Why did Hitler choose not use poison gas during WW2?

Question

It's not like he was trying to be popular.

I'm not talking about the holocaust of course. I mean as a weapon of warfare against troops/civilians on the battlefield.

Answer 1

maybe because he was human

Answer 2

I have read up on this in my study of chemical weapons and there are two reasons Hitler did not use chemcial weapons outside of the death camps during World Wa.

The first is that Germany did not have the capacity to protect its troops and civilian population from a chemical retaliation. England had already giving out gas masks to its civilian population. There was even a model for childern developed that looked like Mickey Mouse so as to be less intimidating. Germany also believed that England and other Allied nations had a much larger stockpile of these weapons available.

The second reason is considered psycological. Hitler was field courier in the trenches during the first World War was badly wounded in mustard gas attack. Some have speculated that this caused him to have an aversion to battlefield use of chemical weapons.

Answer 3

Hitler was gassed by blister agent in the Great World War as he served as a messenger. It resulted in temporary blindness and left a lingering mark on his physic.

Years later in World War Two, he was concerned that the Western Allies might have deadlier chemical warfare agents available and if attacked by German Chemical agents they might escalate the war in the West. Some sources believe there wasn't any concern in the East against the Soviets and that gas grenades were employed in Stalingrad however no evidence of this is known to exist.

In the aftermath of D-Day the Allies found that the ammunition dumps servicing German Artillery Gun Positions had stored one chemical munition out of every 13 rounds of convention ammunition. So it seems clear that some local commanders were hoping to use chemical weapons if it became necessary.

Answer 4

He did, that is why all soldiers were issued gas masks....
Edit: Posted while you were adding non-holocaust.

Hitler did not use it on the battlefield in part because for years he was hiding his illiegal activities. League of Nations forbade the use gas warfare. He also listened to Red Cross rules for quite a few things including treatment of medical personel on the battlefield. Major transgressions were against prisoners (POWs and others) and at the end of the war when things were frantic.

Japs did use Chemical weapons in battle, but not against whites, they also only focused those weapons on their 'inferiors'

The world had made it clear that no one cared what happened to the inferior races, so as long as illegal weapons werent used on whites it wasnt going to spark anything or cause huge retiliation.

Answer 5

It actually would have been very feasible for London to be gas bombed during the blitz, hence why gas masks were handed out. But no, it didn't happen.

The story is that Hitler was himself caught in a gas attack when he was a Corporal during the Great War and the experience affected him so greatly that he wouldn't consider its use as a weapon on the battlefield.

Apparently it was good enough for millions of Jews though.


EDIT- Mustard Gas was used during the FIRST WORLD WAR. That's a different war most of you people are thinking of.

Answer 6

the world's first three types of "Nerve Gas" chemical weapons were developed in Germany: Tabun (1936), Sarin (1938), Soman (1944), all many times more lethal than earlier chemical weapons. Unlike chemical weapons like Mustard Gas which injure and kill by burning skin and tissue, Nerve Agents, like the venom of Cobra snakes and scorpions, quickly causes a total and excruciating muscle paralysis that kills by paralising the muscles invloved in breathing.
The Allies knew nothing of this horrible secret German weapon, or the fact that the German artillery was already equipped with it, until after the war's end. The Germans on the other hand, didn't know that The Allies did NOT have any nerve gases, but assumed that they did, and therefore feared massive retaliation with similar weapons if they used their nerve gases, as Winston Churchill declared that if the Germans will use chemical weapons, he will order to "rain" the entire British stockpile of chemical weapons in retaliation. It was a "Balance of Terror" like the nuclear Balance of Terror during the post-WWII Cold War.

Answer 7

It is not really a good weapon on the battle field as the wind can change and blow it in the wrong direction. Also it can linger for a long time making it difficult to advance.
He probably didn't use it against civilians because of the possibility of retaliation.

Answer 8

Mohammad F is the ONLY person to get this right.

The rest of you, READ the question before jumping in with the whole 'concentration camps' argument / answer.

WW I (1914-1918) saw mass use of chemical weapons.
WW II (1938-1945) did not see as much with a few exceptions (Japan against the Chinese, accidental 'gassing' of allied troops due to a cargo ship loaded with chemical ammo being sunk during one of the amphibious operations in the Italian campaign).

Answer 9

Don't know for certain, but maybe it was a psychological thing. Hitler had been an infrantryman in World War I where poison gas had been used a lot. I seem to recall that his war-time injury was gas related. Maybe he had a weak moment.

And showtunes----read a history book. Poison gas was never used by Germany against an enemy (not even the Russians in World War II). GI's were issued condoms, too, but a lot of them didn't use them.

Answer 10

greetings. mainly because it is a very unreliable weapon that can turn on one in a heart beat. It is sort of like nuclear war. it is not controllable to any extent. And once one begins using poison gas or biological warfare then one should expect the enemy to do likewise. Sort of like we nuke Iran, Russia nukes us. Who wins? no one. Hitler didn't use it also because he himself was gassed in the First World War and didn't enjoy the experience. Our president has never been shot or tortured so he enjoys watching it being done to others. Hitler did not use a lot of weapons against us in the war that he could have. Maybe because he was not as evil as others? Or maybe because he was a soldier before he was a politician? who knows.

Answer 11

Well, crazy as it is, he actually tried to stick to the rules of the Geneva Convention during the war. When he issued his famous "Commissar Order" his reason was that Russia did not participate in the Geneva Convention, so it's rules didn't apply to war with Russia. It seems also that Hitler really liked the British and their culture, which also could have had something to do with it.