14. The Alsos mission had to thwart its French allies to capture some of the most important German scientists
As the Allies penetrated deeper into Germany, Alsos teams advanced with them, capturing some scientists and engineers, as well as documents which led them to others. By then Germany had been sliced into occupation zones by the diplomats of the Big Four Allied nations – the United States, Britain, Soviet Union and France. Papers captured by Alsos teams in several German cities revealed several of the most pre-eminent scientists on their target lists, and a wealth of uranium and experiment results, resided in the Wurttemberg area of Germany. The region lay in the direct path of the advancing French army, which was to occupy it after the war. Groves asked Marshall in Washington to reassign the region to American troops. Marshall could not persuade the State Department to agree, unless he explained why. Concerned as ever with secrecy, Groves refused. Instead, he and Marshall turned to Eisenhower.
Groves wanted Ike to approve an American assault in the region, after which the Americans would cede the ground to the French. Alsos teams would extract what they could and destroy the rest, leaving little if anything to the French. Plans for an airborne operation, capturing an airbase for the use of the Alsos team, were scheduled for late April. Two days before the plan was to be executed the French captured an intact bridge over the Neckar River, allowing them access to the entire area in strength. With a wealth of atomic research information and several important German scientists directly in the path of the French army, Groves and American combat commanders decided on a series of ground-based hit and run raids behind the German lines. Just as Alsos had attempted to deny access to the Soviets at Oranienburg, it would do the same to French near Wurttemberg.