Interesting. And if it proves to be true, we're quite lucky it didn't develop into anything worse.

Hitler's bomb (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=579127)


Nazi Germany tested a crude nuclear device in March 1945, killing hundreds of people in a massive explosion south of Berlin, a German researcher claims in a new book published Monday.

That the Nazis conducted nuclear experiments has been known for decades, but "Hitler's Bomb," by Berlin academic Rainer Karlsch, suggests they may have been closer to building an atomic weapon for military use than previously believed.

No independent corroboration of the claims was immediately available.

"German physicians did not lag behind their colleagues in the United States and Britain in their understanding of theory," Karlsch told a news conference. "They knew what a plutonium bomb was and what a uranium-235 bomb was."

What Nazi Germany lacked was enough fissile material such as enriched uranium to make a full-size, functioning nuclear bomb, he said.

I am not certain what would have happened at that point in the war. They had limited ability to deliver a nuclear weapon at that point. Their air force was virtually non-existent. They had a few rockets, but they would immediately have become a very high priority target. It would have increased casualties and the destruction of England, but I don't think it would have changed the outcome of the war at that point.

It's pretty scary to see that Hitler actually did have a nuclear bomb! How come there isn't more publicity on this find?

Originally posted by FriendlyGuy
It's pretty scary to see that Hitler actually did have a nuclear bomb! How come there isn't more publicity on this find?

Because it hasn't been definitively proven.

One possibility is that it was actually more of a dirty bomb. It may have been intended as a nuclear bomb, but failed to achieve a chain reaction. The result could have been a contaminated area that would explain the radiation sickness.

If Hitler actually had the A bomb he would have used it. At the end of the war the germans were desperate and would have used anything.
Maybe they didn't have the time and resource to produce it, or maybe this is just a wrong information. Anyway, I have not read about it anywhere else .

Years ago I read something about the Germans doing experimentation with heavy water and going in the direction of developing nukes. It was thought that the exodus of the scientific community and the war's ending prevented their success.

Certainly Hitler would have used any weapon in his arsenal in his desperation, regardless of consequences.

the V-2 sites were already top priority by that time. and I dont think they could have fit a nuke device of that time on a standard V-2 rocket