Friday, February 26, 2021 Bob Lewis: Preventing Hitler From Building the Atomic Bomb

Preventing Hitler From Building the Atomic Bomb
Presented by Bob Lewis

Video of Bob's talk (February 2020) at the Lexington Veterans Association https://youtu.be/RwC_jrYPmYQ?t=828 - the presentation begins at 13:48 in the recording.

Summary:

As early as the 1930’s, German scientists were studying nuclear fission.  Heavy water, a key component in the development of a sustained nuclear reaction, was only produced in the quantities required at the massive Vemork hydroelectric plant in the mountains of Norway.  When war broke out and Germany invaded and occupied Norway, the Allies knew they had to deny the Germans access to this key resource.  

On Friday, February 26, Bob Lewis, retired Navy Captain and Navy pilot, will describe one of the most important acts of sabotage in World War II, the actions of small teams of Norwegian Commandos who survived months in a snowy wilderness to execute two successful missions that denied Hitler’s scientists the means to build an atomic bomb.  

After two failed attempts, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) trained and sent a third team of Norwegian Commandos to destroy the facility at Vemork.  Armed with little more than parachutes, skis, light weapons, and explosives, they eluded on skis a huge Nazi manhunt.  On February 27, 1943, they blew up a major portion of the heavy water production cells.  On February 20, 1944, Norwegian Commandos sank a ferry carrying barrels of heavy water to the Third Reich, effectively ending Hitler’s quest for the bomb.  

Bio: 

Navy Captain Bob Lewis spent seven years with the U.S. Navy as an Aircraft-carrier- based Patrol Plane Commander, serving on the aircraft carriers WASP, INTREPID, and SARATOGA.  As a Naval Reserve officer, he flew P-2s and P-3s and commanded his Naval Reserve unit.   In his 30 years as an engineer with the MITRE Corporation, he spent 7 years in Germany at Headquarters, US Army Europe, helping to develop joint communication systems to integrate the Army, Air Force and Marines.  He later returned to Germany to lead the communications engineering effort for an alternate command post in Romania.    

Additional items mentioned in the presentation:

• Film: Heroes of Telemark (available at the library https://find.minlib.net/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2918625__Sheroes%20of%20telemark__Orightresult__U__X7?lang=eng&suite=cobalt ) 
• Winston Churchill flew a Boeing Flying Clipper to Washington https://images.app.goo.gl/ouKyrwooj6VAKw8y5 
• The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive