Chemical Weapons?

[weapon2010]

Were there any instances of chemical weapons being used on the Eastern front?I have not read or heard of any accounts,but given the limitless brutality of the war,mass executions,absolute hatred for their enemy and combined with Hitler and Stalin at the helm, why wer'nt they used?

[c3k]

Are you former military? If so, you'll understand that no one wants the hassle. Everything is harder for everyone. Both sides suffer equally. Mopp gear is a drag.

The tempo slows down but the results really wouldn't change.

[mjkerner]

Once one side uses, the other sides uses. Sort of a mini Mass Assured Destruction.

[womble]

IIRC there were no uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield in WW2, on any front, unless you count WP.

[niall78]

IIRC there were no uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield in WW2, on any front, unless you count WP.

There is an accidental release that effected American troops and sailors :

On the night of December 2, 1943, German Ju 88 bombers attacked the port of Bari in Southern Italy, sinking several American ships– among them SS John Harvey, which was carrying mustard gas intended for use in retaliation by the Allies if German forces initiated gas warfare. The presence of the gas was highly classified, and authorities ashore had no knowledge of it– which increased the number of fatalities, since physicians, who had no idea that they were dealing with the effects of mustard gas, prescribed treatment improper for those suffering from exposure and immersion.

It gets a good write-up in Rick Atkinson's The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944.

[JasonC]

The Russians didn't want to use them because they knew the Germans had much better capabilities in that area than they did (and they were also downwind). The Germans didn't want to use them because they were losing the air war over Germany and were afraid if those particular gloves came off, the RAF and USAF would be dropping gas on their cities. The western allies with their air forces had "escalation dominance", and that deterred the rest of the chain. Meanwhile, by late in the war they had concluded that incendiaries were a superior air dropped munition, and didn't see the need.

Of course, in the end they went to nukes, which made both look like children's toys...

[Ts4EVER]

The Germans actually developed nerve agents and manufactured them in large amounts, but thank god even when all was lost they didn't use them.