Methedrine, Benzedrine, Hash, Boo, Valvoline!!

[Sardaukar]

Originally posted by Tero:

A few days a ago there was in Finnish TV a documentary about a man who was hooked on drugs for over 60 years after having been "exposed" to them during in the service during WWII. He was able to shake the habit at the age of 71.

The use of Pervitin and other drugs to enhance endurance and stamina was apparently quite widespread in the Finnish army, especially during times of extreme activity. And it was organized and controlled by the Army itself. Not unsurprisingly the documentation of it has not been widely publicized.

The Finnish LRRP troops for example used drugs on their long hikes behind enemy lines.

I don't think use of Pervitin etc. was widespread in Finnish Army during WW II, with main exception being LLRP and other patrol/"commando" units. In those units the pills were used during critical escape marches and keeping wounded able to keep up with rest. Those were not available for normal medic pack. One preventing widespread issue was that they were supplied by Germans, not locally produced and somewhat more rare.

Pervitin was widely known as "German assault pill", but I don't think it was in general use within Finnish line units. People did get addicted, though..just like some got addicted to morphine used as painkiller for wounded.

Cheers,

M.S,

[Flesh]

I've been interested in this subject for a long time. Here's an article I came across a while ago that might be relevant.

--------------------------

Nazis Attempted to Make Robots of Their Soldiers

The Nazi leadership had a lot of hopes about the use of D-IX wonder drug

New research shows that Nazis were going to turn their soldiers to robots with the help of a special chemical. Until recently, the chemical has been kept secret. So-called Experiment D-IX started in November of the year 1944 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Eighteen prisoners were marching on the semicircular square, which was used for daily call-overs. The prisoners were carrying backpacks that weighed 20 kilos each. They were circling the square non-stop, while Odd Nansen, Arctic explorer’s son, was watching them from the window of his barracks. Years later, after the war was over, he said that those marching people on the square were called “pill patrol.” They could march without a rest up to 90 kilometers a day. Everyone knew that they were like guinea-pigs that were used for testing the new method for preserving the energy of a human body.

Hitler’s chemists wanted to find out, how long those people could last. At first, those poor prisoners sang songs and whistled various melodies as they marched. Twenty-four hours later, the majority of them fell down on the ground dead. Nazi chemists tested their new wonder pills on those people. The pills were called D-IX. This was also the work code of the whole experiment. The pills contained cocaine together with other drugs. As the Third Reich leaders believed, the new pills were supposed to turn German soldiers into tireless and fearless warriors.

Hamburg-based criminologist Wolf Kemper believes that D-IX pills were Hitler’s last secret development. The pills should have helped him to win the war, which was about to be lost for fascist Germany. Kemper deals with the studies of little-known events of the latest months of World War II. The description of those events will be included in his new book about the use of drugs during the Third Reich era. It is an open secret that the big-time Nazi propaganda held up any drug addiction to shame. Such propaganda was launched back in 1993: Nazis basically lambasted the “devilish” cocaine – the major drug of the demoralized European Bohemia of the 1920s. However, the Nazi regime did not hesitate to let its soldiers use those drugs, trying to turn them into thoughtless robots.

The use of an amphetamine called pervitine was a usual thing at the Western front in the very beginning of the war. Nazi leaders believed that the use of that stimulant would inspire their troops to noble and heroic deeds for the sake of the victory. A factory of the Berlin company Temmel, which manufactured pervitine, supplied the Nazi Army and the Luftwaffe with 29 million of pervitine pills during the period of April-December of 1939. The Ground troops high command ordered to keep that a secret. Official documents mentioned the drug under the code name obm. Yet, Nazis underestimated pervitine’s side effects. The “consumers” could not do without the drug really soon. In 1939, German doctors determined during their inspections at the Western front that the soldiers used pervitine without any control at all. The period to recover from the drug effect was getting longer and longer, while attention concentration ability was getting weaker and weaker. This eventually resulted in messages of lethal outcome in several Nazi divisions in France and Poland. Doctors’ warnings were left with no attention. All orderly bags were filled with that dangerous drug during the last years of the war. They prescribed pervitine pills to anyone, who had any ailing complaints.

