was what Hahn wrote about the state of nuclear research in the United States of America. And he literally wrote the following:

If we talk about the country in which the processes of nuclear fission are given the least attention, then the United States should undoubtedly be called. Of course, now I am not considering Brazil or the Vatican. but among developed countries, even Italy and communist Russia are far ahead of the United States. Little attention is paid to the problems of theoretical physics on the other side of the ocean, priority is given to applied developments that can give immediate profit. Therefore, I can state with confidence that during the next decade the North Americans will not be able to do anything significant for the development of atomic physics.

At first I just laughed. Wow, how wrong my compatriot! And only then I thought: whatever one may say, Otto Hahn was not a simpleton or an amateur. He was well informed about the state of atomic research, especially since before the outbreak of World War II, this topic was freely discussed in scientific circles.

Maybe the Americans misinformed the whole world? But for what purpose? No one even thought about nuclear weapons in the 1930s. Moreover, most scientists considered its creation impossible in principle. That is why, until 1939, all new achievements in atomic physics instantly recognized the whole world - they were quite openly published in scientific journals. No one hid the fruits of their labor, on the contrary, there was an open rivalry between different groups of scientists (almost exclusively Germans) - who will move forward faster?

Maybe scientists in the States were ahead of the whole world and therefore kept their achievements a secret? Nonsense assumption. To confirm or refute it, we will have to consider the history of the creation of the American atomic bomb - at least as it appears in official publications. We are all accustomed to take it on faith as a matter of course. However, upon closer examination, there are so many oddities and inconsistencies in it that you simply wonder.

With the world on a string - US bomb

1942 began well for the British. The German invasion of their little island, which seemed imminent, now, as if by magic, receded into a misty distance. Last summer, Hitler made the biggest mistake of his life - he attacked Russia. This was the beginning of the end. The Russians not only held out against the hopes of the Berlin strategists and the pessimistic forecasts of many observers, but also gave the Wehrmacht a good punch in the teeth in a frosty winter. And in December, the big and powerful United States came to the aid of the British and was now an official ally. In general, there were more than enough reasons for joy.

Only a few high-ranking officials who owned the information that British intelligence had received were not happy. At the end of 1941, the British became aware that the Germans were developing their atomic research at a frantic pace.. The ultimate goal of this process became clear - a nuclear bomb. The British atomic scientists were competent enough to imagine the threat posed by the new weapon.

At the same time, the British had no illusions about their capabilities. All the resources of the country were directed to elementary survival. Although the Germans and Japanese were up to their necks in the war with the Russians and the Americans, from time to time they found an opportunity to poke their fist into the decrepit building of the British Empire. From each such poke, the rotten building staggered and creaked, threatening to collapse.

Rommel's three divisions fettered almost the entire combat-ready British army in North Africa. Admiral Dönitz's submarines, like predatory sharks, darted across the Atlantic, threatening to interrupt the vital supply chain from across the ocean. Britain simply did not have the resources to enter into a nuclear race with the Germans.. The backlog was already large, and in the very near future it threatened to become hopeless.

I must say that the Americans were initially skeptical about such a gift. The military department point-blank did not understand why it should spend money on some obscure project. What other new weapons are there? Here are aircraft carrier groups and armadas of heavy bombers - yes, this is strength. And the nuclear bomb, which scientists themselves imagine very vaguely, is just an abstraction, grandmother's tales.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had to directly turn to American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a request, literally a plea, not to reject the British gift. Roosevelt called the scientists to him, figured out the issue and gave the go-ahead.

Usually the creators of the canonical legend of the American bomb use this episode to emphasize the wisdom of Roosevelt. Look, what a shrewd president! We will look at it a little differently: in what pen were the Yankees in atomic research, if they so long and stubbornly refused to cooperate with the British! So Gan was absolutely right in his assessment of the American nuclear scientists - they were nothing solid.

Only in September 1942 was it decided to start work on the atomic bomb. The organizational period took some more time, and things really got off the ground only with the advent of the new year, 1943. From the army, General Leslie Groves headed the work (later he would write memoirs in which he would detail official version taking place), the real leader was Professor Robert Oppenheimer. I will talk about it in detail a little later, but for now let's admire another curious detail - how the team of scientists who began work on the bomb was formed.

In fact, when Oppenheimer was asked to recruit specialists, he had very little choice. Good nuclear physicists in the States could be counted on the fingers of a crippled hand. Therefore, the professor made a wise decision - to recruit people whom he knows personally and whom he can trust, regardless of what area of ​​\u200b\u200bphysics they were engaged in before. And so it turned out that the lion's share of the seats was occupied by employees of Columbia University from Manhattan County (by the way, that is why the project was called Manhattan).

