Would US nuke Germany ?

[Amallric]

I'm pretty sure Hitler risks nothing unless he happened to take a stroll in the gardens at the moment of the strike. Radiations wouldn't be an issue either, this is an A-Bomb, the amount of fissile matter was very small.

 

[Graf Zeppelin]

The nuke was developed to defeat Germany, not to defeat Japan. They just managed to defeat Germany before they could use nukes. If the Manhattan project had finished in 43 you can bet that they'd used it.

I am aware of that yes.

 

[jamhaw]

Also, the US had a concept to defeat Germany and it semed to work. The concept to defeat Japan was much more in doubt. Even if downfall would have suceeded the loss of life would have been enormous and the chance of it to fail wasnt that small. Certainly more risky then Overlord.

Indeed, the decision was made to nuke Japan for these reasons sometime before VE day. I can't recall how much before VE day though, if they had the bomb in 1943 they would have used it on the Germans (I don't think they would have even been in a position to nuke Japan) but by 1944 I see Japan becoming more and more likely.

 

[DoomBunny]

Would the Fuhrerbunker have been enough to protect H though (from the immediate blast I mean, not the radiations)? If not it's a good chance to finish him and possibly have someone more interested in surrendering take his place.

Depends. From what I've read a close-by detonation would kill him through heat. Not that killing Hitler is a good idea anyway.