>> It was plausible that Germany had a nuclear program as big as the American one.
Plausible only for those without knowledge of the extent of the US program. Even among those involved, few had perspective on exactly how much of the US economy was being funnelled into the nuclear program. The Manhattan Project famously at some points used roughly 10% of the electricity available in the united states, a country with an infrastructure relatively untouched by war. There is absolutely no way that WWII Germany could have sustained anything close to a similar effort. They had to brains to understand the physics, but not the raw industrial power necessary to turn that into a practical weapon.
Plausible only for those without knowledge of the extent of the US program. Even among those involved, few had perspective on exactly how much of the US economy was being funnelled into the nuclear program. The Manhattan Project famously at some points used roughly 10% of the electricity available in the united states, a country with an infrastructure relatively untouched by war. There is absolutely no way that WWII Germany could have sustained anything close to a similar effort. They had to brains to understand the physics, but not the raw industrial power necessary to turn that into a practical weapon.