"German soldiers hopped up?" Topic

Interesting (if slightly sensationalist) article here about the German armies use of a meth style drug called Pervitin among their soldiers during WW2.

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Maybe we need some new rules in our games to represent this
something like "pop a pervitin" soldiers get an extra move and a +2 morale bonus.:)

Amphetimines were also available. Supposedly, the Germans, Japanese, and British all used them. The US was criticized after the war for not.

Panzerschokolade?

The US used them during Vietnam, IIRC, and in some conflicts afterwards as well.

I used amphetamines in my dissolute youth. To be honest I'd rather the guy next to me with a gun wasn't on them.

Use of some kind of stimulant (methadone?) by paratroopers on Crete well attested.

"In London in 1916, Harrods were selling a kit described as "A Welcome Present for Friends at the Front" containing cocaine, morphine, syringes and needles."

From here…..

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Benzedrine was used by the FJ on Crete.

Side effect was it made you really thirsty…

Most forces used some form of stimulant. The Finns gave their long range patrols Pervitin which had some worrying side effects…

"hallucinations, difficulty to rest although deeply exhausted after weeks on patrol, over-aggressiveness and blind self-confidence was really dangerous combination. Thankfully nothing serious ever happened. 24 hours of sleep and hot sauna after that cured them…"

The Luftwaffe and RAF made good use of Benzedrine…

"Pilots are not long back at Gravesend before they are ordered off again on Circus 96, Biggin this time acting as Target Support Wing to Hampden's raiding Marquise. 609 flies about in the St Omer area, and though many 109s are seen in formations up to 12, none are contacted except by *****, leading Yellow Section. After diving on some 109s, he is turning to rejoin his Section when 2 aircraft, which he takes to be Spits, are seen behind. One begins firing at him, but as the deflection is not nearly enough, ***** merely tightens his turn. Suddenly his A.S.I. blows out, and it seems another A/C has been firing from above. Half-rolling and diving, he crosses Boulogne beach at 2,000 feet, and his engine begins to fail. Flames then appear beneath the engine cowling. Calling 'M'Aidez', he struggles up to 2,000 feet and bales out in the middle of the Channel. After about an hour he is picked up by a naval launch – none too soon, as it is getting late, with visibility reduced by haze. Officers who pick him up at Dover the same evening, find him in excellent form, thanks partly to having consumed a Benzedrine tablet in his dinghy."

Montgomery's 8th Army used them in North Africa (according to Rick Atkinson in "An Army at Dawn").

I have to wonder about the overall effect. You use the stuff to fight a battle and then what happens afterwards? Too tired to follow up your victory? (Or retreat from your defeat?)

Any studies done on this?

The US Army gave nurses Benzedrine for working long hours in hospitals w/ wounded soldiers. I know this because my mother was an army nurse in WWII and often talked about it.

Benzedrine and speed aren't too debilitating once they wear off, although obviously it doesn't stop underlying exhaustion. Obviously if you take too much you end up a gibbering psychotic wreck wandering the streets of London talking to yourself.

Units get exhausted taking part in war, it is one of the 'privations of campaigning' which Clausewitz talks about. Men stumbling about asleep while they march etc.

One of the reason why real war is so much harder than exercises or pushing toys on the tabletop.

Axis and Allied forces used amphetamines in WWII – as I recall heavy bomber pilots used it as a bombing run from the UK to Germany might take upwards of 8 hours

The Brits also gave amphetamines to paratroops to help alertness when dropped in a position where they had to wait for support to fight its way thru

In low doses they do enhance wakefullness albeit at a price – I agree it is not the sort of thing you want to do all the time

when i was in afghanistan, ritalin was the drug of choice. the guys who used it said it "kept them sharp"…

An enormous hidden stash of surplus 8th Air Force meth features in one of the Jack Reacher novels…

