What if Germany, Italy, and Japan had won WWII?

[Satanic Mechanic]

 But when they learned that Hitler planed to kill them all, they started fighting for there lives.  

Actually Soviet troops had a choice; they could die for the Motherland against Germany or be shot by the Political Officers/NKVD (early KGB) and their families shot/sent to GULAGS.

[martin]

Given Germany's determination to rid the world of anyone that wasn't blonde with blue eyes it seems to me that even the Italians and Japanese were not going to be safe forever.

On 30 april 1945 Adolf Hitler is ridding world of someone who is not with blonde hair and blue eyes - himself.



Martin

[jdbenner]

I have always thought that Hitler’s racial makeup did not match his views.   I see others have also noticed the same thing.

[martin]

I read recently that Germany was much closer than originally believed to getting the atom bomb, and the only reason they didn't was because their scientists were sobotaging their own work. I don't know if that's true, but it's a scary thought.

Here is BBC report on some one who is claiming Germany tested very small nuclear bomb in march 1945



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4348497.stm



The report also cites many who do not agree with conclusion of this author...



Martin

[Obviousman]

Very doubtful IMO.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Germany did process U-235 but they did not have a high enough grade to make a true fission bomb.  You need at least 80% pure U-235 (ratio of U-235/U-238) for a bomb.

[madmax]

They might however have been able to produce "dirty" bombs. These are bombs with conventional explosives that have enough radioactive material in them to cause radiation sickness to people in the blast area, and leave the target contaminated for some time. However, there was little understanding of the long term effects of radiation at the time, so it is unlikely the Germans would have thought this to be an worth while approach.

One thing the Germans did have, but never used, was Nerve Gas. The allies did not even know there was such a thing till after the war. Had the Germans used it, the allies would have had no defense.

[Satanic Mechanic]

I believe there was a "no chemical weapons" treaty after the first World War.  If Germany violated it, the war in Europe would of turned ugly.  

Historically in WW2, Italy used gas against Ethiopia and Japan used biological weapons on China but these were overlooked.

[madmax]

WW2 wasn't already ugly?

[Satanic Mechanic]

WW2 wasn't already ugly?

Ok, it would have been butt ugly or a term we use on our team "Fugly".

[Bob B.]

They might however have been able to produce "dirty" bombs. These are bombs with conventional explosives that have enough radioactive material in them to cause radiation sickness to people in the blast area, and leave the target contaminated for some time. However, there was little understanding of the long term effects of radiation at the time, so it is unlikely the Germans would have thought this to be an worth while approach.

There was a program on the History Channel that reported the Japanese, with the help of the Germans, were planning a radiological attack on the United States in the closing months of WW2.  A German submarine was in route to Japan with a supply of uranium dioxide(?) when Germany surrendered.  When word of the surrender reached the submarine, the crew arrested the Japanese officers on board and then surrendered to the Americans.  The Americans confiscated the uranium material and used it in their own atomic bomb program.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Bob,

You are correct, one of Germany's largest submarines, U-234, was carrying Uranium Oxide to Japan in the last month of the European war.  The Germans did surrender but the Japanese officers on board committed ritual suicide rather than being captured.

I remember watching that on History Channel too.  I also read it a few years ago in a book called "Japan's Atomic Bomb Program".  The Japanese had the people to make the bomb, a source of Urainium in Korea, the electrical power to do it in Korea but they did not have the gaseous diffusion technology to seperate the U-235 from the useless U-238.

[madmax]

I hadn't heard of Germany sending Uranium to Japan before. I'll have to look up that book.

Ok, it would have been butt ugly or a term we use on our team "Fugly".

The reason the Germans didn't use Chemical weapons was that they knew the allies had them too and would retaliate in kind. They didn't use Nerve weapons because they (incorrectly) thought the allies had them too. I suspect that it was a case of extraordinary luck that they didn't. If they had I believe they would have won the war.

[jdbenner]

Radiological Dispersal Devices also known as dirty bombs are not practical.  Pound for pound explosives or chemicals will cause more death and destruction.  And without fission or fusion reactors ( nuclear bombs included ),the radio active isotopes available are poor choices.  Naturally occurring radioisotopes are either long lived ( only mildly radio active), Or are very rare due to the following reasons: 1) They have shorter half-lives than there parent isotopes  2) They are created by cosmic rays  Uranium is a greater chemical threat ( think lead )than radiological threat.  Nuclear fallout is a big danger because there is a lot of it. In a nuclear bomb radioisotopes are created when neutrons are absorbed by stable nuclei, or are fission fragments.  The blast from a nuclear bomb is more dangerous than the radiation.  Radioisotopes are also dangerous to handle and transport making them dangerous to the user, and the most dangerous ones are short-lived, weapons should be storable.  People have attempted to build and use them but this is not a real threat.  By the way I am a Nuclear Biological Chemical Defense specialist in the United States Marine Corp, and am assigned to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force.

[Satanic Mechanic]

I don't think the nerve gas would of been an effective weapon in WW2 since it was a very "mobile" war compared to the trench warfare of WW1.

If it was really effective, I think the Germans would of used it against the advancing Red Army in the last month of the war.  Even back then the same problems existed as did in WW1; how to deliver large amounts of gas against the enemy, the lack of safe containment while being delivered and the unpredictable weather which blows the stuff all over the place.