Here we go again! If Hitler had developed an atomic bomb in time where would he employ it not taking into account means of delivery. (not limited by range of bombers, missles, etc...)

My 2 cents: I think that we would see a strike on England in order to stop or slow western Allies in order to try to broker a peace and then Germany would concentrate on Russia.

I think you have to take delivery method into account, if you want to seriously discuss it. If not, Hitler would have dropped bmbs on every American city that he had bombs to spare for.

London is probably the most likely target if he had the bomb before D-day. After D-day he'd have dropped it wherever most threatened. It all depends on how many nuclear weapons he had.

Also, Moscow, Washington DC and NYC would have been obvious targets. A modified Fw200 Condor could have made a one-way trip.

As others have said it depends on the delivery method. If he could do it I'd say Moscow, because of his extreme hatred for the Soviets. If Moscow was out of range then London. Hitler may have respected the British, but that didn't stop him from going after London every chance he got, hoping to knock the British out of the war.

Wit this topic you do run into a few problems. The first one being that Hitler act fairly rational or completely irrational. I think he would realize that he needed to something to knock a country out of the war at once by breaking the will of the people (the exact same idea as behind the V1 and V2 weapons.

Assuming that military rationality would work for him, I would say the following.

I would say that Hitler would go for London all the way. If he got the Western allies out of the way, he might have stood a chance in Russia, shifting all he had immediately from the West towards the east... starting with the Luftwaffe, and followed by the rest. Biggest difference would be undisturbed production of weapons and above all a massive increase in ability to transport products/supplies east. Also, of minor importance, is the fact that some of the forces involved (Navy and Luftwaffe Flak personnel) might become available for the Russian front. Also, knocking the Western Allies out of the war might have opened up access to crucial supplies to him (fuel, metals).

Post D-Day I would say Antwerp and or Caen. Close the ports.

Shaun

That would make military sense Shaun but I think Hitler would view the bomb as a a super V weapon and use it as such, either with terror or vengeance in mind.

I could certainly be wrong. Did H use V weapons against either of those targets?

Rodger,

Antwerp yes, Caen, not sure.

Shaun

Taking into accounts Hitler's lack of strategic insight (esspecialy during the later stages of the war) it is easy to opt for the obvious shock targets like London.
Hitting London would have however done nothing to get the Western Allies on his side.
Leaving hindsight and stabbing in the dark behind, the facts are as follows

Hitler had a pathalogical hatered of the Russians.

Hitler hoped in the beginning of the war that England would take his side. Note the effort made during the initial bombings of London not to hit any targets west of the East end and the docks. The blanket bombing started only after the invasion of England had been canceled, and England had made it clear that there would be no co-operation.

In late 1944 Hitler's strategy was to split the Western Allies, thus frustrating or halting their advance through to Germany. The Ardennes Offensive was meant to do this, as well as trying to re-take Antwerp to deny the Allies the desparately needed harbour for their supply.

Hitler did not want to defeat the Western Allies ( he may himself have realised that this was not going to happen), he wanted to sue for peace. After that, with or without the Western Allies, he would have thrown all his resources against Russia.

Hitlers occupation of Western Europe had little to do with ideological doctrine, it was purely to obtain those resources he needed for the Third Reich (and the war against Russia). Germany had (and still has) only a very small coast line, which is easily blockaded) Holland, for it's Harbour.
Belgium, for coal and harbour.
France, again coal and harbours, as wel as the heavy steel industries in the east. It is telling that the Germans only occupied the nothern part of France, as the south holds little resources... well, apart from Wine.

If Hitler would have had his bomb on time, he would have dropped it on Russia. The effect of that would have been enough to stop the Western Allies as well.

Cheers
Henk

I would opt for first strike on London, especially before 6 June 1944. He probably then would have gone after Russia and possibly might have thrown one at Rome after Italy bowed out and to disrupt the American effort down there.

As far as method of delivery goes I stick with London on a V rocket of some sort but more realistically a bomber. I could also see a Condor dropping one on Stalingrad or Moscow.