Posted on Jan 6, 2021
How widespread was the use of pervitin among combat units in Nazi Germany and amphetamines among allied troops during WW2?
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Posted 4 y ago
Responses: 1
History Channel had a show about this and Hitler's drug problems. It was pervasive throughout the Wehrmacht for the first 2-3 years of the war, then they realized people were addicted to it and the Chain of Command cut it all off. There were documented cases where soldiers were writing home to family to try and get more.
https://www.history.com/news/inside-the-drug-use-that-fueled-nazi-germany
https://www.history.com/news/inside-the-drug-use-that-fueled-nazi-germany
Inside the Drug Use That Fueled Nazi Germany
An explosive bestseller mined the records of Adolf Hitler’s personal doctor, among other sources, to uncover details of the long-rumored drug use by many in the Nazi regime.
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Cpl Robert Russell Payne
I have also read that the Allied Military was using amphetamines! I don't trust everything that I read on the internet and finding other sources for information is extremely time consuming. I am convinced that amphetamines were being used by the allies especially among bomber crews but I am not convinced that over 75% of the American Military was using them like some of the articles that I have read claim. One article basically claimed that entire world was jacked up on speed during WW2. LOL
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LTC Jason Mackay
Cpl Robert Russell Payne - the only thing I have seen is the official issue of Benzedrine to air crews in WWII. I've seen wild accusations about other things but nothing documented by a reliable source.
Vietnam Era documented program: The LSD research and similar programs at Edgewood (sub installation of Aberdeen Proving Ground) were in response to Soviet experiememts in the area of performance enhancing drugs. All were hand picked volunteers. The tactical and operational problem was that once the Soviets launched a ground war in Europe, they had to push for an additional 72hrs past human endurance to secure the gains. Otherwise in their estimate we could begin flowing forces into Europe to resist. So the quest was to find a drug that could buy them 3 more days of no sleep from their operational forces. It wasn't just drugs, but also liberal use of chemical weapons to deny or secure flanks, tactical nukes and bypass criteria. The big tactic they had was something called the Operational maneuver Group, which massed ALL their forces in one mailed fist to establish a point f penetration, then just exploit. They'd peel off detachments to interdict counter attacks, but the idea was to push until they controlled Bremerhaven (forcing us to deploy through France) and push for France. We had our strategy of AirLand Battle which gave us the M1 Tank and the A10 to blunt the masssed attack with quality and survivability of fewer forces.
Of course, we were compelled to counter this with our own drugs.
Vietnam Era documented program: The LSD research and similar programs at Edgewood (sub installation of Aberdeen Proving Ground) were in response to Soviet experiememts in the area of performance enhancing drugs. All were hand picked volunteers. The tactical and operational problem was that once the Soviets launched a ground war in Europe, they had to push for an additional 72hrs past human endurance to secure the gains. Otherwise in their estimate we could begin flowing forces into Europe to resist. So the quest was to find a drug that could buy them 3 more days of no sleep from their operational forces. It wasn't just drugs, but also liberal use of chemical weapons to deny or secure flanks, tactical nukes and bypass criteria. The big tactic they had was something called the Operational maneuver Group, which massed ALL their forces in one mailed fist to establish a point f penetration, then just exploit. They'd peel off detachments to interdict counter attacks, but the idea was to push until they controlled Bremerhaven (forcing us to deploy through France) and push for France. We had our strategy of AirLand Battle which gave us the M1 Tank and the A10 to blunt the masssed attack with quality and survivability of fewer forces.
Of course, we were compelled to counter this with our own drugs.
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