The wrong side won WW2.

submitted by radicalcentristNational Centrism from (self.debatealtright)

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[–]TheJamesRocket 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Nazi nukes is a pretty big longshot. The Nazi's had neither the knowhow, resources or will to pursue the nuclear option.

Thats not true. The Germans had the technical knowledge to embark on a nuclear program. The resources could have been made available, it the leadership had recognised the importance of it.

The material used in the trinity test was bought specifically by the Allies to prevent Germany getting it

What are you talking about? That small bit of uranium carried by the U-boat that was captured, U-234? That was nothing compared to the thousands of tons of uranium mined by Germany during the war.

and German facilities that could even be involved in a nuclear program were surgically targeted by Allies bombing and special forces.

A serious nuclear program would have its infrastructure located well inside German territory, making it less exposed to aerial bombing. It would also be more heavily defended by radar, flak artillery, etc.

Any German program will be years behind an Allied one and I shudder to imagine the Allied bombing campaign dropping more nukes than they did historically.

If the Nazis embarked on a crash program in 1942 (at the same time as the Americans), they might get an atomic bomb in 1946. Thats not early enough to respond to any atomic attacks on German citys in 1945, but it would be available for the next year. That would probably be enough to deter the Allies from launching any more attacks, and allow the war to end in a stalemate.

[–]Bullet-Jesus 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What are you talking about?

Germany had access to only captured and domestic supplies of Uranium. They couldn't import it through neutral Sweden as the Allies bought up the global production of Uranium with the specific intent of depriving Germany of it.

A serious nuclear program would have its infrastructure located well inside German territory, making it less exposed to aerial bombing. It would also be more heavily defended by radar, flak artillery, etc.

Naturally but this is all getting into the issue of the war situation. Without significant changes no German nuclear site is beyond the reach of Allied bombing by 1945.

If the Nazis embarked on a crash program in 1942 (at the same time as the Americans), they might get an atomic bomb in 1946. Thats not early enough to respond to any atomic attacks on German citys in 1945, but it would be available for the next year.

Perhaps. But again 1946 is too late without changes to the war situation.

I don't really think that a successful German nuclear program is impossible just that by the time the Germans could have realised that Nukes could help them the war was already over.

[–]TheJamesRocket 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Germany had access to only captured and domestic supplies of Uranium.

The mines in Belgium provided more than enough uranium for their purposes. During the war, the Germans mined 3500 tons of uranium.

Naturally but this is all getting into the issue of the war situation. Without significant changes no German nuclear site is beyond the reach of Allied bombing by 1945.

Only if the USAAF moved their B-29 bomber squadrons to Britain. Those were the only aircraft with enough range to hit targets in Poland and fly back out. And those would be vulnerable to interception by aircraft like the Ta-152 fighter and the Me-262 jet fighter.