Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb [Hardcover]

Dan Kurzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1997

The story of how a desperate clandestine mission in Norway ended the Nazi dream of building the atomic bomb.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As the blitzkrieg raged in Europe during World War II, a covert battle was being waged in laboratories as both the Allies and the Nazis raced to create the first atomic bomb. Although the Manhattan Project is now well known, Dan Kurzman chronicles an obscure yet vitally important episode that helped deny the Nazi's the A-bomb.

Soon after the Germans invaded Norway in April of 1940, they began using the Norsk Hydro electrochemical and hydroelectric plant to produce deuterium oxide--"heavy water"--a principal element needed to create atomic weapons. Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb follows the two-year clandestine mission conducted by the British and Norwegian commandos who braved rugged, high-mountain terrain to defuse a situation that could have changed the course of the war. This is a textbook case of fact being more exciting than fiction; the story has the pace and feel of a well-orchestrated thriller. Based on interviews with the Norwegian and British saboteurs, war diaries, and recently declassified documents, Kurzman's book brings history alive, revealing the real men behind this heroic chapter of the Allies' victory.

From Publishers Weekly

In the spring of 1940, British intelligence found that a German-controlled complex of hydroelectric and electrochemical plants in Norway was turning out increasing amounts of deuterium oxide, or heavy water, a key ingredient of nuclear reactions. At any cost, the plants had to be destroyed. In his new work of popular military history, Kurzman (Left to Die, 1994, etc.) combines published and archival sources with participant interviews to reconstruct British-Norwegian operations aimed at that destruction. Reprisals against civilians, along with a German policy of taking no prisoners from raiding parties, made direct strikes virtual suicide missions, but bombers lacked the capacity to knock out the small, easily defended targets from the air. With novelistic skill, Kurzman demonstrates that in complex clandestine operations, anything that can go wrong is likely to go wrong. Were the subject not so serious, some of the anecdotes about missed trains, misunderstood orders and mishandled interrogations would read like amusing satire. When the Germans decided to move their heavy water plant to Germany, it was for reasons of convenience. As a final irony, that decision created an opportunity to sabotage the ferry carrying the machinery and the heavy water. On February 20, 1944, preplanted explosives sent the ferry to the bottom of a Norwegian lake. Kurzman tells his exciting story well, while showing that Germany's nuclear program was undermined as much by its own errors as by the efforts of the Allies. He thus renders his book a study in psychic reality: because the allies thought heavy water production important, it became important-another example that war is most often an exercise in shadowboxing. Photos not seen by PW. Rights (except first serial and electronic): IMG/Julian Bach.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805032061
• ISBN-13: 978-0805032062
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #963,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeping Hitler From the Bomb, May 20, 1998

By 

Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb (Hardcover)

This is a part of history that certainly needs telling, and B&W fills the bill. Written in a non-academic style it tells the story of how the allies crippled Germany's heavy water supply in Norway. It is a fascinating tale of a few heroes who risked, and sometimes gave, their lives to prevent Germany from developing the atomic bomb. Some interesting facts are also given regarding the development of a nuclear weapon. If German scientists had just developed a slightly different mind set they wouldn't have needed the heavy water, and could have built a bomb without it. Good rendering of a small but very important story of World War II.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good perspective, May 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb (Hardcover)

As one of Mr. Kurzman's Norwegian sources for his research on this subject, I must say he has managed to put the heavy-water sabotage mission into a global perspective. We've seen far too many books on this and other Norwegian WW2 missions just dealing with the operation itself. About time a foreigner wrote about this, looking at international relations and history, while at the same time doing a great job on the local perspective. Well done Mr. Kurzman!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truth is better than fiction/excellent movie material!, December 11, 2000

By 

Brian Leverenz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blood and Water: Sabotaging Hitler's Bomb (Hardcover)

Though history has shown that the Nazis were not nearly as close to developing the bomb as was then believed, it does not diminish the impact of this edge of your chair thriller! THe allies, both British and Americans, attempt a series of missions to blow up the German heavy water plant (heavy water is used to make nuclear reactors, a key element in building a nuclear bomb) that was located in Norweigan territory. British glider pilots are unsuccessful and captured and tortured by the Nazis, a second attempt is successful in bombing the plant but does not do enough damage. THe book chronicles these and other espionage efforts to destroy the plant and does so in a quick style that will keep you reading til finished. THis book would make an excellent action/adventure WWII thriller type movie and I hope someone buys the rights to it. AS many of you know, the author, Dan Kurzman has made a career of documenting WWII stories. He's a good storyteller, though not quite as good a writer. If you enjoy this book, then try his story of the sinking of the Indianapolis, the ship that carried parts of the Atomic bomb and saw a large number of its crewman get eaten by sharks. The book demonstrates that there are enough true to life thrillers out there, so why bother with fiction when you can read a thriller and learn something about history at the same time!