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The conventional history of WWII in general, and the history of nuclear weapons in particular, is unduly influenced by a handful of books, reports, and statements produced mostly by major Allied figures at or shortly following the end of the conflict. The resulting mainstream or conventional narrative which appeared and coalesced over the first three to four decades following the war is still largely accepted, usually without question, by the majority of students and historians of the conflict. In this answer, I will demonstrate, with specific archival citations, personal statements of eyewitnesses and participants, and other evidence just how and why the established history is, at best, badly incomplete in some places, and flat wrong—if not deliberately lying—in others.The most influential figures in the received history of the end of WWII in Europe were Samuel Goudsmit, Boris Pash, and Leslie Groves. This triumvirate had ample support from both British and German military, scientific, and political personnel, and all were eager to see at least the parts of Germany that were occupied by the western Allies brought into the anti-communist, free world orbit as quickly and smoothly as possible. Although a complete discussion and enumeration of the statements and information conveyed by these men is not practical in this format, for now we will note that all three were major figures in the Anglo-American Manhattan Project, and all were also heavily involved in ALSOS, the top secret nuclear intelligence mission which followed hot on the heels of the Allied invasion of western Europe in 1944.https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/internal/media/dispatcher/267836/full — Link goes to the full text of the “Confidential” final report of ALSOS mission leader Colonel Boris Pash, who states that one of “the outstanding results achieved” was “…an intelligence report submitted to Gen. Groves by Dr. Goudsmit, the Scientific Chief, as a result of which Gen. Groves was in a position to inform the War Department and the British Government that the Germans were not ready to employ atomic power in the European Campaign.”Register of the Boris T. Pash papersAlsos Mission Films Now Available For StreamingBoris T. Pash Papers, Reel 1 of 4: "Alsos Mission Films", Original Film Footage Shot During the ALSOS Atomic Intelligence Missions at the End of WWII in Europe. Courtesy of the Hoover Institution Website.Goudsmit laid out his written assessment for public consumption in his 1947 book, Alsos. Here he gave what he saw as the reasons for the apparent failure of the Nazi nuclear enterprise. The piece linked below summarizes:“Goudsmit concluded that the failure of the German atomic bomb project was attributable to a number of factors, including bureaucracy, Allied bombing campaigns, the persecution of Jewish scientists, and Werner Karl Heisenberg's failed leadership.”Samuel GoudsmitHeisenberg was based at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute both before and during the war years and had been the lead scientist-administrator of the Uranverein or “uranium club”, which was probably the single most prominent—but definitely not the only—group of civilian nuclear scientists in the Third Reich. (Nazi military officialdom, however, seems to have periodically taken administrative control over the KWI at at least two points during the war years. Thus management of the Institute wobbled back and forth from civilian to military and back again at various times.) Immediately after the war, he was taken to Farm Hall, an estate in the English countryside, and kept under house arrest for six months. With him were a cross section of some of the best German scientific minds of that era. The surreptitious tape recordings made of some of the conversations between these men have long been cited as proof positive that no significant progress towards operational nuclear weapons was made by the Germans in WWII.Upon closer inspection, there is much reason to question this version of events, and to reject the conclusions of most of its proponents. First and foremost is the certainty that the German scientists knew their British hosts were eavesdropping.http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/eng/English101.pdf — Link goes to “Volume 7. Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Transcript of Surreptitiously Taped Conversations among German Nuclear Physicists at Farm Hall (August 6-7, 1945)” on the German History in Documents and Images website.Operation EPSILON (detention of German nuclear scientists): transcript of Farm Hall tapesThis is the First Page of an Original Top Secret Report Concerning the German Scientists Interned at the English Estate of Farm Hall, Just After the End of WWII in Europe. Notice the Conversation Between Kurt Diebner and Werner Heisenberg in Which Diebner Suspects the Presence of Hidden Microphones.Second, only three of the great minds at Farm Hall were really among the most crucial in the German nuclear effort. These were the loyal Army scientist, Kurt Diebner, Walter Gerlach, who was the head of all theoretical physics in the Third Reich, and the physical chemist, Paul Harteck. None of these men were particularly forthcoming during their time in captivity. Diebner and Gerlach, in particular, were tight-lipped most of the time, with Gerlach further reduced by what appears to have been a bout of depression. Among the few discernible discussions between these known military scientists were Diebner’s mention of “photo fission” and Gerlach’s brief comment regarding Neptunium, a transuranic artificial element and known fissile material. Neither of these is consistent with the relatively primitive (or at least inferior to the Allies) understanding of nuclear physics that the conventional history maintains was typical of these Germans. Nor are the contents of Gerlach’s wartime personal notebooks which are today found in the Deutsches Museum Archive in Munich, Germany.Dr. Todd H. Rider, formerly a senior staff scientist at MIT, conducted a years long personal investigation of WWII German nuclear science, during which he encountered the documents mentioned immediately above. In his extraordinary, 4,000 page magnum opus, Forgotten Creators, Rider comments that:“Walther Gerlach kept a series of small notebooks for scientific notes to himself. Since these notebooks served simply as scientific reminders for Gerlach, they do not contain detailed explanations, as formal laboratory notebooks would. However, they also do not contain any random artistic doodles such as some people make during meetings. Everything in them appears to have had a specific scientific purpose for Gerlach. Notizbuch 1943/44 [Deutsches Museum Archive NL 080/270-66] is a small orange notebook covering the period 10 November 1943 to March 1944. On the final page, Gerlach drew an ellipsoid remarkably similar to Friedwardt Winterberg’s postwar diagram of a hydrogen bomb in Fig. D.107. On the same page, Gerlach also included nuclear reactions involving deuterium and sketches of converging shock waves [Karlsch 2005, pp. 205, 321, 333]. Notizbuch 1944 [Deutsches Museum Archive NL 080/270-67] is a small dark red notebook that apparently began in March 1944; it is not clear when the final entry was made, but that was likely sometime in 1944 or possibly early 1945. Entries in the notebook show that Gerlach had scientific discussions (although the notebook does not give the scientific details) with Kurt Diebner, Siegfried Flugge, Wilhelm Groth, Fritz Houtermans, and other scientists on nuclear topics, including specifically the use of lithium. After the war, Kurt Diebner wrote about bombs employing fusion reactions (pp. 3116–3119) and worked closely with the young Friedwardt Winterberg. Edward Teller apparently tried to recruit Siegfried Flugge to help develop the U.S. hydrogen bomb (p. 3477). Wilhelm Groth was reported to have been working on a megaton-level bomb during the war, which is consistent with the physics of hydrogen bombs but not fission bombs (p. 3169). Fritz Houtermans was the first scientist to propose and analyze the fusion reactions in stars (p. 1424). While these surviving notes from Gerlach are cryptic and certainly not conclusive, they do suggest the existence of a wartime program that was very active by March 1944 and that involved the use of deuterium, lithium, and both fusion and fission reactions in an ellipsoidal hydrogen bomb design highly similar to that in Fig. D.107. Any more detailed documents on such a program would have been either destroyed by the Germans at the end of the war or captured by Allied countries and still buried in their classified archives.”The reasons for Gerlach’s comparative silence while under house arrest at Farm Hall now become clear.There is more. At least two branches of US intelligence had received information regarding considerable progress towards both a bomb and a reactor, as well as an apparent German nuclear weapons test, some 9 months before Heisenberg and the others arrived at Farm Hall. The following primary source documents are held today by the US National Archives and Records Administration, (NARA), and in my opinion speak for themselves.Philip Morrison to Robert Furman. The German Reichspost and Nuclear Research. 