In response to the fear that the Nazis were developing an atomic bomb, the US government through the OSS (forerunner of the CIA) commissioned a super-secret mission to evaluate the status of German science and to assess their progress in the area of nuclear fission. ALSOS was the code name for the joint military/scientific expedition into occupied Europe, and they succeeded in capturing scientists, seizing uranium supplies and concluded that no such plans for a bomb were seriously underway.
So what were the Germans really up to? Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Lisa Meitner, Otto Hahn were the German scientists, all great minds capable of reaching the same conclusions as the American team. Were they morally against the bomb’s development or did they just not understand the technical problems and concluded its development was not feasible? We may never know, because they publicly denied the possibility that such a bomb could be built, even after learning about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yet certain evidence suggests that the German team not only knew how to build an atomic bomb, but decided against it. No matter what the reason was for abandoning the project, it is startling to delve into the alternative choices. Atomic power took on an even more advanced role in the German plans, far surpassing the “simplistic” approach of a terrible weapon.
US Army Captain Robert Brock makes a personal promise to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to destroy all evidence that the Germans have actually perfected the design for an atomic bomb. The “favor” takes him to Greece, Italy, France, and into Germany itself, as ALSOS races to prevent the Third Reich from using their weapon of mass destruction. Go along for a fast-paced ride as Brock delivers whatever it takes to make good on his promise, offered as a favor to FDR.
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