But even these forces were not enough. British scientists had to be involved in the work, literally devastating British research centers, and even specialists from Canada. In general, the Manhattan Project has become a kind of Tower of Babel, with the only difference being that all of its participants spoke more or less the same language. However, this did not save us from the usual quarrels and squabbles in the scientific community, which arose due to the rivalry of different scientific groups. Echoes of these frictions can be found on the pages of Groves' book, and they look very funny: the general, on the one hand, wants to convince the reader that everything was decorous and decent, and on the other hand, to boast how cleverly he managed to reconcile completely quarreling scientific luminaries.

And now they are trying to convince us that in this friendly atmosphere of a large terrarium, the Americans managed to create an atomic bomb in two and a half years. And the Germans, who pored over their nuclear project merrily and amicably for five years, did not succeed. Miracles, and nothing more.

However, even if there were no squabbles, such record terms would still arouse suspicion. The fact is that in the process of research it is necessary to go through certain stages, which are almost impossible to reduce. The Americans themselves attribute their success to gigantic funding - in the end, More than two billion dollars were spent on the Manhattan Project! However, no matter how you feed a pregnant woman, she still will not be able to give birth to a full-term baby before nine months. It is the same with the nuclear project: it is impossible to significantly speed up, for example, the process of uranium enrichment.

The Germans worked for five years with full effort. Of course, they also had mistakes and miscalculations that took up precious time. But who said that the Americans had no mistakes and miscalculations? There were, and many. One of these mistakes was the involvement of the famous physicist Niels Bohr.

Skorzeny's unknown operation

British intelligence services are very fond of boasting about one of their operations. We are talking about the salvation of the great Danish scientist Niels Bohr from Nazi Germany. The official legend says that after the outbreak of World War II, the outstanding physicist lived quietly and calmly in Denmark, leading a rather secluded lifestyle. The Nazis offered him cooperation many times, but Bohr invariably refused.

By 1943, the Germans nevertheless decided to arrest him. But, warned in time, Niels Bohr managed to escape to Sweden, from where the British took him out in the bomb bay of a heavy bomber. By the end of the year, the physicist was in America and began to work zealously for the benefit of the Manhattan Project.

The legend is beautiful and romantic, only it is sewn with white thread and does not withstand any tests.. There is no more credibility in it than in the fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Firstly, because the Nazis look like complete idiots in it, and they never were like that. Think well! In 1940 the Germans occupied Denmark. They know that a Nobel laureate lives on the territory of the country, who can be of great help to them in their work on the atomic bomb. The same atomic bomb, which is vital for the victory of Germany.

And what do they do? They occasionally visit the scientist for three years, politely knock on the door and quietly ask: “ Herr Bohr, do you want to work for the benefit of the Fuhrer and the Reich? You do not want? Okay, we'll come back later.". No, this was not the way the German secret services worked! Logically, they should have arrested Bohr not in 1943, but in 1940. If possible, force (namely force, not beg!) to work for them, if not, at least make sure that he cannot work for the enemy: put him in a concentration camp or destroy him. And they leave him to roam free, under the noses of the British.

Three years later, the legend goes, the Germans finally realize that they are supposed to arrest the scientist. But then someone (namely someone, because I have not found any indication of who did it) warns Bohr of the imminent danger. Who could it be? It was not the habit of the Gestapo to shout at every corner about impending arrests. People were taken quietly, unexpectedly, at night. So, the mysterious patron of Bor is one of the rather high-ranking officials.

Let's leave this mysterious angel-savior alone for now and continue to analyze the wanderings of Niels Bohr. So the scientist fled to Sweden. How do you think, how? On a fishing boat, avoiding German Coast Guard boats in the fog? On a raft made of boards? No matter how! Bor, with the greatest possible comfort, sailed to Sweden on the most ordinary private steamer, which officially entered the port of Copenhagen.

Let's not puzzle over the question of how the Germans released the scientist if they were going to arrest him. Let's think about this better. The flight of a world-famous physicist is an emergency on a very serious scale. On this occasion, an investigation was inevitably to be carried out - the heads of those who screwed up the physicist, as well as the mysterious patron, would have flown. However, no traces of such an investigation could be found. Maybe because it didn't exist.

Indeed, how valuable was Niels Bohr for the development of the atomic bomb? Born in 1885 and becoming a Nobel laureate in 1922, Bohr turned to the problems of nuclear physics only in the 1930s. At that time, he was already a major, accomplished scientist with well-formed views. Such people rarely succeed in areas that require an innovative approach and out-of-the-box thinking - and nuclear physics was such a field. For several years, Bohr failed to make any significant contribution to atomic research.

However, as the ancients said, the first half of life a person works for the name, the second - the name for the person. With Niels Bohr, this second half has already begun. Having taken up nuclear physics, he automatically began to be considered a major specialist in this field, regardless of his real achievements.

But in Germany, where such world-famous nuclear scientists as Hahn and Heisenberg worked, the real value of the Danish scientist was known. That is why they did not actively try to involve him in the work. It will turn out - good, we will trumpet to the whole world that Niels Bohr himself is working for us. If it doesn’t work out, it’s also not bad, it won’t get underfoot with its authority.

