Iron Cross

Under Hoffman's strong integration and promotion, the super bomb project personnel and scientific research forces that were originally scattered everywhere were gradually integrated together, but it was not smooth. Military institutions such as the Army Ordnance Bureau, the Navy and the Air Force Armament Bureau, and research institutions such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics all intervened. Administrative, economic, academic and even ideological forces infiltrated. On the surface, everyone was for the same goal, but in fact, everyone had their own little calculations, which gave Hoffman a headache.

There were also contradictions among those experts who were polite on the surface: there was a contradiction between the "energy faction" and the "bomb faction" between theoretical physicists headed by Heisenberg and experimental physicists headed by Walter Both, and there was a disagreement between the "uranium route" and the "plutonium route" in the bomb faction. In Hoffman's view, all the disputes that had occurred in the early atomic energy utilization and nuclear engineering projects can be found in German scientists, but they all have a lot of backgrounds and do not buy into each other.

What's worse is that although the scientists argued fiercely with each other, their attitude towards administrative bureaucrats and military generals was basically the same - they thought they knew nothing. In the eyes of experts, without a doctorate in physics or radiochemistry, they were not even qualified to enter the discussion. It is true that Germans admire authority, but in the academic field, they admire academic authority rather than administrative authority. Hoffman, on the other hand, won preliminary recognition after communicating with these experts several times, believing that the Führer was the one who knew the details of the uranium project best among the bureaucrats.

Speer took great pains to integrate them. Although the Minister of Armaments, who was an architect, also knew nothing about nuclear weapons, he made a relatively ideal match between work coordination and project personnel, and completed the preliminary preparations that gave Hoffman the most headaches. According to the unified arrangement, Speer was the project leader himself, Marshal Milch was responsible for the organization and implementation of daily work and the allocation of expenses, and Heisenberg and Both were the chief and deputy academic leaders respectively.

Marshal Milch had always been entangled with the uranium project until he was assigned to guard the prisoner-of-war camp and then left the project. But no one expected that in just a few months, this marshal who was considered to be completely sidelined would stand in the center of the stage again - not only serving as the deputy minister of the armaments department and the head of the Todt organization, but also serving as the actual leader of the entire project.

Since Hoffman decided to speed up the super bomb project and allocate 500 million marks in September 1942, the entire project was accelerated under the name of "Apollo". He successively issued 4 top instructions, although each of them was falsely claimed to be "American intelligence", but it was of great significance to the project.

First, Professor Heisenberg's theoretical value of several tons or even dozens of tons of radioactive elements to build a bomb is wrong and must be recalculated;

Second, it affirms the idea that low-concentration nuclear materials serve as energy and high-concentration nuclear materials serve as bombs - allowing both the energy faction and the bomb faction to step down;

Third, there are two elements required for bombs, one is uranium and the other is element 94 (plutonium) - affirming that both the "uranium route" and the "plutonium route" are reasonable;

Fourth, no matter how much raw materials are needed for the bomb, some high-concentration raw materials should be extracted for experiments to accumulate experience, and the way is the centrifuge gas diffusion method.

"Dear Führer..." Although Heisenberg's initial calculation figures were considered wrong after recalculation and were corrected, a group of scholars, including Professor Bot, who had the most opinions, did not think that there was a problem with his ability. This is a normal phenomenon in academic research. Heisenberg himself happily accepted this correction - although in Hoffman's opinion, it was still far from the correct number.

He stood up and gave a keynote speech. Since the audience was not all experts, it was easy to understand: "We studied the sketches that the intelligence personnel got from the Americans. Although we don't understand the specific structure and design significance, we can guess the principle... Now, both reactors are operating well."

Hoffman nodded calmly. He knew the hidden story behind this sentence: Heisenberg believed that the best moderator to maintain the chain reaction was heavy water, and designed the "uranium-heavy water reactor"; while Germany's chief experimental physicist Bot believed that the best moderator was graphite, and designed the "uranium-graphite reactor" tit-for-tat. There was not only the opposition between the theoretical and experimental schools between the two, but also the differences in scientific research directions.

Speer was very troubled by this. With his weak physics level, he couldn't understand the difference at all. In terms of fame, Heisenberg was more famous, and in terms of work, Bot started earlier, until Hoffman made the decision: 500 million yuan was allocated to do both.

Bot's experiment on graphite had actually been done many times, and it had not succeeded once before. Heisenberg himself had also done it, but it also failed. But then he succeeded in the experiment with heavy water - so he thought that graphite would not work, and only heavy water was the right way.

