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Spies in the Congo: America's Atomic Mission in World War II
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
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
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2016
37 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Susan Williams
30 books17 followersSusan Williams has published widely on Africa, decolonisation and the global power shifts of the twentieth century. Her widely acclaimed book on the founding president of Botswana, Colour Bar (Penguin, 2006), recently became a major motion picture (A United Kingdom). Who Killed Hammarskjöld? (2011) triggered a fresh UN inquiry into the death of the secretary general. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 15, 2020
At least one of those stars is for the research that went into the book.
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November 4, 2016
Susan Williams did extensive research to bring a little-known part of history to light. While I applaud her scholarship, I found the narrative hard to follow. I was continually going to the index so I could go back and re-read about a person to remind me of his/her name and position, so a glossary/quick reference of people might have helped. While the subject matter is interesting, I didn't find the narrative particularly gripping, possibly because of the aforementioned issue. Nonetheless, this is a welcome addition to literature on the Second World War and Cold War/Atomic Age and sparked interest in further reading on related topics.
September 12, 2017
So I knew, from somewhere, that most of the uranium for the Manhattan Project came from the Belgian Congo. And I knew (from Girls of the Atomic City among other books) about the massive secrecy around every aspect of the Project. So I was interested in what sort of adventures there had been to secure the Congolese resources for the Bomb.
Sadly, the extreme secrecy of the Project continues to stifle intelligence gathering, even from historians and readers 75 years later. Williams has obviously done copious digging in varies archives - she is proud to display each agent's code name and code number. But the gaps in the narrative are still frustratingly large.
I went into this book hoping for some pulp-worthy adventures. It sounded like we could expect some Indiana Jones-level running through the jungle and attempted train robberies and tension-filled diplomatic dinners in neutral territory. Alas the tension just isn't there. Some of this is the history (nearly all the uranium was moved well before the various spy agencies got involved) and some is the writing (there are 3 assassination attempts on our main character but only one is every really explored or described). For this last bit I have to ding the author twice, as writer and as researcher. I feel like the tension of clearly being hunted by parties unknown should have been the dramatic climax of the book. And I feel like she could have run-down more sources to both describe the attacks and determine who ordered them and why. A look at the bibliography doesn't show much digging in either German Abwehr files (maybe a long-shot) or those of the Belgian Surete. The book would have been much improved by adding resources and POV from other sides instead of the narrow focus on the OSS.
Sadly, the extreme secrecy of the Project continues to stifle intelligence gathering, even from historians and readers 75 years later. Williams has obviously done copious digging in varies archives - she is proud to display each agent's code name and code number. But the gaps in the narrative are still frustratingly large.
I went into this book hoping for some pulp-worthy adventures. It sounded like we could expect some Indiana Jones-level running through the jungle and attempted train robberies and tension-filled diplomatic dinners in neutral territory. Alas the tension just isn't there. Some of this is the history (nearly all the uranium was moved well before the various spy agencies got involved) and some is the writing (there are 3 assassination attempts on our main character but only one is every really explored or described). For this last bit I have to ding the author twice, as writer and as researcher. I feel like the tension of clearly being hunted by parties unknown should have been the dramatic climax of the book. And I feel like she could have run-down more sources to both describe the attacks and determine who ordered them and why. A look at the bibliography doesn't show much digging in either German Abwehr files (maybe a long-shot) or those of the Belgian Surete. The book would have been much improved by adding resources and POV from other sides instead of the narrow focus on the OSS.
September 1, 2016
I gave up halfway through. Though the content was interesting, the telling of the story was not. Each chapter was like a recitation of names, dates and facts, with little done to bring the characters off the page and almost no attempt at an enveloping narrative.
February 4, 2022
Can old metal men still learn? If reading and being bowled over by the contents of Spies in the Congo, the answer would appear to be yes.
I was a metal merchant once and in a career of forty-one years, I thought I knew some of the trade’s more morally compromised subjects. But every now and then you come across an issue that is hard to wipe clean. And that is the story of Shinkolobwe – the mine in the Congo that is the subject of Susan Williams' book.
In 1939, as Wiliams tells us, its name was proscribed; for to speak of it would imply knowledge of its significance - and that was the treasure of only a few; some military commanders and spooks in the recesses of administrations of five of the countries prosecuting the second world war – America, Germany, Belgium, France and Britain.
