W
Wingknut
Guest
** Moderators, if you think this stuff is unhelpful, please shut it down / delete this post and I promise I will not raise a word in protest. **
Hi folks,
Sorry if any / all of this is old news and please note I am not starting this thread in order to set off a flame-war - indeed, I hereby promise that having posted this I will simply step away from this thread and not post anything further herein.
Anyway, I’ve seen it claimed a few times that during WW2, Churchill actively pushed for the unilateral use of anthrax by Britain as a weapon against Germany’s beef herds and/or German civilians, and there seems to be at best serious grounds for scepticism about such claims.
The issue seems to have caught serious public attention in Britain in 1982 when Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman seemed to be suggest that WW2 British officials had planned to deploy anthrax unilaterally against German cities – see the original version of their book 'A Higher Form of Killing'.
However, you might want to balance the Paxman / Harris account with a look at M. P. Julian Lewis' volume 'Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence, 1942-1947'.
Julian Lewis wrote a corrective piece to Paxman and Harris’ claims, which can be found here:
http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/3805:the-plan-that-never-was-churchill-the-anthrax-bomb-1982-02-01
E.g. Lewis quotes a Churchill letter to Lieutenant-General Sir Hastings Ismay (May 21st 1944):
"As you know, great progress has been made in bacteriological warfare and we have ordered a half million bombs from America for use should this mode of warfare be employed against us ..." (My italics.) I think the qualifying words "should this mode of warfare be employed against us" are crucial here and don’t always seem to get stressed in discussions of this topic.
Lewis also wrote a short review of the Harris / Paxman volume, which can be found here: http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/2930:book-review-secrets-of-gas-and-germ-warfare-1
And a follow-up piece here: http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/19-essays-and-topics/2938-churchills-anthrax-bombs-a-debate-9
Lewis seems to me to cite a great many relevant and seemingly authoritative sources in defence of his claims.
Thanks and farewell (from this thread at least),
‘Wingknut’
Hi folks,
Sorry if any / all of this is old news and please note I am not starting this thread in order to set off a flame-war - indeed, I hereby promise that having posted this I will simply step away from this thread and not post anything further herein.
Anyway, I’ve seen it claimed a few times that during WW2, Churchill actively pushed for the unilateral use of anthrax by Britain as a weapon against Germany’s beef herds and/or German civilians, and there seems to be at best serious grounds for scepticism about such claims.
The issue seems to have caught serious public attention in Britain in 1982 when Robert Harris and Jeremy Paxman seemed to be suggest that WW2 British officials had planned to deploy anthrax unilaterally against German cities – see the original version of their book 'A Higher Form of Killing'.
However, you might want to balance the Paxman / Harris account with a look at M. P. Julian Lewis' volume 'Changing Direction: British Military Planning for Post-war Strategic Defence, 1942-1947'.
Julian Lewis wrote a corrective piece to Paxman and Harris’ claims, which can be found here:
http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/3805:the-plan-that-never-was-churchill-the-anthrax-bomb-1982-02-01
E.g. Lewis quotes a Churchill letter to Lieutenant-General Sir Hastings Ismay (May 21st 1944):
"As you know, great progress has been made in bacteriological warfare and we have ordered a half million bombs from America for use should this mode of warfare be employed against us ..." (My italics.) I think the qualifying words "should this mode of warfare be employed against us" are crucial here and don’t always seem to get stressed in discussions of this topic.
Lewis also wrote a short review of the Harris / Paxman volume, which can be found here: http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/2930:book-review-secrets-of-gas-and-germ-warfare-1
And a follow-up piece here: http://www.julianlewis.net/essays-and-topics/19-essays-and-topics/2938-churchills-anthrax-bombs-a-debate-9
Lewis seems to me to cite a great many relevant and seemingly authoritative sources in defence of his claims.
Thanks and farewell (from this thread at least),
‘Wingknut’
