The Fat Man as a tactical device?

Somtehing I am very clueless about.

How useful would the first atomic bombs have been as tactical weapons, as opposed to being used as strategic devices to take out enemy cities?
 
Not very useful. Bombers at the time weren't very accurate. If you want to destroy a hardened facility that is deep under ground you're gonna need a direct hit. A 20 kt nuke requires nothing less but a direct hit.

Secondly, the destruction of military targets wouldn't make the Japanese surrender IMHO.
 
I was thinking of the effects of a bomb at a situation like Kursk; would it be useful at all, or a waste of resources?
 
Going on that Kursk situation, even if it did wipe out a sizable number of Soviet Forces, that doesn't really force a breakthrough.

It's not like the Wermacht could actually break though were the bomb was dropped, and the fallout is just as likely to hurt the Germans as it is the Soviets.

Of course by this point in the war, Hitler might be looney enough to try it like that.
 
The only time I'd say a Fat-Man type device would be useful on the battlefield would be if ASBs gave Hitler some to use on (or just out to sea from) the invasion beaches on D-Day.
 
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