WI: The Soviet Union used chemical weapons in WWII

What happens if the Soviet Union decides to use chemical weapons against the Germans in World War 2?

I would expect the Germans to respond in kind. I don't think German chemical weapon use against the soviets would be enough to provoke British retaliation (vegetarian), considering Churchill's anti communist tendencies.
 
Would not be smart move on USSR part. Their troops were miserably equipped and trained to deal with WWI gasses, and once the Germans use nerve gas it will be very bad. Germans were much better equipped to deal with gas. Also, would have to be used in summer..as the cold weather of a Russian winter makes all war gasses less effective.
 
Depending on when the gas is used it could be, in the short term, surprisingly effective. Although I only have annecdotal accounts, I understand that a lot of German soldiers ditched their gas masks and used the cases for carrying food or other kit as soon as was practical.

If that was the case then again, depending on when it was used, you could see a significant number of courts martial with a blanket punishment such as reduction in rank/loss of pay etc. After the first few attacks though, the effectivness of the Soviet attacks would wain massively, while Nazi use of nerve agents would probably escalate.

This opens the next question: if it works in Russia, would it be used as part of the defense against Op Overlord?
At what stage would it escalate to use against the British mainland and what would the response actually be, (beyond Op Vegitarian)?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
I would expect the Germans to respond in kind. I don't think German chemical weapon use against the soviets would be enough to provoke British retaliation (vegetarian), considering Churchill's anti communist tendencies.

Churchill said specifically that if the Germans used chemical weapons on the Soviets, the RAF would gas German cities in response. Of course, this might have just been Churchillian bombast. And the fact that the Soviets had been the first to use gas might have also changed the equation.
 
Read in the memoirs of one of the front spy Russian, as in 1943 the entire exploration thrown behind enemy lines to find a new German gas mask. It turned out that it was a liner in a regular mask. When we got back - saw that the entire chemical defense put on alert, and the Allies declared that Germany will fill with gas, if the Germans would dare use chemical weapons.
 
There's some evidence to suggest that the Soviets used weaponised Tulameria against the Germans at Stalingrad in OTL.

It depends when they're used of course, and to what scale, a small use of gas to gain a minor local advantage might slip under a radar, or Stalin might be convicted to go in for a Pound if he's going in for a Penny, and as much widespread use as possible. If he did this in 1943/44 coupled with Soviet artillery and air supremacy could truly devastate the German supply chain, still heavily reliant on horses. Of course by then there was less sense incentive for the Soviets to break the chemical taboo and risk the situation degrading into stalemate, as Guderian had spoke of when he considered gas in Achtung Panzer. A more likely case would be Stalin deploying it as what he might think is his last roll of the dice in the dark days of July-August 1941, but then it's impact would likely be localised at best, considering the Red Air Force being so much wreckage and the front being on the verge of chaos, with the Germans being in a far better position to retaliate. Either scenario could end well for the Soviets, but both were also too likely to backfire to be worth it.

Either way, the end comes, as ends often do, in the shape of German Cattle, and British Linseed Cake.
 
If the Soviets use chemical weapons in say 1941 then the war in the East becomes all the worse, but there is no guarantee that such a chemical weapons war is exported to North Africa or later Western Europe.
 
Very unlikely I'd say; as I've posted in other threads, there was a major chemical weapons taboo among most politicians and soldiers following WW1. Stockpiles were created as a deterrent, but not for a first strike. The Red Army consistently investigated reported incidents of chemical weapons use in order to prove that nothing happened, so as to avoid German retaliation. A Soviet first strike was never on the table during the war, and indeed the Red Army's chemical units during the war were either defensive or involved smoke projection.
 
It really depends where it is used. Given what the Soviets faced it is most likely some would argue using it in either urban or encircled areas. The speed of the German advance would make chemical weapons somewhat pointless givent he expense of moving different arms to the forces.

Yet inside of places like Stalingrad using heavier then air chemicals does not instantly mean an edge given the shifting nature of the battlefield.
 
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