To any who dared whisper it, its output was even more secret than the mine’s name. Its was described as ‘special cobalt’ or ‘industrial diamonds’, both as subterfuges to deter the curious.
By using the disguise of one verifiably precious mineral - diamonds – to conceal the identity of another, those interested were successfully thrown off the scent. Diamond smuggling was believable. In fact it was a camouflage for which spies and smugglers died, without knowing the true name of the ore for which they were killed.
The mineral was of course uranium.
And where was Shinkolobwe situated? Of course, in the country chosen, it seems, to be the most wronged and benighted in the world – at that time called Belgian Congo.
Here in the 1940s, the chicotte was still a sadistic instrument of subjugation; a whip made of thin strips of dried hippopotamus hide, a hundred lashes of which would flay a man to death; still in use 60 years after King Leopold II of Belgium became founder and owner of Congo Free State.
The reason for secrecy was because the British and Americans sought to secure the element before the Germans, in the race to create the bomb.
In this place, at the very centre of Africa, no black person oversaw anything, or profited from the supply of uranium for the atomic bomb. The profit for that was all channelled via Union Minière’s New York commercial arm African Metals Corp.
Meanwhile, Belgium, occupied by the Nazis from May 1940, alternately dissembled or collaborated with whichever side appeared to be winning. Congolese workers milled uranium by hand and transported it without protection at radiation levels high enough for the area to remain closed off until this day. Nevertheless, in these conditions 1200 metric tons of uranium was shipped to the USA for the Manhattan project.
Once again, as in the 1880s, Congo was to be cursed because of its unique resources. As it was with vine rubber that made rich men of the founders of Firestone and Dunlop, or elephant tusks for piano keys to play sonatas in genteel salons, or the copper, zinc, and lead to make rich and powerful the Belgian industrial state and adorn its buildings, so with uranium. All was exploited with almost no benefit to the country from which it was taken, while Catholic priests promulgated the teachings of Christ.
To ordinary folk, not in the metals or minerals trade, Shinkolobwe is a simple resource story to comprehend, because uranium is so indelibly associated with nuclear weapons, and because the atomic bombs for which the uranium was used, caused the death of 100,000 Japanese in August 1945.
However, in the scale of iniquity it should perhaps not overshadow the less dramatic but equally amoral ways in which this resource story lives on in the Congo in 2022.
This time the mineral is not just called ‘special cobalt’, it is indeed ‘cobalt’. Like uranium, the Congolese cobalt ore of Katanga is a freak occurrence in nature, richer than any geological formation to be found elsewhere on the globe. At Shinkolobwe the U308 content was between 65-70% which compares to commercial uranium mined today at Rössing in Nambia at a mere 100 ppm (or 0.01%). Cobalt surface artisanal ores in Katanga are said to be Co 10-15% while larger volume corporate mines containing as little as Co 0.5% are commercial.
The only thing that has changed is that Britain, France, and Germany are not in the frontline and not presently at war. While the UK stock market is the domicile for a portion of the shares of one or two of the exploiters, and Germany and France are consumers of cobalt for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, China, USA, Israel, and Switzerland are the diggers.
Rapaciousness in the 1940s was justified because of war, even though indigenous Africans had little role in it except as cattle fodder for their imperial masters. Today, the exploitation of Congolese cobalt is justified because the world genuflects before the altar of green technology. In all this, it matters not that small boys and whole families subsist in pre-biblical conditions mining cobalt ores with their hands, while poisoning water systems with tailings and heavy metals, causing malformations in pregnancy and pollution of crops.
And which company is common to both the uranium and cobalt stories? The one that states on its website that its ambitions lie in ‘clean mobility and recycling’. The company was once called Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK). Today it is called Umicore where you can read on their website of their battery technologies. But go to the Umicore corporate history section and you may be surprised to read that nothing of note happened between 1906 and 1968 (although there are ten entries between 1989 and the present). Or pick up a copy of Umicore’s educational book of elements (2003) and you will note that Uranium is omitted. Metal merchants, it would seem, can bear only a little reality.
If there is a conclusion to be drawn – one that isn’t too trite or revisionist – it is that we should try harder to recognise threads of history that should not be forgotten. The arguments you will hear aired to justify the expropriation of uranium are that the side of the good had to have the biggest gun, or that the atomic bomb shortened the war.
