What if the allies intercepted the German air raid at Bari, Italy, on December 2, 1943?
This was an air raid by the German forces in Italy against a major allied logistical port on the east coast of Italy. It was apparently a major supply depot, left weakly defended by British forces since they believed that the Germans did not possess much air power on the Italian Front.
The raid is notable for the fact that many allied ships docked at facility contained the chemical weapon 'mustard gas'. A wikipedia source used for this posting suggests it was stored in response to German threats to use chemical weapons in Italy, but other Youtube based historical sources (anything on the internet is of mixed quality) suggests that the allies were intending to use these weapons if the Italian front became too static and they wanted to speed up the progress of the front. This source states that the Germans became aware of the chemical weapons stored at the port of Bari, and allied plans to potentially use them, and decided to use a pre-emptive strike. Other sources state they were stored there "just 'in case' they were needed."
The results of the raid were fairly destructive, giving it the name "the Little Pearl Harbor." Twenty eight ships were knocked out of commission, and around 2,000 military and non-military personnel died (officially). Many of the deaths and injuries were undoubtedly the result of people being exposed to mustard gas chemicals, released into the air or water. Many of the medical personnel who responded to the casualties did not understand what the air raid victims were exposed to, since these chemical munitions were largely kept secret.
What if allied intelligence knew about the planned German raid and managed to intercept it?
The result could have been a costly air battle for both sides, with more severe long term impacts on the German side. Depending on the severity of losses, it could have hurt the Germans long term defense capabilities.
The allies probably would have realized that the Germans were aware of their chemical weapons plans, assuming it was not just retalitory in nature (whichI think). The ships would been quickly moved. The allies probably would have realized that the Germans would try again to target these chemical munitions, either by plane, submarine, or both, where ever the allies tried to hide them.
There probably would have been a struggle within the allied command to either use them relatively soon or just remove them entirely out of the theater of operations. If the faction advocating immediate use of these weapons won out, and these weapons were deployed against the German front line in Italy, WW2 could have been a very different football game.
Depending on how effectively the allies deployed these weapons, the German front at the time could have quickly collapsed. The outcome of the Italian front would have depended on how quickly the allies would have been able to exploit this temporary advantage and how fast Hitler could have resupplied the gassed out German Army in Italy. Reinforcements would most likely come in from the Austrian/Yugoslav side of Italy. To slow this process down, the allies would have had to contact and coordinate with any Italian or Yugoslav partisan groups operating in the area.
The other impact of allied use chemical weapons in Italy would have been a change in German attitude toward use of weapons of mass destruction. Being a victim of chemical weapons in WWI, Hilter may have paused to listen to those in his command who argued that chemical weapons were not very accurate and hard to control. However, Hitler probably would have barked back to his generals and engineers to start figuring out how to canister these chemical weapons inside missiles and airplane bombs.
Then the war would have become the first long term experiment in the use of weapons off mass destruction. We probably would have seen the sped up production of ballistic missile systems on the part of the Germans, who would be quick to recognize them as the ideal delivery system for these types of weapons.
I suspect that the Germans would have exploited the propaganda "value" of many Italians dying as collateral damage during an allied chemical weapons attack. It probably would have been easy to portray the allied liberators as reckless and destructive "monsters" if many noncombatant Italian villagers became victims of these chemical weapons.
The fact that the allies covered the whole thing up during and after the war suggests to me that they had more than just potential retaliatory intentions with these chemical weapons. Whatever their intentions were, the Germans put an end to these plans and woke the allies up in the process.
I have given my answer to this "what if" question, look forward to yours.
Brian Ghilliotti
This was an air raid by the German forces in Italy against a major allied logistical port on the east coast of Italy. It was apparently a major supply depot, left weakly defended by British forces since they believed that the Germans did not possess much air power on the Italian Front.
The raid is notable for the fact that many allied ships docked at facility contained the chemical weapon 'mustard gas'. A wikipedia source used for this posting suggests it was stored in response to German threats to use chemical weapons in Italy, but other Youtube based historical sources (anything on the internet is of mixed quality) suggests that the allies were intending to use these weapons if the Italian front became too static and they wanted to speed up the progress of the front. This source states that the Germans became aware of the chemical weapons stored at the port of Bari, and allied plans to potentially use them, and decided to use a pre-emptive strike. Other sources state they were stored there "just 'in case' they were needed."
The results of the raid were fairly destructive, giving it the name "the Little Pearl Harbor." Twenty eight ships were knocked out of commission, and around 2,000 military and non-military personnel died (officially). Many of the deaths and injuries were undoubtedly the result of people being exposed to mustard gas chemicals, released into the air or water. Many of the medical personnel who responded to the casualties did not understand what the air raid victims were exposed to, since these chemical munitions were largely kept secret.
What if allied intelligence knew about the planned German raid and managed to intercept it?
The result could have been a costly air battle for both sides, with more severe long term impacts on the German side. Depending on the severity of losses, it could have hurt the Germans long term defense capabilities.
The allies probably would have realized that the Germans were aware of their chemical weapons plans, assuming it was not just retalitory in nature (whichI think). The ships would been quickly moved. The allies probably would have realized that the Germans would try again to target these chemical munitions, either by plane, submarine, or both, where ever the allies tried to hide them.
There probably would have been a struggle within the allied command to either use them relatively soon or just remove them entirely out of the theater of operations. If the faction advocating immediate use of these weapons won out, and these weapons were deployed against the German front line in Italy, WW2 could have been a very different football game.
Depending on how effectively the allies deployed these weapons, the German front at the time could have quickly collapsed. The outcome of the Italian front would have depended on how quickly the allies would have been able to exploit this temporary advantage and how fast Hitler could have resupplied the gassed out German Army in Italy. Reinforcements would most likely come in from the Austrian/Yugoslav side of Italy. To slow this process down, the allies would have had to contact and coordinate with any Italian or Yugoslav partisan groups operating in the area.
The other impact of allied use chemical weapons in Italy would have been a change in German attitude toward use of weapons of mass destruction. Being a victim of chemical weapons in WWI, Hilter may have paused to listen to those in his command who argued that chemical weapons were not very accurate and hard to control. However, Hitler probably would have barked back to his generals and engineers to start figuring out how to canister these chemical weapons inside missiles and airplane bombs.
Then the war would have become the first long term experiment in the use of weapons off mass destruction. We probably would have seen the sped up production of ballistic missile systems on the part of the Germans, who would be quick to recognize them as the ideal delivery system for these types of weapons.
I suspect that the Germans would have exploited the propaganda "value" of many Italians dying as collateral damage during an allied chemical weapons attack. It probably would have been easy to portray the allied liberators as reckless and destructive "monsters" if many noncombatant Italian villagers became victims of these chemical weapons.
The fact that the allies covered the whole thing up during and after the war suggests to me that they had more than just potential retaliatory intentions with these chemical weapons. Whatever their intentions were, the Germans put an end to these plans and woke the allies up in the process.
I have given my answer to this "what if" question, look forward to yours.
Brian Ghilliotti