24 April 1944. [NARA RG 77, Entry UD-22A, Box 170, Folder 32.60-1 GERMANY: Summary Reports (1944)]“We now have three independent pieces of evidence that the Reichspost is interested in neutron research or wishes us to think that:1) Several years ago M. von Ardenne thanked the Reichspost minister, a man named Ohnesorge, for supporting the entrance of von Ardenne’s laboratory into work in nuclear physics.2) In October 1943 (Naturwissenschaften, 31, p. 507) a man, otherwise unknown to us, named D. Lyons, published a mathematical letter on the slowing down of neutrons in homogeneous mixtures. The material of the letter is rather similar to much work done in the early days of this project and also in the published sources. Lyons rather ostentatiously signs his letter as coming from the Office for Special Physical Questions of the Research Division of the German Reichspost (Amt fur physikalische Sonderfragen der Forschungsanstalt der Deutschen Reichspost) located in Berlin-Tempelhof.3) The information from Swiss sources which you showed us this week mentioned that S. Flugge has left Hahn to go to work for the Reichspost.It will be clear to you that there is something rather odd in this affair of the Reichspost’s becoming interested in a field so very far from the radio and telephone research they have carried out in the past. It is equally strange that we learn about it in such a direct way as from Lyons’ note, but confirm it in the rather indirect way of (1) and (3) above. I would suggest that you formulate inquiries about the activity of the Reichspost in the Tempelhof laboratories to whoever will know most about that outfit.”“D. Lyons” was Detlof Lyons, who was a known researcher in the Reichspost-funded nuclear program. “Ohnesorge” was Wilhelm Ohnesorge, an ardent Nazi and member of Hitler’s inner circle who had studied physics in his youth. He was fond of using Reichspost revenues to fund research into various advanced technologies. “M. Von Ardenne” was Manfred von Ardenne, who was unquestionably one of the greatest German scientists of that era. Note that von Ardenne had first approached Goering and the Luftwaffe about funding an attempt to build nuclear weapons and was turned down. (David Irving's book The Virus House described this in 1967.) He and most of his top lieutenants in the German nuclear project that was hidden in the Reichspost bureaucracy went over to the Soviets en masse at war’s end and largely built the bomb for the USSR from there. ”S. Flugge” was Siegfried Flugge, then a brilliant young physicist who wrote at least two of the G Papers, primary source original reports produced by the German Army Weapons Bureau for its clandestine nuclear weapons project which were captured by ALSOS and would remain classified until 1971. Edward Teller reportedly asked for Flugge to be recruited for the postwar US hydrogen bomb program. Robert Furman would go on to become one of two lead investigators sent to Japan to determine the progress of the WWII Japanese atomic bomb effort, something which is likewise ignored or at best drastically downplayed by the conventional history. Philip Morrison was one of the best American scientists of WWII and was a key figure in the Manhattan Project. His work as an intelligence officer, presumably in concert with General Groves and Colonel John Lansdale (chief of counterintelligence in the “Manhattan Engineer District”) was news to me when this and other documents were brought to my attention quite recently by Dr. Rider.Revolutionary Innovation | RIDER Institute | Forgotten Creators https://riderinstitute.org/revolutionary-innovation/#:~:text=Todd%20H.,speaking%20areas%20to%20universal%20progress.https://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/72pavel.pdf — link goes to the research paper, “German Scientists in the Soviet Atomic Project” by Pavel V. Oleynikov.https://www.quora.com/Did-the-Nazis-really-detonate-a-nuclear-bomb-before-the-US-Or-is-this-just-a-conspiracy-theory/answer/William-Pellas (https://www.quora.com/Did-the-Nazis-really-detonate-a-nuclear-bomb-before-the-US-Or-is-this-just-a-conspiracy-theory/answer/William-Pellas)The German Inventor-Physicist Manfred von Ardenne Was the Director of a WWII Nuclear Weapons “Black Project” in Nazi Germany. He and His Lieutenant Scientists Were Instrumental in Building Atomic Bombs for the Soviet Union in the Late 1940s.Philip Morrison and Karl Cohen. 31 July 1944. Appraisal of Enemy Bomb Production. [NARA RG 77, Entry UD-22A, Box 168, Folder 203.11—Tech. Countermeasures + RW—1943–1944]APPRAISAL OF ENEMY BOMB PRODUCTIONSummary“Recent evidence essentially confirms our earlier general statements on enemy bomb production.The reports now at hand lead us to conclude:1. A German “Y” project has been underway since early 1943.2. A D2O pile is in operation, but we do not believe that this is on production level.3. It is implied that a separation method is operating at a production level, for it is surely improbable that the enemy will organize a utilization group without something to use. We include a time schedule, and a technical discuss of the probable means employed.Enemy production of devices can be as high as:1. 1 device every 3 months—on the assumption that 30 kg of material are required per device.2. 1 device every month—on the assumption that 10 kg of material are required per device.In either case the first completed device could be in enemy hands now.”The reference to a German “Y” project means an effort to build an electromagnetic uranium separation factory. “Y-12” was the designation the Americans gave to their own version in the Manhattan Project, at Oak Ridge, TN. A “D2O pile” means a nuclear reactor cooled by deuterium, aka “heavy water”, though this particular report states that the German pile was apparently a proof of concept structure or pilot plant and not a full scale production reactor. Contrast this with the conventional history that has come down to us in the present day from Goudsmit, Pash, Groves, and others which states that WWII German science was nowhere close to either a functional reactor or any kind of atomic bomb or nuclear weapon, and also that the destruction of the Vemork plant in Norway meant the end of German work with deuterium.Let’s continue.OSS London. 5 December 1944. Report T-2805-a. [NARA RG 77, Entry UD-22A, Box 171, Folder 32.7003-3 GERMANY: US Wartime Positive Int. (Nov. 44–June 45)] Original No. T-2805-a Report from Sweden OSS LONDON Distribution: Information Date : Not Given.Report Date : 13 November 1944 PARISDissemination Date : 5 December 1944Value : B-3Source : OSSGERMANY : ATOMIC PHYSICS Heavy Water Experimental Station. Heavy water experiments are being carried out at the Drager Werke, Lubeck, which is reported to be the largest gas factory in Germany. The plant’s experimental station is connected with the experimental station at Peenemunde.The OSS was the American Office of Strategic Services, essentially the forerunner of the modern CIA. Heavy water is a key ingredient in both certain kinds of reactors and also in boosted fission and hydrogen bombs. The conventional history says these heavy water experiments should have been impossible because the attacks on the Vemork plant in Norway destroyed nearly all of the heavy water produced in German-held territory to that point in the war. Peenemunde was the center of German ballistic missile development.The American Scientist Philip Morrison, Shown Here Later in Life, Worked to Develop the Plutonium Bomb for the Manhattan Project and Was Also Directly Involved in Analyzing Wartime Intelligence That Had Been Gathered by the Allies Concerning the German Nuclear Weapons Program. At War’s End He Personally Interviewed Yoshio Nishina, the Lead Scientist in the Japanese Army’s Atomic Bomb Project, at the Riken Institute North of Tokyo. His Report of That Meeting is Included in Robert K. Wilcox’s book, Japan’s Secret War.Philip Morrison to Joseph Volpe, 20 October 1944, Loose Ends [NARA RG 77, Entry UD-22A, Box 171, Folder 32.60-2 Germany: Summary Reports (1945–1946)]There are a number of things to be done by the Washington office which have not yet been done. 1. We need a final report on the installation at Watten. This is such an extraordinary enterprise that we must be sure that it was not designed for something in our field. 2. The questions for Mr. Baker should be answered. 3. The recent reports of Baltic explosions should be covered by Major Calvert as usual. 4. The de Boer matter is still open. Has Alsos contacted J. H. de Boer at Eindhoven? This should be done if it is still possible.Dr. Todd H. Rider comments:"Dr. Philip Morrison (U.S., 1915–2005), a Manhattan Project physicist, was stationed in the United States but specifically tasked with analyzing Allied intelligence data on the German nuclear program. Morrison’s publicly available documents indicate that up through 1945, he believed the German nuclear program was much more advanced and dangerous than better-known investigators such as Samuel Goudsmit and Boris Pash seemed to. Regarding the specific points in the memo above: 1. Even months after the Allied invasion of France, Morrison and other Allied officials were both awed (“extraordinary”) by the rocket-launching installation at Watten and worried that some of its features seemed to indicate it involved nuclear payloads for the rockets. 2. “Mr. Baker” was Niels Bohr, who was famously quite concerned about the progress of the wartime German nuclear program. 