The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

A Nazi atomic bomb? The fear that Werner Heisenberg, Otto Hahn, and other Nobel-winning German physicists would develop nuclear weapons for Adolf Hitler began to seize hold in the upper reaches of the American government when Albert Einstein’s letter to President Franklin Roosevelt arrived in the White House in August 1939.But it wasn’t long before speculation about German nuclear research reached a much wider public. “No one had heard of uranium fission before January 1939; by December, more than a hundred papers on the topic had appeared worldwide.” And the fear of a Nazi atomic bomb was well founded. “Two years before the start of the Manhattan Project” . . . Germany’s “Uranium Club had scientists working on two key aspects of nuclear weapons: enriching uranium and producing a self-sustaining chain reaction. The German atomic bomb project was off to a rip-roaring start.”Given the universal perception that German physicists were the best in the world, the Allies feared a nuclear attack almost throughout the war—as late as the middle of 1944. And that was even without assuming the Nazis had succeeded in building an atomic bomb, because only a small quantity of radioactive material is needed. “Fear of dirty bombs continued to fester in the minds of American official in the run-up to June 6,” and planes were sent with Geiger counters to sweep the northern coast of France in advance of the Normandy invasion. Unaccountably, then, the Allies had launched the Alsos Mission to investigate how far the Nazis had progressed in the field only in September 1943. “People called it the Bastard Unit” because it worked independently, hence the title of Sam Kean’s often jaw-dropping account of the perilous effort to explore and undermine the German nuclear program.Other efforts to undermine the German atomic bomb projectThe Alsos Mission was not the Allies’ first or only effort to hobble the Nazi atomic bomb project, and for good reason. In fact, fully aware that the Germans used large quantities of heavy water in their research, there were multiple efforts almost throughout the war (1940-44) to blow up the world’s only large-scale deuterium-production plant at Vemork in Norway, to steal huge shipments of the stuff, and (in 1944) to destroy a ship thought to be carrying tons of it on its way to Germany. But it wasn’t until September 1943 that the British and Americans launched the Alsos mission.The broad scope of the missionGreat Britain and the United States organized the Alsos Mission in the wake of the September 1943 Allied invasion of Italy to assess the Nazis’ progress toward creating nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the technology to deliver them—and to prevent their capture by the Soviet Union. In addition to the nuclear program, the mission focused on the German “Vengeance-weapons“—the V-1 cruise missile, V-2 ballistic missile, and V-3 cannon—all of which American military leaders feared might carry atomic warheads. The more than one hundred soldiers, spies, and scientists who eventually joined the mission followed closely behind the front lines in Italy, France, and Germany as the Allies closed in on the German heartland. From time to time they crossed into enemy-held territory to grab valuable resources before the Germans could destroy them or snatch Nazi scientists before they could escape or fall into Soviet hands.Characters out of the history booksThe amazing tale Sam Kean tells in The Bastard Brigade revolves around a handful of extraordinary characters:** Moe Berg, the eccentric former Major League Baseball catcher who spoke at least half a dozen languages and worked as a spy for the OSS: “he could read hieroglyphics and recite Edgar Allan Poe’s entire poetic oeuvre . . . [and] bought dictionaries ‘to see if they were complete.'”** Dutch-born American physicist Samuel Goudsmit, the chief scientist for the Alsos Mission whose parents died at Auschwitz** Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Werner Heisenberg, author of the Uncertainty Principle and head of the Nazi atomic bomb program. Kean describes him as “essentially a boy scout with a hypertrophied brain.”** The Nobel Laureate husband-and-wife team of Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie, both active in the French Resistance** Joe Kennedy, Jr., JFK’s older brother who perished in a spectacular plane crash as a Navy pilot in World War II. Kennedy was engaged in a vainglorious effort to best his brother’s medal-winning feats on PT-109. He died on what in hindsight was clearly a futile mission to destroy what Dwight Eisenhower feared was a German launch site in northern France for nuclear weapons.** US Army Colonel Boris Pash, a veteran of the White Army in the Russian Civil War who taught physical education and science at Hollywood High and later headed the Alsos Mission for the AlliesEvery one of these exceptional people has been the subject of multiple references in history books and, in some cases, many biographies as well. The same goes for many of the fourteen people Kean cites at the back of the book in a list of minor characters. The Bastard Brigade is, above all, an account about people whose stories deserve to be told.How this book is organizedKean has done an admirable job organizing the unruly material that underpins his story. The Bastard Brigade is divided into six sections, each roughly corresponding to one year of the war (“Prewar, to 1939,” “1940-41,” “1942,” and so forth). In each section, he traces the trajectory of the principal characters as they moved ever closer to intersecting in the Alsos mission. But in doing so, Kean frequently digresses, layering in colorful tales that help to flesh out the leading actors in the high-stakes game of nuclear competition. Many of those digressions might have hit the cutting-room floor in a book written by an academic historian. But for Kean—and the reader—they add color and depth that would otherwise be missing from a recitation of facts in chronological order.Kean’s use of these often little-known episodes and insights is sometimes delightful. Here are just a few examples:** Moe Berg’s tendency to wander off on his own when he became bored with his missions for the OSS.** The facts that Joe Kennedy “was a terrible pilot” and the plane that killed him was a flying bomb jam-packed with explosives** The German plans for the V-3 Hochdruckpumpe (high-pressure pump) or “Busy Lizzie,” a 416-foot cannon that shot nine-foot bullets.The author’s style is . . . well, informalSam Kean writes in a style that’s best described as loose. Casual, if you will. Conversational. Vernacular. Even occasionally drifting over the line into sexual innuendo or scatological allusions. This approach makes for an easier and faster read, but it can be jarring. And at times it detracts from the impact of the surprises he dug out of the historical record. The upshot is that Kean’s style cheapens this otherwise revealing and enjoyable book.

