Why didn't Hitler initiate gas warfare?

Hitler had the means to use gas against the Allies... so why didn't he?

One book I read suggested that it was because he had experienced it in WWI. Another was because the winds in NW Europe usually blow west to east, but wouldn't this be useful in using the gas on the Eastern Front?

I'm here to be enlightened

 

It's likely to be a combination of both factors although the experience of the First World War tends to be considered the most likely explanation. By the time of WW2 both sides had developed gases and delivery systems to such a point that it could have been a more effective weapon of war than in the Great War but whoever used it first knew there would be massive retaliation by the other side.

David T.

 

Hitler had the means to use gas against the Allies... so why didn't he?

One book I read suggested that it was because he had experienced it in WWI. Another was because the winds in NW Europe usually blow west to east, but wouldn't this be useful in using the gas on the Eastern Front?

I'm here to be enlightened
Dec 2nd 1943, the US Ship John Harvey was caught up in a sneak raid by German Aircraft on Bari Harbour. This resulted in the release of Mustard Gas that formed part of the ships cargo.There were many casualties.
I am sure it could be argued that if we had it,the intention was at some point to use it.

 

Just in case anyone's interested, the Bari Incident has been touched on here before, still intrigues me.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/7691-gas-ever-used-ww2.html?highlight=bari+incident
&
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/uk-home-front/6828-mustard-gas-bombs.html?highlight=bari+incident

Cheers,
Adam.
The incident is intrigueing as the question of why it was where it was hasn't been answered yet.

 

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, was the proposal made at that time to resort to poison gas warfare?

SPEER: I was not able to make out from my own direct observations whether gas warfare was to be started, but I knew from various associates of Ley's and Goebbels' that they were discussing the question of using our two new combat gases, Tabun and Sarin. They believed that these gases would be of particular efficacy, and ; they did in fact produce the most frightful results. We made these observations as early as the autumn of 1944, when the situation had ! become critical and many people were seriously worried about it.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, will you tell us about these two gases and about their production and their effects, their qualities, and the preparations that were made for gas warfare?

SPEER: I cannot tell you that in detail. I am not enough of an expert. All I know is that these two gases both had a quite extraordinary effect, and that there was no respirator, and no protection against them that we knew of. So the soldiers would have been unable to protect themselves against this gas in any way. For the manufacture of this gas we had about three factories, all of which were undamaged and which until 11/1944 were working at full speed. When rumors reached us that gas might be used, I stopped its production in 11/1944. I stopped it by the following means. I blocked the so-called preliminary production, that is, the chemical supplies for the making of gas, so that the gas production, as the Allied authorities themselves ascertained, after the end of December or the beginning of January, actually slowed down and finally came to a standstill. Beginning with a letter which is still in existence and which I wrote to Hitler in 10/1944, I tried through legal methods to obtain his permission to have these gas factories stop their production. The reason I gave him was that on account of air raids the preliminary products, primarily cyanide, were needed urgently for other purposes. Hitler informed me that the gas production would have to continue whatever happened, but I gave instructions for the preliminary products not to be supplied any more.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Can you identify others of the group that were advocating gas warfare?

SPEER: In military circles there was certainly no one in favor of gas warfare. All sensible Army people turned gas warfare down as being utterly insane since, in view of your superiority in the air, it would not be long before it would bring the most terrible catastrophe upon German cities, which were completely unprotected.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: The group that did advocate it, however, consisted of the political group around Hitler, didn't it?

SPEER: A certain circle of political people, certainly very limited. It was mostly Ley, Goebbels and Bormann, always the same three, who by every possible means wanted to increase the war effort; and a man like Fegelein certainly belonged to a group like that too. Of Himmler I would not be too sure, for at that time Himmler was a little out of favor with Hitler because he allowed himself the luxury of directing an army group without being qualified.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, one of these gases was the gas which you proposed to use on those who were proposing to use it on others, and I suppose your motive was...

SPEER: I must say quite frankly that my reason for these plans was the fear that under certain circumstances gas might be used, and the association of ideas in using it myself led me to make the whole plan.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And your reasons, I take it, were the same as the military's, that is to say, it was certain Germany would get the worst of it if Germany started that kind of warfare: That is what was worrying the military, wasn't it?

SPEER: No, not only that. It was because at that stage of the war it was perfectly clear that under no circumstances should any international crimes be committed which could be held against the German people after they had lost the war. That was what decided the issue.
From: Speer Cross-Examination

 

Come up a few times before. Personaly I think of Hitler's history, he was an infantry man in WW1, cant help but think this effected his views on gas.

Kev

 

Anyone seen a book on the Bari thing anywhere?

Amazon.co.uk: Poisonous Inferno: WWII Tragedy at Bari Harbour: Books: George Southern

Amazon.co.uk: Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Coverup: Books: Gerald Reminick

RNZRSA - RSA Review Articles - Disaster at Bari - November 2003

 

"Though not negotiated in The Hague, the Geneva Protocol to the Hague Convention is considered an addition to the Convention. Signed on June 17, 1925 and entering into force on February 8, 1928, it permanently bans the use of all forms of chemical and biological warfare in its single section, entitled Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. The protocol grew out of the increasing public outcry against chemical warfare following the use of mustard gas and similar agents in World War I, and fears that chemical and biological warfare could lead to horrific consequences in any future war."

Got that from wiki, I knew that no one was "allowed" to use gas and other weapons like that after WW1 use. Of course when a dictator wants to use the gas then he will most likely use it as much as he wants no matter what some peice of paper says.

 

One reason, I think was the fact that gas was hardly a war winning weapon and so there was no call for it. Agents such as mustard gas were ok in a defensive role as a "ground denial" weapon, but at best it would only make life uncomfortable for the attacker rather than causing anything major.
One of the nerve agents (can't remember whether it was Tabun or Sarin) was developed by the Germans immediately prior to the war but was so simple to produce that the Germans thought that the allies simply must have developed it also and so , in fear of it being used in retaliation, never used it. Unbeknown to them, this wasn't the case - how different D-Day might have been if the beaches were soaked in a nerve agent!

Dave

 

If Hitler had thought he could get away with using gas he would have used it.However the German nation was not prepared for gas warfare against its homeland.In Britain the civilians had been issued with some protection as early as 1938 but that would not have been adequate for nerve gas.

It might be that Hitler was unsure how advanced the British were in developing chemical warfare but we do know now that the US while searching for an insecticide in 1937,which became known as DDT also discovered nerve gas.