I recall reading that the Germans never really put much effort into atomic research. There's lots of Monday morning quarterbacking that talks about 'what if Germany' got the A-bomb, but really, they weren't close and kind of gave up on it. On the other hand, we invested heavily into the Manhattan Project, while Germany threw everything behind jet and rocket tech. That's kind of why I think it wasn't that one or the other was better, they just chose different paths. Then, of course, after the war we saw the value in the German research and like any good conqueror, jump started our own programs with their scientists. The Russians did the same.
I recall reading that the Germans never really put much effort into atomic research. There's lots of Monday morning quarterbacking that talks about 'what if Germany' got the A-bomb, but really, they weren't close and kind of gave up on it. On the other hand, we invested heavily into the Manhattan Project, while Germany threw everything behind jet and rocket tech. That's kind of why I think it wasn't that one or the other was better, they just chose different paths. Then, of course, after the war we saw the value in the German research and like any good conqueror, jump started our own programs with their scientists. The Russians did the same.
I suspect it wasn't that they were so much better, but that they were financed to pursue technologies that the Allied scientists weren't. In this case, rocketry. That would be my take.