Mustard gas to Europe WW2

[StarDust]

Bari - the Second Pearl Harbor

Bari Italy disasterOne of the most costly disasters of the war occurred in the Italian port of Bari, Dec. 2, 1943, during the invasion of Italy. A German air attack sank 17 Allied merchant ships with a loss of more than 1,000 lives. One of the five American ships destroyed that day was the SS John Harvey

which carried a secret cargo of 100 tons of mustard gas bombs.

When these exploded, hundreds of mariners, navy sailors and civilians were affected. Many died from the effects of the mustard gas.
http://www.usmm.org/ww2.html

I wonder, why the US was shipping mustard gas to Europe, when it was band long time ago to use in wars?

[DanP]

Probably it was some sort of response plan in case US soldiers were attacked with chemical weapons.

DanP

[StarDust]

Post by DanP
Probably it was some sort of response plan in case US soldiers were attacked with chemical weapons.
DanP

...or mix in a few mustered bombs to kill civilians hiding in bunkers/underground!

[pyotr filipivich]

Post by StarDust

Post by DanP
Probably it was some sort of response plan in case US soldiers were attacked with chemical weapons.
DanP

...or mix in a few mustered bombs to kill civilians hiding in bunkers/underground!

There were a lot of plans. As I recall, the policy was "no first
use", but there had to be a credible threat to prevent a "first use".
Further, the idea was that mixing a few gas shells into a bombing raid
would do two things: hinder search and rescue, as well as
reconstruction; and increase enemy casualties. One element which gets
often overlooked is that it was the Allies who had Penicillin. One of
the problems with mustard gas is that the blisters serve as a point of
entry for opportunistic infections. W/o antibiotics, those can turn
"nasty" quickly.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."

[Gunner Asch]

On Wed, 04 Feb 2015 08:49:08 -0800, pyotr filipivich

Post by pyotr filipivich

Post by StarDust

Post by DanP
Probably it was some sort of response plan in case US soldiers were attacked with chemical weapons.
DanP

...or mix in a few mustered bombs to kill civilians hiding in bunkers/underground!

There were a lot of plans. As I recall, the policy was "no first
use", but there had to be a credible threat to prevent a "first use".
Further, the idea was that mixing a few gas shells into a bombing raid
would do two things: hinder search and rescue, as well as
reconstruction; and increase enemy casualties. One element which gets
often overlooked is that it was the Allies who had Penicillin. One of
the problems with mustard gas is that the blisters serve as a point of
entry for opportunistic infections. W/o antibiotics, those can turn
"nasty" quickly.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."

Absolutely correct. As for mustard gas..its a "contact:" weapon with
fine droplets, so it was unlikely to be of much use against bunkered
civies.

After the bloodbath of WW1..none of the beligerants in WW2 wanted any
part of Chemical Warfare...none. They had all (except for the US
signed the Hauge Accords (Geneva Convention) and no one wanted to be
the first to open the New And IMPROVED!! version of Chemical Warfare
that WW2 would bring. Lots of very..very nasty stuff had been invented
during the the end of WW1 and 1940. Most of which would simply kill
anyone subjected to it. And it now included germ warfare..which the
Japs had done considerable advancement with, in China....with
considerable use against the Chinese as proving grounds

Unit 731 was where most of it came from....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

Dr Mengla of Nazi fame..was nothing more than a piker compared to the
Japs....

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke