Chemical Evidence Shows the Nazis Weren't At All Close To Having the Bomb

TheAlexKnapp writes: The Nazis winning World War II by getting the bomb first is a staple of alt-history and it's the reason why James T. Kirk lost the love of his life, Edith Keeler. Einstein also noted possible German efforts to build one in his letter to FDR urging the U.S. develop an atomic weapon. But it turns out there really wasn't a race to build a bomb at all. Materials from Germany's atomic weapons program have been studied by an international team of researchers, who determined that Germany never achieved a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction — something that Fermi and his colleagues had accomplished in 1942 — which was a key step to actually building an atomic weapon. This chemical evidence supports other historical accounts that the German atomic program never achieved this result.

Comments

we are in an alt-history

[turkeydance]

of our Nazi multiverse

Possible air mail delivery of one

[Anonymous Coward]

The allies might have determined Germany was ready to "receive" an atomic bomb via air mail though.

The Nazis Could Have Won

[Etherwalk]

The History Channel has a lock on "OMG!!! the Nazis almost won the war, what if their super secret had been built, we would all be speaking GERMAN and eating sauerkraut, OMG!!!". Of course was either only a prototype or was never built at all, but who cares, RATINGS!!!

So no Nazi atom bomb is a big dower for them.

I talked to a producer who knew some History Channel people, and she said they called it the Hitler Channel. No mater what series, if you could tie something to Hitler or the Nazis then it was a big plus. She said that when they had a series on the Spartans they compared them to Germany during WWII, and the management was thrilled.

The Nazis could easily have won the war, if Hitler wasn't insane and had settled for controlling mainland Europe west of Stalin. Only an idiot fights on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots invades Russia during the winter. If Hitler had not betrayed Stalin, he could have held mainland Europe indefinitely. If he had not declared war after Pearl Harbor, but had let Japan fight the United States alone, the war would have dragged for an extra decade. But an extended war against the biggest industrial powers in the world is impossible without technological advantage that cannot be countered.

Re:The Nazis Could Have Won

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the Nazis could have won if they didn't have a racial idealogue. Einstein, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Edward Teller, Hans Bethe, John von Neumann, and James Frank all came from Germany and Hungary. Enrico Fermi and Emilo Segre came from Italy. These were many key men of the Manhattan Project and ancillary research.

They already had a rocket delivery system, and they were ahead in jet aircraft. Mix von Braun with those guys, and Germany would have been unstoppable in the late 1940s.

Re:The Nazis Could Have Won

[Rei]

It's a good point. Nazi Germany had many talented engineers. But their basic sciences in many regards had been ideologically purged - not just by driving out the jews and other undesirables, but also those who supported them and didn't support the general principles of Nazism.

Re:The Nazis Could Have Won

[Nidi62]

Nazi's were greeted as liberators by russian peasants. Who they started slaughtering.

If they had treated the peasants decently, they would have conquered russia easily.

But it just wasn't in their nature.

That problem can again be attributed to Hitler and those he placed in power. Certainly many of the professional officers on the ground realized that decent treatment of civilians would cut down on issues, but they were ordered to be harsh with civilians and cooperate with Einsatzgruppen in their area. As atrocities and mistreatment mounted partisan activity could only increase; especially with the Red Army tactic of leaving behind trained soldiers to organize, coordinate, and lead partisan groups in bypassed or occupied areas. Barring Hitler's other many blunders in matters of military strategy the Germans could have still won even with the mistreatment of civilians. But there is a difference between conquering a country and pacifying it. Even if they had won, they would have been tied down for years clearing out the large swathes of Russia they passed over, with literally divisions worth of troops in pockets all over the country fighting a guerrilla warfare led by Commissars and hardline officers. But in any case it was a good case study of what kind of policies not to put in place when you are trying to occupy an area.

Re:The Nazis Could Have Won

[Fire_Wraith]

The bigger point was that they didn't need to start a war, at all, period.

Look at Europe today - who's the most dominant nation in the European Union, economically and politically? Germany - and that's after they were bombed all to hell, split in half for 50 years by the USA/USSR, not to mention stripped of various bits of land in the east that were given to Poland and Russia. While Germany wouldn't be the strongest power in the world, certainly, they'd have done a lot better for themselves had they not started an aggressive war.

Re:The Nazis Could Have Won

[Fire_Wraith]

Not to mention that Italy had already invaded Greece, and was bogged down fighting the Greeks.

Overall though, Hitler became grossly overconfident as a result of the 'easy' victory in France. Like most average people at the time, he was expecting a war that would be akin to World War I - ugly, slow, and brutal. The "Lightning War" in France was a huge shock to everyone (except perhaps the Panzer generals that came up with it) in the equivalent of the worldwide pundit class at the time, Hitler included. He didn't think he'd need to do anything particularly different against Russia, and expected the campaign would be quick and easy. "One swift kick, and the entire rotten structure will collapse."