Nazis conducted more and more of their tests with the new wonder chemical, although the war was coming to its end. It occurred to the Third Reich leaders to launch the series production of the new D-IX substance on March 16, 1944. Vice Admiral Helmut Heye stated at a session with pharmacologists and small military units commanders that there should be a new medicine invented to help German soldiers stand the tense situation longer and to make them feel more uplifting than usual in any situation. After the war, the admiral became a Bundestag deputy for defense issues, by the way. Heye’s suggestion was completely supported by such an influential figure as Otto Skortseni (after the successful operation to release Mussolini in September of 1943, the commander of the Fridental special unit was awarded with the German National Hero title). Skortseni was searching for a new drug for his division for long. After he had a very detailed conversation with the leadership of Hitler’s headquarters in Berlin, there was a group of researchers set up in the city of Kiel. The group was presided over by pharmacology professor Gerhard Orchehovsky. The group was given a task to develop and launch the production of the needed drug. Criminologist Kemper believes that the plan was approved by Adolf Hitler himself: none of such projects could be implemented without his approval.

Orchehovsky came to conclusion after several months of hard work at Kiel University labs that he finally created the needed substance. One pill contained five milligrams of cocaine, three milligrams of pervitine, five milligrams of eucodal (morphine-based painkiller), as well as synthetic cocaine that was produced by the company Merk. The latter drug was used by German fighter pilots during World War I as a stimulant for their large-distance sorties. The invented cocktail of drugs was supposed to be tested by mini-submarine crewmen first. The results were supposed to be checked during their navigation in the Kiel Bay. Skortseni ordered to send him a thousand of those pills. He wanted to test their action on the members of the Forelle diversionary unit of submariners, which was a part of Danube destructive unit of the German death squad.

Researcher Kemper came to conclusion that the results of the tests were very inspiring. That made Nazi leaders continue the experiments, testing the new drug on the people, who walked in circles 24 hours a day, carrying 20 kilos backpacks. Those people were Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners. They became like laboratory guinea-pigs in November of 1944. The goal of the experiment was to determine the new stamina limit for D-IX exposed humans. Medical records of that time show that several participants of the experiment felt fine with only two or three short stops a day: “The considerable reduction of the need in sleep is very impressive. This drug disables man’s action ability and will.” In other words, D-IX made a human being a robot. The results of all those tests inspired their initiators to supply D-IX drug to the entire Nazi Army. However, they failed to launch the mass production of the substance. Allies’ victories at both fronts in winter and spring in 1945 resulted in the collapse of the Nazi regime. The absurd dream of the wonder drug was crushed.

Semyon Tsur

KirierWeb

PRAVDA.Ru

[John D Salt]

Originally posted by Michael Emrys:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Scarhead:

IIRC there are stories of another drug added to the rations to lower their sexual appetite. Dunno more about it.

Probably saltpeter (potassium nitrate; sometimes sodium nitrate). I'd reckon every army in the history of the world has been rife with this rumor. [snips]</font>

[Terence]

Originally posted by Seanachai:

Terence is a "Bored of the Rings" Grog...

And Snoochypoo is a tailwagging idiot that no one in town would trust with a burnt-out match.

(I kid, I kid. I kid because I love.)

[Sardaukar]

Flesh,

Pravda may not be the best source, even though the name translates as truth

German combat drugs were definitely used and widespreadingly. As far as use was so serious to render whole divisions combat incapable..I seriously doubt.

Finnish experiences about pervitin was that while it was sometimes invaluable in desperate situations, it had severe downside, mainly to do with combat capability. Use of Pervitin/Pervitine rendered persons combat incapable at least to ratio 1:2, first being the days under influence, second being days needed to recover. While ratio was staying about same, benefits declined with each additional dose. Thus, while useful in desperate situations for troops with special missions, and designed rest periods, general use was deemed more harmful.

Use of combat drugs, especially amphetamine based, has not gone away. For example, US pilots who did accidentally bomb Canadian troops in Afghanistan, were (according to newspapers) under influence of amphetamine based substances, used in regular bases.

