WWII – Nazi Germany
In World War II, Nazi Germany was responsible for the deadliest use of poison gas in history. Using carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide millions of Jews and other victims were gassed and killed. The prolific use of chemical weapons in concentration camps to kill large numbers of people is contrasted with the limited use of chemical weapons in combat.
Nazi Germany forced concentration camp prisoners to create tabun which was nerve gas. They even used prisoners as test subjects to determine the effectiveness of the gas. Tens of thousands of tons of chemical weapons were stockpiled by Nazi Germany but it was believed that the Allies had substantially more and therefore Hitler believed that it was not worth the risk to be the first to use them in combat.
In 1943, during a meeting in the Wolf’s Lair, Hitler was told that Germany was in possession of 45,000 tons of tabun and other chemical weapons. However, he was also told that the Allies had far more. In response, Hitler ordered that the stockpiles of tabun and sarin be doubled. But he went against the wishes of his advisers and did not send any of the gas to the Russian front because he feared Allied retribution.
Despite Hitler’s reluctance for large-scale use of chemical weapons in combat, there were a few instances where it was used. In May 1942, 3,000 Red Army soldiers and civilians were hiding out in caves after the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula. They held out for three months until finally, the Germans released poison gas into the tunnels which killed most of those hiding. Thousands of people killed around the tunnels were found to have been killed due to asphyxiation from gas.