3. In October 1944, there were “recent reports of Baltic explosions” that were being investigated by the Manhattan Project as possible tests of a German atomic bomb. That information agrees well with the other sources in this section that reported the apparent test of an atomic bomb on the Baltic coast in October 1944. Morrison’s comment also makes it clear that Allied officials thought the German nuclear program could be sufficiently advanced to test an atomic bomb, and that U.S. Army Major Horace Calvert had a “usual” procedure for collecting and analyzing such data. Can the relevant Allied intelligence reports be located and declassified now? 4. Manhattan Project intelligence analysts were actively seeking information on the German nuclear program from the Dutch intelligence network, and Samuel Goudsmit was involved in at least some of those contacts, including with the physical chemist Dr. Jan Hendrik de Boer (Dutch, 1899–1971). See pp. 3412–3416.] 3192 APPENDIX D."Note that the mention of Goudsmit in this context means it is likely he was aware of the October 1944 German nuclear weapon test at Rugen Island on the Baltic Sea coast. The obvious contradiction between this event and the statements in his 1947 book, Alsos, is plainly evident.A.P.W.I.U. [Air Force Prisoner of War Interrogation Unit] (Ninth Air Force) 96/1945. 19 August 1945. Investigations, Research, Developments, and Practical Use of the German Atomic Bomb. [NARA RG 38, Entry 98C, Box 9, Folder TSC # 2601–2700; AFHRA B-5737 electronic version pp. 340–345]47. A man named ZINSSER, a Flak rocket expert, mentioned what he noticed one day:“In the beginning of Oct. 1944 I flew from Ludwigslust (south of Lubeck), about 12 to 15 km from an atomic bomb test station, when I noticed a strong, bright illumination of the whole atmosphere, lasting about 2 seconds. 48. The clearly visible pressure wave escaped the approaching and following cloud formed by the explosion. This wave had a diameter of about 1 km when it became visible and the color of the cloud changed frequently. It became dotted after a short period of darkness with all sorts of light spots, which were, in contrast to normal explosions, of a pale blue color. 49. After about 10 seconds the sharp outlines of the explosion cloud disappeared, then the cloud began to take on a lighter color against the sky covered with a gray overcast. The diameter of the still visible pressure wave was at least 9000 meters while remaining visible for at least 15 seconds. 50. Personal observations of the colors of the explosion cloud found an almost blue-violet shade. During this manifestation reddish-colored rims were to be seen, changing to a dirty-like shade in very rapid succession. 51. The combustion was lightly felt from my observation plane in the form of pulling and pushing. The appearance of atmospheric disturbance lasted about 10 seconds without noticeable climax. 52. About one hour later I started with an He 111 from the A/D [aerodrome] at Ludwigslust and flew in an easterly direction. Shortly after the start I passed through the almost complete overcast (between 3000 and 4000 meter altitude). A cloud shaped like a mushroom with turbulent, billowing sections (at about 7000 meter altitude) stood, without any seeming connections, over the spot where the explosion took place. Strong electrical disturbances and the impossibility to continue radio communication as by lightning, turned up. 53. Because of the P-38s operating in the area Wittenberg-Merseburg I had to turn to the north but observed a better visibility at the bottom of the cloud where the explosion occurred.”Zinsser’s statement, along with the 9th USAAF intelligence report which included that statement and which had previously been circulated among a number of military intelligence officers, was later upgraded to Top Secret status in October of 1945.Further corroboration for the October, 1944 German atomic bomb test was provided by the Italian military and aerospace journalist, Luigi Romersa. Beginning in his 1955 book, Le armi segrete di Hitler (Hitler’s Secret Weapons), and continuing in various articles throughout the rest of his life, Romersa told the same story, with varying amounts of detail, of his trip to Rugen Island to witness the German test as the personal envoy of the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. In Romersa’s words:“Dr. Schaeffer, the Italian press representative at the German Ministry of Propaganda, arranged for my first meeting with Undersecretary Neumann [Werner Naumann], Goebbels’ right-hand man. On 6 October 1944, Schaeffer informed me at the hotel that Neumann would receive me at 2:00 p.m. at the Propaganda Ministerium, in his office. He gathered for a moment then scanned the words taken: “We have achieved the disintegration of the atom. We have the disintegrating bomb whose effects go beyond any human imagination...” At the end of his long monologue, Neumann came to talk about the “V 2,” “V 3,” and “V 4,” pointing out that the last two types, followed by three others, were radio-controlled and therefore infallible. I also got the promise of a visit to the underground factories and his interest, at Goebbels, to attend an experiment of bomb disintegration that was to take place in those days on an island in the Baltic.On 10 October 1944, I was warned to be ready to leave for the north. I left Berlin on the night of the 11th by car; two officers accompanied me, one of whom told me that on my return I would be received by Goebbels. I had spent most of the evening in the refuge of the Adlon Hotel. In my ears remained the voice of a loudspeaker, telling the Berliners during the bombing where the bombs had fallen, the number of raiders and where the fires had broken out. Many, even before leaving the refuge, knew that they would never find their home at the exit. We traveled for several hours in the damp darkness that stuck to the glass like a fog. It seemed that on the windows of the car instead of fog it dripped dark. Only at the end of the trip did I know that I was near Stralsund, in front of the island of Rugen, which we reached with a Navy motorboat. Rugen was an experimental center where the new German weapons were tested. Special units of assault troops protected the island and prevented access to it by anyone. To get to Rugen you needed a safe-conduct signed by the chief of staff of the Wehrmacht. We immediately went to an area full of trees where we found other officers and some technicians. Concrete shelters and small brick houses had been built in the woods. We entered an armored turret, half-open, through a metal door that was closed with every care. Inside there were four of us: the two officers who had accompanied me, another man dressed in a suit and me. I waited for noon with my heart in my throat. At noon, according to what the man in the suit had said, there would be the experiment of the “disintegration bomb.”The bomb was to explode on the ground, about two kilometers from our armored observatory. Time did not pass; the minutes were hours. It had started raining again and a dense fog was rising from the undergrowth. The ground in front of us was rotten and dark, the color of the monks’ habit. A telephone rang inside the bunker. They warned that the experiment had been brought forward to 11:45 a.m. There were therefore five minutes left. I was just in time to consult the clock that I heard a tremendous roar. The floor rocked under my feet and for a moment it seemed to me that the walls of the refuge were closing. In front of me I could only see smoke, a whitish, woolly smoke, boiling like the slime vomiting from a sewer. Other bursts of light followed by blinding flashes. The sky, dark and closed, was torn by very white flashes. I passed a hand on my face, I was sweating. No one opened their mouth. The roar just before was followed by a silence that gave the creeps. It was the man in the suit who spoke first. He was a colonel of the “Army Ordnance Office,” the body in charge of the preparation of the armaments. “What we will see today—he said—is of paramount importance. When we can drop our bomb on invading troops or on an enemy city, Anglo-Americans will be forced to meditate whether it is worth continuing the war or ending it reasonably. We’ve been studying for years. We have finally achieved our objective.” His words fell into silence. We all listened to him with our eyes.We left the bunker around 5:00 p.m., after some representatives had arrived dressed in a monstrous suit; on their heads they wore a helmet like that of a diving suit, only that it was floppy and had no screws. We also wore a strange shirt of rough, white fabric and trousers of the same fabric. We walked ahead of the soldiers. As we advanced, the earth appeared to us to be upset, ploughed, torn apart by fearful chasms. It was cold and yet everything was burned as if a blast of fire had passed over the island. The trees had no more foliage or branches; they were reduced to toasted trunks. With my foot I hit something; I lowered myself and saw a charred goat. One could see that it was a goat, because on the flesh you could see tufts of hair; its head was crushed, as if it had been beaten with a hammer. The stone houses were piles of rubble. Only the reinforced concrete turrets had survived. A few dying goats whispered desperately; it seemed like a man’s lament.“Immediately below is a note from Italy’s Central State Archives:29 October 1944 memo for Luigi Romersa to meet with Mussolini [Archivo Centrale dello Stato Rom, SPD CO RSI B 65, Akte 5680]Lieutenant Romersa called to report that he has returned from his trip to Germany and to ask to be received by the DUCE, possibly within the day. 29 Oct. 1944.Luigi Romersa, l’italiano che vide l’atomica nazista e l’intervista che non fece in tempo a concedere | INFORMAZIONE CONSAPEVOLETable of Primary Sources for the Probable German Nuclear Weapon Test at Rugen Island in October, 1944. From Dr. Todd Rider’s Book, Forgotten Creators, pg. 3187.In his postwar memoir of the Manhattan Project, General Groves evidently disclosed his wartime knowledge of greater than acknowledged progress in the WWII German nuclear weapons effort. From pg. 3072 of Forgotten Creators:Leslie R. Groves. 