[Jim O]

So you are assuming that Hitler would have been patient enough to wait until he had amassed 10 working bombs? Not like Hitler at all.

Another fly in that ointment is where does all of that uranium come from? Most uranium is mined at U-238 and needs to be enriched to U-235 to be useful in a nuclear fission device. That is time consuming, energy intensive, and requires a lot of U-238. U-235 constitutes less than 1% of naturally occurring uranium. To create "weapons grade" uranium, you need about 15%-20% U-235. As an example, the Hiroshima bomb was 64kg of weapons grade material. Trying to make ten times that amount in a country that wasn't even in a "war economy" until 1943 would have required a major commitment, one that Germany's leaders were not willing to make.

So, what year are we discussing? Since the US is in the war, I'm thinking at least 1942. It would have had to be before mid/late-1943 because by then Hitler had little means to deliver bombs to UK or deep in Soviet territory given that the Luftwaffe had lost control over enemy skies. And remember, even the relatively "small" bombs dropped on Japan weighed almost 10,000 pounds each. That's a lot of load to carry across the Atlantic to... Chicago (considering fuel load, etc), not escorted by fighters most of the way.

Remember, with all of its effort, the US could only produce two working weapons, and that by 1945. It's doubtful that Germany, even with focus, could have developed 10 of them by even mid-1944, one year sooner. All that Hitler would have accomplished with one or two devices is symbolic damage in already bombed out cities. The idea that he would have landed a nuke over DC, New York, Chicago, or Norfolk is pretty laughable. Chicago especially.That's a pretty long flight from any territory that the Third Reich or its allies controlled at any point in time. And it assumes no coastal air defenses over the US east coast. Just north of Norfolk is a large Air Force base, and just to the southeast is a one of the largest Naval Air Stations in the US. Langley Air Force base in Hampton, Virginia dates to the World War I era, and is more or less directly across the James River from NOB Norfolk. NAS Oceana was present in Virginia Beach prior to World War II, about 15-20 miles southeast of NOB Norfolk. Additionally, there are several air bases that protect the DC area.

I'm sorry, but honestly, that scenario might as well be called Disney comes to Nazi Germany, because Mickey Mouse would have a better chance of pulling it off than would have Adolf Hitler.

A better chance would have been if he had actually had a working weapon or two in 1942, when he could possibly have detonated one over Moscow and another over Leningrad. That might have forced Stalin to retreat back to the Urals, if he even survived the blast, and to sue for peace. With the USSR out of the war, it might well have ended differently.