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aspqrz02 -> RE: another question (2/25/2013 4:05:22 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Maximeba
I'm not a historian, but the only way that Germany would have won the war would be to beat the US to the bomb. Which in itself is an interesting question. Would they have dropped the bomb in Europe?
Your statement isn't 100% clear.
If you mean "Would the US have dropped the Bomb in Europe?"
Hell, yes.
The Manhattan Engineering District was signed into law on December 6 1941, the day before Pearl Harbour, and as a result of lobbying by scientists such as Einstein to develop an Atomic Weapon before the Germans did.
The B-29 was a FY40 project to allow a 2 ton bombload to be delivered to Europe from bases in the Continental US (which wouldn't have been enough for an A-Bomb).
The B-36 was a FY41 project to allow a 20 ton bombload to be delivered to Europe from bases in the Continental US ... which *would* have been enough (Yes, I know, the B-36 didn't enter service until after the war, but that was because the program was put on hold because of the surrender of Germany and the fact that the B-29 could be based close enough to Japan to do the dirty, noy because it *couldn't* have been ready earlier).
(NB: I have no idea, and online and printed sources are no help, either, whether either project could have actually met those design requests when they became operational, but those were the design parameters!)
The original plan for the deployment of the A-Bomb was to use it against European - German - targets and, years ago, I read somewhere that there was a list actually in existence ... one of the North German ports (Bremen/Bremerhaven? Hamburg?) and one or more of the Ruhr cities were specifically listed.
The unexpectedly early collapse of the Germans, or the unexpectedly longer development time of the Bomb (or, more likely, a combination of both) meant the Allies had the weapons on hand and the only enemy left was Japan ...
If you mean would the *Nazis* have dropped it on Europe ... no doubt at all, and without the least compunction.
However, *how* they would have delivered it is ... problematic.
The V-2 didn't have the payload (2 tons, IIRC, the first A Bombs were around 20 tons). None of the actual operational German Bomber or other aircraft had the payload over any realistic range.
They could have used it as an emplaced mine.
Or delivered it by Submarine. But the Happy Time for U-Boats was long past. The Allies were reading the German Naval codes (Enigma/Ultra) and the chances of the Bomb being successfully delivered anywhere across the Atlantic are ... small to nil ... they *might* havve got it close to one of the British ports (not London ... there's no way a U-Boat could have gotten up the Thames estuary close enough).
Ground emplaced mine is the most likely.
Phil
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