By the way, in the United States, Niels Bohr to a large extent got in the way. The fact is that an outstanding physicist did not believe at all in the possibility of creating a nuclear bomb. At the same time, his authority forced to reckon with his opinion. According to Groves' memoirs, the scientists working on the Manhattan Project treated Bohr like an elder. Now imagine that you are doing some difficult work without any confidence in the final success. And then someone whom you consider a great specialist comes up to you and says that it’s not even worth spending time on your lesson. Will the job get easier? I do not think.

In addition, Bohr was a staunch pacifist. In 1945, when the US already had an atomic bomb, he vehemently protested its use. Accordingly, he treated his work with coolness. Therefore, I urge you to think again: what did Bohr bring more - movement or stagnation in the development of the issue?

It's a strange picture, isn't it? She began to clear up a little after I recognized one interesting detail, it would seem that it has nothing to do with Niels Bohr or the atomic bomb. We are talking about the "main saboteur of the Third Reich" Otto Skorzeny.

It is believed that Skorzeny's rise began after he released Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from prison in 1943. Imprisoned in a mountain prison by his former associates, Mussolini could not, it would seem, hope for release. But Skorzeny, on the direct instructions of Hitler, developed a daring plan: to land troops in gliders and then fly away in a small airplane. Everything turned out perfectly: Mussolini is free, Skorzeny is held in high esteem.

At least that's what most people think. Only a few well-informed historians know that cause and effect are confused here. Skorzeny was entrusted with an extremely difficult and responsible task precisely because Hitler trusted him. That is, the rise of the "king of special operations" began before the story of Mussolini's rescue. However, very soon - a couple of months. Skorzeny was promoted in rank and position exactly when Niels Bohr fled to England. I couldn't find any reason to upgrade.

So we have three facts:
— Firstly, the Germans did not prevent Niels Bohr from leaving for Britain;
— Secondly, Bor did more harm to Americans than good;
— third, immediately after the scientist ended up in England, Skorzeny gets a promotion.

But what if these are the details of one mosaic? I decided to try to reconstruct the events. Having captured Denmark, the Germans were well aware that Niels Bohr was unlikely to assist in the creation of an atomic bomb. Moreover, it will rather interfere. Therefore, he was left to live in peace in Denmark, under the very nose of the British. Maybe even then the Germans expected that the British would kidnap the scientist. However, for three years the British did not dare to do anything.

At the end of 1942, vague rumors began to reach the Germans about the start of a large-scale project to create an American atomic bomb. Even given the secrecy of the project, it was absolutely impossible to keep the awl in the bag: the instant disappearance of hundreds of scientists from different countries, one way or another connected with nuclear research, should have prompted any mentally normal person to such conclusions.

The Nazis were sure that they were far ahead of the Yankees (and this was true), but this did not prevent the enemy from doing something nasty. And at the beginning of 1943, one of the most secret operations of the German special services was carried out. On the threshold of Niels Bohr's house, a certain well-wisher appears who tells him that they want to arrest him and throw him into a concentration camp, and offers his help. The scientist agrees - he has no other choice, being behind barbed wire is not the best prospect.

At the same time, apparently, the British are being lied to about the complete indispensability and uniqueness of Bohr in the field of nuclear research. The British are pecking - and what can they do if the prey itself goes into their hands, that is, to Sweden? And for complete heroism, Bora is taken out of there in the belly of a bomber, although they could comfortably send him on a ship.

And then the Nobel laureate appears at the epicenter of the Manhattan Project, producing the effect of an exploding bomb. That is, if the Germans managed to bomb the research center at Los Alamos, the effect would be about the same. Work has slowed down, moreover, very significantly. Apparently, the Americans did not immediately realize how they were cheated, and when they realized, it was already too late.
Do you still believe that the Yankees built the atomic bomb themselves?

Mission "Alsos"

Personally, I finally refused to believe in these tales after I studied in detail the activities of the Alsos group. This operation of the American intelligence services was kept secret for many years - until they went into better world its main members. And only then did information come to light - albeit fragmentary and scattered - about how the Americans hunted for German atomic secrets.

True, if you thoroughly work on this information and compare it with some well-known facts, the picture turned out to be very convincing. But I won't get ahead of myself. So, the Alsos group was formed in 1944, on the eve of the landing of the Anglo-Americans in Normandy. Half of the members of the group are professional intelligence officers, half are nuclear scientists.

At the same time, in order to form Alsos, the Manhattan Project was mercilessly robbed - in fact, the best specialists were taken from there. The task of the mission was to collect information about the German atomic program. The question is, how desperate were the Americans in the success of their undertaking, if they made the main bet on stealing the atomic bomb from the Germans?
It was great to despair, if we recall a little-known letter from one of the atomic scientists to his colleague. It was written on February 4, 1944 and read:

« It looks like we're in a hopeless case. The project is not moving forward one iota. Our leaders, in my opinion, do not believe in the success of the whole undertaking at all. Yes, and we do not believe. If it were not for the huge money that we are paid here, I think many would have been doing something more useful long ago.».

