Digital Survivors
 

Churchill lied. Kids died: No WMDs in Germany.

Scott Manning
May 19, 2006

Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met in August of 1941 to settle on the biggest key strategy of the war: Germany First. There were many reasons for this policy, but it all came down to both leaders viewing Germany as the primary threat.

Part of the "threat" taught by historians the past sixty years was that Hitler was very close to building a nuclear weapon. This is the sort of thing that always freaks the kids out, because what could be worse than Hitler with "The Bomb"?

Throughout my schooling, I would ask how close Hitler was to building one. The answers ranged between "a few months" and "very close".

The real answer is enlightening.

German Production of Heavy Water
On April 9th, 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded Norway, they gained control of a power plant with high concentration cells for producing heavy water. Heavy water had just recently been discovered at the time. The Germans immediately doubled production of the liquid and sought to increase production tenfold.

No one understood it at the time, but Germany knew that heavy water could be used to make nuclear explosives. No one understood, that is, except London.

Realizing what would happen if Hitler got his hands on a nuclear weapon, the Allies tried to stop the production. The plant survived an attack from Norwegian commandos and a bombing from the U.S. Eighth Air Force.

In 1944, the Norwegian resistance learned that the Germans planned to ship 15 tons of partially purified heavy water to Germany. The instructions from London were clear: "Stop the heavy water reaching Germany."

The Norwegians saw a chance to stop the shipment by sinking a ferry while it crossed Lake Tinn. They believed at the bottom of this lake, the barrels of heavy water would be unrecoverable. When the question of killing civilians in the process was sent back, London was quick with their response: "The matter has been considered, and it is decided that it is very important to destroy the heavy water. Hope it can be done without too great misfortune. We send our best wishes for success in the work."

The Norwegian resistance snuck some bombs onboard the ferry and sank the ship at the deepest part of the lake. 14 civilians died.

With no German guards around, London was suspicious of how easy the operation had been and asked the resistance to confirm that they actually sank the right ferry and not a decoy. The truth has been a mystery until recently.

What was really aboard the ferry?
Over 60 years later, marine archaeologist Brett Phaneuf assembled a crew to extract one of the barrels from the bottom of Lake Tinn. PBS followed their expedition in a special called Hitler's Sunken Secret. 300 meters from shore and 400 meters deep, the crew sent down a remotely operated vehicle to get the first look at the sunken ship.

Remarkably, they were able to pull up an undamaged barrel. After a quick test, they determined that the ship was indeed carrying heavy water.

Another remarkable discovery was the amount of heavy water the ferry was carrying.

To make a nuclear reactor, the Germans would have needed approximately five tons of heavy water. The Germans would have needed ten reactors to produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon.

The ferry was carrying only half a ton of heavy water.

After four years of producing heavy water at the peak of WWII, the Germans were short by more than 49 tons needed to build a nuclear weapon. The PBS special referred to the Nazi nuclear bomb as a "mirage".

The reason is simple. Germany saw that a bomb could be built, but did not believe it could be completed in the near future. Believing they needed to win the war quickly, their money and efforts were focused on more tanks and planes. Hitler gave up on having a bomb in 1942 and all nuclear efforts were handed over to civilian control. This is why the ferry was so easy to sink.

It's not like any of this was top secret. Dave Wark, an expert in the nuclear properties of heavy water, said during the program, "The German program was very leaky. They were telling journalists in cafes what they were up to, and yet, the Allies don't seem to have made much of an effort to really penetrate this program and learn more about it. I would call that a critical intelligence failure."

Critical Intelligence Failure
While PBS concedes that hindsight would probably say that the ferry wasn't worth stopping, they are quick to defend the heroism of the Norwegian resistance. "They chose to take up arms against a brutal invader at great risk to themselves. They knew their actions would lead to the death of innocent civilians; but the bitter truth is that World War II, like most modern wars, claimed mainly the lives of the innocent."

Dave Wark understood the seriousness of the situation. "They asked London. London said immediately, 'Sink it.' And they did what they were told. It would be like asking me to blow up the 8:45 train to London. I'd be absolutely certain there'd be friends, maybe even relatives of mine on that train, but if there's any chance that Hitler's going to get an atomic bomb, what else can you do?"

The conclusion from Dave and others in the program was that the Norwegians did what they had to do. They were heroes.

Indeed they were. Regardless if Hitler was years away from having an actual nuclear weapon or if he just didn't care anymore, the efforts of those who resisted him should be an example for us all.

When British intelligence tells you that a dictator who has already killed millions of people is working on a nuclear weapon, you should act accordingly. Saying this historic example applies to today is an understatement.

Related links:
Book Review: How Hitler Could Have Won World War II
A Plea for a Clear Plan in Iraq