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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
The American design was already about as small and light as 1940s technology could make it. It would have taken several more years to make a bomb small and light enough to fit in Germany's existing bombers, and even more time to make it fit on a V-2. Germany's best bet would be to develop a purpose-built aircraft to deliver it.
The American bomb was already about as small and light as 1940s
American technology could make it. Obviously, since only the Americans had the bomb only the American technology existed. If in a what-if scenario Germany had the bomb then the technology might have been different.
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
Bomber survival rates over the UK were lower than over Japan.
Which doesn't prevent Germany from delivering the bomb, especially if they had several.
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
LOL! Are you seriously suggesting the Germans could smuggle a truck through the Russian lines, and then drive it for hundreds of kilometres through Russian-occupied territory and get it to a Russian city?
No, I wasn't suggesting that even in the slightest. I original responded to Mason's question with
"I don't think Germany could have defeated Russia in a conventional war even if it wasn't also fighting in the west. Moscow is a long way from Germany and the supply lines would be vulnerable, to say the least. Even if Germany conquered Moscow, such a victory would be short lived, as Russian forces would eventually surround the city, cutting off all resources. So long as Stalin escaped and was controlling the army, German occupation of Moscow wouldn't stop him. If Germany got the bomb, then it's a different story."
In such a scenario Germany is occupying Russian territory and can transport trucks into Russia behind its own lines.
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
No. The American bombs weighed nearly 4x as much as a Mercury space capsule. Missile delivery wasn't going to happen until the mid-1950s, mostly due to advances in bomb technology that reduced the size of bombs.
If small enough . . .
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
Practical delivery to a Russian target would have been a lot more difficult than to a British target.
By bomber probably. Unless Germany established advanced air fields in the east (such as in east Poland or even in Russia).
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
What you are asking is equivalent to "If we suspend the laws of physics, could Germany win the war?" What's the point of such a question? If you can suspend the laws of physics, I suppose anything can happen.
No, just trying to get you to stick to what I originally posted in response to Mason. Although you finally addressed my post, sort of, in your last paragraph.
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Originally Posted by DoTheMath
If the Germans had a much larger supply of bombs than the better-resourced Americans were able to produce, they might have been able to knock Britain out of the war. Not Russia. Too hard to deliver bombs to meaningful Russian targets - the distances were too great.
If they had progressed as I stated then they could have knocked Russia out of the war if they had the bomb at that time. Stalin would have to concede. Britain, on the other hand, would be happily speaking German and wearing Lederhosen (LOL).
Seriously, Germany wanted Russia's resources and she could have concentrated it's efforts in those areas and forced Russia to back off with its army if she had the bomb. The UK would have been neutralized and Germany might have held most of Europe for many years. Or if the war essentially progressed as it did in Russia, and Germany got the bomb later, they could have used it tactically against the Russian army and achieved a stalemate for a number of years, or sued for peace.