Of course, Hitler never sanctioned the use of biological warfare for reasons that have never been fully explained. Its been speculated he may have had an aversion to germ warfare based on his experience of being gassed in World War I or his phobia of microbes. The Nazis nonetheless carried out research in this area including establishing an entomological institute to study the physiology and control of insects that inflict harm to humans.

British anthrax stockpiled under Operation Vegetarian was ultimately destroyed at the end of the war all but two crates of infected cattle cakes were incinerated. Its not clear what became of the remainder, but the spores they contained were still judged to be effective as of 1955.

The defeat of Nazi Germany was not the end of British interest in biological warfare. On the contrary, with the beginning of the Cold War, the focus now turned to the Soviet Union, which had begun its own experiments in the field before World War II and which had captured a Japanese biological weapons facility in Manchuria.

The effect of the anthrax tests on the British islands was dramatic and long-lasting, including reports of livestock deaths on the Scottish mainland after an infected sheep carcass from Gruinard was washed up on a beach. According to Porton Downs official account, the mile-long island was not fully decontaminated until 1986 following a painstaking sterilization process amid mounting public pressure.

Today, Porton Down continues to play a role in biological and chemical weapons rather than developing them for potential wartime use, its now tasked with developing countermeasures. It was also a focus of attention in the wake of the poisoning by nerve agent of former Russian military officer and double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, in nearby Salisbury in March 2018.

Operation Vegetarian details of which for many years remained within classified the National Archives is clearly one of the more extreme plans hatched by the Allies during World War II, but its a clear reminder of the kind of thinking at the highest military levels during one of the darkest periods in Europes history.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com

Continued here:

The British Had A Plan To Drop Anthrax Laced Cattle Feed Over Germany In 1942 - The Drive