1962. Now It Can Be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project. pp. 147–148. “Another incident that concerned us greatly was the appearance in a national magazine of an article hinting at the theory of implosion. While it did not violate any rules, it was most disturbing. A thorough investigation indicated that it resulted from the work of an alert and inquisitive reporter in another country.”[Dr. Rider: “Clippings in a file at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York [Small Collections, Box 1, Folder 3, ATOMIC BOMB FILE] specifically link this comment from Leslie Groves to the 27 November 1944 article in Time. As Groves wrote, it would be quite concerning that any discussion of the implosion bomb design appeared in public at that time. What presumably concerned him even more, although he did not mention that in his book, is that the Time article said the implosion bomb design details came from the German nuclear program, not the U.S. nuclear program. This evidence strongly supports the conclusion that Germany indeed had an advanced program developing nuclear weapons, and moreover that Leslie Groves knew the German nuclear program was much more advanced than he ever admitted in public”.]Russian archives also contain a record of WWII German nuclear weapons testing, in this case, a pair of detonations in early March, 1945 near Ohrdurf, in the German state of Thuringia. According to Romersa, the bomb tested five months previous at Rugen Island came in two versions, one of which weighed about 20,000 pounds, the other, 30,000. If this is accurate (and he said this information was given to him personally by Joseph Goebbels), it would have made the German bombs 2 to 4 times as heavy as the first devices produced by the Manhattan Project. WWII Germany did not possess any means of delivering a bomb or warhead of that weight on enemy targets other than by submarine or, perhaps, a Messerschmitt Gigant transport plane. Neither of these would have been likely to succeed in penetrating Allied defenses, particularly those of any major city such as London. Therefore the latter tests appear to have been either 1) the result of a frantic effort to miniaturize the earlier bombs so they could be fitted as warheads to the V-2 IRBM, or 2) produced by a separate branch of the overall German nuclear effort, of which there were at least five (Reichspost-von Ardenne, German Army Weapons Bureau (heereswaffenamt), the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, the kriegsmarine, and various SS technical labs located primarily in Austria).Below is the English text of a 15 November 1944 "Eyes Only" Red Army intelligence report which states that a weapon of “large destructive power” would be tested in the near future in Thuringia, a German state in which the Ohrdurf concentration camp was located during WWII.General Ivan Ilyichev. 15 November 1944. Intelligence report to General Antonov and Joseph Stalin. Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, 93-81 (45) 37.Peoples’ Commissariat of Defense of the USSRChief Intelligence Department of the Red Army15 November 1944 MoscowTo the Head of the Red Army General HQ General of the Army, Comrade AntonovReport:Our trustworthy source in Germany reports: “The Germans are preparing to conduct tests of a new secret weapon, which has a large destructive power. The test explosion of a bomb of unusual construction is being prepared under highest secrecy in Thuringia. For the preparations of the tests the local residents are supposed to be transported away by an SS detail; the whole operation is reported to be undertaken in strictest secrecy. The explosions are supposed to take place in a wooded area. For that, special roads to the presumptive test site are being created. The bomb to be tested has a diameter of one and a half meters. It consists of several hollow spheres that nest inside each other. It will be brought to the explosion place with a transporter specially constructed for it. It is still unclear when the test is supposed to take place, but the preparations are going at the maximum fastest pace.CONCLUSION. In the last months our source has reported more and more often about the feverish efforts of the Germans to test ever more powerful weapons and their means of delivery. Probably these experiments lead directly to an attempt of the Germans to actually carry out tests of atom bombs, about whose existence we have only incomplete, scanty information.”Head of Chief Intelligence Department of the Red Army Lieutenant General IlyichevTyped 4 copiesCopy Nr. 1 — Comrade Stalin Nr. 2 — Comrade Molotov Nr. 3 — Comrade Antonov Nr. 4 — into archiveThe document above was followed some four months later (in March, 1945) by the following report, also classified as “Eyes Only” intelligence. As with the preceding summary, just four (4) copies were made, one of which went to Stalin himself.General Ivan Ilyichev. 23 March 1945. Intelligence report to General Antonov and Joseph Stalin. Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, 93-81 (45) 37.Peoples’ Commissariat of Defense of the USSRChief Intelligence Department of the Red Army[2]3 March 1945MoscowTo the Head of the Red Army General HQGeneral of the Army, Comrade AntonovReport:Our trustworthy source from Germany reports:“The Germans have in recent times carried out two large-capacity bomb explosions in Thuringia. The explosions took place in a forest area, under conditions of strictest secrecy. Trees fell at a distance of 500–600 meters from the center of the explosion. Buildings and fortifications specially constructed for the tests have been destroyed.Prisoners of war who were near the epicenter of the explosion died, often without leaving a trace. Prisoners of war who were in the area beyond the center of the explosion have burns on their face and body, the strength of which depends on their position in relation to the epicenter of the explosion. The tests were carried out in a remote deserted area. The regime of secrecy at the test site was at maximum level. Entrance and exit from the territory are by special pass only. SS soldiers have surrounded the area of tests and interrogated any person approaching the area.The bomb, supposedly filled with uranium 235 and weighing approximately two tons, was brought to the test site on a specially constructed truck. Dewars of liquid oxygen were delivered together with it. The bomb was permanently guarded by 20 guards with dogs. The bomb explosion was accompanied by a large explosive wave and high temperature. In addition, a massive radioactive effect was observed. The bomb is a sphere with a diameter of 130 cm.The bomb consists of:1. High-voltage discharge tube, which is charged by special generators2. A sphere made of metal uranium 2353. A delay mechanism4. Protective casing5. Explosive substance6. Detonating mechanism7. Steel casingAll parts of the bomb fit inside each other.Initiator or bomb fuse.Consists of a special tube, which creates fast neutrons. It is charged by special generators, which create high voltage inside the tube. As a result, fast neutrons attack active material.Active bomb material.Active bomb material is uranium 235. It represents a sphere with an opening into which an initiator is inserted. Once this is done, the opening is sealed by a cork made of uranium 235.Protective casing.The uranium sphere is encased in a protective aluminum casing, which is covered by a layer of cadmium. This significantly slows down thermal neutrons emanating from uranium 235, which can cause premature detonation.Explosive matter.After the layer of cadmium it is placed inside explosives that consist of porous TNT saturated with liquid oxygen; TNT is made up of bars of a specially chosen shape. The inner surface of the bars has a spherical curvature, which is the same as that of the external surface of the cadmium layer. Each of the bars is supplied with one detonator or two electrical fuses.Casing.TNT is covered by a protective layer made of a light aluminum alloy. A blasting mechanism is attached on top of this casing.Exterior casing.An exterior casing of armored steel is installed above the blasting mechanism.Fairing.A fairing made of a light alloy can be installed on top of the armored casing for future installation on a rocket of the V-type.Bomb assembly.The sphere, which consists of metal uranium, is placed inside a protective casing, which consists of aluminum, covered in a layer of cadmium, so that the opening in the sphere coinciding with the opening is sealed off by a uranium cork. After this the aluminum sphere, covered in cadmium, is sealed off by a cork, on top of which the last bar of TNT is placed. Next, liquid oxygen is pumped through the opening inside a protective casing, which covers the TNT. After this the bomb is ready for deployment.Bomb ignition.The bomb ignition is carried out with the help of a high-voltage discharge tube. It forms a flow of neutrons, which attack the active material. When the flow of neutrons impacts upon uranium, element 93 fissions, which speeds up the creation of a chain reaction Next, the detonating mechanism detonates the explosive matter, after which a shock from the explosion of the external layer of TNT mixed with liquid oxygen takes place, which is directed toward the center. This allows the uranium to reach a critical mass.Ahead of this, before the explosion, the uranium sphere is irradiated with gamma-rays, the energy of which does not exceed 