History and science combined for those who are neither scientists nor historians.However, if you are either you will probably enjoy it even more.If I taught science or history, I would make it required reading.Spy novel, history, science, baseball players, future politicians all combined to make a story that shows the saying, "Truth is stranger than fiction," true.Footnote: Just don't plan to get much else done once you start reading it.

I've read probably three dozen or more books about different aspects of World War II, but had only gleaned bits and pieces of the fascinating information told in this book. It's history, gossip, science, and a thriller all between the two covers, and has some important ramifications for today, too. I highly recommend this one!

Special book about a talented WWII team. I recommend.

Really well done. Compelling telling of the story.

no comment

"The Bastard Brigade", written by Sam Kean, describes the efforts of the Germans to build an atomic bomb, and the Allies' efforts to stop it.Beginning with the early efforts in physics by the German scientists, it was Germany's goal to be the first to build a working atomic bomb. Led by such scientists as Werner Heisenberg, Walther Bothe, Kurt Diebner, and other members of Germany's "Uranium Club", progress was being made. However, was the progress enough to actually build a working bomb? Many believe not, for America's Manhattan Project not only caught the Germans, but left them far behind.Still, the story itself is very good. From the raids on the German heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway to the attacks on the German rocket bases at Peenemunde, the efforts of the Allied spies are well-documented. Men such as Moe Berg, Samuel Goudsmit, Boris Pash, and William "Wild Bill" Donovan tracked the German physicists and reported their progress to the Allies. Many were captured.In the end, it was proven that the Germans were in fact not very close to building an actual working bomb, while the Allies succeeded, as evidenced by the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."The Bastard Brigade" is an exciting book loaded with spies, espionage, and daring missions. Although the Nazis were shown to not be close to ever making a working bomb, the threat was real, and the Allied spies made sure that the Germans were unsuccessful. Highly recommended.

Read this.The Bastard Brigade takes a small but rewarding detour from the last four books with a direct investigation of one particular historical event. Typically, I'm not inspired to read World War II material as a young 20-something female, but I truly believe everyone should read this as it is undeniably entertaining, well put-together, intriguing, and thought provoking. Several times throughout reading this I said aloud, "How did I not know this?" because the stories are THAT fascinating and THAT pivotal in both war and science history. This is not just some a relay of events and battles but an intricate narrative that makes you understand and CARE. Anyone can read this and everyone would enjoy it.Every character is well put together (they were real people after all) such that you get to understand the motivations and contributions of some of physic's greatest minds in a really dark era. We forget just how fragile the whole nuclear situation was and equally confusing -- but Kean does an excellent job at parsing it out in a masterful story. This is a novel you would not want to put down!When I see a new book by Sam Kean, I buy it. No questions asked. This is now the 5th book I happily owned by this author and was just as captivated and obsessed this time around. I'm looking forward to the next. It was so good I had to write a three paragraph glowing review. Okay, I'm done.

This book doesn't really live up to its subtitle - it's more a collection of stories with physics loosely tying them together. It's not helped by each (generally short) chapter switching between storylines rather than continuing each narrative in good sized chunks - although this might have highlighted the lack of content. Poor.

This book is well worth reading, as are Sam Kean's other books. I didn't think that this subject matter would come up to the standard or be as interesting as all his other books, but how wrong I was. It is an excellent and very interesting read. A definite page turner.

Much better than the reviews. I am close to understanding why there was no Hitler bomb nor radioactive inserts to thevV2

