Why didn't the US Gov (whoever makes the main decisions) use nuke(s) on Germany during ww2?

Question

I thought about this very interesting topic....did the US Gov ever thought about using nukes against Germany? or that they did, but by the time they had nukes ready to go, Japan was the main focus? Thinking about the fact that the Nazi's were ruthless in Europe and the heavy cassaulties suffered by the allies (especially the poor Russians), i wonder why nukes werent used on the Germans?

thanks all for your answers.

Answer 1

Ferret is mistaken. Germany wasn't even close to an atomic bomb. They were working on it, yes, but we kept bombing their facilities (those pesky bombers!). Japan got nuked because they refused to surrender and the estimated death toll (among American soldiers) of an invasion topped 2 million. That doesn't even take into account the carnage that would have been inflicted on the Japanese population. Germany surrendered in May 1945. The first test detonation of an atomic bomb was in July of the same year. So, in addition to the above reason, the bombs just weren't ready when Germany surrendered. It is interesting to wonder how different things would be if we HAD dropped nukes in Europe. Would there have been a Cold War if Europe had had first hand knowledge of nuclear holocaust?

Answer 2

Germany was finished as apower..there was really nothing left to nuke...Japan was holding out and planning a grassroots resistance to an invasion that would have costs another million lives....Germany didnt have anything left to resist with....as for getting the technology from the GErmans,they were hung up on Heavy Water theory and didnt have a clue how to build a bomb......

Answer 3

The nukes were developed to be deployed against the Germans. By the time they were operational, the Germans had already surrendered, and there remained only one antagonist in the world...the rest is history.

Answer 4

By the time we had the bomb ready the war in Germany was pretty much going in favor of the allies.

Japan on the other hand was going ahead full tilt and much of their philosophy was that it was a religious honor to die for the emperor, thus the kamikaze pilots. By dropping the A bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki we stopped the war in the most timely manner.

Answer 5

We got the technology from the German scientists who immigrated before the war, it just wasn't quite ready to use and we were winning the war in main land Germany before it was ready. We knew we could make the Germans surrender, plus Germany did not have the right terrain to use the atomic bomb on. The scientist did not know if it would work with hills in the way. Where it was used in Japan it was used on flat terrain similar to where it was tested.

Answer 6

The SIMPLE answer is that Germany had surrendered a month prior to our first TEST of an atomic bomb... no war, no need to nuc !!

General Patton was eager to nuc the Russians following the war though !

Answer 7

several reasons!..1/ The fission bombs they had then were to filthy to be used in Europe!..2/ The germans were still 'europeans'..White people..and that also would have ruled it out on rascial grounds!..not to mention spreading radiation all over Europe!..3/ The war in Europe was over before the 10KT bomb was tested!..The japanese were worse to allied pow's than the germans ever were!..And more fanatical to boot!..The use of the two bombs, probably saved the lives of a million allied troops, and even more japanese!

Answer 8

As the others said it wasn't ready before Germany were defeated. Also, Japan is an island so the "test" could be better contained.

Answer 9

America got its nuke technology from the Germans. America didn't have an atomic bomb until they took the technology from captured German scientists after the end of the war in Europe.

Answer 10

Well, Germany fell before the atomic bomb was made.