I’ll leave the last word then to a family friend whose father was in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. A couple of weeks ago when we discussed this subject, he said that he felt it had been wrong to drop the bomb, even though the longer the war went on the more unlikely it would have been that his father would have survived.
Some moralities exist, it appears, on a higher plane than self-interest. Who knows, perhaps we could learn from Shinkolobwe and do better in the Congo today?
By Anthony Lipmann a version of which was published on www.lord-copper.com 03.02.22
Further Reading: ‘Spies in the Congo: The Race for the Ore that built the atomic bomb’, by Susan William (2016)
Image: Uraninite from Shinkolobwe, Katanga. [Courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Natural History]
I was a metal merchant once and in a career of forty-one years, I thought I knew some of the trade’s more morally compromised subjects. But every now and then you come across an issue that is hard to wipe clean. And that is the story of Shinkolobwe – the mine in the Congo that is the subject of Susan Williams' book.
In 1939, as Wiliams tells us, its name was proscribed; for to speak of it would imply knowledge of its significance - and that was the treasure of only a few; some military commanders and spooks in the recesses of administrations of five of the countries prosecuting the second world war – America, Germany, Belgium, France and Britain.
To any who dared whisper it, its output was even more secret than the mine’s name. Its was described as ‘special cobalt’ or ‘industrial diamonds’, both as subterfuges to deter the curious.
By using the disguise of one verifiably precious mineral - diamonds – to conceal the identity of another, those interested were successfully thrown off the scent. Diamond smuggling was believable. In fact it was a camouflage for which spies and smugglers died, without knowing the true name of the ore for which they were killed.
The mineral was of course uranium.
And where was Shinkolobwe situated? Of course, in the country chosen, it seems, to be the most wronged and benighted in the world – at that time called Belgian Congo.
Here in the 1940s, the chicotte was still a sadistic instrument of subjugation; a whip made of thin strips of dried hippopotamus hide, a hundred lashes of which would flay a man to death; still in use 60 years after King Leopold II of Belgium became founder and owner of Congo Free State.
The reason for secrecy was because the British and Americans sought to secure the element before the Germans, in the race to create the bomb.
In this place, at the very centre of Africa, no black person oversaw anything, or profited from the supply of uranium for the atomic bomb. The profit for that was all channelled via Union Minière’s New York commercial arm African Metals Corp.
Meanwhile, Belgium, occupied by the Nazis from May 1940, alternately dissembled or collaborated with whichever side appeared to be winning. Congolese workers milled uranium by hand and transported it without protection at radiation levels high enough for the area to remain closed off until this day. Nevertheless, in these conditions 1200 metric tons of uranium was shipped to the USA for the Manhattan project.
Once again, as in the 1880s, Congo was to be cursed because of its unique resources. As it was with vine rubber that made rich men of the founders of Firestone and Dunlop, or elephant tusks for piano keys to play sonatas in genteel salons, or the copper, zinc, and lead to make rich and powerful the Belgian industrial state and adorn its buildings, so with uranium. All was exploited with almost no benefit to the country from which it was taken, while Catholic priests promulgated the teachings of Christ.
To ordinary folk, not in the metals or minerals trade, Shinkolobwe is a simple resource story to comprehend, because uranium is so indelibly associated with nuclear weapons, and because the atomic bombs for which the uranium was used, caused the death of 100,000 Japanese in August 1945.
However, in the scale of iniquity it should perhaps not overshadow the less dramatic but equally amoral ways in which this resource story lives on in the Congo in 2022.
This time the mineral is not just called ‘special cobalt’, it is indeed ‘cobalt’. Like uranium, the Congolese cobalt ore of Katanga is a freak occurrence in nature, richer than any geological formation to be found elsewhere on the globe. At Shinkolobwe the U308 content was between 65-70% which compares to commercial uranium mined today at Rössing in Nambia at a mere 100 ppm (or 0.01%). Cobalt surface artisanal ores in Katanga are said to be Co 10-15% while larger volume corporate mines containing as little as Co 0.5% are commercial.
The only thing that has changed is that Britain, France, and Germany are not in the frontline and not presently at war. While the UK stock market is the domicile for a portion of the shares of one or two of the exploiters, and Germany and France are consumers of cobalt for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, China, USA, Israel, and Switzerland are the diggers.