6 million electron volts, which many times increases its explosive qualities.CONCLUSION.Without doubt, the Germans are carrying out tests of a bomb of high destructive force. In the event of their successful conclusion and production of such bombs in sufficient quantities, they will have weapons capable of slowing down our advance.Head of Chief Intelligence Department of the Red ArmyLieutenant General IlyichevTyped 4 copiesCopy Nr. 1 — Comrade Stalin” Nr. 2 — Comrade Molotov” Nr. 3 — Comrade Antonov” Nr. 4 — into archive16 pp.The Chart Below is a Side by Side Comparison of the Manhattan Project “Fat Man” Plutonium Implosion Fission Bomb With the German Army Weapons Bureau Uranium-235 Boosted Fission Implosion Bomb.General Ivan Ilyichev Was the Head of the Main Intelligence Directive of the Soviet Union (the GRU) During WWII.Ivan Ilyichev - WikipediaKurt Diebner was heavily involved in the Ohrdurf tests and may even have been the designer of the bombs which were detonated there. He was easily the single most qualified nuclear weapons physicist in Germany during WWII and quite possibly the best man on the planet in this regard. Dr. Rider summarizes:"Publicly, after the war Samuel Goudsmit of the U.S. Alsos Mission and Leslie Groves of the Manhattan Project denigrated Kurt Diebner as being far inferior to Heisenberg in scientific talent, and in fact as being mainly an administrator and not a scientist. Privately they found (a) document that proved that Diebner had been given a formal award by Walther Gerlach (an impeccable physicist, and presumably a good judge of physics) for doing extensive scientific research, and for achieving much better results than Werner Heisenberg. Markings on the document show that U.S. officials responded to this document by classifying it Top Secret and burying it in their files.Leslie Groves even wrote a secret 1946 memo stating that Diebner “has a pretty good grasp of the German project” and explicitly recognizing that he was among the handful of “those German scientists of outstanding ability in the field of nuclear physics and chemistry who, by their past reputation and present knowledge, would be of more value to the national interest of this country if they could be employed here rather than in any other country. [...I]t is extremely important that these persons be prevented from giving their services to a potential enemy of the United States”.In 1939, Kurt Diebner may well have been the only person on Earth whose scientific expertise included: 1. TNT implosion bomb designs (“hollow-charge explosives”). 2. Fission chain reactions (proposals for uranium reactors and bombs). 3. High-energy-induced fusion reactions (“high-voltage particle accelerator for atomic transformations”). Those are the three major elements of the German nuclear device that was apparently tested by March 1945, or of modern nuclear bombs. Likewise, Diebner occupied leadership roles that included the Army (Heereswaffenamt), Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics, Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat), and the SS (when the SS controlled most research in the later stages of the war, if not earlier), and that spanned the entire German nuclear program from its very first meetings in 1939 in Berlin to the last days of the war in May 1945 in Thuringia. Thus Diebner was one of the most important people in the German nuclear program, and possibly even the single most important person. However, the false public depictions of Diebner’s abilities by Samuel Goudsmit and Leslie Groves after the war were highly effective, and most historical books and documentaries for the last 75 years have unquestioningly followed their lead in treating Diebner as a minor, peripheral official or even a scientific loser."Nor was this everything where Diebner is concerned. From the English language Wikipedia article “Kurt Diebner”:“The following reports were published in Kernphysikalisch Forschungsberichte (Research Reports in Nuclear Physics), an internal publication of the German Uranverein. The reports were classified Top Secret, they had very limited distribution, and the authors were not allowed to keep copies. The reports were confiscated under the Allied Operation ALSOS and sent to the United States Atomic Energy Commission for evaluation. In 1971, the reports were declassified and returned to Germany. The reports are available at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the American Institute of Physics. (The German term Uranverein, loosely translated, means “uranium club” and as used in this article is a generic reference to the wartime work of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. However this is not entirely accurate, as many G Papers originated with the heereswaffenamt, the German Army Weapons Bureau—WP).F. Berkei, W. Borrmann, W. Czulius, Kurt Diebner, Georg Hartwig, K. H. Hocker, W. Herrmann, H. Pose, and Ernst Rexer. Bericht über einen Würfelversuch mit Uranoxyd und Paraffin G-125 (dated before 26 November 1942). In English: “Report of a cube test with uranium oxide and paraffin”. Likely an early test of uranium oxide cubes for potential use in a reactor.Kurt Diebner, Werner Czulius, W. Herrmann, Georg Hartwig, F. Berkei and E. Kamin. Über die Neutronenvermehrung einer Anordnung aus Uranwürfeln und schwerem Wasser G III, G-210. In English: “About the neutron propagation of an array of uranium cubes and heavy water”—this was obviously a cube lattice reactor test. The citation “G III” may be a reference to the third known attempt by Diebner to build a working “pile” (reactor) for the German Army Weapons Bureau.Kurt Diebner, Georg Hartwig, W. Herrmann, H. Westmeyer, Werner Czulius, F. Berkei, and Karl-Heinz Höcker. Vorläufige Mitteilung über einen Versuch mit Uranwüfeln und schwerem Eis als Bremssubstanz G-211 (April 1943). In English: “Preliminary notification of an experiment with uranium bulges and heavy ice as brake substance”, presumably another reactor experiment, in this case with frozen heavy water (“heavy ice”) as the moderator.Kurt Diebner, Georg Hartwig, W. Herrmann, H. Westmeyer, Werner Czulius, F. Gerkei, and Karl-Heinz Höcker Bericht über einen Versuch mit Würfeln aus Uran-Metall und schwerem Eis G-212 (July 1943). In English: “Report of an experiment with cubes of uranium metal and heavy ice”.”Kurt Diebner - WikipediaKurt DiebnerAre you getting the picture? The so-called “conventional history” of the end of WWII in Europe and of the invention and development of nuclear weapons is the direct result of either 1) American and Allied scientific and investigative incompetence or, much more likely, 2) a US military psychological operation which was carried out with British and German help. The “history that everyone knows” is not true and only partially factual. After reading the evidence I have shared here (and it is the merest scratching of the surface in Dr. Rider’s immense and extremely thorough tome), now go back and read the transcripts of the Farm Hall recordings. The Germans knew they were being taped, they clearly arranged their story ahead of time, and they stuck to it. Is it just me or do most of them seem to announce every five minutes that they “never tried” to build a bomb?Still not convinced? Did you know that the original recordings of the German scientists were inexplicably (?) taped over, and that they also amounted to a small percentage of all that was said by the Germans while they were under house arrest at Farm Hall? Nor were a large number of very prominent top minds ever captured or even thoroughly interrogated by the Allies at all, or if they were, the records of this have yet to surface or be pulled from various archives. To give just one name, where was Erich Schumann?Erich Schumann Was the Head of the German Army Weapons Bureau (the “heereswaffenamt”) and its Nuclear Weapons Black Project During WWII. He Was Also Heavily Involved in the Army’s Bioweapons Program.He was the head of the HWA during the war and thus Diebner's direct superior; in addition, he was the co-designer of at least one WWII boosted fission bomb schematic (the Schumann-Trinks device among other concepts), he personally performed some of the most important pioneering calculations in hydrogen bomb theory, he was deeply involved in German bioweapons R&D and a forceful advocate for their use against the United States, and was also Werner von Braun's PhD supervisor. This easily made him, or should have made him, a target for Allied intelligence that was at least as prominent as the other men who were captured, brought to England, and put under house arrest for months. But he was nowhere to be found at Farm Hall, nor anywhere in postwar occupied Germany other than, as far as I can tell, his own home. If anyone reading this has a reasonable explanation for the apparent exclusion of this great scientist from Allied internment and questioning, I am all ears. And he was just one among dozens and probably more like hundreds.The Germans had the bomb first. They were far ahead of the Allies both in theory and in terms of the sophistication and efficiency of most of the applicable machinery. What happened was the only kind of perfect storm that could possibly have prevented the Nazis from completing their weapons in numbers and winning, at minimum, the war in Europe---after which the best case scenario would have been a Cold War between the US and "Germania", but only if the Manhattan Project's new weapons would have been ready in time to prevent a nuclear first strike by the Germans against the continental US. This was no sure thing because according to Dr. Rider, the SS