Amphetamine use in the German army

Hello Lou -

look here it´s an article in an serious german history magazine about this topic: http://www.damals.de/de/8/Pharmazeutische-Waffen-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%93-Amphetamine-im-Krieg.html?aid=190224&cp=1&action=showDetails (sorry it´s a german report.

Nordwind511

 

if you type the title of the article into google, it will give you the option of a translated version

Pharmazeutische Waffen – Amphetamine im Krieg

 

A bit OT perhaps but ...

If the rivers there are much like the Chehalis or Newakum rivers of Western Washington I'm not sure that's the case. Typically at a bend there will be a very low bank that fades into a gravel bar. If the river is not at or near flood the gravel bar extends into shallow water deapening as it approaches the far bank. In summer the deepest parts of some of these bends will only be a few inches to a foot or two. The bank on that side though may be 20 feet high or more. If one knocks it down to form a ramp you have churned up soil that will rapidly become deep mud unless you hit clay which has it's own traction problems.

I don't know what kind of earh moving equipment they had but it's not a task I would think could easily be done in an hour particularly if you are tyring to do it under fire.

 

I don't know if those rivers are like ones in Washington. I do know that in late fall/winter (the rainy season) the Ambleve is too deep to cross with an armored vehicle. See the photo in post #42.

 

the Ardennes, which were impassable for large military forces. Undetected by the French Enlightenment,


This myth, just is not true..Its been repeated too oft and accepted..Gamelin never thought the Ardennes were impassable. The signs were there, Brave Luxembourg folk and French folk were shouting warnings at the time...The Allied plan was at fault. The Ardennes not passable remarks of some have gone into history wrongly and out of context.

 

I would like to remind that Wacht am Rhein was actually to be followed by operation Nordwind pushing between the British and US forces from the northern section starting January 1st. So Hitler had a two-phased gamble in mind to what had practically ended within a week from Dec 16th 1944, or truly within a day from the starting line.

 

@Tea expert

I would like to see sources for your statement. Maybe you´re a correct that Gamelin never thought that the Ardennes were impassible, but I guess that a lot members of highcommands (on both sides) doubt that it would be possible to launch an surprising assault through the ardennes. The main problem for passing the ardennes is the capacity of the streets for all the tanks, trucks, horses, guns, artillery ... it took a long a very time to pass them through ...

With the start of the German attack on 10 May 1940 showed that Gamelin was completely overwhelmed as commander in chief. He did not realize that the German Army Group B, which invaded the Netherlands and Belgium, should make him think of just a remake of the Schlieffen Plan. At his command the Allied troops were advancing towards the north, in order to form together with the Dutch and Belgian armed forces, the main front against the Wehrmacht. Gamelin remained at his headquarters in Vincennes, near Paris, and was soon out the overview of the fighting, on the one hand because of its distance to the front, on the other hand due to the breakdown of communication systems. He had not recognized the importance of the tank weapon ...

 

I'd start with one of our members who frequents Axis forums...we both have same book by May where it is detailed.

Also Quoted in Hornes to lose a battle.

Many others..I'll quote em all if you like mate.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=172472&start=45

Edit...by the way...the use of the word mate is not meant to be derogatory by me...its just a word I use as a Brit..Its not goading anyone...This is not the best media for getting messages across at times.

 

We here on this forum have been posting about the millions of Prevatine tablets produced and distributed to the troops before they invaded Poland for goodness sake. It was the brand name for their version of meth, it wasn't straight up methamphetamine, but had a few other active ingredients as well, I would have to do some old file digging to find out what they were. Toward the end of the war they were experimenting on camp prisoners a new and improved version, the problem with it appears that it was lethal to the user since they worked so hard without needing to stop, they just died.

But even though it has been well known that the Nazis used speed, Hitler was a cocaine user coupled with other strange injections, these guys think it is breaking news.

Goto:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/nazis-meth-world-war-ii_n_3384881.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Posted on Huffington, but from another source really.

 

In all fairness, people used to be medicated with a lot of drugs that would horrify 21st century doctors.

 

Back to the OP - my interest is in events around the Ardennes where some of 1st SS Panzer Division (LAH) went off the rails.

All armies used amphetamines of some kind, in controlled circumstances. There are several documented cases where the German army issued Pervitin in an uncontrolled manner - several of these are mentioned in the course of this thread. If they had simply handed out Pervitin in this way to LAH, it might explain some of the excesses that went on there.

 

It's true that the Panzer armies advancing through the Ardennes in 1940 were on pervitin in order to stay awake.

When they reached their objectives they emptied all the 24-hour garages of pasties and Pot Noodles.

 

Nah, they'd have felt like their jaws were wired together.
The 24 Hr, garages would be safe as they roamed the countryside looking for bottles of Brandy to help with that Hollow feeling...

 

I took these photos a week ago today - Stavelot Bridge, the area where Hansen's Panzergrenadiere attempted to storm the Ambleve.....



Viewed from the 'German side'.....



On this side of the river, the depth is certainly greater than I remembered - probably about a metre, and this was in June. In December, you could probably add another metre or so. In the interests of Forum Research, I was about to plunge into the water but had to be restrained by my Wife....... :hypnotize:

As an aside, here's a pic of the plaque on the bridge wall, with its' reference to 'Rundstedt's Nazi Hordes'.....

 

Plus ca change...
The War Nerd: Captagon, the Beheading Drug!

 

I took another pic of the Ambleve River last month, exactly two years since my earlier posting. It's taken looking the other way from the Stavelot Bridge ( ie downriver ) and this time, there had been several days of heavy rain.
I must say, I wouldn't have liked trying to wade across........

 

I recall on another thread somebody posting pictures of the Ambleve in winter. It's a very different river at that time of year, much deeper.