Chapter 15 Military Industrial Plans
Blaming the Nazis is also part of Albert's plan, after all, the current Belgium will not do anything stupid to tear its face with the United States, so the United States has not suspected Albert's small actions behind the scenes for the time being, but it is difficult to say after a long time.
Under the pretext of expanding his business, Albert transferred eight of the company's military personnel who had participated in the operation to the Belgian overseas colony of Congo, and gave them a considerable amount of money, which he was entitled to travel to the colony as a leisurely experience.
Although the first batch of employees who were a little distressed and finally piled up money to train went out to hide from the limelight, but fortunately, the next batch of paramilitary personnel training programs has been launched, and the current orders from NORINCO and Rifle are just to make up for the losses of the strategic resource cooperation company, so there is no need to worry about the company going bankrupt. Victor and Allen, who were the best performers in the previous batch, stayed behind and were responsible for teaching the newcomers.
That batch of arms has been secretly destroyed by Albert, and the black market channels for obtaining arms have also been cut off, even if the United States wants to get to the bottom of it, it will not be possible to produce results without a year and a half, not to mention that Albert has already wiped out all the traces of this operation by then.
But Albert forgot that everything he did had a butterfly effect, and that the Act to Establish the Intelligence Agency, which had only been introduced in 1947, had been put on President Truman's agenda.
Now Albert's biggest headache is how to place Dr. Braun, the father of rockets, whose enthusiasm is hooked by him with two documents, but there is not enough hardware for him to make a difference, just like a painter who is full of inspiration but has no pen, ink, paper and inkstone to serve, and his depression can be imagined. Belgium has always pursued an independent and neutral policy from World War I to World War II, and does not get involved in any war, so Belgium's national defense is mainly defensive, and it does not pay much attention to the updating of military tactical theories, which is why World War I was beaten by Germany, and World War II was beaten by Hitler. In the words of **, it is "Shizuo, it's not that the subordinates are incompetent, but the communist army has Gundam!! ”
Albert was not afraid that Dr. Braun would escape, but he was afraid that he would be passive and slack off, and Belgium was not like the United States and the Soviet Union, which had a strong talent pool, and lived in the rhythm of counting copper plates. Albert could only wait until the Jewish Zionist movement in 1948.
Dr. Braun was more than just a Nazi scientist, in 1937 he was the director of technology at the Penemünde Large Rocket Test Base, where he led the development of the German "Revenge Messenger" V2 rocket. In 1938, von Bronn joined the Nazi Party. After that, in order to consolidate his career in rocket research, he entered the SS and received the rank of major.
Braun's identity as a Nazi and SS was enough to bring Israel to shoot an Israeli with revenge for five minutes. Oh, by the way, the Zionist Congress on August 13 this year made a request to Britain for Israel.
The big step will really pull the egg, this is Albert's current feelings, there is a grand strategic idea in his mind, but it is difficult to put it into practice, the starting point is not high, and there is no way to start if he wants to open the hanging, so the meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked step by step.
However, Albert still planned to talk to his father, Leopold III, and his brother, Crown Prince Boshean, because his plan was to make Belgium the sixth rogue in the United Nations.
"Dear Father, Brother, it is an honor to invite you to this private meeting, which is not official." Albert stood in Leopold III's study and said with a serious expression.
"It's just a family meeting, relax kids." Leopold III said softly, Albert was indeed a little disappointed in his father, this king was not like the emperor of Germany or France, he had a strong ambition and desire to conquer Europe, he just wanted to cultivate an acre and three points of land in front of his house, and then watch the European powers raise tall buildings and feast guests, and the buildings collapsed.
And his older brother, Bo Shean, is also a follower of his father's moderate policies.
"No, it's the content of this meeting that is important, important enough to change the pattern of the world." Albert placed the two documents in front of Leopold III and Boshean, and said in a deep voice, "The future of Belgium depends on the attitude of my father and brother towards this document." ”
Leopold III picked up the document and read the first few words softly, "The Manhattan Project?" ”
Boshean was also curious, "The documents of the Americans? ”
"This is a plan for the Americans to drop two powerful bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August, which they call atomic bombs." Albert explained, "This document is a top-secret document with the highest priority even in the United States, and many people died trying to get it. ”
Albert's blood-soaked and alarmist words were deliberately made to make the two guys in front of him pay enough attention to their documents.
