47. Pandora's Box
Office of Economic Warfare
Berlin, German Empire
1 June 1940
Ernst Volkmann was nervous; he was not a career soldier, nor for that matter a physicist, so he was doubly awed by the gathering here and his role. He had spent the past six months deeply embroiled with the Reich's best physicists and physical chemists, especially the Hahn-Meissner-Frisch team that had made what he was about to discuss possible, and Heisenberg, who seemed bent on exploring its military applications. Now it was time to distill his findings for the small group of men who filed one-by-one into the conference room. He had expected Becker and Thomas, the one as a man half-scientist himself and the other as the military impetus behind the program. What he had not expected was the Marshal and the Chief of Staff, both of whom gave the two lieutenant-generals a look that all but screamed
this had better be good.
Volkmann turned on the slide projector and cleared his throat. "Good morning. I am Generalmajor Ernst Volkmann and this briefing is on the feasibility of a uranium-fission weapon. It is classified Top Secret-Special Access and distribution is restricted by list. Please hold all questions to the end." The ritual briefing opener calmed him somewhat, but the unexpected appearance of the severe, perpetually icy Bock did nothing for his calm. The man had a reputation for driving his subordinates to the edge of endurance; attracting his eye was a mixed blessing.
Click. The slide advanced.
"First, the background. I will dispense with the scientific underpinnings because they are a specialist's playground, and frankly, I am an engineer, not a physicist. Last year, Doctors Frisch, Hahn, and Meissner showed that under sufficient stresses, a uranium atom will fragment into smaller atoms with an attached release of energy. This expands on the work performed by Doctor Curie in France earlier in this century, but in and of itself is a laboratory curiosity."
Click. Bock shifted in his seat, baton tapping the armrest as if to say
get on with it.
"One of the byproducts of Curie's work was that certain substances will emit particles, which has since been found to be harmful to humans. This phenomenon is called radioactivity, and the three particle types thus given off are called alpha, beta, and gamma. Alpha and beta particles are only truly dangerous to humans in either exceptionally large doses, or by internal consumption, while there is some evidence that Frau Curie was killed by exposure to these 'gamma' rays, which are similar to Doctor Röntgen's rays. These are commonly used in detecting faults in artillery," he said in a nod towards Becker and Brauchitsch, "but there is no easy way of turning them into a weapon. Some schemes have been proposed that radioactive materials be gathered in powder form and dispersed over an area, a so-called 'dirty' bomb, similar to a persistent gas shell, but this is at the moment prohibitively expensive."
Click.
"However, the energy release accompanying Hahn and company's reaction was substantial, and on a large scale would create an explosion significantly more efficient - by a factor of perhaps a thousand, though the scientists involved give wide estimates of the effectiveness of such a weapon." Bock leaned forward, Brauchitsch scribbled, and Becker nodded. Thomas merely smiled that thin-lipped fish-smile of his. "The difficulty in this is apparently in the purity of the materials required, large volumes of uranium would be needed, more than are available in Germany today for a single such weapon. Only a small portion, less than one percent, of the uranium pulled from the ground is viable for this reaction."
Click.
"The reason for this is the nature of the reaction. According to Doctor Hahn, not all varieties of uranium are willing, so to speak, to initiate such a reaction. Uranium comes in several varieties, or isotopes, and of these, only isotopes 235 and 233, or U-235 and U-233 (U being the atomic symbol for uranium, gentlemen) are likely to be usable as igniters. U-238 will react, but to use the artillery analogy, U-235 is a primer, while U-238 is an otherwise inert main charge. It is possible that a device could be constructed, Doctor Hahn tells me, that is primarily U-238 with a heavy leavening of U-235, to create a reaction on demand, but it would require an active search for enough U-235 to be useful."
Click.
He took a deep breath; this was the most risky portion of his briefing. "However, a first step in establishing that this could be turned into a weapon would be to create a self-sustaining reaction, in order to establish that a 'critical mass' tipping point could be reached beyond which the reaction would proceed without external assistance. The first step to this would be the construction of a large-scale experimental facility, or 'reactor,' as Doctor Hahn called it. Professor Einstein wishes me to communicate," he added, "that this reactor, if it could be brought to fruition, could potentially provide easily usable energy for any variety of applications more or less on demand. This would be invaluable," he hurried on, seeing Bock shifting again, "in providing a reliable, safe electrical system at least partially immune to the loss of strategic resources, as the least optimistic estimate of the life of such a system is ten years of continuous operation without refueling." He emphasized the
least optimistic, and was pleasantly surprised to see Thomas sit up, frown, writing in his notebook.
