If available-would US have nuked Berlin?

[meowchi]

If the US had a nuke earlier, would D-day have happened? Would we have used it on Germany? Which city(s)? Just wondering if the percieved cultural biases ("Japanese are "vermin" German's are like us") came into play.

My thoughts:
Oh, we would've nuked the Germans, I've no doubt about it.

I don't think the Germans would've surrendered though until Germany itself was occupied and the German army whipped into submission. For all the bold talk of the Japanese it was actually the Germans who fought until the bitter end, down to the "last ditch" as the saying goes.

[StreakInTheSky]

Yeah I think it would be entirely possible. They would have found some excuse to do it if they had it. >_>

[Asmodai]

Prior to D-Day: Yes, the nukes would have been used. We were scared and the outcome was far from certain. Probably Hamburg and Dresden too.

After France fell though, the NAZI resistance in German largely collapsed, so I doubt they would have been used them.

[ctz]

Prior to D-Day: Yes, the nukes would have been used. We were scared and the outcome was far from certain. Probably Hamburg and Dresden too.

I agree. Nuked would've been used also if the D-Day had failed. I doubt Hitler would've surrendered even after nuking some German cities. But I guess it would have lead to the collapse of nazi government anyway.

For all the bold talk of the Japanese it was actually the Germans who fought until the bitter end, down to the "last ditch" as the saying goes.

The last defenders of Berlin were actually French and other foreign SS-soldiers. When all the German units tried to surrender to the Western Allies, the French SS-soldiers didn't had that option.

[THUNDERDUCK]

The US used the bomb in Japan primarily because military officials knew they couldn't win in a land based battle.  Also, the idea that it would slow down US casualties, since the Pacific theater was based on containing the expanding Japanese forces.

[Tuffty]

I'd say most likely and probably for the same reasons they nuked the Japanese, to cut on military losses and to end the war quickly.

Something interesting I read though which is interesting. Having read the previous chapter of 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything', it reads that neutrons of an atom weren't discovered until 1932, something instrumental into the development of an atomic bomb. The discoverer James Chadwick notes that had they been discovered earlier, it is 'very likely the atomic bomb would have been developed first in Europe, undoubtedly by the Germans.'

Nazi's with nukes. Scary.

[Arcadia Victis]

Assuming the Soviets aren't at the front door knocking... yeah, probably.