Spies in the Congo : America's atomic mission in World War II / Susan Williams.

New York : Public Affairs, [2016]©2016

Williams, Susan. author.

01-01-2016

xxiv, 369 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 25 cm

text

volume

327.1273 WIL (Copy 1) MAIN-MONO 309701 INLIBRARY

United States

Congo (Democratic Republic)

Espionage

World War 2

Atomic bombs

History

Overseas item

Uranium mines and mining -- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 20th century.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Equipment and supplies.

Atomic bomb -- United States -- History.

Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- 1908-1960.

United States. Office of Strategic Services.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-327) and index.

9781610396547

1610396545

The Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo was described by a 1943 Manhattan Project intelligence report as the most important deposit of uranium yet discovered in the world. So long as the USA remained in control of this mine and its supply, it had a world monopoly on the primary material needed to build an atomic bomb. The uranium from this mine was used to build the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Given the possibility that the Germans were also working on an atomic bomb, it was a priority for the US to prevent Congo's uranium from being smuggled to Germany. This task was given to the newly created Office of Strategic Services, later the CIA, which sent some of their best agents to West and Central Africa, under the cover of an investigation into diamond smuggling.

1183790

309701

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