This letter was cited at one time as proof of American talents: look, they say, what good fellows we are, in a little over a year we pulled out a hopeless project! Then in the USA they realized that not only fools live around, and they hurried to forget about the piece of paper. With great difficulty I managed to dig up this document in an old scientific journal.

They spared no money and effort to ensure the actions of the Alsos group. She was well equipped with everything you need. The head of the mission, Colonel Pash, had a document from US Secretary of Defense Henry Stimson, which obligated everyone to provide the group with all possible assistance. Even Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces Dwight Eisenhower did not have such powers.. By the way, about the commander-in-chief - he was obliged to take into account the interests of the Alsos mission in planning military operations, that is, to capture in the first place those areas where German atomic weapons could be.

At the beginning of August 1944, to be precise - on the 9th, the Alsos group landed in Europe. One of the leading US nuclear scientists, Dr. Samuel Goudsmit, was appointed scientific director of the mission. Before the war, he maintained close ties with his German colleagues, and the Americans hoped that the "international solidarity" of scientists would be stronger than political interests.

Alsos managed to achieve the first results after the Americans occupied Paris in the fall of 1944.. Here Goudsmit met with the famous French scientist Professor Joliot-Curie. Curie seemed sincerely happy about the defeats of the Germans; however, as soon as it came to the German atomic program, he went into a deaf "unconscious". The Frenchman insisted that he did not know anything, had not heard anything, the Germans did not even come close to developing an atomic bomb, and in general their nuclear project was of an exclusively peaceful nature.

It was clear that the professor was missing something. But there was no way to put pressure on him - for cooperation with the Germans in what was then France, they were shot, regardless of scientific merits, and Curie was clearly afraid of death most of all. Therefore, Goudsmit had to leave without salty slurping.

Throughout his stay in Paris, vague but threatening rumors constantly reached him: uranium bomb exploded in Leipzig, in the mountainous regions of Bavaria, strange outbreaks are noted at night. Everything indicated that the Germans were either very close to creating atomic weapons or had already created them.

What happened next is still shrouded in mystery. They say that Pasha and Goudsmit still managed to find some valuable information in Paris. Since November at least, Eisenhower has received constant demands to move forward into German territory at any cost. The initiators of these demands - now it's clear! - in the end, it turned out to be people associated with the atomic project and who received information directly from the Alsos group. Eisenhower did not have a real opportunity to carry out the orders received, but the demands from Washington became more and more stringent. It is not known how all this would have ended if the Germans had not made another unexpected move.

Ardennes riddle

In fact, by the end of 1944, everyone believed that Germany had lost the war. The only question is how long the Nazis will be defeated. It seems that only Hitler and his closest associates adhered to a different point of view. They tried to delay the moment of the catastrophe until the last moment.

This desire is quite understandable. Hitler was sure that after the war he would be declared a criminal and would be tried. And if you play for time, you can get a quarrel between the Russians and the Americans and, ultimately, get out of the water, that is, out of the war. Not without losses, of course, but without losing power.

Let's think: what was needed for this in conditions when Germany had nothing left of forces? Naturally, spend them as sparingly as possible, keep a flexible defense. And Hitler, at the very end of the 44th, throws his army into a very wasteful Ardennes offensive. What for?

The troops are given completely unrealistic tasks - to break through to Amsterdam and throw the Anglo-Americans into the sea. Before Amsterdam, German tanks were at that time like walking to the moon, especially since fuel splashed in their tanks for less than half the way. Scare allies? But what could frighten well-fed and armed armies, behind which was the industrial power of the United States?

Generally, Until now, not a single historian has been able to clearly explain why Hitler needed this offensive. Usually everyone ends with the argument that the Fuhrer was an idiot. But in fact, Hitler was not an idiot, moreover, he thought quite sensibly and realistically until the very end. Idiots can rather be called those historians who make hasty judgments without even trying to figure something out.

But let's look at the other side of the front. There are even more amazing things going on! And it's not even that the Germans managed to achieve initial, albeit rather limited, successes. The fact is that the British and Americans were really scared! Moreover, the fear was completely inadequate to the threat. After all, from the very beginning it was clear that the Germans had few forces, that the offensive was local in nature ...

So no, and Eisenhower, and Churchill, and Roosevelt simply fall into a panic! In 1945, on January 6, when the Germans were already stopped and even driven back, British Prime Minister writes panic letter to Russian leader Stalin which requires immediate assistance. Here is the text of this letter:

« There is very heavy fighting going on in the West, and at any time big decisions may be required from the High Command. You yourselves know from your own experience how troubling the situation is when one has to defend a very wide front after a temporary loss of initiative.

It is highly desirable and necessary for General Eisenhower to know in in general terms what you intend to do, since this, of course, will affect all of his and our major decisions. According to the message received, our emissary Air Chief Marshal Tedder was in Cairo last night, weather-bound. His trip was greatly delayed through no fault of yours.

