What if the Wehrmacht did not use crystal meth?

[Von Bock]

Over de last decades, the crystal meth-stories have gained popularity. When I have a regular conversation with friends, this topic always comes up: The Germans were so succesful because they 'all' used crystal meth.

Simple question: Is this really a proven fact? Or did only a very tiny part of the army use these drugs? What was the impact of drugs during the first years of the war? Couldn't find another topic so I am just curious about this.

[Carl Schwamberger]

Casual reading of dozens of first had accounts, from full-length autobiographies, to very brief quotes have left this very ambiguous with me. Most I've read never mention the use of Pervitn, Methampthetimine, or similar substances. Some do, those are usually quotes in articles examining the use of stimulants. Since my reading leans towards artillery, 75% of the biographies on my shelf are accounts by artillerymen it may be the accounts are distorted. Its possible artillery personnel never felt the need or had ready access to the Pervertin or related substances.

I've also read a few descriptions of such stimulants in use by Allied soldiers. ie: Donald Burgett made two remarks about a officially issued stimulant in his combat autobiography.

[Kingfish]

One hit of Heisenberg blue and the Wehrmacht could have conquered Antarctica.

[T. A. Gardner]

One hit of Heisenberg blue and the Wehrmacht could have conquered Antarctica.

Didn't they? They had U-boat bases supported by Die Glocke UFO's there after all...

[Peter89]

The topic on its own deserves much more attention than the "Blitzed" and other tabloid-like works. The drug regulations we consider normal today were nowhere in the period of the WW2, and we can safely assume that any belligerent would use any drugs that would enhance the performance of its troops.

This is a period when laboratory pure cocaine was mixed into wine,



small kids smoked cigarettes (if they could lay their hands on it), practically everybody drank, even kids, pure metamphetamine was readily available in bigger cities and vitamins were just discovered (with amazingly visible results, such as Takaki Kanehiro's work), getting rid of diseases that plagued the population for centuries. Thus the common sense dictated that biochemistry might change the capabilities of the manpower used in the war machine.

But the side effects limited its use greatly. The Reich's industry produced almost one million Pervitin tablet per day in 1940, which suggests that the average prevalence of its use was somewhere near 1 tablet per 100 people per day. This has to be put into context with our current tolerance for alcohol abuse, for example; we do not gasp when we read reports about numb drunk soldiers performing near-suicide missions under the influence of alcohol; and the prevalence of alcohol abuse was and is way higher than that of drugs, although alcohol itself is a very serious drug that destroys the body and disconnects the mind from reality.

Altough it was much more prevalent in WW2 than it is today - like it was much more prevalent in the interwar period -, and the idea was entertained until the end of the war (see substance D-IX), it's role is exaggerated.

[LineDoggie]

Over de last decades, the crystal meth-stories have gained popularity. When I have a regular conversation with friends, this topic always comes up: The Germans were so succesful because they 'all' used crystal meth.

Simple question: Is this really a proven fact? Or did only a very tiny part of the army use these drugs? What was the impact of drugs during the first years of the war? Couldn't find another topic so I am just curious about this.

Amphetamines were also issued to RAF aircrew and USMC raider units in WW2


https://daily.jstor.org/the-raf-on-spee ... ying-high/