JF Ptak Science Books LLC Post 706
This striking image appeared in LIFE magazine for 4 January 1943 as an appeal from American Locomotive for the American people to be aware of what might be expected of them in the very near future if the war did not go as planned. It is doubtful that this ever could have happened, even if the tide of combat had not turned against the Germans by this point--the enormous sucking sound began in the war in the East as 90,000+ German soldiers surrendered at Stalingrad at about this
time in January, the fate of the Nazi regime had been decided at Potsdam, the war in the Pacific (Guadalcanal, Midway) was going the way of the Allies, and the invasion of North Africa was well underway, the noose beg
inning to tighten on Axis Europe. This is a little fast-and-loose on the history of the war, but I think it generally accurate to say that no Nazi flags would be displayed in American courtrooms. The other, last nail in this coffin was the beginn
ing of the Manhattan Project in June 1942, an undertaking which would lead to ultimate domination. I think it safe to say too that there was no way that any other country (or alliance) could have produced the necessary (and terrific) amounts of energy, plus large manpower, plus expertise, plus the ability to maintain the massive project (all in s
ecret)--it was all simply too much. Had the Nazis been more successful in Europe and less adventurous in the East, and was somehow able to conquer it all (and this removing the U.S. from the equation), well perhaps then it could have been possible for Germany to develop the bomb. on the third hand, given the rest of the development in the American war as dynamic, the U.S. would've bombed Germany (and etc.) with atomic weapons before they could have developed anything on their own. all of this is trivial rumblings to be sure--I just wanted to survey the possibility of the Nazi overthrow of America. The U.S. would've been too terribly much for anyone, especially given the experiment in the desert.
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