Potsdam July 17th, 1945.
Trinity, July 16th, 1945.
Just a coincidence, I’m sure. Truman wanted a test before Potsdam, that is why Trinity took place the day before.
“We didn’t do all that as a theoretical exercise.”
Not my argument, now is it? Again, there are good reasons why not to drop an atomic bomb on Germany that didn’t apply to Japan. Nuking your allies would be frowned upon. Most of the German industry is in areas close to the border.
“You think we risked the lives of 100’s of thousands of American troops to an invasion of Europe, but we wouldn’t have ended the war with a single bomb if it had been available in time?”
I’m saying that even if the bomb had been perfected by say 1943, that it’s unlikely that the situation in the Western war would have warranted it. By 1944, they had already committed to Overlord. So even if you shaved 2 years off the development (an already very tight and unlikely scenario) I still don’t see them dropping a bomb on Germany.
I’ve really enjoyed this discussion with you. I guess we won’t see eye to eye on this particular subject, but I hope we can talk again. Thanks again.