It is no secret that drugs were used on the battlefields of WWII. Allied and Axis forced alike used drugs to enhance combat efficiency. The British supplied their forces with hundreds of thousands of meth tablets, and the Americans distributed around half a million pills among their troops in North Africa. However, the Germans took warfare drug-use to a whole new level.
The Nazis were fundamentally against the use of drugs as it was not in accordance with the view of the physically and mentally superior Aryan race. Moreover, it was considered to be a reflection Germany’s moral decay after its defeat in the Great War. It was therefore not uncommon for drug users to be sent to concentration camps.
There was, however, one exception: methamphetamine. Ever since the 1936 Olympic Games, were a form of the drug had been used for doping purposes, the world had been aware of the effects of meth. Only one year after the Olympics, the pharmaceutical company Temmler-Werke began producing and selling Pervitin, methamphetamine in pill form. It did not take long for Pervitin to be a hit as it was marketed as a wonder drug that helped one be a better student, worker and parent. The drug did deliver, as it boosted energy, cut appetite (good for weight loss) and took away inhibitions. However, there were some serious drawbacks, including: depression, illusions, and the fact that it was seriously addictive.
It was soon realized that the positive effects would be beneficial on the battlefield, and the idea of creating soldiers with enhanced energy levels and a disregard for personal safety was a compelling one. Soldiers who fought longer and harder than their opponents had a significant advantage over their adversaries.
Testing started almost immediately, and various forms of the drugs were given to prisoners in concentration camps, and to soldiers participating in the occupation of Czecholslovakia in 1938. The drug’s first official test was during the invasion of Poland in September 1939.
Results proved so positive, that the Blitzkrieg became fueled by methamphetamine. The vast majority of the army had to march on foot, and the drug helped them continuously march on with hardly any rest. Servicemen, especially the tankers who formed the forefront of the Blitzkrieg, covered ground at a dazzling speed and soldiers were described as “heavily drugged, fearless and berserk.”
The effects of the new drug were so positive, that between April and July of 1940, more than 35 million methamphetamine tablets were distributed among German soldiers. Apart from pills, there were chocolate bars known as Fliegerschokolade and Panzerschokolade which were dispensed to aircraft and tank crews. Between 1939 and 1945, a total of some 200 million Pervitin pills were distributed among German servicemen.
There were, of course, serious drawbacks as well. Continued states of wakefulness and too few long rests in between caused soldiers to quickly become addicted, and faintness, depression and delusions became ever-present problems. Worse still were the cases in which soldiers died of heart failure or suicide as a result of psychotic phases. By the end of 1940, the Germans decreased the amount of drugs used, but consumption only seriously declined in the following two years, when the addictiveness of amphetamines was formally acknowledged. However, Pervitin continued to be dispensed and Temmler-Werke continued to make significant profits.
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