FSB declassified the Third Reich's plans for a nuclear strike against the USSR in the summer of 1945

TACC.ru
TACC.ru

MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. Nazi Germany planned to use an atomic bomb against the USSR already in the summer of 1945. This is proven by declassified materials of interrogations of Gruppenführer Werner Wechter, one of the closest associates of the Third Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who was taken prisoner. It was published by the Russian Federal Security Service.

As it turned out during the interrogations, simultaneously with the position of Chief of Staff of the General Propaganda Department of the NSDAP Wechter headed the Ministry of Propaganda general abstract of armament and construction and closely communicated with specialists in the field of secret armament of the German Ministry of Armaments. The significance of his testimony was so high that on October 10, 1945, Wechter's interrogation about Germany's possession of the atomic bomb and the latest V-2 missiles was personally conducted by Colonel-General Ivan Serov, Deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR.

According to Wechter, he learned of Germany's preparations for the use of the atomic bomb in a private conversation in 1943 with an engineer named Dominik. "He told me that German scientists had succeeded in separating the atomic nucleus, and specialized engineers were engaged in developing methods and ways of practical application of nuclear energy as a means of warfare," Wechter reported. According to him, the British and Americans were doing similar work, but Germany was allegedly a year and a half ahead of them.

Change the course of the war — Already in 1945, the German Ministry of Armaments was carrying out practical work on the preparation and use of the atomic bomb. According to Wechter's testimony, as reported to him by Hans Hertel, editor of a secret government bulletin, who traveled to the town of Celle in February 1945, Colonel Hermann Hajo, head of the Special Air Force School, told Hertel that the school had in service airplanes of the latest design "which had a long range and would be armed with the atomic bomb." "The new planes were intended for bombing with atomic bombs the industrial centers of the Soviet Union located in the area of the Urals and Central Asia," Wechter reported. The airfield in Celle housed both the new bombers themselves and fighter planes to guard them during the flight. At the same time, according to Hertel, the new bombers were also concentrated at other airfields.

"Based on conversations with Dominik and Hertel, I have concluded that preparations were being made by the German Ministry of Armaments for the use of atomic bombs in 1945. This I can also judge from other facts that I was aware of as a senior official of the German propaganda ministry," Wechter said. He said he had no precise data on the time frame in which atomic bombs could be used against the Soviet Union, but certain indications, he said, "give me reason to believe that the atomic bomb could be used in the war against the Soviet Union in the summer of 1945."

Thus, according to him, in one of the conversations with him State Secretary of the Ministry of Propaganda Dr. Naumann, "speaking about the military and political situation of Germany in the last stage of the war, said that soon everything must change for the better, and referred to the words of Hitler, who in a small circle of confidants said: 'May God forgive me the last 14 days of the war'." In addition, according to Wechter, in early 1945, one of the heads of German industry and Deputy Minister of Armaments Karl-Otto Saur secretly informed him that "work is being intensified on the manufacture of the latest weapons, which will soon be used at the front." And an employee of the German Research Council, Professor Schumann, said in the spring of 1945 that he was working on a secret weapon "that could change the entire course of the war in favor of Germany."

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels also said at a ministry meeting in April 1945 that "a new weapon will soon be used which will change the whole course of the war."

Wechter himself suggested that the Third Reich could use the atomic bomb as early as June 1945 - this month was considered particularly favorable for Hitler and in April 1945 Goebbels commissioned the preparation of a special horoscope for June for the Führer, which was to be distributed to the public. "I believe that this instruction concealed intense preparations for the use of secret weapons designed for June 1945," Wechter stated.

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