I'm currently reading a book written by the Hellenic Army General Staff, An Abridged History of the Greek-Italian and Greek-German War 1940-1941 (Land Operations), The Army History Directorate Editions, Athens (ISBN 960-7897-01-3).
I am reading this book to and fro work, and today I read something quite interesting:
p. 190At Fort Kelkayia, the Germans blocked off the openings during the night and piped choking gases and thick smoke into the galleries, an act which forced the garrison to surrender at 1130hrs.
Further down the same page:
And, again, this time on p. 192 regarding the struggle for Fort Nymphaea:The garrison of Fort Istimbei was forced to surrender at 1600hrs, because of the choking gases and the flaming petrol used by the Germans.
I have no reason to not believe these accounts as it is the first time (and only time) I have ever read in a Greek source, that the Germans employed gas to flush out Greek defenders....the Fort continued the defence until 2330hrs, whereupon it was forced to surrender, since the atmosphere inside it had by then become suffocating, due to the smoke agents thrown by the Germans through the wrecked openings of the pill-boxes.
However, what my views are is of no consequence to this thread, nor of my questions, which are:
a Does anyone know what sort of agents the Germans used in these attacks (tear gas, for instance)?
b Were such methods widespread when encountering a stubborn, fortified position?
c I don't know where I have read it, but I thought that there was an implicit agreement between the Axis and Allies not to use Chemical or Biological weapons in the War. Or am I mistaken?
I realise that the agents used in the above fortified positions probably do not fit under the Chemical Weapons category, but I found the above methodology immensely intriguing, not because it presents a new form of innovative warfare, but rather that the Blitzkrieg doctrine needed the assistance of gas.
Any comments?