Tianyan suddenly interjected in his mind, "Strange, didn't I give you this thing?" ”
"Shut up and keep your eyes open, I'm not tired of cheating."
In June 1942, the U.S. War Department began a program to develop an atomic bomb using nuclear fission reactions, known as the Manhattan Project. And on July 16 of this year, they successfully carried out the world's first nuclear explosion, and built two practical atomic bombs, that is, the two that were dropped on Japan, as planned. ”
Albert deliberately omitted sensational figures such as the concentration of the best nuclear scientists, the mobilization of more than 100,000 people, and the cost of $2 billion over three years, so as not to scare the two men and not allocate funds.
"On December 6, 1941, the United States officially formulated a top-secret program codenamed "Manhattan". President Roosevelt gave this plan "special priority above all actions," and with the support of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marshall, the United States agreed to start the construction of four uranium isotope separation plants and other research and development and production bases using different methods as proposed by the former S-1 Committee. The military named the entire program the "Alternative Materials Development Laboratory" and assigned Colonel Marshall of the U.S. Engineering Department to be in charge of all operations.
However, due to Colonel Marshall's personal mistakes, the escalation of the priority of the research program and the selection of the location of the gas separation plant were delayed by two months. In September, senior leaders in the government's wartime office and the military decided that Colonel Groves, who led the construction of the Pentagon of the U.S. Department of Defense building, would succeed Colonel Marshall. Groves was promoted to brigadier before taking up his post. ”
"Of course, I mentioned this slightly boring content just to let my father and brother know how much the United States takes this plan." After a brief background on the Manhattan Project, Albert gets to the real point.
"Atomic bombs refer to weapons that use the energy released by nuclear fission or fusion reactions that can be self-sustaining to produce explosive effects and have a destructive effect of mass destruction, among which fission weapons made mainly use the fission chain reaction principle of heavy atomic nuclei such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239."
"How terrible is this weapon? The first is thermal energy, because the chain reaction causes the atoms to release energy, which is heat, which is extremely hot and can change most of the matter directly from a solid to a gas. The second is the shock wave, because of the high heat, the air expands rapidly, and moves outward quickly with huge kinetic energy, and when it hits a person, it is like a car crashing towards an ordinary person. Moreover, the chain reaction produces a stream of neutrons, and γ rays can penetrate and destroy human bodies and buildings, causing human body function injury.
"Nuclear explosions produce visible and infrared rays that burn people's eyes and skin and cause objects to burn. Fission products, unburned nuclear fuel and neutron-activated elements will condense into dust particles from the vaporized state and settle to the ground, causing radioactive contamination of the ground and air, and the residual radiation from nuclear explosions such as γ and β rays emitted can cause harm to the human body and make cells cancerous. ”
Leopold III and Boshean may not have much of a, but those who have seen the Hiroshima tragedy or the Chernobyl nuclear accident will understand how terrible the damage of this weapon is to the subsequent environmental pollution.
"In short, this is a weapon that can instantly destroy all the living forces of the other side, but also can cause far-reaching after-damage, the United States was the first to develop nuclear weapons, but by no means the only one, if nothing else, the Soviet Union will have its own nuclear weapons in 4 years."
Historically, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb in August 1949, but in fact, the Soviet Union had been developing the atomic bomb before the German invasion in June 1941. The spontaneous fission of uranium nuclei was also discovered during this period by Soviet physicists Fryorov and Petzak. However, after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the development work was interrupted and was gradually resumed only in early 1943 under the organizational leadership of the physicist Kurchatov.
"Although our industrial level is not as good as that of the United States and the Soviet Union, and we have not been able to snatch Nazi scientists from Germany's defeat, we have KU Leuven as a talent reserve, we have the best uranium resources in the world in the Congo, and we have the detailed parameters of the Manhattan Project, and we have the opportunity to become a Western European power." Albert stared at his father, Leopold III, in an attempt to awaken a man's deep desire for conquest.
The quick-witted Crown Prince Boshean suddenly asked, "If two countries with nuclear weapons go to war, will it have to be determined by who has the most atomic bombs, or whose atomic bombs are more powerful?" Wouldn't that lead to an arms race that would eventually bring down the Belgian economy? ”