Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - The Black Vault

Medical Aspects of Chemical WarfareWorld War IIThe start of World War II in 1939 and the rapidcollapse of France in the spring of 1940 stimulated amajor increase in the rate of American rearmament. Nomajor use of chemical agents occurred, but rumors andreports of incidents of chemical warfare attracted theattention of intelligence officers. The possibility thatmassive chemical attacks could happen any day keptCWS officers pushing for preparedness. A newspaperarticle reflected the common prediction circulating inthe press, saying, “European military authorities havepredicted that gas would be used in the present war,if at any time the user could be sure of an immediateand all-out success from which there could be noretaliation.” 97(p37) Major General William N Porter, thenew chief of the CWS, warned that Hitler was likely touse chemical weapons “at any moment.” He also feltthat “no weapon would be too bad to stop or defeatHitler,” 98(p31) and wanted to “fight fire with fire in theevent an enemy chooses to use poison gas.” 99(p36)Although much of Germany’s and Japan’s chemicalweapons programs did not become known until afterthe war, their actual threat was impressive. Buildingon its experience in chemical agent use in China, Japanproduced about 8,000 tons of chemical agents duringthe war, loading mustard agent, a mustard-lewisitemixture, and phosgene in shells and bombs and HCNinto glass grenades and mortar and artillery shells. Thiseffort was dwarfed by the German capability.German ProductionDuring the war, Germany produced approximately78,000 tons of chemical warfare agents, includingabout 12,000 tons of tabun between 1942 and 1945and about 1,000 lb of sarin by 1945. Key nerve agentweapons were the 105-mm and 150-mm shells, the 250-kg bomb, and the 150-mm rocket. The latter held 7 lbof agent and had a range of about 5 miles when firedfrom the six-barrel Nebelwerfer launcher. Mustardagent was produced in the greatest volume and usedto fill artillery shells, bombs, rockets, and spray tanks.Phosgene, of somewhat less importance, was loaded in250-kg and 500-kg bombs. About 2,000 tons of nitrogenmustards were produced and used in artillery shellsand rockets. Germany also captured a large amountof chemical munitions from France, Poland, the SovietUnion, Hungary, and other occupied countries. 4,28Germany began constructing extensive factoriesin Germany (Raubkammer, Falkenhagen) and laterPoland (Dyhernfurth) for the massive production oftabun, sarin, cyanogen chloride, hydrocyanic acid, andN-Stoff (chlortrifluoride). 20,96,100,101 Just as scientists inBerlin prepared the first samples of sarin, the Germanarmy launched its invasion of Poland in September1939. Hitler’s speech in Danzig on September 19, 1939,alluded to Germany’s new weapons of war, againstwhich enemies would be defenseless. Although theconstruction had begun earlier, full capacity productionof the first toxic agents did not begin until May1943. 102 The third and most deadly nonpersistent nerveagent, soman, was synthesized in 1944 by RichardKuhn, a research director at the Max Planck Institutefor Medical Research in Heidelberg. Soman is suggestedto have been named after either the Greek wordfor “sleep” or the Latin word for “bludgeon.” 84The resources, organization, and quality of chemiststhrust into this top secret mission to synthesizenerve agents, develop new ones, and provide countermeasuresagainst their devastating effects was onpar with the American team of physicists working onthe Manhattan Project. Tons of nerve agent munitionswere synthesized and stockpiled in Germany duringWorld War II, and neither the United States nor GreatBritain were aware of them at the time. Meanwhile,no country on the Allied side possessed a weapon thatcould match the lethality of nerve gas.British Development of Nerve AgentsWhile Germany was a decade ahead in the raceto synthesize nerve agents, British scientists BernardCharles Saunders and Hamilton McCombie stumbledupon the toxic effects of esters of monofluorophosphoricacid. 104 Diisopropyl fluorophosphate, a lethalinhalant, was of particular interest to Saunders andMcCombie. Saunders reported his findings on thetoxicity of diisopropyl fluorophosphate to the Ministryof Supply in London on December 11, 1941. Among thefindings were pupillary constriction and a fast onset ofaction. The first American report on the mechanism ofaction by diisopropyl fluorophosphate came out immediatelyafter the war. 105 Nevertheless, tons of nerveagent munitions were synthesized and stockpiled inGermany during World War II, and neither the UnitedStates nor Great Britain were aware of them at the time.Meanwhile, no country on the Allied side possessed aweapon that could match the lethality of nerve gas.Why Germany Did Not Authorize Use of ChemicalWeaponsThe reason Hitler did not give an order to use nerveagents in World War II, a major blunder for Germany,remains a mystery. Nerve agents could have altered the48