The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 154 - 166: Chain Reaction

A few hours earlier, Pierre and his men had arrived at the warehouse where the uranium was stored. This warehouse, located near the Port of Antwerp, was used by the task force to store confiscated military supplies.

Although, due to coordination issues with the British, the warehouse was idle most of the time, it was always guarded. So, as soon as the uranium was unloaded, it was brought straight into the warehouse.

The reason it wasn’t transported to France by truck or train was to avoid attracting outside attention. That was why Pierre had come here from Reims.

Upon entering the warehouse, he was greeted by gray iron barrels stacked like small mountains.

Is it all here?

For a moment, the pointer on the Geiger counter made Pierre wish he could...

...immediately ran away—after all, this was radiation.

However, there was really no need for that. The iron drums containing uranium were specially designed, with an inner layer of radiation-shielding lead. The radiation levels were all within acceptable limits.

1,100 tons of uranium!

All stored in these thousands of iron drums!

To acquire this batch of 1,100 tons of uranium, Pierre and Berlin had spent half a month planning, even going so far as to dispatch a team to the waters off the Netherlands to receive it. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

And what was all this for?

It was for the atomic dream!

With this uranium, the dream of Borneo possessing nuclear weapons was no longer far off!

Staring at the iron drums filled with uranium, the corners of Pierre’s mouth curled up nearly seventy degrees as he muttered to himself,

"I wonder if Heisenberg really did make a miscalculation."

The reason this batch of uranium ended up being used to make depleted uranium armor-piercing shells was because Heisenberg, head of Germany’s atomic bomb project, made a fundamental error in calculating the critical mass required for an atomic bomb. He estimated that several tons of uranium were needed to trigger a chain reaction, when in fact only a few dozen kilograms would suffice. His miscalculation caused Germany’s atomic bomb project to stall.

After the war, Heisenberg himself issued a statement, essentially saying that he foresaw the catastrophic consequences the atomic bomb could bring to humanity and was unwilling to open this "Pandora’s box."

Whether this was sincere or not, no one knows.

But one thing is certain: Germany’s uranium became useless, and, due to difficulties in manufacturing depleted uranium shells, it became a pile of unwanted waste. This was why Berlin was able to transport the uranium from Cologne to Amsterdam.

"Well, the thing you couldn’t build during the war—we’ll definitely build it in the future. Who knows, maybe even with the help of your own experts."

After storing away these iron drums, just before putting away the last drum bearing the Third Reich’s eagle insignia, Pierre smiled and couldn’t help but imitate the Germans, extending his right arm and declaring,

"Hail Hydra!"

Yes, Hydra deserved thanks!

No, the gratitude should go to the Third Reich. Hydra was part of its legacy, after all—what did any of this have to do with Borneo?

As he left the warehouse, a faint smile lingered on Pierre’s face.

Hydra’s first operation had ended in perfect success!

In the decades to come, Hydra was bound to stir up storms across the world.

What kind of upheaval would they bring to this world?

Thinking of that future, Pierre couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation. He knew well just how tumultuous and colorful the postwar world would be. In those decades of turbulence, Hydra was destined not to remain quiet.

By then, Hydra would be the other side of Borneo—two sides of the same coin!

...

"They’ve vanished!"

In London, listening to his subordinate’s report, William Joseph Casey, head of the Strategic Intelligence Bureau’s London station, spoke bluntly.

"Nothing in this world ever disappears without a trace. The Germans must have moved that batch of uranium. Maybe they’ve restarted the reactor program..."

The "reactor" Casey referred to was Germany’s plan to use uranium for nuclear power generation. However, since the Allies destroyed the heavy water plant in Norway, Germany had never had enough heavy water to continue their experiments.

"That’s very possible. I think we have to report this to Washington. Even though we don’t fully understand the importance of that uranium, Washington has always had us keep an eye on it. Now that it’s gone, Washington needs to know."

His subordinate’s report made Casey nod in agreement.

"Yes, report it to Washington!"

Soon, the report on the disappearance of Germany’s 1,100 tons of uranium was sent by secret cable to Washington. This seemingly inconspicuous piece of intelligence quickly landed on the desk of Leslie Richard Groves. The head of the "Manhattan Project" exploded in anger the moment he read it.

