Customer Reviews

HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems volume 1 - Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine

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Friedrich Georg has finally pierced the wall of secrecy regarding the real German secret weaponry. This is not more V-1 and V-2 stuff. This carefully researched book, only possible after the Berlin wall fell, documents second and third generation wonder weapons which were rising off the drawing board even as the Soviets were advancing on the Hitler bunker. I say "documents" advisedly because the evidence Mr. Georg presents are not idle rumors. New facts are presented with references which the reader can verify. Mr. Georg's genius is threading these diverse facts into a specific and coherent description and history of each of the weapon's systems he describes. To do this, he has done years and mountains of research. This is an exciting book, full of new facts, even for those of us who follow German secret weaponry. I highly recommend this book.

Henry Stevens

One of the attractions of this book is that it goes against the grain of 'established' history by demonstrating - successfully in my opinion - the solid facts about Germany's efforts to produce an atom bomb, and the craft designed, and in some cases built, to deploy it.

Whilst several of the reviewers of this book have accused the author of producing a worthless book they do him a disservice, as he has carefully documented, annotated and footnoted all his claims. So, all can either be backed up or at least further investigated.

The text is supported by a small number of b/w images and 16 pages of colour ills, those by Igor Shestakov and Richard Mendes are outstanding!

Well worthwhile if you wish to read something about one of the more controversial and less known aspects of WWII.

While as one reviewer complained regarding the lack of photos and other evidence, I thought the author has done a reasonable job in researching and presenting the Nazi atomic bomb program. It is reasonable to assume as the author states that whatever materials and documentation was captured by the US and other Allied forces still lies locked away and who knows, may have even been destroyed because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Maybe in another 50 years or so the truth will be revealed. After all, it is the victors who write the history books, and the Third Reich was in a total shambles at the very end and Germany after the war, so it should not be unexpected that any more information is available from that direction. If the US and Soviets could grap up the rocket scientists and V2's, why not the nuclear scientists and materials.

As to the plausibility of the book's premise, maybe President Harry Truman provides a vital hint:
"Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans."
("Public Papers of the Presidents: Harry S Truman, 1945", pg. 212).

"Having FOUND the bomb" - not necessarily the choice of words I would use if my scientists and engineers INVENTED the A-bomb.

The whole focus of this book is that Hitler had a nuclear bomb. The "documents" are questionable quotes by Hitler and others about "miracle weapons" with no further documentation. Aside from circumstantial evidence, Georg ignores one important fact - where did Hitler get the fissionable material for these alleged bombs? Even if spies gave the access to Manhattan Project secrets, Hitler would still have had to produce the materials for the bombs which would have entailed massive resources and the construction of huge facilities, such as had to be done at Oak Ridge to produce Uranium 235. Where were these? He mentions "research centers" but those aren't production facilities. He makes vague hints that they have been in remote regions? Really? Why weren't these phantom facilities found after the war? He also makes an absurd claim (page 99) that "without the infusion of of German nuclear research material from April 1945, the 'Manhattan Project' would not have been completed so soon, or even at all." Yet he doesn't elaborate on what this alleged "german nuclear research matieral" might have been nor does he describe the research except in vague terms.

The book is little more than a novel with no basis in fact. Anyone who falls for this either hasn't read much history or believes that aliens built the pyramids or Stonehenge.

Many years ago, Dorthy Parker reviewed a publication by opening with "This is what you might call a gift book--you wouldn't take it under any other circumstances". I acquired this volume similarly.

Mr Georg takes any number of items minor related to known existing projects and extrapolates them into major 'what-if's, implying that the Reich actually possessed function prototypes of atomic/radiological weapons. Arguably, the most absurd item he throws out is the suggestion that that the fission bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USAAF were the direct outgrowth of the scientists, hardware and information captured by the US and British forces at the close of the fighting in Europe.

Unless you're a serious Wermacht '46 modeler or wargamer looking for new material, I strongly recommend that you save your money.

Friedrich Georg's two-volume set Hitler's Miracle Weapons is also an excellent recommendation for in-depth military library holdings. Volume 1, The Luftwaffe And Kriegsmarine, describes the design and research of carrier systems for the nuclear weapons the Nazis were developing. An outline of their weapons program is accompanied by a survey of the craft the Luftwaffe adapted and put into action in anticipation of their project.

Sorry Mr Georg, but you missed the boat with this offering. Truly disappointing, aside from the great illustrations by Mr. Shestakov, is all I can say about this book. Most of the pictures were of MODELS, yes, plastic models. It appears that the purpose of the book was not to inform, but to display the authors models and give the paint schemes for other modelers! The text is almost all speculative, and the entire book gives very little hard info. I was hoping for a definitive work on the interesting topic, but felt quite let down. Save your $38 plus shipping and buy something else......

There has been much debate over the actual state of the German nuclear weapons development program during World War Two. The generally accepted version is that - after losing its top native researchers (most of whom were Jewish) as well as many from occuppied countries - the German program was unable to muster the intellectual and econmic muscle needed to do what was done in America by the Manhattan Project.

And yet, with the war in Europe over, those self-same intellectually challenged scientists while held in detention were recorded as understanding exactly what had happened after being told of Hiroshima.

These raises the question of what was the true status of the German nuclear weapons program.

Friedrich Georg addresses this issue in HITLER'S MIRACLE WEAPONS: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems volume 1 - Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. As is obvious by the title, author Georg is writing a multi-volume volume series on german high-level weapons R&D programs. This volume addresses the development of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons as well as the delivery systems that would be required.

Using data he claims was unaccessible until after 1990 because it was sequestered in the German Democratic Republic, Georg describes how the NBC programs were hidden within a bureaucratic miasma of mutually exclusive self-sustaining entities which allowed for plausible denial both within the Third Reich and without in terms of post-war contact with the Allies. The sources he cites also contain extensive files on the modification of existing weapons delivery systems (bf-109s, He-177s, U-boats, etc.) and the development of new systems (piggy-back aircraft combinations, surface to surface and submarine launched ballistic missiles) to deleiver the NBC weapons both the UK and the USA.

Not limited to text, this book also includes excellent scale drawings and actual models of the various weapons and delivery systems, as well as what few photographs have survived.

Friedrich Georg should be commended for his diligent attention to detail in relating this fascinating trove of information.

I do not pretend being a great specialist of WWII, but still I have some knowledge of history, and EVEN FOR ME it is clear, that this thing is pure fantasy. I bought it encouraged by the title and illustrations and I returned it some days after to the book club, at my own expense - I just didn't want to have this thing at home. The author should be ashamed - some people will read this book and some will even believe it, which will give them a false vision of history. DON'T BUY IT!