was working on full blown hydrogen bomb designs at various laboratories in southern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. The resulting weapon would have been ready for testing by 1946, and meanwhile the A-9/A-10 ICBM was under development at Peenemunde.Fortunately for humanity, a combination of factors prevented this nightmare scenario from occurring. These included: 1) the overall "conventional" Allied war effort, which was obviously overwhelmingly powerful thanks largely to the manufacturing capacity of the US 2) the extreme damage done to German industrial and warmaking capacity and logistics by the combined US-UK strategic bombing campaign, 3) the war of attrition, particularly on the Eastern Front, which ground the Wehrmacht down, 4) the Allied Doomsday weapon, 5 million "cakes" laced with anthrax produced as part of Operation Vegetarian and stockpiled in England and which served to deter a potential German nuclear strike, and, not least, 5) the war in the shadows, which certainly included an unknown number of Germans who chose to obey God and their conscience rather than Hitler and the Nazis, and whose determined resistance and espionage certainly helped to cripple or at least significantly impede the German war effort. There were also significant numbers of brave resistance fighters in the conquered territories who engaged in desperate sabotage missions that targeted existing or embryonic German nuclear weapons and related technology. Many of these paid for their actions with their lives, and their names now are known only to God.In addition, at least some of the most prominent scientists and military personnel in the Third Reich, whether Nazis or otherwise, unquestionably chose to trade emergent German nuclear weapons, materiel, and related developments for their lives rather than attempt a last gasp atomic attack, which even in the face of the previously mentioned factors may have been ready to go in the closing weeks of the war. These certainly included Hans Kammler, probably also Werner von Braun and his sidekick General Dornberger, and a number of others who went along for the ride and ended up with comfortable lives in postwar America (at NASA and elsewhere) and to a lesser degree, in England and the Soviet Union.The end result was that the Germans---for all of the formidable scientific and industrial prowess described above---stalled at the prototype phase or just past it, and were overrun in the barest nick of time by the British and Americans from the west and the Soviets from the east.This is the true history of WWII in Europe.For Further Reading:Revolutionary Innovation | RIDER Institute | Forgotten Creators.The Hidden NaziHans Kammler, Hitler’s Last Hope, in American HandsThe Mystery of the missing Nazi GeneralNew light on Hitler's bomb – Physics WorldAuthor fuels row over Hitler's bombThierry Etienne Joseph Rotty's answer to How close was Germany to making an atomic bomb?William Pellas's answer to How close did Nazi Germany come to creating an operational nuclear weapon during WWII? Would they have been able to use it on their V2 rockets?William Pellas's answer to Did the Nazis really detonate a nuclear bomb before the US? Or is this just a conspiracy theory?William Pellas's answer to How much conventional explosives would it take to make a fusion bomb without any nuclear fission stage?William Pellas's answer to Even if the Germans acquired the atomic bomb first, how were they going to get it to North America successfully?https://historum.com/threads/german-atom-splitting-bomb-referred-to-in-ww2-japanese-diplomatic-signal-from-stockholm-embassy-to-tokyo-nara-archives-rg457.183962/

1. Salar De Uyuni – Explore The White Salt BedGet Customized QuotesImage SourceOne of the top weirdest places across the world is located in Potosí and Oruro departments, this is the world’s largest salt pan and one of the strange places in the world. And when a thin film of water gathers on the surface it is also the world’s largest natural mirror. The best sight of this space can be observed from the central Incahuasi Island. Salar De Uyuni is the remains of a prehistoric lake that dried off and left behind void space of bright-white salt, rock formations, and cacti-islands. This place harbors large flocks of beautiful pink flamingos that can be seen grazing in the water. The best time to visit this place is in the months of July and October.Location: BoliviaBest time to visit: July to OctoberHow to reach: Fly or take a train/bus to Uyuni and then take a hired vehicle to the salt flats.Must Read: 28 Places To Visit In September In The World In 2020 That Will Offer You A Tranquil Getaway2. Lake Natron – The Scariest LakeGet Customized QuotesImage SourceLooking for some weird places in the world? How about this terrifying lake? Animals that die in this African lake are turned into statues, through calcification. The presence of huge volumes of sodium bicarbonate ensures they turn into mummies. And because of the high alkaline collection, the lake looks red in color, especially during summer in Tanzania. This is the reason why this lake is also known as the ‘Petrifying Lake’. In spite of all these conditions, it is grazing ground for the Lesser Flamingos. Fancy a dip? Don’t even think about it!Location: TanzaniaBest time to visit: June to AugustHow to reach: Fly to Tanzania and book a guided tour of Rift Valley of which the lake is a part.Must Read: 15 Best Places To Celebrate New Year 2020 In The World3. Die Rakotzbrück – The Nature’s Own RingGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe Die Rakotzbrück bridge is another strange places and comes under the weird places in the world. Constructed in the 19th century is famed for its unique construction accuracy, with the bridge and its reflection merging into a complete and perfect stone circle, no matter where you see it from. Spooky! It is in fact one of the weirdest places across the world. This is probably why the bridge is also known as the ‘Devil’s Bridge’. It seems that the makers of the bridge emphasized more on its aesthetics than its utility. Both the ends of the Rakotzbrücke have thin rock spires installed, to make it look like natural basalt columns, which commonly occur in many parts of Germany.Location: Altes Schloß 11, 02953 Gablenz, GermanyBest time to visit: May to SeptemberHow to reach: Fly to Dresden and take a train to Gablenz from Dresden Hauptbahnhof. From there you can take a taxi to the Devil’s Bridge.Suggested Read: 10 Castles In Germany That Look Straight Out Of A Fairytale4. Spotted Lake Khiluk – Puddles Of WaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceSpotted Lake Khiluk is the most mineralized lake in the world. Another bizarre place that makes it to the weirdest places across the world. The lake is spotted with 365 separate pools arranged in a strange mosaic-like pattern. Each of these spots holds a unique and highly concentrated chemical content and is said to cure different diseases. Definitely one of the nicer strangest places in the world.Location: Northwest of Osoyoos, British ColumbiaBest time to visit: April to OctoberHow to reach: Fly to British Columbia and take a bus or train to Osoyoos.Suggested Read: 13 Popular Food Festivals Around The World For Your Unconditional Love For Food5. Slope Point – Windy SpotGet Customized QuotesImage SourceSlope Point is the South Island’s southernmost point is another of the strange places in the world . The forest here is home to trees that are permanently twisted and windblown thanks to the intense Antarctic gusts. Windy much? This is one of the windiest strangest places in the world. The sight is all the more intensified by the rugged cliffs, eroded by the strong winds and time. The place is used for sheep farming, though there are no houses around. Another highlight of this place is the AA signpost that is installed here showing the distance to the Equator (5,140 km) and the South Pole (4,803 km).Location: New ZealandBest time to visit: December to FebruaryHow to reach: Fly to Auckland and take a ferry to South Island.Planning your holiday but confused about where to go? These travel stories help you find your best trip ever!Ramya Narrates The Story Of 6 Girls On An Extraordinary Trip To ThailandBangkok. Phi Phi. Krabi. Why should guys have all the fun?Book NowSandeep Illustrates On The Best Activities For A Family Trip To MauritiusWater sports. Cocktail parties. And unlimited fun at Casela.Book Now6. Dead Vlei – The Beautiful Yet Dead ForestGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe name Deadvlei means ‘dead marsh’ and the place is also known as ‘Dooie Vlei’. It is a sun-blackened dead forest in a white clay pan which is basically a dried oasis. An amazing yet counted as one of the strange places in the world, the lack of water forces the roots of trees to come outside looking for moisture. The struggle is real! The place is surrounded by rust-orange giant sand dunes that form a contrasting backdrop. This place is also said to be surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world.Location: NamibiaBest time to visit: March to MayHow to reach: Fly to Namibia and take a bus or taxi to Namib-Naukluft Park.Suggested Read: Top 8 Exquisite Places To Visit Near Ananthagiri Hills In Telangana7. Underwater Park – Fun Below The WaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThis list won’t be complete without some underwater beauties. One of the most weird places in the world, located in the Green Lake in Tragoess, this is not just a gimmick, but a genuine park that goes underwater during spring. After all, the scuba divers do