Rapaciousness in the 1940s was justified because of war, even though indigenous Africans had little role in it except as cattle fodder for their imperial masters. Today, the exploitation of Congolese cobalt is justified because the world genuflects before the altar of green technology. In all this, it matters not that small boys and whole families subsist in pre-biblical conditions mining cobalt ores with their hands, while poisoning water systems with tailings and heavy metals, causing malformations in pregnancy and pollution of crops.
And which company is common to both the uranium and cobalt stories? The one that states on its website that its ambitions lie in ‘clean mobility and recycling’. The company was once called Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK). Today it is called Umicore where you can read on their website of their battery technologies. But go to the Umicore corporate history section and you may be surprised to read that nothing of note happened between 1906 and 1968 (although there are ten entries between 1989 and the present). Or pick up a copy of Umicore’s educational book of elements (2003) and you will note that Uranium is omitted. Metal merchants, it would seem, can bear only a little reality.
If there is a conclusion to be drawn – one that isn’t too trite or revisionist – it is that we should try harder to recognise threads of history that should not be forgotten. The arguments you will hear aired to justify the expropriation of uranium are that the side of the good had to have the biggest gun, or that the atomic bomb shortened the war.
I’ll leave the last word then to a family friend whose father was in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. A couple of weeks ago when we discussed this subject, he said that he felt it had been wrong to drop the bomb, even though the longer the war went on the more unlikely it would have been that his father would have survived.
Some moralities exist, it appears, on a higher plane than self-interest. Who knows, perhaps we could learn from Shinkolobwe and do better in the Congo today?
By Anthony Lipmann a version of which was published on www.lord-copper.com 03.02.22
Further Reading: ‘Spies in the Congo: The Race for the Ore that built the atomic bomb’, by Susan William (2016)
Image: Uraninite from Shinkolobwe, Katanga. [Courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Natural History]
June 10, 2023
Great look at the history of WWII uranium mining and the quest to keep it in Allied hands. Lots of characters, so I got easily lost, but still a good book.
August 7, 2019
Interesting historical espionage story of a little known chapter of WWII, and the Manhattan Project's need to guard the mine supplying the essential rich uranium ore needed for the development of the atomic bomb.
Listened to the audiobook version for background on some of the history of the colonial era of the Congo woven in book club read of "The Poisonwood Bible".
The spies were U.S. and Allied espionage agents guarding the secret of the the Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo, whose rich uranium ores were vital to the Manhattan Project, and the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Having learned the fascinating story of top secret Manhattan Project at the Trinity Site and Los Alamos NM and Oakridge TN on U.S. travels, this part of the story was completely unknown to me.
A bit long in the details, may have been the audiobook version where you cannot skim the detail parts, I found the story of the nascent SOS office in the desperate WWII era to guard essential and strategic resources for your side, and ensure the essential uranium needed for the Manhattan Project was not smuggled to the Axis powers thought to be developing their atomic bomb version, highly interesting.
There is a bit of background on the early Belgian colonial era of rubber plantations, and exploitation of the Congo peoples by Belgian commercial interests to give understanding of some of the story in "The Poisonwood Bible".
The end chapters speak to the present day concerns of this rich uranium deposit, and the possibilities of the ore smuggled into Iran's, or South Korea's nuclear development programs.
Listened to the audiobook version for background on some of the history of the colonial era of the Congo woven in book club read of "The Poisonwood Bible".
The spies were U.S. and Allied espionage agents guarding the secret of the the Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo, whose rich uranium ores were vital to the Manhattan Project, and the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Having learned the fascinating story of top secret Manhattan Project at the Trinity Site and Los Alamos NM and Oakridge TN on U.S. travels, this part of the story was completely unknown to me.
A bit long in the details, may have been the audiobook version where you cannot skim the detail parts, I found the story of the nascent SOS office in the desperate WWII era to guard essential and strategic resources for your side, and ensure the essential uranium needed for the Manhattan Project was not smuggled to the Axis powers thought to be developing their atomic bomb version, highly interesting.
There is a bit of background on the early Belgian colonial era of rubber plantations, and exploitation of the Congo peoples by Belgian commercial interests to give understanding of some of the story in "The Poisonwood Bible".
