Alt Stalingrad

this is a great question

you should review the first use of gas by the germans against the russians in 1915... gas is an ineffective weapon in super cold weather. the only way for it to be effective would be if the germans used it in their initial offensive into the city in the summer and fall.

imo i dont think it would be any more effective than convential bombing was since most of the russians had heavily dug in/gone underground

what would be more effective would be the germans used gas on the artillery positions on the far side of the volga that kept their men from operating freely on the surface

in terms of a brittish counterattack... i could very much see that if the necessary propoganda was put in place ie we only use gas against the untermench and will not use wmds against britain unless they use them first. that the brits wouldnt have the political will to start the wmd merry go round
 
in terms of a brittish counterattack... i could very much see that if the necessary propoganda was put in place ie we only use gas against the untermench and will not use wmds against britain unless they use them first. that the brits wouldnt have the political will to start the wmd merry go round

The British arent going to sit back and let Germany win the war just because they arent being gassed.

Churchill was looking for a Cassus Belli for the using the massive chemical superiority the Allies had.Also the public will be fine knowing that the war will now only last a few more months.
 
One important point IIRC is that Britain was very aware of, and scared of, sarin and tabun.

They hadn't managed to replicate them themselves yet, and so I'm fairly sure were also not in possession of the countermeasures either.

So all you can do is wrap up against it...except nerve gases need more than just a (heavy, obstructive) mask, you need to cover the entire surface of your skin...

I think this would have limited the willingness of the Western Allies to retaliate to Nazi use of CW on the Russians.
If you could somehow get the Nazis to use CW in the West...that's a different story.
 
at this point in 1942 churchill has only just squeaked by a vote of no confidence after the fall of singapore also the tobruk disaster has just happened.

he himself was a proponent of gas warefare but that doesnt mean the brittish people where. his coalition at this time was on the shakiest standing possible and initiating chemical warfare without being wmd'ed upon or invaded could very easily cause a change in government

the germans can and would make the most of the propoganda opportunity and try exploit churchill's weakness in the government at that critical moment

it would be more likely imo if churchill was handicapped from using them in this way that he would transfer some stocks to the russians so they could be used against the germans without the political backlash
 
One important point IIRC is that Britain was very aware of, and scared of, sarin and tabun.

They hadn't managed to replicate them themselves yet, and so I'm fairly sure were also not in possession of the countermeasures either.

So all you can do is wrap up against it...except nerve gases need more than just a (heavy, obstructive) mask, you need to cover the entire surface of your skin...

I think this would have limited the willingness of the Western Allies to retaliate to Nazi use of CW on the Russians.
If you could somehow get the Nazis to use CW in the West...that's a different story.

Yes but whilst the Allies could easily bombard Germany how effectively do you reckon that the Germans could bomb Britian by late 1942.Not very effectively at all.So whilst Britian might lose one or two cities,Germany will be absolutely crushed.
 
at this point in 1942 churchill has only just squeaked by a vote of no confidence

He won a massive majority in the Vote of No Conidence were are you getting youre information from.

Also the Germans arent going to be very effective at propaganda when their countries battered with WMDs.It would be a miracle if they could circulate Newspapers.
 
by squeak through i mean in that if the vote was only slightely delayed till after the tobruk disaster he would have been out on his ass

any vote of no confidence is a serious threat to the government even if they survive

given these threats to his government churchill cant just arbitrarily launch wmd strikes he would at minimum have to build some sort of consensus on it

his position was far from secure at this point and thats a big step to take on your own. the brits by late 1942 dont have total air supremecy over germany. most of their air resources are still going to the battle of the atlantic and north africa.

the germans can and would strike back and it would be nasty (serin tabun etc. the luftwaffe wasnt defenceless in 1942

this could lead to the tunisian and algerian landing sites getting gassed. the germans for the intial part of that segment of the north africa campaign had at least air parity
 
Thing is if the RAF and USAAF could compoletely dedicate themselves to dropping Gas attack after Gas Attack on Germany whilst defending Britian from the same (whilst I agree the Allies didnt have total control of German air space a Luftwaffe bombing campaign in late 42 would be a massacre for the German air force)they would not need to worry about the Atlantic or the Mediterranean for much longer.
 
The horrible close quarters and the element of surprise (thus no protective gear) I thought might win the battle.

In that case Germans are advancing over terrain that has just been gassed and where significant pockets of CW concentrations exist (cellars....). They suffer massive casualties

But the battle went on for months, thus time to make the decision and then move up CW, a time consuming process that could be interupted by Uranus. And yes I did realize that hitting attacking soviets forces would be more difficult than gassing defensive forces in a small section of a city.

The decission wouldn't be made early on, when Germans were convinced they would win easily and that they were facing only small delays. After that (say september, early october) the whole process of setting things up would take time and might be too late to implement (against the city) or implemented but with no effect (Uranus rolls in making any German gains irrelevant).
 
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