need to rest and relax. It is considered as one of the most fabulous waters to dive in around Europe due to the rarest natural phenomenon in one of the most beautiful lakes in Austria. Have you booked your tickets yet?Location:AustriaBest time to visit: April to MayHow to reach: Fly to Vienna and take the train to Bruck an der Mur using the OEBB. From there, you can take bus 175 that will get you to the lake in 35 minutes.Suggested Read: Pics Of 25 Most Stunning Landscapes Around The World That Fit Every Bucket List8. Eternal Flame Falls – Nature’s Unique PhenomenaGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe Eternal Flame Falls is one of the most craziest places in the world. However, it is a quaint waterfall located in Shale Creek Preserve, which is a section of Chestnut Ridge Park in Western New York. A small item at the waterfall’s base emits natural gas. Interestingly, it can be lit to produce a flame. This flame is visible all year round. It can be extinguished and must occasionally be re-lit. The flame is fueled by natural gases and burns bright right under a waterfall.Location: New York, the USBest time to visit: April to OctoberHow to reach: Fly to New York and take a train to Buffalo. From here, take a train or bus to Orchard Park where the falls are located.Suggested Read: Top 10 Michelin Rated Restaurants Around The World You Must Dine At In 20209. Tunnel Of Love – Walk Amidst The GreeneryGet Customized QuotesImage SourceA section of industrial railway in Ukraine, this green leafy tunnel seems like something out of a fairy tale. It is known for being a favorite place for couples to take morning or evening strolls. If you’re planning to surprise your significant other on Valentine’s day, ditch the usual trip to Disneyland and book your trip to Ukraine. You will not be disappointed by everything that Ukraine has to offer, especially if your reason to visit it is to see one of the weirdest places across the world. The beauty of the Tunnel Of Love will astound you.Location: UkraineBest time to visit: MayHow to reach: Fly to Ukraine and take a bus or train to Rivne. Get to Rivne train station where you’ll be able to see the tunnel.Suggested Read: 20 Romantic Places To Visit In Singapore For Honeymoon In 202010. Christ Of The Abyss – Explore UnderwaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThis is 2.50 meters, you read that right, it is a 2.5 METRES TALL bronze statue of Jesus Christ, which is under water. A favorite place for deep sea divers, and definitely one of the strange places around the world situated underwater. It is a submerged bronze statue of Jesus Christ by Guido Galletti and is one of the best tourist spots in Italy for thrill seekers. The original copy of the same is located in the Mediterranean Sea, off San Fruttuoso, between Camogli and Portofino.Location: ItalyBest time to visit: May to JuneHow to reach: Fly to Milan and take a train to Genoa city. From here, take a taxi, bus, or another train to either Portofino or Camogli. Book a diving tour here to swim down to see the Christ Of The Abyss.Suggested Read: 20 Unusual Honeymoon Destinations Not Meant For Ordinary Couples11. The Silfra Rift – Experience The Two Continents UnderwaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe Silfra Rift, one of the most obscure places in the world separates two continents and two tectonic plates, namely the North American and Eurasian plates. It occupies an area of approximately 600 by 200 meters. It is touted to be one of the most unique phenomena on Earth. Snorkeling in Silfra Rift is one of Iceland’s awesomest experiences. Make sure to indulge in it on your trip to Iceland. You will be blown away by the beauty of this natural marvel. Prepare to be bedazzled by one of the weirdest places across the world.Location: IcelandBest time to visit: June to AugustHow to reach: Fly to Reykjavik and take a taxi or hired vehicle to drive to Silfra (one hour away).Suggested Read: 10 Breathtaking Beaches In Iceland That Are Beyond Comparison!12. Caño Cristales – The River Of 5 ColorsGet Customized QuotesImage SourceIn the summer months, this Colombian river turns red. Counted as the most weirdest places in the world, the river bed is covered by a unique species of plant, and that is what turns red. Another one of those mysterious places on earth underwater. The river is commonly called the “River of Five Colors” or the “Liquid Rainbow”. It has been called the most beautiful water body on Earth. You can make a time lapse here of the water cascading down the rocks.Location: ColombiaBest time to visit:How to reach: Fly to Bogotá or Villavicencio and take an internal flight to La Macarena. From here, book a local tour of the national park which will cover the land transfers to and fro.Suggested Read: 10 Places To Visit in Colombia That Showcase A Never Seen Before Side Of The Country13. Jellyfish Lake – See The CreaturesGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThere are 70 marine lakes located in this region. What makes Jellyfish Lake stand apart from the rest is that it contains jellyfish. Too many of them! It was closed for public in 2012 owing to the diminishing population of jellyfish in this lake, one of the weirdest places across the world for sure! Scientists assumed that it was the end of this beautiful lake. But the population of jellyfish grew in recent years and it has once again been opened for the public. Cool, right?Location: PalauBest time to visit: November to AprilHow to reach: Take a speedboat from Palau mainland to Eil Malk Island and opt for a snorkeling tour in the Rock Islands to see the jellyfish.Suggested Read: Check Out The Most Dangerous Places In The World That Are Not For The Faint-Hearted!14. Blood Falls – Witness The Red Water FlowGet Customized QuotesImage SourceAmidst the unending whiteness of the snow, Blood Falls provides a creepy relief. The water is red in color due to the presence of huge amounts of Iron. Definitely makes the list of the strangest places in the world. According to Forbes, the mystery surrounding Blood Falls has been solved. According to the researchers of the University of Alaska, the red coloring is due to “oxidized iron in brine saltwater, the same process that gives the iron a dark red color when it rusts.”Location: AntarcticaBest time to visit: November to MarchHow to reach: Fly to Taylor Valley and hike to the waterfall with a guide.Suggested Read: The Ultimate Guide For The Trips To Antarctica: Get Ready For A Voyage Of A Lifetime15. Painted Hills – Witness The Nature’s PaintingGet Customized QuotesImage SourceHow often do you come across a place and are simply left awestruck by its beauty? Painted Hills is one of those weirdest places across the world. Don’t believe us? Book a trip to Oregon right away and see for yourself. We promise you will change your mind after you find it in every Oregon travel guide and when it you see it for yourself! At Painted Hills of John Day Fossil Beds, the presence of minerals stain the hills in myriad hues. The ever changing light and moisture levels affect the yellows, reds, golds, and blacks.Location: Oregon, the USBest time to visit: June to AugustHow to reach: Fly to Oregon and drive (or take a taxi) via the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway to get to the hills.Suggested Read: 7 Alluring Museums In Oregon That You Should Not Miss If You’re A History Buff16. Confluence Of Rhone And Arve Rivers – See The MergeGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThere is a defined contrast between these two rivers of Switzerland; one is blue and the other brown. They never fully mix due to the difference in density. They mix in Geneva, which is situated in Switzerland. It is hard to walk by this beautiful marvel of nature and not feel overwhelmed by whatever nature has to offer us. Go ahead and Google search this place to check out beautiful photographs of this place. You will be blown away by the beauty of one of the most scenic places in Switzerland.Location: SwitzerlandBest time to visit: March to JuneHow to reach: Fly to Geneva and either take a taxi or walk to the confluence point.Suggested Read: Go Paragliding In Switzerland For The Most Amazing Swiss Alps Experience In 202017. Sea Of Stars – Walk Down The Glowing WaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceBioluminescent sea plankton that shines bright blue during the night makes the sea area at Vaadhoo Island look like the Sea of Stars. The sea of stars of Vaadhoo Island Maldives attracts millions of tourists every year. The tourist footfall seems to be only increasing after the sea was featured in far and few Bollywood and Hollywood films. The Maldives is listed as one of the cheapest destinations in the world and this beach is one of the weirdest places across the world. So, what’s stopping you from seeing this sight?Location: MaldivesBest time to visit: May to NovemberHow to reach: From to Male and take a speedboat to Vaadhoo Island.Suggested Read: 25 Pristine Places To Visit In Maldives For An Amazing Vacay In 2020!18. Huashan Mountain – Road To HeavenGet Customized QuotesImage SourceWhat’s weird about Huashan Mountain, you say? Well, look closely On the end of this treacherous death-defying trail in China is a mere tea house, but this Mount Huashan Plank Walk in the Sky is famed for its adrenaline raising effects. It is known as the Road to Heaven. Would you walk the plank here, at one of the strangest places on earth? Let us know in the comments section below. Tag your friends and get going.Location: ChinaBest time to visit: April to OctoberHow to reach: Take a train to either Xian