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The Battle of the Potato Beetles

During the Cold War the communist authorities in East Germany claimed US planes were dropping beetles out of planes onto their crops.

In the summer of 1950, the East German government claimed that American planes were dropping potato beetles over their fields to try and sabotage their crops. But was this the truth.. or just a Cold War rumour? In collaboration with Germany's Memory of the Nation Association, Lucy Burns investigates for Witness.

Photo: A potato beetle. Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images

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9 minutes

Last on

Wed 8 Aug 2018 07:50GMT
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet

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Broadcast

  • Wed 8 Aug 2018 07:50GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet

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