Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Gas masks in WWII
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Message 1.Β
Posted by The Gosport One (U14343205) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Were any gas bombs ever dropped in WWII on Britain ?
If there wasnt, were the issuing of gas masks propaganda or a waste of money ? -
Message 2
Posted by JB on a slippery slope to the thin end ofdabiscuit (U13805036) on Monday, 26th July 2010
It was a deterrent thing. No poison gas was used in the Western European War because of the fear of a reply in kind.
Churchill wanted to drop Anthrax on Germany but was told by the military it would invite reprisals.
Quite a different matter on the Eastern Front and in the Pacific, where anything went. -
Message 3
Posted by CASSEROLEON (U11049737) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Gosport
War is by definition an incredible waste of money, compared with peace, since it is necessary to cover all moves that your adversary might make- especially in a war of "lightning attack" like the 2WW. "Be prepared" was an essential motto.
Personally, having had as my history teacher the man who had been the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's original Uncle Mac and who lived with only one lung since the other one collapsed ten years after he was gassed on the Western Front, I think that it was unthinkable that Britain would not prepare itself for the monstrous use of gas by Nazi Germany.
But, in fact, both sides found the incendiary bombing of cities a much better use of the existing pay-load capabilities of their bomber fleets. It was the incendiary bomb rather than the simple explosive bomb that was able to turn the combustible materials that were used in constructing modern cities into blazing infernos with firestorms that swept people off their feet and into the heart of the conflagration.
Cass -
Message 4
Posted by MB (U177470) on Monday, 26th July 2010
The Germans had probably developed more potent chemical weapons but they did not know what the Allies had and feared that we could have had even more deadly ones.
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Message 5
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 26th July 2010
TGO
Gas was not used against civilian targets in the UK in WWII.
To be properly effective, respirators and other protective equipment has to be properly maintained, and used correctly by properly trained personnel. In the early planning for Air Raid Precautions, this was used as an argument for not distributing respirators to the civilian population - as simply a waste of money.
Growing public concern about air raids, fuelled by such things as the opening sequences of "The Shape Of Things To Come" (where civilians fight over respirators even as the gas bombs fall) made the authorities realise that morale required the general distribution of respirators as well as more effective ARP meaures.
The authorities believed the principal threat agent was probably Mustard, a known quantity from the previous war. Proper protective measures severly reduced the impact of Mustard, and there were a large number of veterans with experience of carrying out such protective measures available for ARP duties. These people were issued with the full protective equipment. The respirators issued to civilians would probably only have sufficed for a limited period - long enough to get to shelter, perhaps.
However, what the distribution definitely did do was contribute to the bolstering of civilian morale in the pre-war and early war period so that the impact of air raids was reduced, and the nation prevailed.
So, it was not a waste of money.
Unlike all those "Nuclear Free Zone" signs printed on the rates by dodgy Councils in the 1980s
LW -
Message 6
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 26th July 2010
Bother, that should have been
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Message 7
Posted by Herewordless (U14549396) on Tuesday, 27th July 2010
I did read in one comprehensive book about WWII, that the US used Napalm during D-Day?
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Message 8
Posted by Sambista (U4068266) on Tuesday, 27th July 2010
The worst gas casualties in Western Europe in WWII occurred on December 2, 1943, when German bombers attacked Bari in Southern Italy, sinking the SS John Harvey, which was carrying mustard gas intended for use in retaliation by the Allies. There were 600 plus casualties, about 70 fatal, amongst Allied personnel, and many more amongst the local Italians.
I think it was jellied petrol rather than true napalm that was used in WWII, in the firebombing of Japanese cities. No idea if it was used on D-Day, other than in flamethrowers. -
Message 9
Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Wednesday, 28th July 2010
I really used to love those 'Nuclear Free Zone' signs. I'm certain sure they were all fed into the targeting computers in the USSR, ready for the Doomsday Scenario!
"Da, Ivan, aim it at Kensington, and make sure the fallout does not reach Tooting, or your a**e will be in der Gulag before you can say Jakob Robinovich"
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