"Damn Nazis! They must have made significant progress!"

Groves immediately picked up the phone and called Oppenheimer. Half an hour later, as soon as Oppenheimer entered his office, Groves asked,

"Robert, how is our project progressing? I mean, real progress."

"Ever since Wu joined, we’ve made some breakthroughs on key issues. We’re currently refining the theoretical design. I have reason to believe that, at the latest, we can conduct a test before next April..."

Before Oppenheimer could finish, Groves shouted,

"Damn it! By then, New York might already have been destroyed by a German atomic bomb!"

"What?"

The general’s words left Oppenheimer puzzled.

"A German atomic bomb? According to our previous intelligence, it seemed they’d already abandoned atomic bomb research and switched to developing nuclear reactors for power generation. General, is there some mistake?"

General Groves waved the intelligence report in his hand and said,

"Intelligence can lie, but materials don’t. The Germans’ uranium has gone missing—vanished from Cologne, all 1,100 tons of it. That uranium is all high-grade ore from the new Kolowbe mine. Why would it disappear for no reason, Robert?"

The general’s question made Oppenheimer’s eyes widen slightly as he muttered,

"How could this be? They..."

"How could they possibly surpass us? That doesn’t seem reasonable, General, I think, I think..."

Before he could finish, Graves interrupted him.

"All right, Robert, you all must speed up the research. I need to get to Washington immediately and find a way to remedy this situation. Damn those Germans—they must have beaten us to it..."

A few hours later, Graves flew into Washington and went straight into the President’s Oval Office. After briefing the President on the possibility that the Germans had invented the atomic bomb first, Graves said,

"Mr. President, I believe it’s time to implement the contingency plan."

Roosevelt, sitting in his wheelchair, was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Yes, I think so too. At the same time, we must inform Ike and have him launch an immediate offensive into Germany—there can be no more hesitation. After all, we can’t afford any further delays. Oh, by the way..."

Looking up at Graves, Roosevelt asked,

"General, do the Germans have the capability to deliver an atomic bomb to the United States?"

"Mr. President, who can say?"

General Graves replied,

"In recent days, the Germans have been bombing London with their V2 rockets. Perhaps they have something even more powerful, maybe even bigger missiles that could fly directly from Germany to the United States. So, we must eliminate this threat completely before they have the chance to flatten us with an atomic bomb."

The reason for saying this was that, during the war, the Germans always managed to produce all sorts of astonishing secret weapons.

Since they could build the V1 and V2 rockets, it was only logical that they could make something even bigger with a longer range.

If, by any chance, they had a missile capable of delivering an atomic bomb to the United States, it would be the end. This possibility had to be eliminated at all costs.

"All right, General, I agree with your assessment!"

Roosevelt nodded and said,

"Proceed with the plan! We must eradicate this threat completely!"

Soon, the Office of Strategic Services received a direct order from the White House, instructing them to carry out the threat elimination plan. Years earlier, they had already plotted to assassinate German physicist Werner Heisenberg, in order to prevent him from building an atomic bomb for the Nazis—after all, he was the most important leader of Germany’s nuclear weapons program.

Although such an assassination could cause unimaginable losses to the scientific community, faced with this threat, the United States still chose a simple and brutal solution—eliminate the threat directly!

Thus, the British intelligence services immediately dispatched a commando team to infiltrate Germany and carry out the assassination. At the same time, Eisenhower at Verdun ordered the US military to intensify their offensive and break through the Siegfried Line as quickly as possible, telling his commanders by telegram to spare no cost. Under direct pressure from the White House, the Allied forces on the Western Front had no choice but to fight with everything they had.

A few days later, Werner Heisenberg was ambushed by British agents on his way home from the laboratory and was shot dead.

At the same time, several other physicists—potential participants in the German atomic bomb project—were also attacked. To eliminate the threat, physical elimination was undoubtedly the simplest and most effective method.

How did the Germans react to such attacks?

In a Germany already on the brink of collapse, few in the upper echelons cared about the fate of those physicists. However, the assassination of Werner Heisenberg and a dozen other scientists shocked the entire German scientific community, making them realize the true brutality of war, and also instilling a certain fear of the Allies.

History often unfolds in such strange ways—a seemingly insignificant event can have all sorts of unexpected consequences...