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2009-06-26 Science & Technology

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Posted by Anonymoose 2009-06-26 12:35|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Chemical weapons were not used during WWII by mutual consent, which worked out well for the allies because the Nazis were way ahead of us in this field.

Posted by Iblis 2009-06-26 13:41|| 2009-06-26 13:41|| Front Page Top

#2 Don't forget the Nazis used them on an industrial scale against civilians. They were just too scared to ever start using them against Allied forces.

Posted by Bulldog 2009-06-26 15:29|| 2009-06-26 15:29|| Front Page Top

#3 To our modern sensibilities it seems shocking and there's a real sense of viciousness about this weapon. But it shows the Allies were prepared to consider anything - no matter how gruesome - to secure a victory

Yikes. A perfect expression of the moral confusion attached to unconventional munitions, then and now. You see, the injuries and painful deaths and maiming caused by bullets and explosives are, well, just not as bad as deaths and injuries caused by chemicals.

Also a nice touch with the shock about the Allies were willing to do "consider anything" to win. Really? I hadn't noticed, what with firebombings of cities, laying waste to half of Europe to drive the Germans out, and unsentimental and correct application of the Geneva Conventions when it came to executing (or torturing, in effect) spies.

And this guy is, um, an HISTORIAN.

Methinks a lot of the "restraint" involved with CW in WWII was simply practical - usefully applying such ordnance isn't so easy, especially in a war introducing true (mechanized) mobility to most of the land forces.

I've always thought that a "preparation" of Iwo Jima involving weeks and weeks of intense non-stop chemical bombardment might have been a good idea. Surely would have added to the limited impact of the conventional "typhoon of steel" applied.

Iwo might in fact be the exception to the rule that chemical ordnance in modern warfare has limited utility.

Posted by Verlaine 2009-06-26 18:32|| 2009-06-26 18:32|| Front Page Top

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