WI: Operation Vegetarian is executed and succeeds?

What are the consequences of a fully successful Operation Vegetarian for Germany, during the war and post-war? How many people die? What other consequences are possible?

Might Hitler take revenge? If yes, how?
 

CalBear

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Churchill is remembered right next to Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot as a mass murderer one step below the Prince of Evil on Earth Hitler.
 
probably more like a step above hitler

there is no way to contain all that anthrax, and will spread to the low countries and france, and poland.

unfortunately for the british, even though the germans are devastated, there will be payback, some of the anthrax no doubt will be returned to sender with their last forces, ravaging the british.

expect a death-tally of 50M plus, or even 100M, since this was a weaponised extra vicious version of anthrax

You think an entity called "Germany" would no longer exist after a successful Vegetarian? Was the plan really that heinous?

Yes, it was that very heinous.

they tested the anthrax on gruinard island 1942, and in 1986 it was still unsafe to go there. it took 4 years of intense decontamination until it was safe in 1990
with that amount of anthrax released germany will not only we an uninhabitable biohazard wasteland for decades (as the scientists thought), but more likely for centuries (anthrax stays viable for centuries, or even millennia under the right conditions)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruinard_Island
 
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I don't see how Hitler would even be able to enact revenge after such large scale chemical warfare against his country. It's possible that Churchill might be seen as a hero who shortened the war in Europe by several years and saved many millions of allied lives in the same way that plenty of people today view Truman for his decision to a-bomb Japan
 
I don't see how Hitler would even be able to enact revenge after such large scale chemical warfare against his country. It's possible that Churchill might be seen as a hero who shortened the war in Europe by several years and saved many millions of allied lives in the same way that plenty of people today view Truman for his decision to a-bomb Japan

Biological warfare

sorry, that is a idiotic remark. the a-bombs killed the same amounts as a regular firebombing, operation vegetarian is genocide, since it will kill 50M+ people

collect some of the antrax infested stuff, load it on planes, commit suicide attack(something could be done by pilots in the first stage of contamination), presto, revenge
 

CalBear

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I don't see how Hitler would even be able to enact revenge after such large scale chemical warfare against his country. It's possible that Churchill might be seen as a hero who shortened the war in Europe by several years and saved many millions of allied lives in the same way that plenty of people today view Truman for his decision to a-bomb Japan

BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS. Compared to the British "Go to Hell " plan the nuclear strikes on Japan were a fairly pleasant dinner date. German, and yes, most of the Central European Plain, would be a Superfund Site, literally not fit for Man nor beast. The Anthrax would never be gotten rid of (well, never is a long time and science is a wonderful thing, so let's call it until 2250 CE). Until it was the only way to safely walk outside would be in MOPPS gear.

If they were really, really lucky, they might manage to establish North American bison in Europe (the critters are naturally immune to Anthrax). At least that would give them a protein source.

Churchill wasn't screwing around. This was a true Doomsday Plan.
 
Under what circumstances would Churchill actually go through with a plan such as that?

If a British soldier ever inhaled or was afflicted by so much as a single droplet of gas, Churchill was throwing Vegetarian at the Germans. Remember this is the guy who wanted to take Berlin, thought up Unthinkable, and many more things.

I think the strangely funniest part about this is theat Churchill will completely outdo the Holocaust, outdo the German destruction to the USSR, and possibly completely out do all other casualties in WW2.
 

shiftygiant

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If this is executed and succeeds, Tens of Millions will be dead, through both Anthrax and Starvation. Little can be done to contain it at this point, and the thousands moving into the interior of the Fatherland will bring Anthrax with them. Beef, a major food source of protein, is gone, and no doubt other livestock will be infected. Those thousands will have a major protein source gone, resulting in mass starvation as food quickly becomes thin and riots as paranoia over contamination emerges. Not to mention the effect on the incoming Soviets, who will no doubt run headfirst into the destruction. Germany will be a desolate, Anthrax infected wasteland for the next century, nothing more than a name of a place on the map.

*Pulls out a gold envelope and opens it. Looks up, smiling and feigning surprise* Congratulations PiratePartyist, you've just won the Vlad Tepes Award! *Claps as Glen shuffles on stage wearing a sequin dress and holding a little Turtledove statuette*
 
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CaptainRex

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Under what circumstances would Churchill actually go through with a plan such as that?

Nazi Germany has either defeated the Soviet Union or made her join the Axis. The US will not join the war and no lend-lease. The Middle East has fallen. Britain has lost her empire and the Germans are ready to invade.

That's when the plan goes though. If Britain was truly alone without America and the empire and against the full night of the Euro-Asian landmass, and invasion looks imminent, then the plan goes
 
Would the anthrax spread into the USSR and the rest of Asia? Potentially all of Eurasia is infected.
 
Expect the "Hitler was provoked by the Western Allies" view to become mainstream. After such a monumental crime by the British, the atrocities committed by the Nazis will be practically forgotten. Especially since the people most likely to remember said atrocities, such as the Jews, will have died along with the rest of Europe.:(
 
Anthrax is not contagious man->man but the spores are terribly resistant and would continue to be viable for many decades (and possibly a few centuries). In the dry summers, winds would carry dust around, for tens to hundreds of km, dust contaminated with the spores and this would go on for decades. Eventually, the area contaminated would significantly overflow german territory. People and animals would have to be vaccinated with at least yearly booster doses thruout most of Europe. I could go on but I think I gave the idea.
 
Damage in the form of famine will reach large parts of Europe anyways. The Germans controlled most of it's food supply.
 
One thing that would make things worse for the allies is that all evidence of the Holocaust would probably be lost, meaning that Hitler would not be seen as that bad in the post war era.

I wonder if the German Ex-pat community in the USA would become a much more vocal element in American society.
 

phatmaus

Banned
Anthrax is not contagious man->man but the spores are terribly resistant and would continue to be viable for many decades (and possibly a few centuries). In the dry summers, winds would carry dust around, for tens to hundreds of km, dust contaminated with the spores and this would go on for decades. Eventually, the area contaminated would significantly overflow german territory. People and animals would have to be vaccinated with at least yearly booster doses thruout most of Europe. I could go on but I think I gave the idea.

Yeah, I think that the whole white powder Anthrax circus has made people drastically overstate the deadliness of Anthrax. Anthrax was weaponised because it's spores can be safely and easily be warehoused for years in bombs and artillery shells, so it fit well into the military logistics chain, not because it's very deadly. Plus the original plan was to air-drop Linseed cakes to be eaten by cattle. Yeah the cattle will die, which will cause starvation in Germany ,but elementary public sanitation will prevent a human epidemic.

EDIT. Plus, I don't think it would take the Germans long to do some lab tests and figure out what's in the cakes that are being dropped by heavy bombers.
 
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Yeah, I think that the whole white powder Anthrax circus has made people drastically overstate the deadliness of Anthrax. Anthrax was weaponised because it's spores can be safely and easily be warehoused for years in bombs and artillery shells, so it fit well into the military logistics chain, not because it's very deadly. Plus the original plan was to air-drop Linseed cakes to be eaten by cattle. Yeah the cattle will die, which will cause starvation in Germany ,but elementary public sanitation will prevent a human epidemic.

EDIT. Plus, I don't think it would take the Germans long to do some lab tests and figure out what's in the cakes that are being dropped by heavy bombers.

Don't forget that the sole effective antibiotic is in the hands of UK. Also, even the waste water generated by decontamination need to be treated, any mishaps in the chain of decontamination will result in failure of containment.

The anthrax discovered in recent years were of the less virulent strain too.
 
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