Why did the germans not use poison gas in WW2?

Question

As far as I know, they had plenty of it. More than other countries and really innovative ones, too - like Tabun or Sarin. Given their desperate situation in 1944 and 1945, why didn't they use it - at least on the eastern front?

Answer 1

Hitler didn't like it, having been a WWI veteran himself.

But the real problem with chemical weapons, modern ones, too, is that it's just as much of a pain for your own troops to fight in it as the enemy. It just isn't effective without a lot of specialized equipment. It doesn't do any good to gas the enemy if your troops have to wait until it is "safe" to enter the area you gassed.

There were a lot of reasons they didn't use it, but effectiveness was the big one.

Answer 2

Because it was ineffectual, it was contained in WW1 and armies knew how to handle it by the start of WW2. Gas isn't an easy weapon to use, the air has to be absolutely still and you have to deliver enough gas to any one point to get a situation needed to be fatal. Because of the randomness of the weather it isn't a weapon that can be relied on, nor would you expect to able to use it other than in the early mornings.
Around Stalingrad and Leningrad the Germans couldn't supply food let alone gas or gas delivery systems. Additionally when the USA Finlay joined the war (letting London burn and passing laws forbidding Americans to fight the Nazis) German production capacity was greatly curtailed.
It was never a good reliable weapon and soldier and civilians were issued with gas masks making gas an almost ineffectual weapon.

Answer 3

If at all, very rarely. I've read that there is some speculation that the Germans used poison gas accidentally at times (gas shells got mixed in with explosive shells) and that they might have used gas at Sevastopol, to clear out the fortress, without Hitler's authorization. However, gas was used so rarely, if ever, that one can basically discount such uses. The Italians did use gas against Ethiopia, and the Japanese used gas against the Chinese. Those are well-known and confirmed. Otherwise, gas wasn't used.

Answer 4

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RE:
Why did the germans not use poison gas in WW2?
As far as I know, they had plenty of it. More than other countries and really innovative ones, too - like Tabun or Sarin. Given their desperate situation in 1944 and 1945, why didn't they use it - at least on the eastern front?

Answer 5

Because of their experience with it in WWI. Poison gas is only useful if you have a safe means to deliver it. In WWI they usually used a mortar filled with pressurized gas to deliver it to the enemy's side. Any misfire or any accidental damage to the mortar and you'd have a bunch of wounded or dead germans on your hands. That and the poison gas just wasn't a very effective weapon. All you needed was a stiff breeze and the gas would dissipate. Also the use of poison gas during WWI was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention.

Answer 6

It's really only of use during trench warfare and only then when you can be sure that the enemy are going to stay in one place and that the gas won't drift back to you.

Doesn't work for blitzkrieg or street-fighting.

And don't forget the use of poison gas in the Holocaust.

Answer 7

Poison gas was banned from use after WW1.

I guess they were afraid to violate this ban. Likewise, nothing other than this ban have prevented the other side to use it on germans.

Just like now it's not OK to use nuclear weapons.

Answer 8

Don't know. But I know why it may seemed impossible. It would be kind of impossible for 2 million Nazi soldiers to fart all at once to save the gas and use it as gas weapon. It would also be so obvious what the Nazis were doing if they order tons & tons of beans for their soldiers.

Answer 9

Because, deep down, the Nazis were really a nice bunch of fellows.

Answer 10

They did.