This discussion has been closed.
Posted by Simplicissimus (U2398521) on Friday, 4th November 2005
Reading a recent post has reminded me of this nagging question.
I know that the British were working on nuclear fission in the very early forties and that the material demands of a desperate war position had squeezed this research effort to a dry husk and forced it right down the list of war priorities. When the time came to merge this work with the American project, the US experts who came over to meet their British counterparts were shocked by what they saw; there weren't even enough pencils to go round and every last piece of string was accounted for. Accordingly the whole lot was sent over the Atlantic out of range of the Luftwaffer and into the land of plenty, and in time the Americans detonated their first bomb.
This leaves me wondering what the British contribution really amounted to. Did it significantly advance the American work? Or did it just provide a few more number crunchers and bits of string?
For counterfactual junkies, what if Britain had been defeated and the Germans had got hold of her nuclear secrets?
Link to this forum: What was the British contribution to the A bomb?
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by nuneatonguitarplayer (U2327933) on Friday, 4th November 2005
I'm not 100% sure on this so I will do some reading around it... I do know that Churchill was sceptical about whether a nuclear attack would work so he set about planning a massive chemical weapon bombardment on Germany
Link to this forum: What was the British contribution to the A bomb?
If you want to start looking for this stuff, the UK project was codenamed "Tube Alloys" and that should prove a productive starting point for any popular search engine.
Link to this forum: What was the British contribution to the A bomb?
, in reply to message 3.
Posted by nuneatonguitarplayer (U2327933) on Friday, 4th November 2005
Indeed
Very good article
Link to this forum: What was the British contribution to the A bomb?
, in reply to message 4.
Posted by Simplicissimus (U2398521) on Saturday, 5th November 2005
Thanks, I'll have a look.
Link to this forum: What was the British contribution to the A bomb?
The History message boards are now closed. They remain visible as a matter of record but the opportunity to add new comments or open new threads is no longer available. Thank you all for your valued contributions over many years.
or Β to take part in a discussion.
The message board is currently closed for posting.
The message board is closed for posting.
This messageboard is .
Find out more about this board's
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Β© 2014 The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.