Mustard Gas in Italy 1944

Discussion in 'Italy' started by simcoe, Dec 29, 2010.

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  1. simcoe

    simcoe Junior Member

    I am new and if this question may belong somewhere else.
    My father's lungs were scarred with mustard gas in WWII.
    He said he was in a church in Italy (6th Div. Amm. Company R.C.A.S.C, Canada) when mustard gas entered. He was sent to a hospital in England. I am trying to connect pieces as my father is long gone having suffered asthma/emphyzema. 628 friendly troops were affected in the Bari attack (mostly American from what I have found).
    Any historians out there who know Canadian troop movements in Italy?

    Thanks



    Slightly off topic but I recall an American ship carrying Gas during WW2 to Italy and was bombed and sunk, as a result the gas leaked and killed quite alot of people.
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hello and welcome to the forum.

    I moved your post to the Italy section which will hopefully attract the right forum members to help you.

    Regards
    Andy
     
  3. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    There was an article in one of the After the Battle magazines on this attack...not sure which edition but it may shed some light on units affected......
     
  4. wolly55

    wolly55 Junior Member

    I did read in a book called "the day of battle" about italy (unfortunately havent got it to look in) that allied ships were brought into dock without people knowing what was actually on board, the ships took a direct hit and its cargo caught fire, the cargo was mustard gas , so many were killed and injured.
    Somebody on here might have it to look it up.
     
  5. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

  6. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

  7. TiredOldSoldier

    TiredOldSoldier Senior Member

    Both links seem only partly accurate to me, we had a thread on Bari/US John Harvey on ww2f you may like to have a look at it.

    Bari disaster

    AFAIK Bari was the only "mustard gas" incident in Italy the gas spread to the town, causing many civilian casualties, so could have affected even troops stationed near by.
     
  8. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Interesting to read through once more the article by the nurse who did the tour of Algiers - Italy - Greece - one thing caught my eye when she was on her way to Mestre that she met the "Water Engineer" who was in charge of all the water enegineering in that area - this would have been my later neighbour in Highcliffe - Dorset - Lt.Col. Maurice Menage M.B.E. who was CRE Venice at that time and was instrumental in saving St.Mark;s basilica from being submerged in the lagoon during an extremely high tide in early '46
    Small world indeed
    Cheers
     
  9. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Meant to answer the original poster's (Simcoe) question about the Canadians in the region of Bari when the Harvey was struck, and his lungs were detroyed by the Mustard Gas.....

    More than likely that many Canadians were in the area at the time as the 1st Inf. Div was gearing up for Ortona and 5th Cdn Armoured was being equipped with new vehicles from the Uk - the admin tails would have stretched back to the port of Bari - along with those of 78th Div - 2nd New Zealand div who were all involved with the Sangro and Moro Rivers battles from early November until after Christmas.

    As he was in the CRASC at that time - he would be involved in carrying supplies forward from the port of Bari.
    Cheers
     
  10. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    There's a 2015 episode of "Witness" on the BBC radio / Iplayer:

    The Bari Raid 1943, Witness - BBC World Service

    "The Bari Raid 1943 - How a devastating air raid on the Italian port of Bari during World War Two led to the deadly release of mustard gas. Winston Churchill ordered the incident to be kept secret for years. We hear from Peter Bickmore BEM, who was injured during the raid."

    Ps. The title on this thread says 1944?
     
    4jonboy likes this.

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