Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler (23 page)

The great majority of German communications were now made by the latest model teleprinter cipher machines, such as the Siemens & Halske T52d
Geheimfernschreiber
(secret teleprinter) and the Lorenz SZ42. The T52 series of machines and their traffic were code-named “Sturgeon” by Bletchley Park while the Lorenz was “Tunny.” By the winter of 1944, the specialists at Bletchley Park were physically and intellectually exhausted after years of painstaking decryption work, and unraveling the secrets of the new Sturgeon and Tunny machines required yet another concerted effort. The situation was exacerbated when it was discovered that Enigma machines were now fitted with a more sophisticated version of the
return cylinder that made decryption much more difficult
, requiring further modifications to the room-sized protocomputer Colossus and the electromechanical decryption devices known as “bombes.” Similarly, the Luftwaffe later employed a cipher system known as
Enigma Hour
that automatically generated a massive number of extra permutations on encryption. Fortunately, the repeated indiscipline of some German Enigma operators—particularly in the Luftwaffe—made the task easier for Bletchley Park to decipher messages, and a shortage of Sturgeon machines at this stage of the war meant that they never posed a dangerous problem for the Allies. Nevertheless, the latter quickly realized that such technology in the wrong hands would create a serious threat in the postwar era. It was essential to capture examples of these encryption devices intact and to deny them to potential adversaries.

In February 1945, an Anglo-American organization known as the Target Intelligence Committee (TICOM) was set up to hunt for German cryptographic equipment and its operators as the Allies advanced into Germany. The
TICOM teams
of British and American personnel divided up any spoils of war on a “one-for-me-and-one-for-you” basis. There was by now a tacit agreement that the United States and Britain must continue to cooperate in the field of signals intelligence that had served both countries so well during the war. Together, they had broken virtually every military and diplomatic code used by the Axis powers, giving the Allies an extraordinary advantage on the battlefield. Curiously, the one state that proved to be invulnerable to penetration of its codes or ciphers was the Vatican, but then the papacy was not supposed to be in league with the Fascists or the Nazis.

After a stupendous effort, Colossus was able to break the Tunny cipher and read significant amounts of Sturgeon traffic, but now there was a new sound coming over the radio speakers of the Hut 6 intercept room at Bletchley Park. It was the characteristic noise of yet another new German encryption device, code-named “Thrasher,” and this one seemed to be impervious to penetration by Colossus. The Germans had devised an unbreakable code for their latest machine—the Siemens & Halske T43
Schlüsselfernschreibmaschine
. It was all the more vital to capture such equipment in order to maintain the Allies’ superiority in signals intelligence in the years to come.

A WHOLE RANGE OF SPECIALIST UNITS
were by now poised on the borders of Germany, eager to advance and uncover the secrets of the Third Reich. In addition to the nuclear research hunters of the Alsos Mission; the MFA&A heritage protectors and art detectives; the heavily armed “Red Indians” of Ian Fleming’s 30 Assault Unit, which was now named 30 Advance Unit; the scientists and technologists of the T-Forces; the gold-seekers of the Klondike teams; and the TICOM teams hunting for encryption technology, several other organizations had also been activated, each with its own tight focus. To reduce the risk of mutual confusion, the G-2 intelligence division at SHAEF created a Special Sections Subdivision in February 1945 to coordinate the activities of all these specialized teams with the fighting troops as they advanced into Germany.

With her cities and factories devastated by air attack and still being bombarded by V-2 missiles, Britain was anxious to acquire Germany’s industrial machinery and manufacturing processes to rebuild an economy that was on the brink of bankruptcy. In booming America such considerations were not a factor; instead, the United States wanted
German intellectual property
and the personnel who had devised the weapons systems that were still impeding an early Allied victory. The role of the new Enemy Personnel Exploitation Section (EPES) was to prioritize the desirable fields of German technology and identify the scientists, engineers, and technicians involved in such projects. The first task was relatively simple.
Thanks to Ultra
, the Allies knew many details of the technical and operational capabilities of the latest weapons and even their secret German designations. For instance, the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter was code-named “Silver” and the Arado Ar 234—the world’s first dedicated jet bomber—was “Tin.” EPES’s second task was more difficult, since intelligence was lacking as to the specific locations of research laboratories and their staff. All such facilities were now widely dispersed across the Reich to reduce the effects of Allied bombing; many were in Bavaria, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, so as to be at the extreme range of bombers flying from Britain or Italy.