The end chapters speak to the present day concerns of this rich uranium deposit, and the possibilities of the ore smuggled into Iran's, or South Korea's nuclear development programs.
April 18, 2020
Great topic and fascinating material. The book was a bit academic and boring. It was a listing of too many abbreviations and a lot of boring information of peoples names and meetings. I wish the author had taken a more literary approach as this material would be a gold mine (or more precisely an uranium mine) of intrigue that in the right hands would be not only a fascinating account of a important time in history but a real page turner of epic proportions. I did enjoy it and pushed through reading it due to a personal connection with this area in Africa.
April 17, 2022
Not at all a "thriller," this book is best appreciated as an in-depth history for those interested in the particular topic, but for the casual reader it is quite a slog through a myriad of minute, footnoted details. (100+ pages are devoted to footnotes, bibliography, appendices, etc. etc.). Interesting to learn about my acquaintance Hunt Harris's role, and about the role of Congolese uranium mines in the atomic race, but the story was not told in an interesting way for lay readers like me.
January 5, 2017
Didn't finish it. Gets bogged down in too much detail that's not important to the story.
September 4, 2019
The great bulk of the uranium used in both the American and German atomic bomb programs during World War II came from the Shinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo, which had been closed down by the start of the war. Germany had access to the uranium inventory in Belgium after invading that country in 1940, and the U.S. made arrangements with Belgian Congo officials to purchase the ore and tailings remaining at the mine and subsequently made arrangements to have the mine reopened to provide uranium for the Cold War atomic weapons program.
During and immediately after World War II there were only a few known uranium deposits (western U.S., Canada, Czeckoslovakia), and the concentration of U3O8 in the ore was very low, significantly less than 1%. At Shinkolobwe, on the other hand, the concentration in the ore was as high as 70%, and even the concentration in the tailings was 20%. For this reason, it was important for the U.S. to obtain its output and to prevent Germany from doing so. Acquiring the output required negotiations with Union Minière officials in the Belgian Congo, which officially had sided with the Allies, but preventing the smuggling of uranium to Germany required the use of spies from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The focus of this book is the activities of these spies.
The challenges the OSS agents faced were daunting. While the governor general of the Belgian Congo had sided with the allies, there were many officials who, feeling that Germany was likely to win the war, were in favor of neutrality such that they could trade with both the Axis and the Allies, thereby profiting no matter what happened. To the north of the Congo was French Central Africa. Like Belgium, France was occupied by the Germans. This French colony had chosen to be loyal to the government in exile under Charles de Gaulle but was still a hotbed of spy activity and smuggling. To the southwest was the Portuguese colony of Angola. Portugal was officially neutral but was under the control of a fascist dictatorship sympathetic to Germany. Hence, Angola was an ideal route for smuggling uranium and other resources such as industrial diamonds out of the Belgian Congo. There were also enemy agents playing for keeps. After a contact accidentally blew his cover, one OSS agent survived three attempts on his life before returning to the U.S. Aside from these issues, the OSS agents frequently suffered from tropical diseases and had to deal with language barriers given the numerous languages spoken in the Belgian Congo and the surrounding territories.
One aspect of the book that I really appreciated was Dr. Williams commitment to readability. At the front of the book is a list of the key individuals with their roles as well as code names if they were OSS. Next to it was a list of acronyms. Furthermore, she would use organization names and their acronyms interchangeably in the following manner. She would first use the proper name and then use the acronym. If there was a gap of a chapter or more before needing to use the acronym again, she would re-introduce the proper name before reverting to the acronym. With the alphabet soup of acronyms and the numerous individuals involved, these features made the book easier to read.
I have one technical criticism. In the book, Dr. Williams states that the higher uranium concentration in the Shinkolobwe ore reduced or eliminated the need to enrich the uranium. In this, she was mistaken. Of the naturally occurring isotopes of uranium, one, U-235 is capable of fission, and it comprises approximately 0.7% of natural uranium, regardless of the concentration of the uranium in the ore. The uranium in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima required a U-235 content of greater than 90% for the bomb to work. The process of raising the U-235 concentration is known as enrichment, and that took place at the gaseous diffusion plant at K-25 and the calutrons at Y-12, with both facilities located at Oak Ridge, TN.
In spite of occasionally having to discuss the availability of some source material or admit uncertainty about what happened or how something happened, Dr. Williams managed to keep the book reading like a thriller. As a result, I enjoyed the book and had trouble putting it down.
