Highly controversial are the German and Japanese A-bomb projects in WW2, but historians and researchers alike now know that the "official" histories are falsified and that the real programs are still classified- try FOIA requests for quick denials. Germany split the atom first in 1937 and then a research program was underway that panicked Britain and the US. Britain started with Tube Alloys for their program, but gave it to the US in 1940 when it looked like Britain might fall to the Germans, so that is where the Manhatten Project originates from along with 44 British scientists and uranium supplied by Canada. Germany failed with graphite as a moderator that was contaminated and so went with heavy water instead which did not lead to a chain reaction at one location by '45. But hold on, they realized their mistake by late '44 and a rush was made for two new German A-bomb projects- a Reisen (Giant bomb) project and a Klein small 440 kg tactical nuke to be carried by modified Bf 109K-4 fighters (SO Bf 109s). The rack mods were sent to the Luftwaffe, but when they tried to pick up the weapons the SS turned them away- what was under construction was moved. The SS had turned to I.G. Farben, AEG, and Siemens and quickly built cyclotrons and attempted quick gaseous diffusion and EM seperation for the uranium of which they held the largest stocks in the world. Meanwhile, they transferred uranium to Japan via U-boat for Japan's secret facility in Konan, occupied Korea which was masked as a jet fuel plant. There by 1945 they had named their bomb Genzai Bakudan and after being hit on Aug 6th and 9th claimed to have detonated their one bomb in a remote test on a Pacific island. As the Russians joined in, the facility was evacuated and the second bomb was not completed but destroyed to prevent capture. Russia used the facility for further atomic developments so that should send up a red flag about what was going on there. Germany also in 1945 had drawn up attack plans to hit NYC with a single bomb which may or may not have been nuclear as Germany had 2 radiological bombs under construction at Ohrdruf and also started to convert 5 V-2s at Leese for radiological attack as D-2s. The SS developed a Firedamp Weapon that was tested in the Baltic that destroyed everything within a 4.5 km radius. Hundreds of SS guards and slave laborers were vaporized in that explosion b/c they were too close. That bomb was 60% coal dust and 40% LOX mixed with an unknown waxy reagent. It produced an artificial lightning storm at ground level after the initial explosion. Goering testified at Nuremberg that he refused to develop a "molecular bomb" (reference to the Nazi knowledge of the H-bomb). Germans had plans for nuclear power plants, submarines, and even aircraft. Construction was underway in 1945 for the Ho-XVIII Amerika Bomber, the Prufstand XII submarine towed nuke missile launchers, and designs for several spacecraft to drop a single weapon on NYC. Why all the effort if no progress and no bomb? Many claim that German captured uranium was used in the second US A-bomb along with visible German fusing. Anyway, back to the Japanese. The work in Tokyo was NOT the main effort and why the US chose to destroy their cyclotrons by throwing them into Tokyo Bay is a mystery. Only in the classified files will the truth be found about these two Axis weapons, but in the German case bomb designs from '42 have already surfaced and they had the Me-264 original Amerika Bomber under construction then. Would make no sense if no success. And one can only wonder what would have happened if the Japanese had used an A-bomb on the US Pacific Fleet or during the expected invasion of the Home Islands!

Reference the book: "Japan's Secret War" by Robert K. Wilcox and also Manfried Griel's book "Luftwaffe Over America" as well as "Target America" by Jame P. Duffy which deal with the German strategic bombers and purposes. For new revelations on German atomic history just Google for the '42 bomb sketch and radiologicals at Ohrfruf plus the tactical nuke plans. The German radiological D-1 and D-2 weapons plus nuclear new information is in the " World War II Databook: Hitler's Secret Weapons" by David Porter.