The World after Operation: Vegetarian

Lets imagine that it's 1942. The war is going catastrophically for the UK, there is no US involvement, and Churchill decides to unleash the anthrax.

What would the consequences be for everyone afterwards?
 
Lets imagine that it's 1942. The war is going catastrophically for the UK, there is no US involvement, and Churchill decides to unleash the anthrax.

What would the consequences be for everyone afterwards?
Germans and Austrians and French die by the thousands. Poles and Jews are denied food by the Germans and die massively. Russia sweeps in and conquers to the Rhine, at least. If Pearl Harbor has been attacked, but Germany has not declared war, The US will still be pounding Japan- a lot quicker with the US out of Europe. Churchill will be viewed as similar to Hitler and Stalin. Expect Britains to be looked on with horror. (And if BSC's work is uncovered- say, if Roald Dahl gets caught sleeping with Claire Booth Luce or stealing Henry Wallace's speech...Expect the first risk of US war with the UK since the Trent.)
Expect Henry Wallace to take on a major role- not only did he not like Churchill and the Tories, but he certainly would be familiar with Anthrax, given his agricultural background. If he gets the nod in 44...Perhaps a US/UK Cold War?
 
More like US vs UK vs USSR cold war. Sad to say, Goebbels would have more than enough ammo for his propaganda campaign, with rants aimed at Britain for sure.
 
Not politically feasable for the UK to do it only if Germany is winning a conventional war against her colonies. Only politically feasable if Sea Mammal is being tried successfully or Germany unleashes its massive Sarin and Tabun stockpiles on British cities.
 

d32123

Banned
I don't see why this would really damage US-UK relations. Surely we'd forget about any atrocities they commit so that we can keep our one friend in Europe now that the continent is probably red.
 
there would also be tens if not hundreds of thousands of britons killed; it will take some weeks for the anthrax to completely collapse german society and in that ensueing time the luftwaffe will plaster london and other cities with sarin, soman and large doeses of ultra viscosity mustard agent

this will require the british to hit french cities and fields to suppress the LW (probably with mustard agent and anthrax for area denial... maybe norway too)

the russians reaching the rhine is out; a gigantic belt of contamination stands before them
 

Geon

Donor
Define "Catastrophically"

Lets imagine that it's 1942. The war is going catastrophically for the UK, there is no US involvement, and Churchill decides to unleash the anthrax.

What would the consequences be for everyone afterwards?

Okay we can make one postulate here. No U.S. involvement means that there was no Pearl Harbor (for whatever reason). This means that the U.S. is still neutral.

But define "catastrophically." Britain was already in dire straits in 1942 OTL when the U.S. entered the war but Churchill was not even considering use of anthrax weapons. How much worse is the situation where Churchill would decide to use these weapons and risk international backlash from everyone?

Geon
 

Hyperion

Banned
there would also be tens if not hundreds of thousands of britons killed; it will take some weeks for the anthrax to completely collapse german society and in that ensueing time the luftwaffe will plaster london and other cities with sarin, soman and large doeses of ultra viscosity mustard agent

this will require the british to hit french cities and fields to suppress the LW (probably with mustard agent and anthrax for area denial... maybe norway too)

the russians reaching the rhine is out; a gigantic belt of contamination stands before them

Not taking US casualties into play if they aren't involved, you could probably add another 5-10 million casualties across the board for the European front.

Possibly more if Hitler decides heck with it and breaks out the bad stuff to use on the Soviets.

The proposed Operation Downfall against Japan would pail in comparison.:(:eek:
 
The only way Churchill could get this past the cabinet would be if the German's had resorted to using Chemical Weapons on British Cities, as an attempt to knock Britain out of the war so they can concentrate on the Russians. Also Churchill would not risk losing America's support.

In those circumstances while Britains image would be tarnished there would be no long term international political consequences. It would be seen as an unfortunate necessity. Stalin would be delighted as it would take much of the pressure off the Red Army allowing them the refit and reorganise after the disasterous losses of 1941.

Post war Churchill would have no choice but to retire from public life as his name would forever be linked with the many deaths not just in Germany but also the occupied countries. There would also be calls for parliament to take a long hard look at why the Army was driven out wherever they encounted the Whermacht. Heads would role and as the Conservatives were the party in power pre war they would not enjoy the results of the enquiry.
 
Not taking US casualties into play if they aren't involved, you could probably add another 5-10 million casualties across the board for the European front.

Possibly more if Hitler decides heck with it and breaks out the bad stuff to use on the Soviets.

The proposed Operation Downfall against Japan would pail in comparison.:(:eek:

getting britain to that point probably means barbarossa was postponed to wage a more focused effort on the British

with no pressure from the Russians; and the whole of the LW (minus whatever in the med and africa) concentrated in Germany France and Norway; they could inflict a shitload of losses on the British; just not the apocolypse level horror of the anthrax

a ju-88 could spray two tonnes of mustard or nerve agents at night; and 1942 night fighting whilst better than 1941 still wasn't really that effective. the german mustard agent of the period was really nasty shit too; it had a high viscosity and if you soaked it in water (like from rain) the sulfer mustard agent would rise to the surface and still be poisonous... water supplies and wells would get horribly contaminated; and the german agent was strong enough to eat right through most protective clothing; to say nothing of the panic, and horror to be inflicted by spraying sarin and soman over london

however, the mustard and nerve agents are minor leagues compared to the anthrax, the anthrax if applied to the hilt is the extermination of germany period; probably decent parts of the entire continent too... Britain may be seen as a pariah for killing millions of civilians with germs
 
The only way Churchill could get this past the cabinet would be if the German's had resorted to using Chemical Weapons on British Cities, as an attempt to knock Britain out of the war so they can concentrate on the Russians.


POD of Germans using bioweapons against Britain. They tried to use weaponized anthrax agains the the British during World War I, but were mostly foiled by MI5. Maybe this time the Germans are more successful.
 
POD of Germans using bioweapons against Britain. They tried to use weaponized anthrax agains the the British during World War I, but were mostly foiled by MI5. Maybe this time the Germans are more successful.

the germans didn't have the anthrax setup that the British had (which had the potential to be expanded to end of the world levels); Japan had JV anthrax setup.... the only real bullets in the german arsenal were the mustard and nerve agents; those being superior to anything the British had till the anthrax projects matured through 1942

in 1940-41 the germans had parity if not ever so slight superiority in their wmd's versus the british, but from 42 on game over full stop the British win... the germans might kill a million or two britains if they get surprise and disrupt evacuations; but 70 million germans and 10's of millions of other europeans will die either from the anthrax itself or from starvation as society collapses and all food disappears
 
The most catastrophic scenario I can come up with is not only the US is still neutral but Barbarossa has been a stunning success and the Soviet Union has either been overrun entirely or is in the position of Vichy France. One might then imagine the possibility of German 1000 bomber raids and firestorms being visited on British cities while at the same time the U-boats have choked off sea borne trade and supplies and an army is gathering in France to mount Sealion MkII.

Faced with what seems like certain annihilation as a nation perhaps the British decide to take Nazi Germany down with them. Frankly I can't imagine anything much short of this fairly ASB situation that would provoke the British into doing it.
 
Top