One of the side effects is paranoia, which actually can be a good thing for special forces troops behind enemy lines...but may lead to unpleasant consequences when used commonly.

Anyhow, my military has them..most likely majority of armed forces have the "enhancers", but IMHO they should be used in emergencies only.

Cheers,

M.S.

[ September 26, 2003, 05:47 PM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

[Flesh]

Sardaukar,

do I detect a bias against Russian sources?

Anyway, that article does not mention anything about "whole divisions" being rendered "combat incapable". I suggest you read it more carefully.

I decided to look for more info about Wolf Kemper and his book. I turned up another article, this time from Reuters.

-------------------------

Book Reveals Last-Ditch

Nazi Plan To Energize Soldiers

By Hannah Cleaver

11-19-2

BERLIN (Reuters Health) - The Nazis intended to put their entire army on cocaine in order to keep tired, old or injured soldiers fighting when all else seemed lost toward the end of World War II, according to a new book.

The mix of cocaine, amphetamine and morphine was made into tablets that Hitler's military chiefs hoped would turn an army nearing total defeat into fearless supermen able to march day and night.

German author and criminologist Dr. Wolf Kemper's book, "Nazis on Speed," arrived in German bookstores this week. It contains the first account of the D-IX pills, which were tested on prisoners of war.

He told Reuters Health, "They played around with various preparations for cocaine so it could be easily taken by troops on the move. They made it into pill form and even created a chewing-gum base cocaine.

"They were also experimenting, like the Allied armies and practically everyone else involved in the war, with amphetamines...in order to keep troops going for longer."

Kemper, who works at the North-East Lower Saxony College in Lueneburg, northern Germany, has spent 3 years working with a number of colleagues on the book, which examines many areas of drug consumption in the 1930s and 1940s, within the civilian population as well as the armed forces.

They trawled through military and university academic files to unearth original accounts of the experiments with the D-IX cocaine mix pills on concentration camp prisoners.

One eyewitness from the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin described watching other prisoners being forced to march until they dropped from exhaustion, Kemper said.

Odd Nansen wrote of the "pill patrols" who were given the D-IX tablets and then made to march carrying 20-kilo backpacks.

"They were guinea pigs for a newly-discovered energy pill," his diary entry reads. "They were tested to see how long the effects of the pill lasted for.

"At first they sang and whistled as they marched but after the first 24 hours most of them had collapsed."

Kemper said, "By the end of 1944 the Nazis were desperate for new soldiers and took on the old and the young and needed something to pep them up. This D-IX mix was Hitler's last secret weapon in his bid to win a long-lost war."

Preparations were made following the success of the experiments to supply all of Hitler's soldiers with the drug, but mass-production could not be achieved before the Nazis were defeated by the Allies.

Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

[John D Salt]

Originally posted by Terence:

[snips]

Any primary or secondary sources that would confirm massive and consistent deliveries of pervitin, methedrine or benzedrine to the German armed forces? Or any suggestions where to look?

One of the things that I think will hamper the search for evidence of "massive" use of amphetamines during WW2 is the fact that social attitudes towards these drugs underwent an enormous shift during the 1950s and 1960s. It would be a great mistake to assume that the same puritan-authoritarian attitude espoused by modern Western governments existed in the 1940s. (As a side note, I think that a comparable shift in attitudes can be seen in the change in the way drink-driving was commonly viewed; from a bit of laddish fun in the 1960s it became an act of sociopathic irresponsibility in the 1980s.)

During the WW2 era, I believe that the use of amphetamine-type stimulants was commonplace. Because people naturally tend to record what is unusual rather than what is routine, I suspect that specific mentions of amphetamine use will be fairly unusual, simply because it was so very ordinary.