If he has not yet arrived to you, I shall be grateful if you can let me know if we can count on a major Russian offensive on the Vistula front or somewhere else during January and at any other points that you may you wish to mention. I will not pass on this highly classified information to anyone, with the exception of Field Marshal Brooke and General Eisenhower, and only on condition that it is kept in the strictest confidence. I consider the matter urgent».

If you translate from diplomatic language into ordinary: save us, Stalin, they will beat us! Therein lies another mystery. What kind of "beat" if the Germans have already been thrown back to the starting lines? Yes, of course, the American offensive, planned for January, had to be postponed until the spring. So what? We must rejoice that the Nazis squandered their strength in senseless attacks!

And further. Churchill slept and saw how to keep the Russians out of Germany. And now he is literally begging them to start moving west without delay! To what extent should Sir Winston Churchill be frightened?! It seems that the slowdown in the advance of the Allies deep into Germany was interpreted by him as a mortal threat. I wonder why? After all, Churchill was neither a fool nor an alarmist.

And yet, the Anglo-Americans spend the next two months in terrible nervous tension. Subsequently, they will carefully hide it, but the truth will still break through to the surface in their memoirs. For example, Eisenhower after the war would call the last war winter "the most unsettling time."

What worried the marshal so much if the war was actually won? Only in March 1945 did the Ruhr operation begin, during which the Allies occupied West Germany, surrounding 300,000 Germans. The commander of the German troops in the area, Field Marshal Model, shot himself (the only one of the entire German generals, by the way). Only after this did Churchill and Roosevelt more or less calm down.

But back to the Alsos group. In the spring of 1945, it noticeably intensified. During the Ruhr operation, scientists and intelligence officers moved forward almost after the vanguard of the advancing troops, collecting a valuable harvest. In March-April, many scientists involved in German nuclear research fall into their hands. The decisive find was made in mid-April - on the 12th, members of the mission write that they stumbled upon "a real gold mine" and now they "learn about the project in the main." By May, Heisenberg, and Hahn, and Osenberg, and Diebner, and many other outstanding German physicists were in the hands of the Americans. Nevertheless, the Alsos group continued active searches in the already defeated Germany ... until the end of May.

But at the end of May, something strange happens. The search is almost over. Rather, they continue, but with much less intensity. If earlier they were engaged in by prominent world-famous scientists, now they are beardless laboratory assistants. And the big scientists pack their things in droves and leave for America. Why?

To answer this question, let's see how events developed further.

At the end of June, the Americans conduct tests of an atomic bomb - allegedly the first in the world.
And in early August, they drop two on Japanese cities.
After that, the Yankees run out of ready-made atomic bombs, and for quite a long time.

Strange situation, isn't it? Let's start with the fact that only a month passes between testing and combat use of a new superweapon. Dear readers, this is not the case. Making an atomic bomb is much more difficult than a conventional projectile or rocket. For a month it is simply impossible. Then, probably, the Americans made three prototypes at once? Also incredible.

Making a nuclear bomb is a very expensive procedure. There is no point in doing three if you are not sure that you are doing everything right. Otherwise, it would be possible to create three nuclear projects, build three research centers, and so on. Even the US is not rich enough to be so extravagant.

However, well, let's assume that the Americans really built three prototypes at once. Why didn't they immediately start mass production of nuclear bombs after successful tests? After all, immediately after the defeat of Germany, the Americans found themselves in the face of a much more powerful and formidable enemy - the Russians. The Russians, of course, did not threaten the United States with war, but they prevented the Americans from becoming masters of the entire planet. And this, from the point of view of the Yankees, is a completely unacceptable crime.

Nevertheless, the United States has new atomic bombs ... When do you think? In the autumn of 1945? In the summer of 1946? Not! Only in 1947 did the first nuclear weapons begin to enter the American arsenals! You will not find this date anywhere, but no one will undertake to refute it either. The data that I managed to get is absolutely secret. However, they are fully confirmed by the facts known to us about the subsequent buildup of the nuclear arsenal. And most importantly - the results of tests in the deserts of Texas, which took place at the end of 1946.

Yes, yes, dear reader, exactly at the end of 1946, and not a month earlier. Data on this was obtained by Russian intelligence and came to me in a very complicated way, which, probably, does not make sense to disclose on these pages, so as not to substitute the people who helped me. On the eve of the new year, 1947, a very curious report lay on the table of the Soviet leader Stalin, which I will quote here verbatim.

According to Felix's agent, in November-December current year A series of nuclear explosions were carried out in El Paso, Texas. At the same time, prototypes of nuclear bombs were tested, similar to those that were dropped on Japanese islands In the past year.

Within a month and a half, at least four bombs were tested, the tests of three ended unsuccessfully. This series of bombs was created in preparation for the large-scale industrial production of nuclear weapons. Most likely, the beginning of such a release should be expected no earlier than mid-1947.

