By RC Porter
Did Hitler Have A NUCLEAR BOMB? Newly Declassified U.S Documents Suggest Suggest The Nazi’s Successfully Tested A Nuke Before The End Of WWII; What If Hitler Had Successfully Developed The Atomic Bomb?
www.fortunascorner.com
Allan Hall, Berlin correspondent for the Daily Mail Online, has an article on the publications website (February 23, 2017) with the title above. He writes that “recently declassified file APO 696 from the National Archives in Washington, suggest that Nazi Germany may have tested a nuclear bomb — before the end of World War II. In the file, obtained by the popular [German] newspaper Bild, the task of the academics who prepared the paper between 1944-1947, was the ‘investigations, research, developments, and practical use of the German atomic bomb.”
“The report was prepared by countless American, and British intelligence officers, and also includes the testimony of four German experts — two chemical physicists, a chemist, and a missile expert.” The report concludes that Hitler’s scientists failed in their attempt to “achieve a breakthrough in nuclear technology; but — that a documented test may have taken place of a rudimentary warhead in 1944,” Mr. Hall writes.
“The statement of the German test pilot, Hans Zinsser in the file, is considered evidence: the missile expert says he observed — in 1944 — a mushroom cloud in the sky during a test flight near Ludwigslust,” Mr. Hall wrote. Zinsser’s “log submitted to the Allied investigation reads: ‘In early October,1944, I flew away 12-15km from a nuclear test station near Ludwigslust (south of Lubeck).” “A cloud shaped like a mushroom with turbulent, billowing sections (at about 7,000 meters) stood, without any seeming connections over the spot where the explosion took place. Strong electrical disturbances, and the impossibility to continue radio communication as by lighting turned up.” Zinsser “estimated the cloud stretching for 6.5 miles; and, described further ‘strange colorings,’ followed by a blast wave which translated into a ‘strong pull on the stick — meaning his cockpit controls An hour later, a pilot in a different machine took off from Ludwigslust — and, observed the same phenomenon.”
“According to other archival documents, the Italian correspondent Luigi Romersa observed the same ground explosion,” Mr. Hall noted. He adds that Mr. Luigi “had been sent by dictator Benito Mussolini to watch the test of a ‘new weapon’ of the Germans. He was ordered to report his impressions [observations] back to Mussolini.’
Historians have long known that Adolph Hitler very much wanted his scientists to not only produce a nuclear weapon; but, adapt it to be able to be employed on a V-2 rocket and thus used to bomb the United Kingdom. But, these newly declassified documents on just how far along Nazi Germany was in actually producing an atomic bomb of their own. Four German scientists testified — in the newly declassified American report that “a Top Secret meeting was held in Berlin in 1943, at which German Armaments Minister and Hitler favorite, Albert Speer, was present for a discussion dubbed — ‘ nuclear summit,’ Mr. Hall wrote,
“In the end,” the report concludes, British and American intelligence assessed that Germany fell short of the nuclear chain reaction necessary to trigger a nuclear blast — but, they also acknowledged they did not really know what occurred at Ludwigslust in 1944.
What If Hitler Had Successfully Developed The Atomic Bomb?
But, for the grace of God we go. What a different world this would be — if Hitler and his scientists had beaten the United States in weaponizing an atomic bomb. Imagine what havoc an Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany would have emerged victorious in 1945? I shutter to think of what that would have meant for mankind. It would not have been pretty, nor pleasant. Robert Farley had an October 8, 2016 article in The National Interest, with the title: “What If Hitler Developed Nuclear Weapons During World War II?” Mr. Farley is the author of the “Battleship Book,” and he is a Senior Lecturer at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky.
Mr. Fraley began, “in the early years of WWII, it looked as if Nazi Germany might have the luxury to spend its time, developing a new generation of super-weapons. The Nazis haphazardly pursued the idea of building an atomic bomb, with an eye toward eventual conflict with the United States. However, the immediate demands of war, combined with Western Allied sabotage, undercut the program, leaving it at the basic research state by war’s end.” I wonder if these newly declassified documents would change his assessment; but, I digress.