Railway Station or Xian Cheng Dong Coach Station and take a bus to Huayin.Suggested Read: Maglev Train China Is Planned For 2020 But The Driver Is Not. Surprised Much?19. Nelson Lakes National Park – Witness The BeautyGet Customized QuotesImage SourceDo you get extremely excited about jungle safaris and walking tours of the national park in general? This one might just surprise you with its quirkiness. There is an interesting Blue Lake at the Nelson Lakes National Park, one of the weirdest places across the world. But what’s so weird about it? How about the fact that this is a lake so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom, and can’t even make out the depth. Go ahead, visit it. We dare you. Don’t blame us for your mind being blown to smithereens.Location: New ZealandBest time to visit: December to FebruaryHow to reach: Fly to Nelson or Blenheim and take a bus or taxi to Lake Rotoroa.Suggested Read: Bungee Jumping In New Zealand: Feel The Thrill At These Places And Satiate The Adventure Junkie Inside!20. Giant Crystal Cave – See The Unreal BeautyGet Customized QuotesImage SourceGiant Crystal Cave at Naica Mine is also one of the weirdest places on the Earth. Deep down in the bowels of the Earth, these huge shiny mineral pillars are enough to make you feel claustrophobic. This mammoth structure has been growing underneath Mexico for more than 500,000 years. It makes for an exceptional case study on how organisms survive in extreme heat and humidity. All nature lovers must visit this place at least once.Location: MexicoBest time to visit: December to AprilHow to reach: Fly to Chihuahua and take a bus or train to Naica. From here you can get a taxi to the caves.Suggested Read: Cenote In Mexico: Get Ready To Celebrate Those Exotic Vacay Vibes Here21. Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain – Painted PictureGet Customized QuotesImage SourceCovered in wide lines of pastel blue, intense red, green, pink and yellow. There are currently no scientific explanations for this phenomenon. Often referred to as Vinicunca or Montaña de Siete Colores, Rainbow Mountain is a colorful peak in Peru. It is extremely difficult to reach, we will not lie. But the strenuous effort is worth the trek. The sights that you will behold from the top of the mountain will dazzle you and tell you why it’s on every list of the weirdest places across the world. Are you ready to do this?Location: PeruBest time to visit: June to AugustHow to reach: Fly to Cusco and hike to Rainbow Mountain on the well-laid out trail for the same.Suggested Read: 20 Best Places To Visit In Peru For An Incredible Holiday Experience In 202022. Yonaguni Monument – Dive And ExploreGet Customized QuotesImage SourceScientists have only been able to confirm that this monument underwater in Japan is five thousand years old. It is still not confirmed if it is natural or manmade. Theorists say that it could be alien-made. Which theory do you believe in? If you believe in the former, you probably are of the school of thought that renders the existence of unicorns impossible. Jokes apart, visit this region for a day full of mysterious adventures.Location: JapanBest time to visit: November to MayHow to reach: Fly to Ishigaki and and then a ferry to Yonaguni Island from there.Suggested Read: Cherry Blossoms Are In Full Bloom And So Is The All New Spring Flower Cruise In Japan23. Crooked Forest – Spooky Yet BeautifulGet Customized QuotesImage SourceCame across any oddly-shaped pine trees outside Nowe Czarnowo near the town of Gryfino, West Pomerania? Welcome to the most bizarre place on Earth. Very few people visit this region, so why you happened to be there is a mystery in itself. In an otherwise normal forest in Poland, full of straight trees, there is this collection of curved trees, for which there is no scientific explanation. One of the world’s weirdest places in Poland, indeed.Location: PolandBest time to visit: March to JuneHow to reach: Fly to Warsaw Chopin Airport and take a train or bus to Crooked Forest.Suggested Read: 10 Best Festivals In Poland That Showcase Its History And Traditions In 202024. Pink Sands Beach – See Something DifferentGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe sand at this beach is pink in color due to the presence of certain minerals and plankton. According to recent scientific research, the pink hue comes from foraminifera, a microscopic organism that actually has a reddish-pink shell. The sand is a mix of coral, shells, and calcium carbonate. Only a few pink sand beaches exist in the world. The rarity of these beaches adds to the charm and mystery they hold among the human population.Location: The BahamasBest time to visit: December to MayHow to reach: Fly to the Bahamas and take a ferry or private boat to Harbour Island where the beach is located.Suggested Read: 10 Things To Do In Bahamas For Tasting Thrill And Soaking In Bliss Like Never Before!25. Richat Structure – See The Nature’s Unique ViewGet Customized QuotesImage SourceWith a diameter of almost 30 miles, this is a structure in the deserts. One of the most unique places in the world, it looks like a massive fossil. Or maybe an alien spaceship landing strip? It is a prominent circle-shaped structure smack in the middle of Mauritania. You can get to the destination from the quaint desert town of Ouadane in the west-central part of Mauritania in western North Africa. Make sure to pack according to the weather of the region. Keep a lookout for the weather.Location: MauritaniaBest time to visit: DecemberHow to reach: Fly to Mauritania and take a bus or taxi to the destination.Suggested Read: 11 Festivals In Mauritius To Experience Its Vibrant Culture And Heritage In 2020!26. Great Blue Hole – Take A Dive At SinkholeGet Customized QuotesImage SourceA gigantic natural submarine sinkhole! No one knows the depth of the sinkhole. The Blue Hole is a popular spot for freediving. You will be amazed at the power this sinkhole exudes. It is also touted to be the most dangerous and deadliest spots in the world by experts. We suggest that you exercise caution in this area. It has claimed the lives of many divers in the past. Do not be reckless and take care of yourself and your fellow divers.Location: BelizeBest time to visit: January to MayHow to reach: Fly to Cancun and then take an internal flight to Belize City. Take a bus or taxi to Ambergris Caye from where you’ll need to snorkel or take a boat to the Great Blue Hole.Suggested Read: Jordan Travel Tips: 10 Things To Know Before You Start Packing27. Dead Sea – Float Over The WaterGet Customized QuotesImage SourceCan’t swim? No problem! The Dead Sea, a salt lake, will ensure you can float without any effort, due to the high volume of salt and other minerals in the water. The Dead Sea is 10 times as salty as the ocean, with a salinity of about 34%. Just a disclaimer, if you open your eyes while in its water, it will sting quite a bit. It is inhospitable. Interestingly, in the Greek Era, it was inhabited by savage tribes. Visit the site to know more awesome facts.Location: JordanBest time to visit: November or DecemberHow to reach: Take a train to Be’er Sheva and from there a bus to the Dead Sea.Suggested Read: Dead Sea In Jordan Is A Traveler’s Paradise In The Middle-East28. Lake Retba – Witness The Pink WaterbodyGet Customized QuotesImage SourceEver seen a lake that’s pink in color? That’s what is weird here, thanks to the presence of certain plankton and minerals. It is located some 30 kilometers northeast of Dakar. The reason behind the water being pink is the huge presence of Dunaliella salina algae in the water body. It is known for its high salt content, up to 40% in some areas. It will surely catch your eye in Senegal. Swimming in this water is safe, so pack your swimsuit and head here.Location: SenegalBest time to visit: November to JuneHow to reach: Fly to Dakar and take a bus or taxi to Lake Retba.Suggested Read: 4 Elegant Hostels In Beirut For Those Who Love To Travel Light29. The Wave – Just Out Of A PaintingGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe Wave is a sandstone rock formation located near the northern border Arizona shares with Utah. It is a dreamlike world of swirling colors and psychedelic patterns. The rock formations are said to be from the Jurassic era. In an effort to preserve the natural beauty and integrity of this natural site, there are no signage for hikers. You have to find your way in and out of this site. Sounds like a challenge. Who is up for it?Location: Arizona, the USBest time to visit: November to JanuaryHow to reach: Fly to Arizona and get to North Coyote Buttes permit area by bus or taxi. Trek on the Wire Pass Trailhead of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument to get to The Wave.Suggested Read: Top 10 Cafes In Arizona You Should Visit For A Foodilicious Vacay In USA30. Mt. Kelimutu – Witness 3 Different Color LakesGet Customized QuotesImage SourceThe result of a volcanic eruption, this wonder is home to three separate lakes, all of the different colors – black, blue, and turquoise. Weirdly, at the summit of Mount Kelimutu summit, there are three crater lakes in three different colors, and those colors change all the time. If this isn’t the most bizarre thing that you have read this week, we don’t know what is. It is often times blue. Make sure to stop by this lake and tell us in the comments section below which color it was when you saw it.Location: IndonesiaBest time to visit: May to SeptemberHow to reach: Fly to Ende and get a bus or taxi to the nearest village from where people usually trek (2.5 hours) to the lakes and mountains.