Gas Used in WWII

[Dunash]

If there was an all out use of gas, nerve gas and biological agents between the Germans & British in 1941, what would have been the likely result: a swift end to the war due to millions of casualties, with one side surrendering? Or would their use have been largely desultory given the inefficiency of delivery?

 

[Prunesquallor]

This idea's a non-starter unless you shove in lots of PODs. The Germans had no effective delivery systems and Hitler was opposed to its use. In mid 1940 Britain had only about 400 tons of poison gas. Besides, the real advances in research into chemical and biological warfare appear to come later in the war (though this is a notoriously murky subject.) Both sides were well prepared to deal with such an attack. I myself have always viewed the whole WMD thing with a great deal of suspicion.

 

[Matthew Craw]

Gas is simply too easy to counter and difficult to deliver safely/flexibly, and less destructive overall than conventional explosives to boot. It could never have been a decisive weapon.

 

[ljofa]

I think its use would have galvanised support for Britain if Germany used it. However, if Britain were to use it, there would be one of two possible effects:

If used for defence of the islands then there would be outrage amongst liberals in the USA and Stalin would put a few messages condemning the action but they wouldn't do anything to tighten the screws on Britain. If it was used when attacking Germany - say in the opening days of the war, September 1939, it would hand Germany an enormous propaganda weapon. There probably would be no lend-lease and Stalin might decide to capture Persian and thrust into Iraq, threatening India.

 

[Scott Rosenthal]

While I agree that Gas wasn't a viable weapon for WWII (mostly because both sides feared that the other side would use their supposed superior weapons in retailation), the defensive measures taken by both sides were desultory at best. Had the Germans chosen to 'mix-in' a few nerve gas bombs with their conventional rounds used against british airfields in WWII, the repair of those fields might have taken considerably longer, no matter how well protected the troops were. In a similar manner, some mustard gas mixed with the demolition bombs used by the Brits would have made emergency services in German cities problematic at best...