The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

Categories: Health and Medicine | History

While the Red Army used the "front-line hundred grams", methamphetamines were used on the other side of the trenches. Under the influence of drugs, the soldiers could not sleep for days on end, they felt neither fear nor pain.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

This is a letter from the future Nobel laureate Heinrich Bell to his parents, and it was not unusual-since 1939, Wehrmacht soldiers were given pervitin, benzedrine and isophane for cheerfulness, and when they lacked pervitin, they asked their parents to send it to them. It was not difficult for parents — in the Reich itself, pervitin was sold openly, even in the form of chocolates, which were nicknamed "panzerskolade" — "tank chocolate" for the fact that soldiers willingly bought it.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

Medical certificate: Methamphetamine, or pervitin — is an artificial derivative of amphetamine, a white crystalline substance that has no smell and tastes bitter. It is a psychostimulant with an extremely high potential for addiction, and therefore, it has become widely used as a drug. Pervitin's street names are diverse: speed, chalk, speed (from the English word speed ‑speed). Taking pervitin causes a surge of strength and self-confidence, dramatically increases efficiency and concentration, relieves, despite the lack of sleep and rest, a feeling of fatigue, as well as pain, hunger and thirst. For the first time, amphetamine, the precursor of the described drug, was synthesized in Germany in 1887, and methamphetamine itself, easier to use, but also more powerful, was created in 1919 by the Japanese scientist A. Ogata.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

The first testers of pervitin were 90 students who in 1939, under the supervision of a military doctor Otto Ranke, took the drug and expressed confidence that the pills helped them to be cheerful and energetic, then tankers and drivers received it before the invasion of Poland, well, and after the success of the portion of pervitin, pilots began to receive. Allegedly, it was pervitin, benzedrine and isophane that contributed to the success of the Blitzkrieg in Europe. Only in April–July 1940, the Wehrmacht received 35 million tablets from the company "Knoll" with instructions to use up to 2 tablets a day for cheerfulness.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

During the period from 1939 to 1945, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were " fed " more than 200 million tablets of pervitin. A large dose was received by the units that participated in the capture of Poland, France, Holland and Belgium.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

In 1944, a new miracle pill D-IX for submariners was tested at the Sachsenhausen camp. It contained 5 mg of cocaine, 3 mg of pervitin and 5 mg of oxycodone (an analgesic). By the way, the test prisoners were not at all low-income, but well-fed guys of a sporty appearance. Thanks to the D‑IX tablets, the crews of submarines could go without sleep for up to 4 days.

The Wehrmacht is stoned: drugs in the service of the Third Reich

It's funny that the creators of the miracle pills were taken to the United States after the war, where they created "cheerfulness pills" for the troops in Korea and Vietnam. On the basis of pervitin, of course. In 1966-1969 alone, the US Army swallowed 225 million tablets of dextroamphetamine and pervitin. It is believed that American soldiers stopped officially "sticking around" in 1973, in reality-who knows?

Keywords: Health and medicine | History | Soldiers | World War II | Methamphetamine | Pills

Post News Article

Recent articles

Thomas Creech is the most charming maniac in the United States, who cannot be executed for 40 years
Thomas Creech is the most charming maniac in the United ...

Could you be friends with a guy who killed dozens of people? Do not rush to answer, because you do not know Thomas Eugene Creech, a ...

10 famous streets of the world that are worth seeing firsthand
10 famous streets of the world that are worth seeing firsthand

The exact number of streets in the world is unknown. For example, there are more than 3,500 of them in Moscow alone, taking into ...

15 unexpected photos of Russian celebrities, where it is difficult to recognize them
15 unexpected photos of Russian celebrities, where it is ...

There is a separate category of celebrities that we have known for a long time, but it seems as if they have always been in ...

Related articles

An incredible discovery by archaeologists: a girl from the Inca tribe, which is more than 500 years old
An incredible discovery by archaeologists: a girl from the ...

A teenage girl of 14-15 years old, who was sacrificed about 500 years ago, all the past centuries lay in the ice on the top of the ...

Quiet Sleep: Three simple tips from sleep experts on how to deal with snoring
Quiet Sleep: Three simple tips from sleep experts on how to ...

Snoring is one of the most unpleasant symptoms of the body. He does not give a normal sleep to the snorer himself, nor to the one ...

Who are the urine collectors and why in the old days the combat capability of the army depended on them
Who are the urine collectors and why in the old days the ...

Starting from the dark Middle Ages and ending with the enlightened 18th century, in the cities of Europe, you could meet people who ...