Nazis Dosed Soldiers with Performance-Boosting 'Superdrug'

[Judi Lynn]

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | June 25, 2019 07:05am ET

The remarkable endurance of German and Allied soldiers during World War II had a secret ingredient: performance-enhancing drugs.

During the 1940s, Nazi troops were liberally supplied with a methamphetamine called Pervitin, while American and British soldiers stayed alert with the help of the amphetamine Benzedrine.

Medical officers on both sides distributed these stimulants — and others, such as cocaine — to keep weary soldiers awake for days at a time; to enable troops to perform longer under punishing conditions; and to deaden the horrific and debilitating effects of shell shock and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to "Secrets of the Dead: World War Speed," a new documentary airing today (June 25) on PBS. [The 10 Most Outrageous Military Experiments]

As this officially sanctioned "pharmaceutical arms race" unfolded, soldiers who took these drugs were pushed beyond the limits of their normal capabilities; but the long-term impacts of drug use were largely ignored by military medical officials, PBS representatives said in a statement.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65788-world-war-ii-nazis-methamphetamines.html

[captain queeg]

1. I knew a guy years ago who was a navigator on B-29s

I think he said the flight to bomb japan was either 14 or 17 hours. He said they were issued Dexedrine though when I read about WWII Benzedrine is usually mentioned on the allied side. I was recently reading about a series of battles in the Russian front where the nazis would March all night and attack at dawn miles away at a new site and kept catching the soviets by surprise because they didn’t believe the German could pull that off over and over during the course of the week. The author commented “one wonders when the soldiers slept” and I immediately thought of meth.

Of course Hitler himself took all sorts of drugs and I think they were a large if not primary factor in his behavior as the war wore on.

[mitch96]

2. " He said they were issued Dexedrine "

I saw a program about P-51's escorting bombers to Japan. The pilot said they were routinely given Dex for the long flights. When he got back from a 8 hr flight he had to be physically removed from the plane as he was totally spent.. The crash coming off of the drug must have been horrible.. Then boom do it again the next day... uffda

m

[captain queeg]

3. I think the common thing to do was have a few beers after landing

I think that’s what he said...have a few beers so you could get to sleep.

[JesterCS]

4. Viagra? Lol

[Javaman]

5. funny that. I'm currently reading "Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich"

they were all drugged up and they all were tweeking.

https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Third-Norman-Ohler/dp/1328663795