The advanced German capabilities that justified the creation of EPES were brought into sharp focus after the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen was captured intact by elements of the U.S. 9th Armored Division on March 7, 1945. After a doomed attack by three lumbering Stuka dive-bombers, all of which were shot down by the American antiaircraft defenses, the Germans committed some of
Hitler’s
Wunderwaffen.
On the following day the bridge was attacked by fighter-bomber Me 262s and then by Arado Ar 234s. Thereafter, the German’s sophisticated rocket unit SS Werfer Abteilung 500 launched eleven V-2 ballistic missiles from the Eifel Forest area. The closest struck 300 yards from the target, killing three American soldiers; no damage was done to the bridge, but it was yet another demonstration of Germany’s
considerable lead in weapons technology
. Subsequently, Gen. Hugh J. Knerr, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces in Europe, observed:

Occupation of German scientific and industrial establishments
has revealed the fact that we been alarmingly backward in many fields of research. If we do not take the opportunity to seize the apparatus and the brains that developed it and put the combination back to work promptly, we will remain several years behind while we attempt to cover a field already exploited.

This incident led directly to
Operation Lusty
, which was set up by the U.S. Army Air Forces to capture German aeronautical secrets and equipment, and personnel involved in the design and development of jet- and rocket-powered aircraft. Significantly, in July 1945, two months after the German surrender, the British initiated Operation Surgeon specifically to deny such prizes to the Soviet Union, which many in the West now believed was fast becoming a serious threat to European unity. These schemes came under the overall supervision of Operation Overcast, an initiative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose object was to recruit or persuade German scientists and technicians in selected fields that it was in their best interests and those of their families to seek protection and possible employment by the Western Allied powers. In particular, the Americans were anxious to exploit the expertise of German scientists involved in the development of ballistic missiles and atomic weapons. Some analysts had drawn the sensible conclusion that the future lay in a combination of the two weapons systems so it was all the more important to deny such technology to the Soviets.

In March 1945, the
exploitation of German technology
had assumed such importance at SHAEF that the Special Sections Subdivision and the EPES were now reporting directly to Gen. Eisenhower’s chief of staff, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith. Similarly, at 21st Army Group, all exploitation teams, such as 30 Advance Unit and Target Force, were now responsible to SHAEF through Field Marshal Montgomery’s chief of staff, Gen. Freddie de Guingand. The chain of command was specific, detailed, and coordinated. There was, however, a serious obstacle to the success of Operation Overcast. By special decree, President Roosevelt expressly forbade the employment in America of any German who had been a Nazi Party member or who was associated with any war crimes. Since advancement or even employment in any important field in Nazi Germany was often dependent on party membership, this ruling presented a major stumbling block. Similarly, since slave labor, which was used in the production of virtually all German weapons, constituted a war crime under international law, every weapons project was tainted.

THE YALTA CONFERENCE
between “
The Big Three
”—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—was held in the Crimean city of Yalta between February 4 and 11, 1945. Code-named Operation Argonaut, its purpose was to discuss the structure of Europe once hostilities with Germany ceased. By now, President Roosevelt was gravely ill, but his policy of conciliation toward Stalin continued unabated. Poland—the original casus belli of World War II—was abandoned to its fate; the Balkans also became a Soviet sphere of influence and final boundaries were drawn up for the imminent linkup of Western Allied and Soviet armies in Germany. The country was to be divided into four zones of occupation administered by the Americans, British, French, and Soviets. Stalin demanded the reiteration of the insistence on unconditional German surrender; he still feared a separate peace between the Western Allies and Germany, whereby they would join forces and mount a grand capitalist crusade against the Soviet Union—a policy recommended by some Allied commanders, such as Gen. George S. Patton.

President Roosevelt was quick to concur and made yet more concessions to ensure that the Soviet Union would join in the war against Japan. He still did not know whether the atomic bomb would actually work, but he did know that any amphibious invasion of the Japanese home islands would be unspeakably costly in casualties, with estimates running as high as 1 million Allied troops. Stalin promised to attack Japan ninety days after the defeat of Germany. Publicly, the Grand Alliance stood firm in its resolve: “It is
our inflexible purpose
to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world.” In private, Churchill’s suspicion of Stalin’s intentions was as sharp as ever: “The only bond of the victors is
their common hate
.”

ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE YALTA CONFERENCE
, the first enriched uranium U-235 arrived at Los Alamos from Oak Ridge—a vital step in the construction of the first atomic bomb. The emphasis of the Alsos Mission was now on preventing the Soviets from acquiring German research material and the scientists involved in the
Uranverein
or Uranium Club. From papers captured at the University of Strasbourg, Alsos discovered that there was an industrial facility producing high-purity uranium metal at the
Auergesellschaft plant in Oranienburg
. This was deep inside the proposed Soviet occupation zone of Germany and well beyond the reach of the Alsos Mission. Gen. Groves advised Gen. Marshall that the plant be attacked to prevent its falling into the hands of the Red Army intact. On March 15, 612 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers dropped 1,506 tons of high explosives and 178 tons of incendiary bombs on Oranienburg; the plant was devastated.

Following the successful crossing of the Rhine by the Allied armies in March 1945, the Alsos Mission could begin its task of finding the
Uranverein
scientists and any uranium in Germany. Based on intelligence provided by the Special Sections Subdivision, the Alsos Task Force A was directed to undertake
Operation Big
. This required them to reach Haigerloch in southwest Germany without delay. Haigerloch was designated to be part of the French zone of occupation—and the Yalta Conference had determined that nothing could be removed from each nation’s areas of responsibility—but SHAEF gave unequivocal orders that Col. Pash’s men were to get there before Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny’s French First Army. Mounted in trucks and armored cars, Task Force A barreled into Haigerloch and found the B-VIII nuclear reactor in a cave. It was simply too small to ever go critical. The Germans were indeed years behind the Allies, since Fermi had achieved the first ever nuclear reaction in America as far back as December 1942. Close by, in Hechingen, the team found
all the German scientists
they sought except for Otto Hahn and Werner Heisenberg, and these two were apprehended within days. Everything and everybody associated with atomic research was safely spirited out of the future French zone.

In the closing months of the war, the leading
Soviet atomic research facility
designated Laboratory No. 2 possessed only seven tons of uranium oxide. The F-1 uranium reactor required forty-six tons to continue operation, whereas the plutonium-production Reactor A needed 150 tons. The Soviets were in desperate need of large quantities of uranium ore, and Gen. Groves was determined that they should not find it in Germany.

On April 12, 1945, Team 5 of 30 Advance Unit, commanded by Lt. James Lambie Jr., U.S. Navy Reserve, was deep inside Germany, investigating a factory at Stassfurt some eighty miles west of Berlin. Among other things, they found multiple barrels—several of them broken—containing an
unidentified black substance
. This news was immediately passed up the line to SHAEF, and the barrels’ contents were subsequently identified as the missing Belgian uranium ore. But Stassfurt was in the designated Soviet zone of occupation. The second in command of the Alsos Mission, Lt. Col. John Lansdale Jr. (the former head of security for the Manhattan Project), consulted SHAEF with a proposal for organizing a strike force to remove the material. Landsdale noted in his report that the Twelfth Army’s G-2, when shown the plan, “was very perturbed at our proposal and foresaw all kinds of difficulties with the Russians and political repercussions at home.” Realizing the urgency of the situation, Lansdale approached Gen. Omar Bradley, commander of 12th Army Group, for permission to raid the facility against the rules laid down at Yalta. Bradley reportedly responded: “
To hell with the Russians
.” On April 17, Lansdale and his team headed for Stassfurt and located the plant where the uranium ore was stored—a total of some 1,100 tons. When most of the barrels were found to be too unstable for transport, Lansdale’s men purloined 10,000 heavy-duty bags from a nearby paper mill to use as containers. Within forty-eight hours, the vast bulk of Germany’s hoard of uranium ore was safely in the American zone of occupation and beyond the reach of the Soviets. The Western Allies now controlled most of Germany’s atomic scientists, its only functioning reactor, and virtually all its supplies of heavy water and uranium ore. The Uranium Club had been closed down. Although the Alsos Mission was highly successful in thwarting Soviet nuclear ambitions, Martin Bormann was still one step ahead in his plans to utilize Nazi high technology. Once he was safely ensconced in Argentina during the summer of 1948, his final down payment for continued safe haven under the Perón regime was the highly attractive inducement of the fruits of Nazi nuclear researches and
advanced aviation designs
that made Argentina the sixth country in the world to produce its own jet aircraft, after Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union, the United States and France.