Potatoe-bug maggots dropped by RAF bombers...

[Christoph Awender]

Hello!

I am working through the daily reports of the Rüstungsinspektionen summer 1940 and read something weird/interesting.

On 21.August 1940 Rüstungsinspektion XII reports that cotton-wool balls with living maggots have been dropped. After some investigation the RüIn reports that they are potatoe-bug maggots.
I find this incident very interesting. If I remember right there was a potatoe-bug problem in germany during the war (am I right?). Were the allies responsible for it?

Any further infomation is welcome.

regards,
Christoph

[Dan]

Christoph, this will get you going:

http://www.ento.vt.edu/Courses/Undergra ... age18.html

Bugs have been used since the beginging in warfare. My own intrest is honey bees, and even during Roman-Carthaginian naval wars the sailors threw pots with bees at each other. There's even a book about bees in war.

The link I provided has lots of info, some of which is no doubt rumor. The Japanese turned out fleas by the tens of millions, and Britain and the US probably did have large centers for producing potato bugs. Did the Germans experiment with lice for vectoring typhus?

Some one on the board will have to look into it.

Best
Dan

[Dan]

Also, the Brits blamed the Germans:
http://cns.miis.edu/research/cbw/agchron.htm

The "potato bug" in American English isn't the same as the Colorado Potato Beetle, you'll want to keep that in mind while searching. Our "potato bug", or Jerusalam Cricket, is a huge scarry looking thing with enormous black fangs, but doesn't breed or move enough to allow it to be used as airborn shock troops.

Dan

[Annelie]

How interesting Dan. No matter how times I read peoples posts I always
learn something of interest. Never heard of this before but it does make
sense to have been used.

Annelie

[Christoph Awender]

Thank you Dan...very informative!

[Brian Von Stauffenberg]

Its little tidbits like this that add real historical meat to the bones of researching WW2, good post Dan.

[Dan]

Thanks all

There were more positive uses of insects though. Honey was used to treat wounds early in the war, and when antibiotics weren't available. Also, especially in Slavic countries propolis, which is also a product of the honey bee, was used extensively to heal difficult wounds, and even today is a major source of income for bee keepers in those countries.

Regards
Dan

[Scotia]

Its little tidbits like this that add real historical meat to the bones of researching WW2, good post Dan.

I agree. That is a nice way of putting it.

[Ogorek]

Interesting to note that the Polish Peoples' Republic in propaganda claimed the CIA of doing the same thing to Poland in the early 50s, along with "germ warfare" in Korea.