Alvie Diaz
HIST 3200 - American Government
Dr. James R. Moulton
24th October 2017
Bascomb, Neal The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb. Book Critique
In April 1940, Germany invaded Norway. During this time of period, World War II was going on throughout the world. The importance of the fact that Germany invaded Norway is because there was a hydroelectric plant in Vemork, Norway. The plant was located on a six-foot hill cliff over a deep river in the middle of forest. When Nazis Germany took over Norway, Hitler made sure the plant was protected by mines, soldiers carrying heavy armory, …show more content…
But this operation went south quickly when they crashed landed in the mountains in Norway. The survivors were found by Nazis and were executed. After this operation, Hitler was on high alert and was preparing to defend the hydroelectric plant. Right after this operation failed, planning of another operation began immediately. The goal was to sabotage Hitler’s atomic bomb, and the Allies were prepared to do whatever it took to stop Hitler from creating an atomic bomb. Operation Gunnerside then went on full operation. This operation consisted of 9 Norwegians who managed to eliminate all the inventory of heavy water. They managed to escape by reaching Sweden which was 280 miles east. At the time, Sweden was neutral in the world and the Norwegians new they would be save if they would make it across the border. Their retreat took exactly 18 days to reach the …show more content…
The Manhattan Project was established during World War II. The federal government gave $6,000 towards research for creating an atomic bomb. In the article, The first atomic bomb test is successfully exploded, it says, “But early in 1942, with the United States now at war with the Axis powers, and fear mounting that Germany was working on its own uranium bomb, the War Department took a more active interest, and limits on resources for the project were removed.”3 This meant the War Department put aside the Manhattan Project and prioritized destroying the hydroelectric plant. At the end of World War II, Germany already surrendered and that is when the United States were successful in the Manhattan Project. $2 billion dollars were given to the research department, so they could create another atomic bomb. A question rose for the American government which they asked themselves on who should they drop the bomb. Their targets were Germany or Japan, but as mentioned above, Germany already surrendered. Therefore, the ideal thing was to drop the bomb on