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Spies in the Congo

The Race for the Ore That Built

 the Atomic Bomb Susan Williams 

• A thrilling account of the extraordinary efforts of Allied intelligence in gaining control of Belgian Congo?s uranium mines and keeping them from Hitler and Stalin. 

• By the author of the highly successful Who Killed Dag Hammarskjöld?, which sparked a UN inquiry into the former Secretary General?s suspicious death 

• The untold true story of efforts by American spies in Africa during the Second World War to secure enough uranium to build atomic bombs 

'This is an extraordinary and fascinating story, revealed here with all the detail and pace of a well crafted thriller.' ?Alexander McCall Smith'It is not widely known that Congo was the source of the uranium in the bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. Using recently declassified material, Susan Williams reveals the startling story of the small and colourful band of secret agents who jealously guarded this ore in a game of cat and mouse that may well have been the key to Allied victory.' ?Anjan Sundaram, author of Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo

'Susan Williams has written a masterpiece, a Second World War spy-thriller grounded in outstanding scholarly research and analysis. The book raises serious questions about the consequences of the US monopoly on the remarkably potent uranium at Shinkolobwe (Upper Katanga) for the political, economic and social rights of the Congolese people.' ?Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Professor of African Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A thrilling account of the extraordinary efforts of Allied intelligence in gaining control of Belgian Congo?s uranium mines and keeping them from Hitler and Stalin.  This book is the true story of American spies in Africa in the Second World War, which until now has never been researched or told. It is set against the background of one of the most tightly guarded secrets of the war ? America?s struggle to secure enough high quality uranium to build atomic bombs. These efforts were focused on the Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo, which was described within the Manhattan Project as the ?most important deposit of uranium yet discovered in the world?. Uranium from this mine was used to build the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. 

Given the very real possibility that Germany was also working on an atomic bomb, it was an urgent priority for the US to prevent uranium from the Congo being diverted to the enemy. This task was given to the newly-created Office of Strategic Services in Washington, which sent some of their best Secret Intelligence agents under cover to the Belgian Congo to track the ore and to hunt for Nazi collaborators. Their assignment was made even tougher by the complex colonial reality and by tensions with British officials. Spies in the Congo tells the story of the men ? and one woman ? who  were sent on this dangerous wartime mission.Susan Williams is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Her books on Africa include Who Killed Hammarskjöld? (2011) and Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation (2006).