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Major combatant countries (America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union) had large stockpiles of poison gas in their arsenals. Military planners in Britain assumed that the NAZIs would use poison gas when war broke out. Every British citzen, including children were issued gas masks. Children in school practiced using the masks. There were even masks for babies. The military in Germany also was issued gas masks. I'm not sure about German civilians, although here we see Hitler Youth boys training to use gas masks (figure 1). They were also issued in France, Italy, and Germany. The American policy concerning poison gas after it entered the War against Germany was to create a vastly superior stock pile and improve delivery systems so that if the German military first used gas, then the United States could respond with overwhelming force. The most serious incident concerning poison gas occurred in Italy. After the Allied invasion of Italy (September 1943), the Lufwaffe attacked Allied shipping. The Allies were using the port of Bari in southern Italy. A Luftwaffe attack caught about 50 ships at Bari waiting to be unloaded (December 2, 1943). The German raid was devestating to the ships moored together in the small port. Seventeen Allied ship were destroyed. One of the ships hit was a U.S. Liberty ship laden with a secret cargo of mustard gas bombs. The ship exploded after receiving a direct hit. The crew was killed immeditely. The gas s[read across the port and into the adjoining city. More than a thousand Allied servicemen and more than 1 thousand civilians died. [Reminick]
I have no information on British chemical weapons programs after the laws were prohibited by international conventions in the 1920s. I do know that by World War II, Britain had stockpiles of chemical weapons. Military planners in Britain assumed that the NAZIs would ignore international conventions and use poison gas when war broke out. The superority of the Luftwaffe made this an especially terrifying possibility. As a result, the British gave considerable priority to preparations for chemical weapons civil defense. At the same time, bomb sheltrs and anti-aircraft artillery was neglected. Every British citzen, including children were issued gas masks. Children in school practiced using the masks. Civilians were not only issued gas masks, but were required to carry them. There were even masks for babies. The British evaculated children from the major cities at the onset of World War II (September 1939). The images of the evacuation all show them children and the adults with them carrying their gas masks.
Germany had chemical weapons. The weapons were outlawed by the Versailles Treaty following World War I (1919). The German military had a range of programs to evade the Versailles limitations. I am not sure to what extent they worked on gas weapons during the Weimar era. After the NAZIs seized power (1933) the Germans launched a chenical warfare program and by the start of the War (1939) had substantial stockpiles. Unlike other weapons system, however, Hitler who had been gassed during World War I did not look favorably on gas weapons. I have no information at this time on German policy discussions concerning gas weapons. One German source indicates that military and chemical experts discussed the possible usde of chemical weapons in great deail, especially the use of gas in aerial warfare. The Germans seemed to have concluded that it wa not a very effective military weapon. [Rumpf, p. 173.] The conventional wisdom is that Germany did not need them at the beginning of the War and was afaid to use r=them once the Allies gained air supremecy. The military in Germany was issued gas masks. The Luftwaffe's superority at the beginning of the War made bombing attacks of less concern to civilians. Goering assured the public that it was not possible for the Allies to bomb Berlin. I'm not sure about the extent to which German civilians were prepared for gas attacks. We note photographs of Hitler Youth boys training to use gas masks.
No country suffered more from gas warfare than Russia in World War I. The Germans extensively used gas on the Russians who were neither equipped with gas masks or had gas weapons of their own with which to retaliate. Thus after the War the Soviets launched an exyensive chemial weams program. The Germans when they overrun the western Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa (June 1941), encountered Soviet gas masks with filters for a new type of gas. The Germans were aware of the gas, but had rejected it ir military use. As a result, the Germans added a new filter on their gas masks. [Rumpf, p. 175.]
The United States initiated a chemical weapon's program during World War I. President Wilson personally was involved, worrying that America did not have a poison gas weapon. I'm not sure what happened to the poison gas program durung the inter-war era. The American policy concerning poison gas after it entered the War against Germany was to create a vastly superior stock pile and improve delivery systems so that if the German military first used gas, then the United States could respond with overwhelming force. A factor here was the air superority that the Allies began to develop during 1942. The most serious incident concerning poison gas occurred in Italy. After the Allied invasion of Italy (September 1943), the Lufwaffe attacked Allied shipping. The Allies were using the port of Bari in southern Italy. A Luftwaffe attack caught about 50 ships at Bari waiting to be unloaded (December 2, 1943). The German raid was devestating to the ships moored together in the small port. Seventeen Allied ship were destroyed. One of the ships hit was a U.S. Liberty ship laden with a secret cargo of mustard gas bombs. The ship exploded after receiving a direct hit. The crew was killed immeditely. The gas s[read across the port and into the adjoining city. More than a thousand Allied servicemen and more than a thousand civilians died. [Reminick]
Gas masks were also issued in France, Italy, and other countries, but we have little information about these countries at this time. Nowhere in Europe, however, did preparations reach the level persued in Britain.
Reminick, Gerald. Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas ....
Rumpf, hans. The Bombing of Germany (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York, 1962), 256p.
Tucker, Jonathan B. War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (Pantheon, 2005), 479p.
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