It's 1945, and Soviet propaganda films are inviting all Russia to celebrate the glorious victory of communism. But the misery, poverty and devastation on the streets of Moscow tell quite a different story, while the defeat of Nazi Germany has only cleared the way for a new foe as Western antagonism towards communism grows. And – perhaps the greatest blow to Soviet pride – America has just won the race to produce the first atom bomb.
The West can't afford to be complacent, however. In Russia, new and secret departments have sprung up to take on the USA's "Manhattan Project". Codenamed "Bureau 2", "Department S" and "Operation Enormous", their exact functions remaining mysterious even to insiders. While the NKVD intelligence network, under Beria, work round the clock to obtain the secret recipe from the Americans, starving gulag prisoners are forced down the mines in Tajikistan, while new metropolises are being built in sequestered locations for the sole purpose of nuclear research. An excellent overview of the project that harnessed all Russia's energies, culminating in the first Red Bomb – tested just four years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The sight of the first-ever Soviet mushroom cloud broke down the reserve of scientists and spymasters alike, as Igor Kurchatov crushed Lavrenty Beria in his ecstatic embrace.
