The Bastard Brigade - The Strangest Man | 4

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2019

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

By mid-1944, the Allies’ fight to track down and stop the Nazi atomic program had met with failure and disappointment. And so the Manhattan Project took a new tack by recruiting and developing atomic spies — including a backup catcher for the Boston Red Sox named Moe Berg.

Although little known today, Berg was one of the most famous athletes of his day, and a certified genius. He could charm sports writers and fans alike with his tales of palling around with Babe Ruth and other celebrities, but he also held degrees from Princeton, Columbia, and the Sorbonne and spoke a dozen languages. When World War II broke out, Berg volunteered to work on behalf of the Office of Strategic Services as a spy.

Over time, however, Berg’s focus would shift from espionage toward assassination. Soon, he would travel abroad to target the most feared scientist in the world and the sharpest mind in the Nazi Uranium Club: German physicist Werner Heisenberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.6	Imagine it's the spring of 1942, just months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
0:24.0	You're a military analyst in Washington, D.C. and you've got a crucial assignment.
0:28.4	Unfortunately, it's also proving impossible.
0:31.3	You need to gather intelligence about Tokyo.
0:34.0	You're especially interested in pinning down the location of military industrial targets,
0:38.6	train depots, shipyards, manufacturing plants.
0:41.6	But the Japanese guard that information closely.
0:44.6	There's virtually nothing out there.
0:46.5	You can find hardly anything, and you can't believe what you've been reduced to as a result.
0:51.7	A fellow analyst dumped a load of magazines on your desk.
0:55.4	God, what are these?
0:57.0	Travel magazines.
0:58.3	Something that's mentioned Japan for the past 20 years.
1:00.8	So what?
1:01.8	We're just supposed to flip through them?
1:02.8	Where'd you even get these?
1:04.3	The library.
1:05.3	We seized them in the interest of national security.
1:07.9	God, this is ridiculous.
1:09.6	Do you really think we're going to learn anything from these?
	...

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