The Russian agent fully confirmed the data I had. But maybe all this is disinformation on the part of the American intelligence services? Unlikely. In those years, the Yankees tried to convince their opponents that they were the strongest in the world, and would not underestimate their military potential. Most likely, we are dealing with a carefully hidden truth.

What happens? In 1945, the Americans drop three bombs - and all are successful. The next test - the same bombs! - pass a year and a half later, and not too successfully. Serial production begins in another six months, and we do not know - and will never know - to what extent the atomic bombs that appeared in the American army warehouses corresponded to their terrible purpose, that is, how high-quality they were.

Such a picture can be drawn only in one case, namely: if the first three atomic bombs - the same ones from 1945 - were not built by the Americans on their own, but received from someone. To put it bluntly - from the Germans. Indirectly, this hypothesis is confirmed by the reaction of German scientists to the bombing of Japanese cities, which we know about thanks to the book by David Irving.

"Poor Professor Gan!"

In August 1945, ten leading German nuclear physicists, the ten main actors in the Nazi "atomic project", were held captive in the United States. All possible information was pulled out of them (I wonder why, if you believe the American version that the Yankees were far ahead of the Germans in atomic research). Accordingly, scientists were kept in a kind of comfortable prison. There was also a radio in this prison.

On August 6, at seven o'clock in the evening, Otto Hahn and Karl Wirtz were at the radio. It was then that in the next news release they heard that the first atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan. The first reaction of the colleagues to whom they brought this information was unequivocal: this cannot be true. Heisenberg believed that the Americans could not create their own nuclear weapons (and, as we now know, he was right).

« Did the Americans mention the word "uranium" in connection with their new bomb? he asked Han. The latter replied in the negative. “Then it has nothing to do with the atom,” Heisenberg snapped. An eminent physicist believed that the Yankees simply used some kind of high-powered explosive.

However, the nine o'clock newscast dispelled all doubts. Obviously, until then the Germans simply did not assume that the Americans managed to capture several German atomic bombs. However, now the situation has cleared up, and scientists began to torment the pangs of conscience. Yes Yes exactly! Dr. Erich Bagge wrote in his diary: Now this bomb has been used against Japan. They report that even after a few hours the bombed city is hidden by a cloud of smoke and dust. We are talking about the death of 300 thousand people. Poor professor Gan!»

Moreover, that evening, scientists were very worried about how "poor Gang" would not commit suicide. Two physicists were on duty at his bedside until late to prevent him from killing himself, and went to their rooms only after they found that their colleague had finally fallen asleep. sound sleep. Gan himself later described his impressions as follows:

For a while I was occupied with the idea of ​​dumping all the uranium into the sea in order to avoid a similar catastrophe in the future. Although I felt personally responsible for what happened, I wondered if I or anyone else had the right to deprive humanity of all the fruits that a new discovery could bring? And now this terrible bomb has worked!

Interestingly, if the Americans are telling the truth, and the bomb that fell on Hiroshima was really created by them, why should the Germans feel "personally responsible" for what happened? Of course, each of them contributed to nuclear research, but on the same basis, one could place some of the blame on thousands of scientists, including Newton and Archimedes! After all, their discoveries eventually led to the creation of nuclear weapons!

The mental anguish of German scientists acquires meaning only in one case. Namely, if they themselves created the bomb that destroyed hundreds of thousands of Japanese. Otherwise, why should they worry about what the Americans have done?

However, so far all my conclusions have been nothing more than a hypothesis, confirmed only by circumstantial evidence. What if I'm wrong and the Americans really managed the impossible? To answer this question, it was necessary to closely study the German atomic program. And it's not as easy as it seems.

/Hans-Ulrich von Krantz, "The Secret Weapon of the Third Reich", topwar.ru/

The Germans took over first. In December 1938, their physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, for the first time in the world, carried out artificial fission of the uranium atom nucleus. In April 1939, the military leadership of Germany received a letter from professors of the University of Hamburg P. Harteck and V. Groth, which indicated the fundamental possibility of creating a new type of highly effective explosive. The scientists wrote: "The country that is the first to be able to practically master the achievements of nuclear physics will gain absolute superiority over others." And now, in the Imperial Ministry of Science and Education, a meeting is being held on the topic "On a self-propagating (that is, a chain) nuclear reaction." Among the participants is Professor E. Schumann, head of the research department of the Third Reich Arms Administration. Without delay, we moved from words to deeds. Already in June 1939, the construction of Germany's first reactor plant began at the Kummersdorf test site near Berlin. A law was passed to ban the export of uranium outside Germany, and a large amount of uranium ore was urgently purchased in the Belgian Congo.

The American uranium bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was of a cannon design. Soviet nuclear scientists, creating RDS-1, were guided by the "Nagasaki bomb" - Fat Boy, made of plutonium according to the implosion scheme.

Germany starts and… loses

On September 26, 1939, when war was already raging in Europe, it was decided to classify all work related to the uranium problem and the implementation of the program, called the "Uranium Project". The scientists involved in the project were initially very optimistic: they considered it possible to create nuclear weapons within a year. Wrong, as life has shown.