The Bastard Brigade Kean, S., Hodder and Stoughton, London, 2019, iSBN 9781529374872. 453 pp, Paperback, $22.99 (Amazon.com.au)New York Times bestselling science writer Sam Kean’s most recent book , The Bastard Brigade, is a story of intrigue and melodrama built around the WWII developments of the atomic bomb. Some of the best-known names in the history of theoretical chemistry are involved, but Kean’s writing style, which usually provides anecdotes about significant discoveries, is relatively submerged. In Kean’s own words, this book is more unified, more a novel, telling a larger overall story dealing with “renegade scientists and spies who sabotaged the efforts of the Nazi’s” to produce weapons of war.The core players in the bastard brigade comprise Samuel Goudsmit (nuclear scientist), Moe Berg (famed baseball player), Colonel Boris Patch, Bill Donovan (Head, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the CIA) and General Leslie Groves (Head, Manhattan Project).The book has 59 chapters in Parts I – VI: Pre-War, 1940/41, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945. Kean’s story tracks the early discoveries (Part I) of radioactivity including α-particles, γ-rays (Joliot-Curies) and neutrons (Chadwick, and Fermi), and the significant discoveries of transmutation (the Joliot-Curies), nuclear fission (Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner) and neutron moderators of the fission process (Fermi’s group).In 1939 the Nazi’s established the Uranium Club, driven by Kurt Diebner (a military ordinance scientist, not held in high regard by his peers). Eight physicists and chemists made up this group, initially excluding Werner Heisenberg. The scientists were assigned one of two projects: uranium enrichment, or building a “uranium machine” (nuclear reactor). Heisenberg took on the latter with his friend and younger colleague Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker.Part II 1940/41 describes Weizsäcker’s preference for uranium-238 as a nuclear fuel rather than pursuing U-235 enrichment. U-238 absorbs a neutron to become U-239 before undergoing β-decay (the neutron transforming into a proton, with an electron emitted) to give element 93, neptunium, easily isolated chemically. A further β-decay provides the highly dangerous plutonium (element 94).The Uranium Club’s Walther Bothe was responsible for building the “moderator” for the uranium machine. He experimented with readily obtained and multiple sources of “purified” carbon (graphite), only to find impurities absorb rather than moderate the neutron flux.By the time the allies joined the ‘reactor race’ in 1942 (Manhattan Project) Heisenberg had built prototype reactors incorporating graphite and heavy water as moderators. Heisenberg pushed to acquire heavy water from the Norsk Hydro plant in German occupied Norway. Kean describes the British/Norwegian espionage to destroy the electrolysis units at the Norsk Hydro plant and secure stocks of heavy water for the allies . However, the plant was recommissioned in months, due to Heisenberg’s pressure.There is mention of a 1941 meeting between Heisenberg and his mentor Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. The meeting ended in the dissolution of a long-term friendship since Heisenberg pressured for disclosure of allied nuclear activities. I prefer Michael Frayn’s play Copenhagen (1998) that explores the conflicting views about that meeting.The need for secrecy was paramount, but Kean notes that the USA had no effective spy or espionage agencies at that time. In addition, many of the world’s best nuclear scientists were behind enemy lines. Kean’s portrayal suggests a degree of bungling and failure before the “spies” got their act together. This especially applies in attempts to cajole, kidnap, or even assassinate some key scientists as the book evolves. The “secrecy” carried into their own camp when Robert Oppenheimer (Manhattan Project), was later subjected to interrogation by the Bastard Brigade, suspected of collaboration with the Russians.Kean’s descriptions of Heisenberg create a dichotomy: on the one hand a vigorous Nazi sympathiser working for the dominance of the Reich, on the other a proponent of “Jewish” science, and a dedicated (even arrogant) scientist aiming to achieve major advances in science. After capture and interrogation by his old friend Goudsmit, Heisenberg boasted a 670 percent increase in neutrons (“a measly amount”). Goudsmit offered Heisenberg a job in the USA, to be answered “Germany needs me”, the exact response from an offer made in 1939.The scenario Kean provides on the Nazi developments of “vengeance” (V-weapons) in Parts IV and V brings in Werner von Braun, the infamous Peenemunde bunkers, and the attempts by Joe Kennedy to fulfill his ambitions to become a War hero. Kennedy died piloting a fault-ridden “flying bomb” aimed at the V3-bunkers in Mimoyecques.Part VI 1945 also shows that the Bastard Brigade (comprising the OSS, the Lightning-A, and the Manhattan Project’s own intelligence “Alsos” unit) had grown and commandeered equipment and resources to search out German scientists. This “competition” was also against the Russians. Werner von Braun was hoisted off to continue his work on rocketry through to the Apollo Space program in the USA. Following capture, all the Uranium Club members were detained in England, where they were secretly “spied-upon”. Most later returned to senior positions in Germany.I found Bastard Brigade an easy and interesting read and especially recommend it to those of the younger generation with an interest in scientific history, not tainted by war. It stirs ethical thinking about nuclear weapons then and now. Reference sources are present but limited, and the descriptions of “American” spies, agents and heroes often fail to acknowledge the other allied nations involved.The Manhattan Project proved a relative success, though a horrifying experience for all mankind. Godness knows what would have happened if the Uranium Club had created a nuclear bomb – but was this its goal?Alan J. Jones, FRACI CChem

Un unico limite: per motivi di cassetta, non si dice, fin dal titolo, che lo sforzo degli alleati per bloccare la ricerca nazista sulla bomba atomica, fu inutile, perché in realtà i Tedeschi, alla bomba, non ci stavano arrivando proprio.