A major report in Der Spiegel from 2005 initially told the story of how the drug was initially introduced to the German military force (Wehrmacht) after a military doctor's experimentation of it on 90 college students led him to the conclusion that it would "help win the war." Less than six months later, millions of the pills were flown to the front lines and handed out to the Nazis before invasions.
Overtime the habit turned to an addiction, as evidence in letters from the time. In November of 1939, one Nazi in Poland sent a letter to his family with a note that read: "It's tough out here…Today I'm writing you mainly to ask for some Pervitin." Six months later, he wrote again: "Perhaps you could get me some more Pervitin so that I can have a backup supply?" Then two months later: "If at all possible, please send me some more Pervitin."

Ohler says the drug was used specifically for Blitzkreigs, including the invasion of Sudetenland, Poland, and France. The Nazis found Pervitin effective at keeping them awake for "days at a time," allowing them to hike as many as 36 miles in a day.

Their use of the drug was no secret, at least in the beginning. Ohler found British press at the time glorifying the drug as a "miracle pill." While use of the drug began to diminish once it was outlawed in 1941, Ohler spoke with one general who said it continued much longer.

More of the same:

In 1939, Hitler's soldiers brought Pervitin into the battlefields. Spiegel Magazine first reported on this in 2005, and Ohler elaborates in his book. The military physiologist Otto Ranke evaluated Pervitin as "a substance that is very valuable for war." In 1940, before attacking France, the German army ordered 35 million tablets of Pervitin for its soldiers. Doped up tank drivers stayed on the move until engines stopped; troops marched day and night without a break. Ohler claims that the Blitzkrieg was "led by methamphetamine."

Perhaps something for Weird WW2 or 1946-style scenarios:

Before what would become the Final Battle of World War II, the German military started to look for a miracle drug to rally their troops once again. Gerhard Orzechowksi combined Eukodal, Cocaine, Pervitin and Dicodid to create DIX, the strongest substance in the world. But the soldiers who tried it immediately fell sick: paralysis, sweating, dizziness. The Navy administered it in spite of these reactions, and "the mission became a fiasco." The SS continued looking for a miracle drug, making sure to test it in concentration camps this time. They developed a bubble gum form of pure cocaine that users could actually chew. "Despite hunger and bad constitution the concentration camp prisoners mutated into real marching machines," writes Ohler. The search for a wonder drug had been turned into perverted human experiments.

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Here I was think the title of the thread referred to hops in beer!

Interesting – although I'm sure it was in jest, I cannot help but see yet another reason put forward to give only GERMAN troops a wargaming advantage. Surely they have enough artificial advantages anyway? (Tiger tanks that always work. Vehicles that are always full of fuel. Food and ammo that we know in real life were in very short supply indeed… etc, etc.

How about a rule to penalise them for their very poor field hospitals, ration packs…? I just read Operation Eclipse by Delaforce, who was there. 95% of British casualties recovered from a wound. The figure for Germans was about 30%. I can't see that helping morale in the field! It was common for even the best troops to go for 3 entire days without any food at all, as prisoners often told him. How about -2 for near starvation?

Heaven forbid that ALLIED troops should be considered for any advantage.

A few years ago I was chatting to my then boss about the hobby.

He told me his Polish father was considered German enough to be drafted into the Wehrmact and sent to Russia. He was in Stalingrad but was wounded and flown out before the noose tightened. According to my boss, they were given a 'cocktail' of drugs to keep them going, but obviously no +2 there because they lost!

To end the story, he was in France recovering when his hospital was captured by advancing US forces. He settled in England rather than be repatriated under the Ruskies.

According to one US paratrooper's memoirs I read (I believe the title was "Currahee"), he was given some kind of pep pill before jumping that kept him alert and active for several hours thereafter.

Beaumap makes me wonder what recovery rates were by nation.

Would be very relevant for campaign gaming for sure.

Gut feeling tells me that GI and Commonwealth troopers would be more likely to recover (but the GI might be sent to another unit).