A personal story to illustrate this point: When I lived in the Pas de Calais, 1980-81, my regular watering-hole was a bar called "Chez Milou", run by a Polish pilot who flew and fought with 303 (Polish) fighter squadron RAF. He had a good stock of war-stories, and one of these included the time, after hius Hurricane had been shot down near Auchel, when he had to spend the night on a marble slab along with three laid-out corpses, the best place the local French resistance could find to keep him out of the clutches of the Gestapo. He said he didn't get a wink of sleep, partly because of the amount of adrenaline in his bloodstream, and partly because he has taken one of the pep-pills in his survival kit. When questioned more closely on this, he mentioned that the pills were benzedrine, and that he probably still had some of the stuff he had been issued upstairs somewhere. The idea that he was, technically, breaking the law by possessing a controlled drug was one that had obviously never occurred to him.

A couple of web sources that confirm the pervasive nature of amphetamines at this era:

http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/articles/a_peppills.htm

This site claims that 72 million benezedrine pills were issued by the British Army (which doesn't seem an awful lot for a whole war). It also says that no prescription was required for benzedrine in the UK prior to 1956.

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/CU36.html

This site says amphetamines were issued by British, American, German and Japanese forces during WW2, and reports use in the 1940s by students, truckers, businessmen and athletes.

I wonder why the Russians don't get a mention -- because they didn't use the stuff, or simply because they author forgot them?

All the best,

John.

[Michael Emrys]

Quite by accident, I came across a passage last night in An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. On p. 419 he is describing the 8th. Army's slow progress after Alamein "despite an enthusiasm for the amphetamine benzedrine, which was issued in tens of thousands of tablets 'to all Eighth Army personnel' on Montgomery's orders." A footnote cites a report by the Military Intelligence Service.

Michael

[John D Salt]

Originally posted by Michael Emrys:

Quite by accident, I came across a passage last night in An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. On p. 419 he is describing the 8th. Army's slow progress after Alamein "despite an enthusiasm for the amphetamine benzedrine, which was issued in tens of thousands of tablets 'to all Eighth Army personnel' on Montgomery's orders." A footnote cites a report by the Military Intelligence Service.

Further evidence for the widespread use of benzedrine in the British and American Armies comes from John Ellis' "The Sharp End of War" (BCA, London, 1980), pages 292-293:

"...many rear-echelon troops with demanding jobs, especially those who sometimes had to work days and nights at a stretch, were issued with liberal quantities of amphetamines. The Germans were the first to issue them in large quantities to their troops but the British soon followed suit. A paper by Brigadier Q. V. B. Wallace, the DDMS of X Armoured Corps, records:

'Pep' tablets, i.e. benzedrine tablets, were used for the first time in the Middle East on a large scale. 20,000 tablets were issued to the ADMS of each division... who was responsible for their distribution and safe custody. The initial dose was 1 1/2 tablets two hours before the maximum benefit was required, followed six hours later by another tablet, with a further and final tablet for another six hours, if required... I consider that 'Pep' tablets may be very useful in certain cases, particularly where long-continued work is required over extended periods, i.e. staff officers, signallers, lorry drivers, transport workers, etc. The tablets must only be used when an extreme state of tiredness has been reached. The tablets have practically no ill-effects, and an ordinary night's sleep restores the individual to his original working capacity.

It seems that the front-line troops also received them from time to time in other theatres. The history of the Scots Guards notes that the 2nd Battalion, near Rochetta, in October 1943, spent "ten days...in terrific feats of mountaineering, with the men desperately tired towards the end, and having to be kept awake with benzedrine tablets." In north-west Europe, they were issued to certain Canadian armoured units. One sergeant recalled: 'We had been awake for forty-eight hours, fatigue-laden hours; all seasickness had disappeared, but the men were still weak from it; we had been issued "bennies" to keep awake, and the haggard look they gave the men made us appear like "zombies".'

The Americans were far less blase than Brigadier Wallace about the cumulative effects of amphetamines and a prominent physiologist, Dr Andrew Ivy, ruled that they were too toxic to be issued to the troops. In the event, however, they were simply dispensed to US troops by British medical personnel and it has since been estimated that at least 80 million tablets were distributed from this source as well as a further 100 million that the American medics themselves managed to lay their hands on. At least 10 per cent of all American troops, it has been suggested, took amphetamines at one time or another. Hpw many of these men suffered adverse after-effects is not known, but it is revealing to note that a study made in 1947 showed that 25 per cent of all men in stockades were heavy and chronic users."

