{"product_id":"operation-gunnerside-charles-river-9798508108083","title":"Operation Gunnerside: The History and Legacy of the Allied Mission to Sabotage Nazi Germany's Nuclear Weapons Program during World War II","description":"*Includes pictures\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*Includes a bibliography for further reading\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What if the enemy should get the atomic bomb before we did! We could not run the mortal risk of being outstripped in this awful sphere.\" - Winston Churchill\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTens of millions died during World War II as the warring powers raced to create the best fighter planes, tanks, and guns, and eventually that race extended to bombs which carried enough power to destroy civilization itself. While the war raged in Europe and the Pacific, a dream team of Nobel Laureates was working on the Manhattan Project, a program kept so secret that Vice President Harry Truman didn't know about it until he took the presidency after FDR's death in April 1945. The Manhattan Project would ultimately yield the \"Little Boy\" and \"Fat Man\" bombs that released more than 100 Terajoules of energy at Hiroshima and Nagaski, but not surprisingly, Nazi Germany was not far behind with their own nuclear weapons program.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the Nazis' quest for a nuclear weapon began in earnest in 1939, no one really had a handle on how important nuclear weapons would prove to war and geopolitics. The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, along with the Cold War-era tests and their accompanying mushroom clouds, would demonstrate the true power and terror of nuclear weapons, but in the late 1930s these bombs were only vaguely being thought through, particularly after the successful first experiment to split the atom by a German scientist. The nuclear age itself was in its infancy, barely 35 years old, but within a few short years the advent of nuclear war loomed over the world and the prospect of a malign dictatorship winning the nuclear race kept Allied leaders awake at night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the Allies learned the Nazis had a heavy water plant in occupied Norway, they considered various ways to stop it. Bombing raids by the Royal Air Force (RAF) were not practical since they lacked the required accuracy, so it seemed that the only way to slow down or stop the supply of heavy water to the Nazi nuclear program was to mount a commando-style raid on the plant. This would mean sending a handful of men against a well-defended target deep in occupied territory, but the need to interrupt the supply of heavy water was all too clear, even if the means of achieving this was less so. The British turned to the only organization capable of planning and executing such a mission: the Special Operation Executive (SOE), a secret group formed in 1941 with the express purpose of sending in agents to cause mayhem in German-occupied Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat resulted was one of the most remarkable raids of World War II, under the name Operation Gunnerside. \u003ci\u003eOperation Gunnerside: The History and Legacy of the Allied Mission to Sabotage Nazi Germany's Nuclear Weapons Program during World War II \u003c\/i\u003eexamines the Nazis' nuclear weapons program and the Allies' attempts to delay it. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Operation Gunnerside like never before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Charles River\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 8508108087\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798508108083\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/21\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 108\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.59lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 11.00h x 8.50w x 0.22d","brand":"Charles River","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44202023944447,"sku":"9798508108083","price":11.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e3e9103d-f93d-43a6-a2c5-15b39b547d5e.jpg?v=1691492787","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/operation-gunnerside-charles-river-9798508108083","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}