Hitler not gassed

I've read a few arguments on this board that one of the main reasons Hitler didn't unleash poison gas, biological agents etc. was his experiences in the trenches in WWI being gassed by the British.

So... what if, instead of being gassed, Hitler was injured through conventional means, shot or artillery shell? Would WW2 have gone WMD from the start with mustard gas and sarin deployed in the invasion of Poland? Or would it have crept in gradually (Poison gas at Stalingrad or Kursk, or Nazis deploying chemicals as the Soviets and WAllies cross the German border?) Or would it have stayed conventional?

From my reading, biological & chemical weapons were viewed in the 30s in the same way nukes are now, with the added fear that "the bomber will always get through".

Let's assume that the 30s and the rise of Nazism continues as per OTL. What shape will WW2 take?
 
Probably not. Even without the gas-phobia he and most other Nazis opposed using gas militarily based on the idea that the Allies had just as much or possibly more gas (And other weapons such as anthrax) and would respond with them if the Nazis did launch gas attacks. Even on the Eastern Front both the Nazis and Soviets were extremely methodical in their examination of reported incidents of gas attacks, as they wanted to be sure that the other side struck first before they responded.
 
Good point. However, what happens if you wind the clock forward to early 1945 with the Soviets and WA crossing into Germany? Could an Allied bridgehead over the Rhine have been met with chemical response, or more likely the Soviets coming in from the East? Might the mindset have been "nothing to lose?"
 
Good point. However, what happens if you wind the clock forward to early 1945 with the Soviets and WA crossing into Germany? Could an Allied bridgehead over the Rhine have been met with chemical response, or more likely the Soviets coming in from the East? Might the mindset have been "nothing to lose?"

Possibly. The problem is dsitributing the chemical shells and organizing everything in time for an actual use of them. The most likely use would be dring Operation Spring Awakening in Hungary, perhaps giving it slightly more bite but achieving little in the long run. By 1945 it's just too late for chemical weapons to inflict significantly more losses than IOTL.
 
One last possibility then- what about chemical warheads on the V-weapons? Particularly the V-2. I'm assuming that would have been met with a massive response (anthrax bombing of Germany, for one thing) but let's not credit Hitler with more rationality than he displayed OTL.

Especially, as people have pointed out on this forum, he was perfectly happy to employ poison gas against unarmed civillians.

I should also add, part of the reason I wanted to ask the AH board is that I used to follow this before it went on seemingly endless hiatus: http://theshatteredworld.blogspot.com/ .
 
There's a nice bit in Calbears Anglo/American timeline about an allied gas attack. If you haven't already read it, I would highly recommend it.
 
Probably not. Even without the gas-phobia he and most other Nazis opposed using gas militarily based on the idea that the Allies had just as much or possibly more gas (And other weapons such as anthrax) and would respond with them if the Nazis did launch gas attacks.

Hitler a military genius?:eek: I thought that MI6 scrapped an operation to assassinate him because he was royally screwing the German war effort from within. He often overrode his generals, ordered them to do things they didn't want to do, and wasted a good portion of Germany's manpower and resources to commit the greatest crime in human history over his fucked-up ideology. Since when was he this smart and calculating in military affairs?
 
Hitler a military genius?:eek: I thought that MI6 scrapped an operation to assassinate him because he was royally screwing the German war effort from within. He often overrode his generals, ordered them to do things they didn't want to do, and wasted a good portion of Germany's manpower and resources to commit the greatest crime in human history over his fucked-up ideology. Since when was he this smart and calculating in military affairs?

I would certainly not call him a genius, but Hitler actually had an ok instinct for someone with no formal officer training and an ego bigger than a large apartment building. His decisions in the early war were a mix of good and bad, like most supreme commanders. Most of his generals made the same mistakes and had the same predjudices and misconceptions he did. As the war went on however he became increasingly controlling, unstable, and mistrustful of his commanders which lead to him micromanaging the war effort.
 
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