Fortunately, Hoffman knew the reason: the materials used by German scientists were adulterated by several Jewish engineers, so they could not get the theoretical figures. Then these honest scientists never suspected that there was a problem with graphite, and always thought that the idea was wrong. After Hoffman intervened, the difficulties were eliminated at once. This result made the "American intelligence" he provided highly credible in the Apollo project, and also made the "highest instructions" trustworthy to the people.

Even though Hoffman's hand-drawn atomic bomb sketch from memory was very sloppy, and it was unclear why it was, let alone whether it was a formal drawing or a sketch drawn casually by an American nuclear physicist, this group of scholars still studied the "American intelligence" seriously - in fact, the United States itself did not have a sketch at all, and it was completely thought up by Hoffman according to the high school physics textbook.

Heisenberg also did not know how much effort the Führer expended to maintain the heavy water reactor he was concerned about: After the Rank commando completed the task of destroying the super secret, they all sneaked into Norway to protect the heavy water plant, and the troops stationed in Norway took out one division to carry out critical operations. To guard, Jeshunek deliberately deployed 150 fighter jets and built anti-aircraft towers in this direction. British agents came to sabotage almost every two months. Various stories happened in October, December, February, and April. However, through the efforts of the Brandenburg troops, the infiltrated agents and the Norwegians The resistance organizations were wiped out time and time again, unable to achieve success. The British and American air strikes were also frustrated. Except for the fact that this was a key defense area of ​​the German army, not a single bomb fell on the heavy water factory.

Hoffman had his own considerations. He knew that whether in Norway or in the mainland, Allied spies were always keeping an eye on the heavy water plant, so he simply adopted a two-legged strategy: using Heisenberg's heavy water pile to attract people in the open. The firepower caused Bot's graphite pile to slowly develop in the dark.

However, it is a pity that due to the various theoretical schools and scientists in Germany holding each other back, Germany, which originally developed an experimental reactor more than a year earlier than the United States, is three months behind the Americans in terms of standard graphite reactor progress. February - Fermi completed the start-up of the graphite reactor in Chicago at the end of last year, while Bote's graphite reactor was not successful until early April.

"I'd like to know now, what is the critical mass of the bomb that you finally calculated?"

"The optimistic estimate is 200 kilograms, and the conservative estimate is 600-800 kilograms..."

"You all think so?" Hoffman turned to the other scholars and asked. Most of them nodded in agreement. Only a few people showed a slightly thoughtful expression, but no one clearly expressed their opposition or different opinions.

Authoritarianism kills people. Hoffman couldn't help frowning and sighing in his heart. Although Heisenberg's newly calculated figures were two orders of magnitude lower than the original figures of a few tons or even dozens of tons, they were still far more than necessary. The limit - 20-30 kilograms of this thing is basically enough, but he can't say it. He is not an expert in nuclear physics. He neither understands nor makes it, and he can't convince others theoretically. .

"So, what if it were possible to make a bomb out of nuclear elements and rely on an airplane to deliver it?"

Heisenberg looked embarrassed, but still reluctantly said: "It should be possible. Even if it is based on the upper limit, the bomb produced should be within 5 tons and can be used in actual combat. However, I don't think anyone can make one now, no matter what we do." Still American.”

Seeing that Hoffman was silent, Heisenberg still did not notice the problem. Instead, he said happily: "After several months of hard work, we have refined 5 grams of uranium-235 with an abundance of over 80%. It proves that the centrifuge gas diffusion refining method is feasible. The good news is that if the place is operated at full capacity, it can produce 100 grams or more of uranium-235 a month. The bad news is that in order to refine these 100 grams of uranium-235, we It will lose enough power for five Berlins. Minister Speer said that there is not so much power to squander. At present, the fastest production rate is 3-5 grams per month. This is enough for research, but it is far from manufacturing one. Bombs are not enough."

"There is indeed a bottleneck in electricity," Speer explained. "We need electricity to manufacture tanks and to refine aluminum ingots. Although the electricity supply has increased significantly compared with last year, weapons production is growing faster, so there is not too much electricity."

Hoffman asked: "Is there a problem with the uranium raw material?"

"No problem. We seized 1,200 tons two years ago, and then mined another 400 tons one after another, which can probably be used to refine 8 kilograms of uranium-235. All mining work has stopped now. We have the largest ore reserves in the world. And all exports have been stopped." Heisenberg said with a bitter smile, "It's just that the refining is too slow. At the current rate, the stock of ore will be exhausted by the end of the war."

Hoffmann had no choice but to sigh again: Heisenberg didn't know where his sense of superiority came from. He was so anxious that he tried every means to push it forward. These scientists also optimistically believed that "I am the best in the world" and believed that if "Germany If it cannot be done, no country can create it."

But he couldn't accuse Heisenberg. What he knew was history and time travel. At most, he added some vague "American intelligence", but there was no strong evidence.