Spies in the Congo

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 [...]
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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. Although much has been written about ALSOS, the secret intelligence mission created to investigate the German atomic project, so far nothing has been written about the intelligence mission at the source of uraniumthe Belgian Congo. "Spies in the Congo" is based on a mass of newly-released (and formerly top secret) archive material in the US, the UK, and Belgium; personal testimonies; and a range of audio visual materials, including a set of eight mm films taken by the lead spy. This is a dynamic historical narrative of a secret front in World War II, and introduces a memorable cast of characters at once furtive and flamboyant, from the founding generation of America s covert warriors."