During and immediately after World War II there were only a few known uranium deposits (western U.S., Canada, Czeckoslovakia), and the concentration of U3O8 in the ore was very low, significantly less than 1%. At Shinkolobwe, on the other hand, the concentration in the ore was as high as 70%, and even the concentration in the tailings was 20%. For this reason, it was important for the U.S. to obtain its output and to prevent Germany from doing so. Acquiring the output required negotiations with Union Minière officials in the Belgian Congo, which officially had sided with the Allies, but preventing the smuggling of uranium to Germany required the use of spies from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The focus of this book is the activities of these spies.
The challenges the OSS agents faced were daunting. While the governor general of the Belgian Congo had sided with the allies, there were many officials who, feeling that Germany was likely to win the war, were in favor of neutrality such that they could trade with both the Axis and the Allies, thereby profiting no matter what happened. To the north of the Congo was French Central Africa. Like Belgium, France was occupied by the Germans. This French colony had chosen to be loyal to the government in exile under Charles de Gaulle but was still a hotbed of spy activity and smuggling. To the southwest was the Portuguese colony of Angola. Portugal was officially neutral but was under the control of a fascist dictatorship sympathetic to Germany. Hence, Angola was an ideal route for smuggling uranium and other resources such as industrial diamonds out of the Belgian Congo. There were also enemy agents playing for keeps. After a contact accidentally blew his cover, one OSS agent survived three attempts on his life before returning to the U.S. Aside from these issues, the OSS agents frequently suffered from tropical diseases and had to deal with language barriers given the numerous languages spoken in the Belgian Congo and the surrounding territories.
One aspect of the book that I really appreciated was Dr. Williams commitment to readability. At the front of the book is a list of the key individuals with their roles as well as code names if they were OSS. Next to it was a list of acronyms. Furthermore, she would use organization names and their acronyms interchangeably in the following manner. She would first use the proper name and then use the acronym. If there was a gap of a chapter or more before needing to use the acronym again, she would re-introduce the proper name before reverting to the acronym. With the alphabet soup of acronyms and the numerous individuals involved, these features made the book easier to read.
I have one technical criticism. In the book, Dr. Williams states that the higher uranium concentration in the Shinkolobwe ore reduced or eliminated the need to enrich the uranium. In this, she was mistaken. Of the naturally occurring isotopes of uranium, one, U-235 is capable of fission, and it comprises approximately 0.7% of natural uranium, regardless of the concentration of the uranium in the ore. The uranium in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima required a U-235 content of greater than 90% for the bomb to work. The process of raising the U-235 concentration is known as enrichment, and that took place at the gaseous diffusion plant at K-25 and the calutrons at Y-12, with both facilities located at Oak Ridge, TN.
In spite of occasionally having to discuss the availability of some source material or admit uncertainty about what happened or how something happened, Dr. Williams managed to keep the book reading like a thriller. As a result, I enjoyed the book and had trouble putting it down.
July 22, 2020
As I was reading a part of the book that just ran on and on, I thought: chronological data dump. Probably 1/3 of the pages were taken up by repeatedly reminding us that OSS agent had multiple names: Wilber Oweings "Dock" Hogue, went undercover as Carl West, first secret code name WEST, later secret code name TETON, and secret code number 253, which Hogue wrote out, TWO FIVE THREE, when he used it as his signature on letters.
The author describes the male agents as attractive whether the photos offer proof of that or not. Without going through the book searching for more, I noted page 13 "Dock Hogue, just short of six-three... He was well-built and athletic...and strikingly good looking." page 70 "...Lanier John Violett, a handsome and strapping man who was even taller than Hogue at six foot six inches." page 147 "Stehli was an attractive man, with open and friendly features, fair hair and blue eyes - and though not quite reaching the lofty heights of Hogue, Violett and Harris, at about five foot eleven he was taller than average and of sturdy build." (The one female OSS employee was described simply as "plain," "5 foot 1 inches tall and weighing 52 kg.)
A lot of the "secret agenting" seemed a little silly considering that they mostly seemed to be spying on each other or losing themselves in their cover stories. The mining and shipping of the uranium was mostly accomplished before the book opened. In the right hands, Dock Hogue's story, the brushed-over assassination attempts, his narrow escape, etc. would have made an excellent thriller. I added a third star to my rating for Dock Hogue.