Mr. Farley then asks, “what if the Germans had devoted more attention to the program, or had lucked into more substantial breakthroughs? What could the Nazi’s have done with an atomic weapon?”
Mr. Farley argues, as do many other historians, that the American military and, the nation’s scientific establishment, understood that the quest to produce an atomic bomb would not be easy, that it would take a significant amount of time, resources and manpower — but, they also believed the war would not end quickly, and thus this complex task was worth pursuing. “Germany,” he argues, “did not have this luxury, especially after it became apparent that the Soviet Union would not collapse in 1941. For Germany to seriously consider taking the atomic plunge, it needed favorable war conditions that would allow the development [undertaking] of long-term projects.”
Additionally, “Allied attacks on the German industrial economy took its toll,” Mr. Farley wrote, especially by bombing from the air and sabotage on the ground. Additionally, Germany’s intellectual expertise in this area was quickly eroding as many German scientists and physicists despised the Nazi’s and fled Europe for the U.S. and elsewhere in the West. Still, even with these challenges, Mr. Farley writes that Hitler’s scientists “did make substantial progress on a number of engineering frontiers, and could have developed a [an atomic] weapon in time.”
“Even if Germany had managed to develop an atomic weapon, delivery would have been a problem,” Mr. Farley wrote. “For tactical use against ground targets, the Wehrmacht could have engineered a way to deliver the devices; but, anything at longer range would have been a struggle.”
“The Luftwaffe lacked an advanced bomber capable of hitting targets in England, or Russia, much less the United States,” Mr. Farley observes. “Designed to fight in support of the Wehrmacht, the German Air Force had toyed with the idea of heavy bombers in the 1930’s; but, concentrated on lighter, smaller planes, as war approached. Surely,” he notes, “Germany could have developed a strategic bomber — given enough time.”
“Could submarines have delivered the devices?,” he asks. “Conceivably,” he wrote. “A nuclear torpedo was probably beyond the means of the Kriegsmarine, but a submarine sufficiently close to its target could probably deliver the warhead in a small boat. But, getting into position was no mean task. The V-2 ballistic missiles represented the most obvious potential delivery vehicle/s. They could deliver payloads at range, with little chance of interception; and, with enough accuracy from an atomic warhead. However,” Mr. Fraley notes, “V-2s had a startling launch failure rate, making them a sketchy option for an atomic payload. They also lacked the ability to carry heavy payloads; reducing a warhead to sufficiently small size, and reinforcing it such that it could handle the rigors of launch, flight, and separation, were tasks likely beyond Nazi Germany in any useful time-frame.”
How Would Germany Used The Atomic Bomb — If They Had Managed To Construct/Produce One?
The answer to that question “depends on Germany’s tactical [battlefield] situation at the time the weapon was produced; and, on the delivery systems it had available at the time,” Mr. Farley wrote. “Obvious strategic targets [would likely have] included London and Moscow; and, the Luftwaffe could probably have delivered them successfully, with a fair degree of confidence,” he added. A successful nuclear strike on either “would have been devastating,” he wrote; but, “a surprise strike that decapitated the Soviet leadership, might have caused very serious problems, — although the Red Army would have undoubtedly continued to fight, In the West, the V-2 campaign had a serious [negative] impact on British morale, and an atomic device would have had an even more devastating impact. It;s worth keeping in mind, however,” he wrote,the Allied, Combined Bomber Offensive was delivering atomic levels of destruction to the Reich from 1943 on; and, that this effort failed to force [or bring about] a German surrender. In any case,” he contends, “the center of gravity of the Western Allied war effort had passed to the other side of the Atlantic, and the [continental] United States was likely out of reach,” for this kind of risky operation.
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