what makes you so sure about that America would have been more mad when Hitler dropped the bomb on D.C.?
Because bringing the war to our shores would have galvanized even greater support for the war effort, not unlike the attack of Dec 7th.
Hitler could not deliver a bomb on USA from any submarine. He needed the Azores and had no capability to acquire those islands after 1943, unless the war went completely different in which case London and Moscow would be occupied already. To waste a bomb on a way farther out enemy would not be possible anyway unless closer threats were defeated.
@Imperious:
Because bringing the war to our shores would have galvanized even greater support for the war effort, not unlike the attack of Dec 7th.
well I think it is an asumption wich can not really be clarified. Japan surrenderd after the drop of the second A-bomb as a nation known that they could take it to the very last breath, America instead I´m not sure about.
I understand your perspective but I just think it is seriously to consider the devastating effects of a A-bomb.
@Imperious:
Hitler could not deliver a bomb on USA from any submarine. He needed the Azores and had no capability to acquire those islands after 1943, unless the war went completely different in which case London and Moscow would be occupied already. To waste a bomb on a way farther out enemy would not be possible anyway unless closer threats were defeated.
This of course goes only along IF the possibility is fictional given. But das Reich would have made a way to deliver…maybe not in ´43 but maybe later…
And Yes ,I agree it would be a waste, Germany wasn´t that interessted in America being held or occupied. :-D
But you do understand the reality that if UK and the Soviets were not defeated, there is no way they would have the capability unless they established a forward base. Knowing that, the bomb would have to be dropped on London or Moscow because they are a much greater threat. The Allies declared unconditional surrender and no separate peace was possible. The idea of separate peace was Hitler and Goebbels fantasy and only in their minds.
A single bomb probably wouldn’t have accomplished enough…
It would have taken 3 or 4 bombs to do the job.
The icing on the cake at that stage would be DC. Â Which could be delivered by a converted sub, to south america for covert air or boat transfer.
They could drop the bomb off like a large mine by a sub, sneak into a harbour and deposit it. Of course an air blast is the most devastating method of delivery.
They could drop the bomb off like a large mine by a sub, sneak into a harbour and deposit it. Of course an air blast is the most devastating method of delivery.
Could a plane like the Focke-Wulf Ta 400 been prepared for a special mission?
Focke-Wulf Ta 400
flight range?
@Imperious:
But you do understand the reality that if UK and the Soviets were not defeated, there is no way they would have the capability unless they established a forward base. Knowing that, the bomb would have to be dropped on London or Moscow because they are a much greater threat. The Allies declared unconditional surrender and no separate peace was possible. The idea of separate peace was Hitler and Goebbels fantasy and only in their minds.
Yes I do understand the reality, but the point I raised is IF das Reich would have been interrested to drop of the bomb in the U.S they would and could have done it.
Other then that I agree with you with a couple of points you have brought up.
@Imperious:
Focke-Wulf Ta 400
flight range?
4.800 km, any plans for an Invasion on Greenland to built an airbase?… 8-)
@Imperious:
Focke-Wulf Ta 400
flight range?
One way trip.
If I was a senior German military leader, rather than Germany’s top political leader, my plan to use that single German atom bomb to improve Germany’s wartime situation would be as follows. I’d wait for one of the many occasions on which Hitler moved to his Wolf’s Lair headquarters at Rastenburg in East Prussia, send the A-bomb there by truck, park it as close to the compound as security will allow, then detonate it. Much more effective (and spectacular) than the failed concept of putting a briefcase packed with British plastic explosives under Hitler’s map table. Rastenburg wasn’t a major population centre, so civilian casualties would be light compared to the option of nuking Hitler in Berlin. With Hitler dead, I’d then implement the Operation Valkyrie plans for the Army to take over the German government, arrest and execute the top Nazi leadership, then contact the Allies and negotiate peace.
Only one problem with that.
The allies were unwilling to accept/negotiate peace.
The allies were unwilling to accept/negotiate peace.
Of course they weren’t, and I’d be under no illusions about that. I’d nevertheless still make an initial attempt to negotiate, to see if I could get more favourable terms than unconditional surrender. If the Allies agreed, great. If they didn’t, then I’d go to Plan B, which would be to accept to surrender unconditionally. It’s what Germany had to agree to anyway in May 1945, so the choice amounts to deciding whether to agree to unconditional surrender either before or after Germany had been reduced to a pile of rubble. The hypothetical scenario being discussed here takes place in 1943, so Germany would be spared all the damage it suffered in 1945, in 1944, and in whichever remaining fraction of 1943 is applicable.
Moscow of course.
Russia was the danger and I think taking out the capital with Stalin and his regime present and therefore, eliminated, would have been the best option.
The only reason to bomb London would be to postpone any future French invasion, as England was the best staging area. This might have given the Wehrmacht time to defeat Russia.
@Marc: I am not sure that the German Officer Corps would have agreed to destroying its head when the war was not yet lost: 1943 all was still in the balance. Stauffenberg’s plot was post Normandy invasion.
@wittmann:
I am not sure that the German Officer Corps would have agreed to destroying its head when the war was not yet lost: 1943 all was still in the balance. Stauffenberg’s plot was post Normandy invasion.
The “Black Orchestra” group of Wehrmacht officers who wanted to remove Hitler from power – its two highest-ranking members were Major General Henning von Tresckow and General Friedrich Olbricht – had been contemplating his assassination since 1941, and it made two actual attempts on his life in March 1943. The first was the “cognac bottle” time bomb operation on March 13, and the second was the Zeughaus suicide bombing attempt on March 21. But, in fairness, I seriously doubt this group would have had enough influence to get its hands on the hypothetical A-bomb being discussed in this thread.
Thank you. I know it was only wishful thinking on your part.
Using a XXI German Submarine, build a ramp on it to launch a A-2 or A-4 within range and drop it on D.C. ? 8-)
Aerial strike ,launched by submarine via ramp.
See picture.
I’d announce to the Allies that I had the bomb and that It was ready to deploy at any sign of invasion. I’d have Goebels make a film as if I had several and film it as I blew up Moscow.