22 organizations were involved in the project, including such well-known scientific centers as the Physical Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Hamburg, the Physical Institute of the Higher Technical School in Berlin, the Physical and Chemical Institute of the University of Leipzig and many others. The project was personally supervised by the Imperial Minister of Armaments Albert Speer. The IG Farbenindustry concern was entrusted with the production of uranium hexafluoride, from which it is possible to extract the uranium-235 isotope capable of maintaining a chain reaction. The same company was entrusted with the construction of an isotope separation facility. Such venerable scientists as Heisenberg, Weizsacker, von Ardenne, Riehl, Pose, Nobel laureate Gustav Hertz and others directly participated in the work.

Within two years, the Heisenberg group carried out the research needed to create an atomic reactor using uranium and heavy water. It was confirmed that only one of the isotopes, namely uranium-235, contained in very small concentrations in ordinary uranium ore, can serve as an explosive. The first problem was how to isolate it from there. The starting point of the bomb-building program was an atomic reactor, for which graphite or heavy water was required as a reaction moderator. German physicists chose water, thereby creating a serious problem for themselves. After the occupation of Norway, the only heavy water plant in the world at that time passed into the hands of the Nazis. But there, the stock of the product needed by physicists by the beginning of the war was only tens of kilograms, and the Germans did not get them either - the French stole valuable products literally from under the noses of the Nazis. And in February 1943, the British commandos abandoned in Norway, with the help of local resistance fighters, disabled the plant. The implementation of Germany's nuclear program was in jeopardy. The misadventures of the Germans did not end there: an experimental nuclear reactor exploded in Leipzig. The uranium project was supported by Hitler only as long as there was hope of obtaining a super-powerful weapon before the end of the war unleashed by him. Heisenberg was invited by Speer and asked bluntly: "When can we expect the creation of a bomb capable of being suspended from a bomber?" The scientist was honest: "I think it will take several years of hard work, in any case, the bomb will not be able to affect the outcome of the current war." The German leadership rationally considered that there was no point in forcing events. Let scientists work quietly - by the next war, you see, they will have time. As a result, Hitler decided to concentrate scientific, industrial and financial resources only on projects that give the fastest return in the creation of new types of weapons. State funding for the uranium project was curtailed. Nevertheless, the work of scientists continued.

Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

In 1944, Heisenberg received cast uranium plates for a large reactor plant, under which a special bunker was already being built in Berlin. The last experiment to achieve a chain reaction was scheduled for January 1945, but on January 31, all equipment was hastily dismantled and sent from Berlin to the village of Haigerloch near the Swiss border, where it was deployed only at the end of February. The reactor contained 664 cubes of uranium with a total weight of 1525 kg, surrounded by a graphite neutron moderator-reflector weighing 10 tons. In March 1945, an additional 1.5 tons of heavy water was poured into the core. On March 23, it was reported to Berlin that the reactor had started working. But the joy was premature - the reactor did not reach a critical point, the chain reaction did not start. After recalculations, it turned out that the amount of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally increasing the mass of heavy water. But there were no reserves left. The end of the Third Reich was inexorably approaching. On April 23, American troops entered Haigerloch. The reactor was dismantled and taken to the USA.

Meanwhile across the ocean

In parallel with the Germans (with only a slight lag), the development of atomic weapons was taken up in England and the USA. They began with a letter sent in September 1939 by Albert Einstein to US President Franklin Roosevelt. The initiators of the letter and the authors of most of the text were émigré physicists from Hungary Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller. The letter drew the president's attention to the fact that Nazi Germany conducts active research, as a result of which he may soon acquire an atomic bomb.

In 1933, the German communist Klaus Fuchs fled to England. After receiving a degree in physics from the University of Bristol, he continued to work. In 1941, Fuchs reported his involvement in atomic research to Soviet intelligence agent Jurgen Kuchinsky, who informed Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky. He instructed the military attache to urgently establish contact with Fuchs, who, as part of a group of scientists, was going to be transported to the United States. Fuchs agreed to work for Soviet intelligence. Many illegal Soviet spies were involved in working with him: the Zarubins, Eitingon, Vasilevsky, Semyonov and others. As a result of their active work, already in January 1945, the USSR had a description of the design of the first atomic bomb. At the same time, the Soviet residency in the United States reported that it would take the Americans at least one year, but no more than five years, to create a significant arsenal of atomic weapons. The report also said that the explosion of the first two bombs might be carried out in a few months. Pictured is Operation Crossroads, a series of atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. The goal was to test the effect of atomic weapons on ships.

In the USSR, the first information about the work carried out by both the allies and the enemy was reported to Stalin by intelligence as early as 1943. It was immediately decided to deploy similar work in the Union. Thus began the Soviet atomic project. Tasks were received not only by scientists, but also by intelligence officers, for whom the extraction of nuclear secrets has become a super task.