Me nitpicking: page 145 The author says that Capt. Baseheart was a student at University of Chicago doing field work on the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin when he was drafted and that he chose a code name that reflected his area of research - OJIBWA. Maybe his interests but not so much his area of research. The Oneida, originally from New York, are Iroquois people. The Ojibwa living in the mid-west U.S. and Canada are of the Anishinaabe people. Apples and oranges. Or maybe he picked Ojibwa because it sounds good and people always misspell Oneida.
The author describes the male agents as attractive whether the photos offer proof of that or not. Without going through the book searching for more, I noted page 13 "Dock Hogue, just short of six-three... He was well-built and athletic...and strikingly good looking." page 70 "...Lanier John Violett, a handsome and strapping man who was even taller than Hogue at six foot six inches." page 147 "Stehli was an attractive man, with open and friendly features, fair hair and blue eyes - and though not quite reaching the lofty heights of Hogue, Violett and Harris, at about five foot eleven he was taller than average and of sturdy build." (The one female OSS employee was described simply as "plain," "5 foot 1 inches tall and weighing 52 kg.)
A lot of the "secret agenting" seemed a little silly considering that they mostly seemed to be spying on each other or losing themselves in their cover stories. The mining and shipping of the uranium was mostly accomplished before the book opened. In the right hands, Dock Hogue's story, the brushed-over assassination attempts, his narrow escape, etc. would have made an excellent thriller. I added a third star to my rating for Dock Hogue.
Me nitpicking: page 145 The author says that Capt. Baseheart was a student at University of Chicago doing field work on the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin when he was drafted and that he chose a code name that reflected his area of research - OJIBWA. Maybe his interests but not so much his area of research. The Oneida, originally from New York, are Iroquois people. The Ojibwa living in the mid-west U.S. and Canada are of the Anishinaabe people. Apples and oranges. Or maybe he picked Ojibwa because it sounds good and people always misspell Oneida.
December 22, 2019
I don't just identify as a history nerd. I am one. I will read Wikipedia articles and follow the links for hours - it's something I have to constantly pull myself back from. History grabs my interest and captivates me. This book did not.
Think about it, Spies in the Congo had everything one could ask for to build a compelling narrative: Espionage, secret technology, Cold War foreshadowing, WORLD WAR II...and yet, it just fell flat. I struggled to finish it.
Think about it, Spies in the Congo had everything one could ask for to build a compelling narrative: Espionage, secret technology, Cold War foreshadowing, WORLD WAR II...and yet, it just fell flat. I struggled to finish it.
July 28, 2023
Interesting bit of WWII history that you probably never heard. The principle limitation is that it is sort of bulked up with a LOT of description of schmoozing, socializing, and wandering around (plus interdepartmental politics) that apparently is the true nature of spycraft in foreign assignments. But who really knew the scramble for the only high-quality U ore anywhere during the Manhattan Project years?
October 21, 2023
The book is a historical account that uncovers the covert operations and geopolitical struggles surrounding the quest for uranium ore during World War II. The author paints a picture of the high-stakes race to secure this essential resource, which was pivotal in the development of the atomic bomb. The book offers readers an intriguing and lesser-known perspective on the atomic mission that changed the course of history. Generally a boring book but very informative. Great for history lovers!
December 10, 2023
I couldn’t make it all the way through this book. Even tho’ it’s billed as a spy story--because it does involve spies—it’s more about the USA’s top-secret need for uranium in WWII and beating the Germans to the uranium mines deep in the African Congo. The central characters aren’t all that interesting, or at least the author failed to make them so. There’s a great deal about reports, which I suppose is a big part of spycraft. Yet it’s not exactly scintillating reading.
August 17, 2024
Overall a decent read with some good moments. After this I think i will be taking a break from non fiction, had some good moments but was mostly bland. When the story is pegged as "preventing uranium smuggling to nazi Germany" and none of that really happens it's not the greatest. The assassination attempt was pretty interesting tho.
What this was a good recounting or was the violent racism of Colonial Congo. None of the black miners were given proper safety gear for uranium.
What this was a good recounting or was the violent racism of Colonial Congo. None of the black miners were given proper safety gear for uranium.
