SIR,—Two points arise from Mr. Curran's ititeresting article, 'Stalin Merely
Smiled.' The reasons given for the speed and urgency of the Los Alamos project to develop an atom bomb is that the Allies feared the Germans would make such a weapon first. It is now known that the Germans gave up any such ideas (which were never very serious) in 1942. The question is, did Allied Intelligence gather any news of this before the end of the war in Germany?
Mr. Curran might also have noted that British agreement to the use of the atom bomb at Hiroshima was given, according to the official history of the Grand Strategy of the War, 'apparently without hear- ing the arguments' for its use (official History of the War, Grand Strategy, volume vi, p. 298). The British Government heard none of the arguments of the scientists, the counter-suggestions of the Franck Com- mittee, and the conclusions of the generals. They simply gave a blank cheque, on our behalf.—Yours faithfully,
HUGH THOMAS
39 Albany Street, NW!
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