Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb

After years of research based on material gathered by American intelligence during the occupation of Japan as well as extensive interviews with surviving participants, Robert Wilcox gives the first detailed account of Japan's version of the Manhattan Project - from its earliest days to the possible testing of an actual weapon. The story involves Japan's leading scientists, including a future Nobel prize winner; a network of Spanish spies working in North America; and a German U-boat desperately trying to reach Japan with a cargo of uranium in the final days before the Third Reich's collapse. But perhaps the most fascinating element is the giant industrial complex in northern Korea where the final aspects of the Japanese atomic research may have taken place. When the Soviet army invaded Korea at the war's end, they had the entire complex dismantled and shipped back to the Soviet Union. We can only speculate about the information they gained from it. This new edition includes recently unearthed research showing that the Japanese spent much more time on their atomic program than previously made public.

Though the United States's use of atomic weapons against Japan has been the subject of much recent debate, Wilcox here contends that the Japanese had successfully assembled and tested its own nuclear device in August 1945 for use in the war. This updated edition includes new information that claims the Japanese spent much more on its atomic program than originally thought. This remains "a story of moral and historical significance" (LJ 3/1/85).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.