Germ Warfare in WWII

[DMA]

Although there have been a lot of scenarios involving the use of gas in WWII, or the earlier possible use of nukes, I've seen little about biological warfare. Yet the British were playing around with anthrax (so much so that a small Scotish island was highly contaminated with the stuff for decades after WWII), & I'd dare say the Americans, Germans, & Japanese likewise played with germs for weapons application.

So, even though I'd rate germ warfare as unlikely, could have germ warfare neverthless commenced at some point?

How effective would it had been?

Could its impact have signifcantly changed the outcome in any way (eg, say the Germans use anthrax on the Normandy Beaches)?

Anything else?

Discuss.

[NFR]

Although there have been a lot of scenarios involving the use of gas in WWII, or the earlier possible use of nukes, I've seen little about biological warfare. Yet the British were playing around with anthrax (so much so that a small Scotish island was highly contaminated with the stuff for decades after WWII), & I'd dare say the Americans, Germans, & Japanese likewise played with germs for weapons application.

So, even though I'd rate germ warfare as unlikely, could have germ warfare neverthless commenced at some point?

How effective would it had been?

Could its impact have signifcantly changed the outcome in any way (eg, say the Germans use anthrax on the Normandy Beaches)?

Anything else?

Discuss.



You don't have to 'dare say'. The Japanese had the most extensive germ warfare programme out there, with actually half-way decent delivery systems. It was so successful it once infected an entire division of its own army, not to mention killed tens of thousands of civilians.

There are rumours also that Soviet Union had developed similar weapons, one cited evidence was German unit in southwest of Stalingrad around late '42, but I am not convinced.

I do not think it will be making much of a difference. Biological agents are too wildly unpredictable, like disease, it must spread, and can similarly be controlled by effective quarantine procedures. The Japanese, who had the most sophisticated system of them all, never deployed the weapon successfully in any meaningful way (killing off thousands of villagers don't count).

[carlton_bach]

The Soviet bioweapons programme at the time was one of the most advanced in the world in terms of practical application according to Ken Alibek, a high-ranking defector from Biopreparat. He also claims that the Red Army used weaponised tularemia on the Germans in 1943, but admits that his evidence for this is circumstantial.

It's unlikely the primitive b-weapons of the time would have had a significantly greater practical effect than high-explosive bombing. The blow to morale might be reater, but this is tricky - you might enrage the enemy further rather than scare them into submission. And test applications of bioweapons have since shown that the most likely outcome of most attacks is near-complete failure. I don't think anyone back then had the vast amounts of highly virulent agents required to make a big splash.

[Asnys]

I read somewhere that the US had a plan to use rice blast on the Japanese islands to starve them into submission, as a third alternative to either the A-bomb or invasion. I don't know how far that went, if it got any further than paper or not.

[The Dean]

Great Britain had the weapon, anthrax, and the means of delivery, Bomber Command.

The killing power of anthrax was demonstrated by British scientists during the Second World War when it was released on a tiny Scottish island to wipe out a flock of sheep.
The island, Gruinard, just off the mainland, in Gruinard Bay, half way between Ullapool and Gairloch in the Highlands, was so contaminated that it was deemed out-of-bounds for almost 50 years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1455000/images/_1457035_gruinard_island_150map.gif
Gruinard Island is in the Scottish Highlands



The 1942 test was sanctioned amid fears the Germans might attack the UK with biological or chemical weapons.
Anthrax can be contracted by skin contact, ingestion or inhalation, but it is through inhalation that it is at its most deadly and proves to be fatal in about 95% of cases, even with medical treatment.
Experts on biological weapons have suggested that 100kg of anthrax sprayed on a major city could kill more than 3m people.
When anthrax spores are inhaled death usually takes around seven days and will be as a result of symptoms like internal bleeding, blood poisoning or even meningitis.
Initial symptoms after inhalation might include mild fever, malaise, fatigue, coughing and, occasionally a feeling of pressure on the chest.
Decontamination project
It was previously not uncommon for animal workers to become infected with anthrax through skin contact - it was called woolsorter's disease at one point - when a boil would appear which would eventually form a black centre.
When scientists experimented with anthrax on Gruinard Island a film was made of their work and it remained classified until 1997.
Sheep were taken to an open field, secured in wooden frames, and exposed to a bomb that scattered the spores. The sheep started dying three days later.
Despite attempts to disinfect Gruinard Island, the spores left by the experiments kept the island in quarantine for 48 years.
The final WW II report on the Gruinard Island tests suggested anthrax could be used to render cities uninhabitable "for generations".