January-February - Air Defense Artillery

94
ATO~IIC ENERGY
for
~iILITARY PURPOSES
By H. D. S~IYTH
Consultant, :\lanhaUan Engineer District
(Prepared at the Request of Maj. Gen. L. R. Groves. U. S. Army)
From the Foreword by General Groves .•.
"The story of the development of the atomic bomb by the
combined efforts of many groups in the United States is a
fascinating but highly technical account of an enormous en.
terprise. Obviously military security prevents this story from
being told in fulJ at this time. However, there is no reason
why the administrative history of the Atomic Bomb project
and the basic scientific knowledge on which the several developments
were based should not be available now to the
general public. To this end Professor Smyth's account is
presented.
"AIJ pertinent scientific information which can be released
to the public at this time without violating the needs of na.
tional security is contained in this volume .....
Paper $1.25 - Cloth $2.50
ATOl\'IIC ENERGY
IN THE COMING ERA
By DAVID DIETZ
THE GREAT NEW BOMB
NATURE OF THE ATOM
HOW IT WAS SMASHED
FUTURE USE OF ITS ENERGY
$2.00
URANIUM AND
ATOMIC POWER
Jack De Ment and H. C. Dake
1945 Edition $4.00
There is a new world in the making now that we can harneH
atomic power. Here, in a practical, clearly-written volume,
are alJ the underlying principles and theories essential to a
thorough understanding of atomic power and the atomic
bomb. In practice and theory, it is an exposition of the
uranium minerals, based on the chemistry of uranium, and
including the possibilities of atomic power.
Atomic power has become a source of great interest and
concern to milJions the world over. This presentation of
information regarding atomic power and the physics of
uranium are in terms which the layman, as welJ as technical
men and physicists, can easily comprehend. This volume,
therefore, is of interest and value to anyone who would like
to become acquainted with the newest concepts in atomic
physics with a minimum of effort.
THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL
repeated in many other cases, if not in detail, at least in
stance. \Vhen their plane crashed, the Americans were hi
for a while by a fearful Frenchman, who finally sent the!l\
their way toward the Spanish border. They hid in the \~
when they could, and brazened it out in the \'illages when t~
had to. \\lith no identity papers they faced down a young SS
trooper after a collaborator informed on them, and with Iud
they got away before the Nazis thought the matter over. ~
Frenchmen fed them and sent them on their way because t~
"'~re afr~id to be c~ught harboring Allied ~irmen (as well t~ S
mIght, smce executIon was the penalty). Fmally a young Priest
put them in touch with the Underground, which hid them r.
months until the Allies approached. The local Partisan dlil
who arranged for their protection was found with the radio
used to call for assistance for the Americans, and was tortu
and killed.
Lay and Duer were lucky; some were luckier, and retu
to fight again; others were captured or killed. What happenoi 1
to any individual airman was a matter of luck in his first and
subsequent contacts.
1
1
Escape to Spain
JOURNEY UNDERGROUND. By David Prosser. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1945. 347 Pages. $2.7;.
Flight Officer Prosser was a navigator when his Qomber W1S l
brought down near Paris, on 3 September 1944. vVith a hun
ankle, twelve toothbrushes, and a volume of Browning, he
taken under the care of the French Underground. The Undoground
hid him, fed him, and finally made it possible for him ,
to escape into Spain.
The quiet courage of the French who risked their lives 3M
their property to shelter downed Allied airmen is the most iJn. I
pressi\'e feature of the book. The inconvenience of havint
healthy men with healthy appetites cluttering up their hom~
and devouring their expensive black-market food was
enough for the patriot French; the constant fear of a slip, or
of sheer accident that would put the Gestapo or the collabora. ~
tionists on their trail, must have been most nerve-wracking.
The Underground was well organized. When it becalTf
necessary to shift Prosser and another American from time to
time, new quarters were found for them with a minimum ol
delay. Although time passed slowly and it took months fina1l1
to get Prosser to the Spanish border, he was much better off
during all that time than he would have been in a prison camp
-his irritation at certain members of the Underground for
petty reasons seems out of place when we consider the very real
sacrifices that were made in his behalf.
1 f 1
Brown Derby
AL Si\HTH, AMERICAN. By Frank Graham. New York;
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1945. 242 Pages; Illustrated. $2.50.
Al Smith rose from a newsboy and £shmarket helper in New,
York's East Side to Governor of the State of New York andl
Democratic candidate for President of the United States. At
the time of his death he was President of Empire State, Ine..
the company that owns the Empire State Building. I
Living in the highly competitive East Side, as a member of
the New York State Assembly, as Governor, and always as a
politician in the good graces of Tammany Hall, Smith ine\-it.
ably made enemies as well as opponents. That he was an able
man there can be little doubt; there can be little more dou
about his integrity and his feeling for social progress. It is pr
.... ~