The most valuable information about the work on the atomic bomb in the United States, obtained by intelligence, greatly helped the promotion of the Soviet nuclear project. The scientists participating in it managed to avoid dead-end search paths, thereby significantly accelerating the achievement of the final goal.

Experience of Recent Enemies and Allies

Naturally, the Soviet leadership could not remain indifferent to German nuclear developments. At the end of the war, a group of Soviet physicists was sent to Germany, among whom were the future academicians Artsimovich, Kikoin, Khariton, Shchelkin. All were camouflaged in the uniform of colonels of the Red Army. The operation was led by First Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Ivan Serov, which opened any door. In addition to the necessary German scientists, the "colonels" found tons of metallic uranium, which, according to Kurchatov, reduced the work on the Soviet bomb by at least a year. The Americans also took out a lot of uranium from Germany, taking the specialists who worked on the project with them. And in the USSR, in addition to physicists and chemists, they sent mechanics, electrical engineers, glassblowers. Some were found in POW camps. For example, Max Steinbeck, the future Soviet academician and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, was taken away when he was making a sundial at the whim of the camp commander. In total, at least 1000 German specialists worked on the atomic project in the USSR. From Berlin, the von Ardenne laboratory with a uranium centrifuge, equipment of the Kaiser Institute of Physics, documentation, reagents were completely taken out. Within the framework of the atomic project, laboratories "A", "B", "C" and "G" were created, the scientific supervisors of which were scientists who arrived from Germany.

K.A. Petrzhak and G. N. Flerov In 1940, in the laboratory of Igor Kurchatov, two young physicists discovered a new, very peculiar type of radioactive decay of atomic nuclei - spontaneous fission.

Laboratory "A" was headed by Baron Manfred von Ardenne, a talented physicist who developed a method for gaseous diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge. At first, his laboratory was located on the Oktyabrsky field in Moscow. Five or six Soviet engineers were assigned to each German specialist. Later, the laboratory moved to Sukhumi, and over time, the famous Kurchatov Institute grew up on the Oktyabrsky field. In Sukhumi, on the basis of the von Ardenne laboratory, the Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology was formed. In 1947, Ardenne was awarded the Stalin Prize for the creation of a centrifuge for the purification of uranium isotopes on an industrial scale. Six years later, Ardenne became twice a Stalin laureate. He lived with his wife in a comfortable mansion, his wife played music on a piano brought from Germany. Other German specialists were not offended either: they came with their families, brought with them furniture, books, paintings, were provided with good salaries and food. Were they prisoners? Academician A.P. Alexandrov, himself an active participant in the atomic project, remarked: "Of course, the German specialists were prisoners, but we ourselves were prisoners."

Nikolaus Riehl, a native of St. Petersburg who moved to Germany in the 1920s, became the head of Laboratory B, which conducted research in the field of radiation chemistry and biology in the Urals (now the city of Snezhinsk). Here Riehl worked with his old acquaintance from Germany, the outstanding Russian biologist-geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky (“Zubr” based on the novel by D. Granin).

In December 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann for the first time in the world carried out artificial fission of the uranium atom nucleus.

Recognized in the USSR as a researcher and talented organizer, able to find effective solutions to the most complex problems, Dr. Riehl became one of the key figures in the Soviet atomic project. After the successful test of the Soviet bomb, he became a Hero Socialist Labor and laureate of the Stalin Prize.

The work of laboratory "B", organized in Obninsk, was headed by Professor Rudolf Pose, one of the pioneers in the field of nuclear research. Under his leadership, fast neutron reactors were created, the first nuclear power plant in the Union, and the design of reactors for submarines began. The object in Obninsk became the basis for the organization of the A.I. Leipunsky. Pose worked until 1957 in Sukhumi, then at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna.

Gustav Hertz, the nephew of the famous physicist of the 19th century, himself a famous scientist, became the head of the laboratory "G", located in the Sukhumi sanatorium "Agudzery". He received recognition for a series of experiments that confirmed Niels Bohr's theory of the atom and quantum mechanics. The results of his very successful activities in Sukhumi were later used on an industrial plant built in Novouralsk, where in 1949 the filling for the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was developed. For his achievements in the framework of the atomic project, Gustav Hertz was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1951.

German specialists who received permission to return to their homeland (of course, to the GDR) signed a non-disclosure agreement for 25 years about their participation in the Soviet atomic project. In Germany, they continued to work in their specialty. Thus, Manfred von Ardenne, twice awarded the National Prize of the GDR, served as director of the Physics Institute in Dresden, created under the auspices of the Scientific Council for the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy, led by Gustav Hertz. Hertz also received a national prize as the author of a three-volume work-textbook on nuclear physics. In the same place, in Dresden, at the Technical University, Rudolf Pose also worked.

The participation of German scientists in the atomic project, as well as the successes of intelligence officers, in no way detract from the merits of Soviet scientists, who ensured the creation of domestic atomic weapons with their selfless work. However, it must be admitted that without the contribution of both, the creation of the atomic industry and atomic weapons in the USSR would have dragged on for many years.

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