Click.
"In summary, several obstacles arise to the creation and testing of these uranium-based weapons. First... the availability of uranium itself. Germany has no inherent uranium resources. Czechoslovakia, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and to a lesser extent the United States all have uranium lodes, but Germany is bare. Second... the availability of U-235 is a limiting factor which would require significant investment by itself to overcome. Third... this type of weapon has never been tried before. It would require significant investment to make it feasible. However. Having said all of that, as I was tasked to investigate feasibility,
it can be done. I cannot answer for the physics of it, but the rest is simply a series of engineering projects. There is nothing inherently un-buildable about any of it. There is a catch, for battlefield purposes, though." He raised his hand in warning. "The initial devices would simply be too large for even the proposed four-eighty railway guns. Certainly too large for the existing two-eighty K5 guns. Perhaps Baron Krupp could come up with an answer, but it would be cumbersome to deploy."
Click.
"This concludes my briefing. Are there any questions?"
Bock spoke without raising his hand. "So you mean to tell me you could build an artillery shell that would flatten Paris and be done with it?" Volkmann hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, sir. Theoretically, of course. We certainly know we can fire the rounds into France from a Bertha or something more modern." Bock nodded sharply. "And how much would this wonder weapon cost?" Ernst replied almost immediately, "More than I can easily calculate, sir, and it would have to be done in utmost secrecy."
Thomas shrugged. "Could build it all in Poland, no one would notice anything we did there. I'm sure Freiherr Braun could be brought on board." He spoke to no one in particular, but Bock nodded slowly.
Becker raised his hand out of academic politeness, and Ernst nodded. "Yes, sir?"
"Why bother with a rail carriage at all? Wouldn't aerial delivery be simpler and longer-ranged?" Ernst inwardly cringed; he had hoped to propose this without involving the notoriously unreliable Luftwaffe leadership. "Yes, sir, it would, but... if I may say so... is there anyone here who trusts the Wilhelmstrasse gang?" Bock snorted, but Becker frowned, considering. "Their Wever's a good man. Back on his feet, finally," he continued, musing. "Proper old-fashioned officer, not one of these johnny-come-latelies. Might consider cutting him in."
Bock stood, straight and erect as ever. "Well. Thank you, Generalmajor. Shall I take this to the Kaiser and Chancellor?" The fact that he asked at all said that, to some extent, he had been impressed. Bock was not the kind of man to ask a mere Generalmajor for his opinion. Ernst Volkmann never hesitated, nodding once, emphatically. "Yes, sir. I believe that it is only a matter of time before
someone develops this weapon, and God help us if it is the Reds, or even the Americans... or the French," he concluded quietly.
Bock nodded, offering his hand, squeezing Volkmann's firmly. "Good work, Volkmann. Stand by for further instructions." As the others filed out, Generalleutnant Thomas remained behind, an amused look on his face. "Good work, indeed. Apparently you impressed the Marshal. Never thought he'd go for it." He clapped Ernst on the shoulder, guiding him out the door. "I'm afraid that you're our new expert on this, Volkmann. Expect to waste years on it."
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Generalmajor Volkmann,
You are hereby ordered to form the Westerplatte Engineering District, with the objective of constructing improvements to the region of Poland formerly known as the Polish Corridor. Emphasis is to be placed on new construction as described in the daily briefing of 1 June 1940. Special authorization for this project is provided by the Chancellor and Kaiser in cabinet session dated 3 June 1940. If you have any questions regarding these instructions, refer them to the War Ministry directly without resort to the General Staff.
Additionally, you are to prepare an immediate evaluation of strategic mineral resources in central and eastern Europe for this office, pending evaluation and strategic direction. This evaluation is to be passed to the Office of Economic Warfare without resort to the General Staff evaluation process. If you have any questions regarding these instructions, refer them to me directly.
THOMAS
Generalleutnant
Office of Economic Warfare
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Franz,
Had the most interesting meeting with this Henlein fellow today. Seems to think that the Czechs would be interested in a Habsburg reunion, says the Sudeten Germans are all aflutter with joy at the Kaiser's triumphs, wants us to start making some moves on eliminating that silly tadpole shape on the European map. My question is: What do we do about Slovakia? Look forward to meeting with you about this.
OSKAR