May 16, 2019
The book claims to be a true spy thriller, but, though the book was interesting at times, it was more of a snoozer rather than a thriller. Williams brings these sometimes interesting stories, but she often gets lost in the details. I often times wondered, why this digression is important.
The most interesting part of this history is the way that blacks were horribly treated despite the way that they contribute to the French Empire. Williams is clearly aware of the irony here, and she is interested in the way that these local blacks maintain a dignity despite their treatment. These vignettes are more interesting than the main story, and she would probably had a better book if she had written about these episodes.
I am also unsure of of whether she proved her thesis, that the story of uranium in the Congo was a crucial part of the effort to build the atomic bomb that no one knows about. She has a little bit of evidence for the importance of the uranium, and clearly the Nazis, Belgians, Americans and Brits were all fighting over control of the uranium, but I do not think she proved that it was anything but a peripheral battlefield.
I'm glad I read the book, just because I know so little about Africa and the role it played in World War II, but this was a bit dull and the author had trouble figuring out which details were relevant, something that interfered in her composition of the narrative
The most interesting part of this history is the way that blacks were horribly treated despite the way that they contribute to the French Empire. Williams is clearly aware of the irony here, and she is interested in the way that these local blacks maintain a dignity despite their treatment. These vignettes are more interesting than the main story, and she would probably had a better book if she had written about these episodes.
I am also unsure of of whether she proved her thesis, that the story of uranium in the Congo was a crucial part of the effort to build the atomic bomb that no one knows about. She has a little bit of evidence for the importance of the uranium, and clearly the Nazis, Belgians, Americans and Brits were all fighting over control of the uranium, but I do not think she proved that it was anything but a peripheral battlefield.
I'm glad I read the book, just because I know so little about Africa and the role it played in World War II, but this was a bit dull and the author had trouble figuring out which details were relevant, something that interfered in her composition of the narrative
October 6, 2020
Interesting. I read somewhere about a nuclear facility in the Congo and wondered about it, so this book answered some questions. I also picked this book because I recently read a book about Dag Hammarskjöld and again this book laid out some background on why the CIA and MI5/MI6 were involved. It amazes me how wide World War II was.
March 5, 2021
An interesting history of the OSS spies in West Africa during WWII and efforts to obtain supplies of uranium for the Manhattan project and keep smuggling of uranium to Germany. Interesting characters - but the book is a little dry and repetitive.. That being said I learned some things that are not regularly discussed or written about.
May 8, 2024
Really interesting story. Should be better known. It’s the story of imperialism/colonialism-in-microcosm. But it was told in such a dry way. The title, with all its noir, Indiana Jones potential, ends up feeling misleading. Maybe it’s more of a 3.5/5. I ended learning a lot but just felt like it dragged.
September 6, 2017
Excellent story on so many levels (at least for me). The history of the uranium race in the Congo and the OSS setting up shop in the Belgian Congo was fascinating. Well written and captivating and close to home. I spent 6 years there in my misspent youth and there was a family history with OSS.
January 31, 2018
In addition to being a thrilling read about the espionage of World War Two in Africa, it is a well rounded, unbiased picture of what was taking place in the colony. Remarkable people who achieved remarkable objectives despite the odds.
June 12, 2019
Interesting, but not quite thrilling...I enjoyed it, but expected more...more development of characters, a deeper understanding/ more detail of day-to-day operations. Outside of the biographical sketches, what did these folks do?
December 2, 2024
Well researched and written story of the security concerns surrounding the ore that built the first atomic bombs. A lack of surviving detail regarding the actions of individuals makes it less desirable a read.
February 8, 2025
Lots of people and facts in this one...a glossary would have been helpful.
The broad strokes are quite interesting, though. There's not as much cloak and dagger as one would hope, but I believe that's probably true of most spy work.
The broad strokes are quite interesting, though. There's not as much cloak and dagger as one would hope, but I believe that's probably true of most spy work.
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August 15, 2018Fascinating subject, but I didn't finish the book. As others have said, it is easy to get bogged down in this one.
January 5, 2020
Scattershot- several stories somehow unsuccessfully threaded together.
August 9, 2022
Great historical read to appreciate how important Congolese Uranium was to building the atomic bomb and finishing WW2. The spy drama is interesting too.
April 10, 2024
Very informative but very boring.
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