I also seem to recall that in "Popski's Private Amry" Popski mentions an occasion on which he took a benzedrine pill, and describes the effect on him, but my copy doesn't seem to be within grabbing distance at the minute.

All the best,

John.

[Terence]

Fascinating information. Thank you all for taking the time to post.

[Andreas]

Found a reference to Benzedrine use in 'Churchill's Folly' by Anthony Rogers (highly recommended book on the ill-fated Aegean campaign of autumn 1943).

This snippet refers to the battle for Leros, incidentally probably the last assault parachute landing the Germans conducted in the war.

In order to stay awake [2nd Lt.] Johnson had been taking Benzedrine for the past three days. As the effect wore off, he was overcome with exhaustion and unable to think clearly. [...]

[JasonC]

I've also seen histories of the development of various drugs that make clear speed was commonly used in western armies, including the US, specifically for fighter pilots and tank crewmembers.

On a more traditional note, the British army also had a regular "rum ration" for troops before action. The Russians gave vodka to troops designated to lead assaults.

There are also credible reports that German atrocity units (Einsatzgruppen) were regularly drunk when killing civilians in Russia, and it was considered an unusual sign of extraordinary indoctrination if could do such things when they weren't.

[Sisu]

Also, if I recall correctly, many armies used pretty stiff medicines for treating common ilnesses during war. Finnish medics provided cocaine for curing cough during the war. Also, pain killers were commonly morphine. So no wonder that some soldiers got addicted to drugs during war.

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by JasonC:

On a more traditional note, the British army also had a regular "rum ration" for troops before action.

The rum ration wasn't just for action; many unit histories note that the rum ration was very often the first sign that a unit was really on active service; the rum ration was also doled out on schemes in England.

I think it was more of a tradition than anything else. In WW I, the rum IIRC was stronger, and if any man could down his ration and then bark out the words "Thank You" he was given a "doorprize" - ie a second tot. Not sure if that was done in WW II or not.

[Andreas]

Just in case Terence is still interested. According to its Ib (supply) Graf von Kielmannsegg during Fall Gelb, the first stage of the war against France, 1. Panzerdivision had a supply of 20,000 Pervitin pills for the march through the Ardennes, to the Maas. The division was the spearhead of Guderian's XIX. Panzerkorps.

Interestingly, both the Ia (Ops) and Ib (Supply) of 1.PD during the campaign would go on to much bigger things. The Ia was a chap called Wenck, later expected to rescue Berlin. v. Kielmannsegg became Nato Ground Forces Commander. The commander of the one of the infantry regiments (SR1) of 1.PD was another little known chap called Balck, who rose to army group command. Another later to be well-known Graf commanded the I./PR2 in the division - von Strachwitz.

[ February 09, 2004, 07:09 AM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

[Dawg Bonz]

Never looked at this thread before. After a quick glance thought I would add this account.

A quick 2nd hand note from an older friend (now deceased) who served US Navy WWII in the Pacific theatre on aircraft carrier. According to "Hal", Air Force pilots were not the only folks getting Amphetamines. Amphetamines were made available to some of the AA gunners on the carriers. Hal said he had several days of battle alert status and was using Amphetamines given to him and other gunners to maintain their edge and be alert. Unused tablets were not collected and destroyed. Hal said he felt better being "pepped up" as he did not want to miss any Japanese planes heading towards the carrier by being tired or sleepy.

Cheers,

Robert

[RSColonel_131st]

Originally posted by Tero:

A few days a ago there was in Finnish TV a documentary about a man who was hooked on drugs for over 60 years after having been "exposed" to them during in the service during WWII. He was able to shake the habit at the age of 71.

Here we have a glorious example of an Uberfinn again. Joins the war effort with 11, gets hooked on drugs around the same age, and 60 years later, when he's 71, he shakes the bad habit off.

Or should we check the numbers again?

As for that chocolate...the round tin it comes in reminds me of that scene in "Stalingrad" towards the end of the movie, where they find the airdropped supplys and medals. I always was wondering what would be in those tins.

[ February 09, 2004, 06:59 AM: Message edited by: RSColonel_131st ]