As Winston Churchill liked to use chemical weapons

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Как Уинстон Черчилль любил применять химическое оружие

Interesting to listen to the British: how much pathos, how much arrogance. What in the “Skripal” that “the chemical attack in Syria.”
 

But for a man ignorant of history, the pathos … about. Too often in its history, the British used chemical weapons. Yes. And not only in the framework of the First world war against the Germans, who first used a suffocating gases.

The British used poison gas in 1919. Against whom? Against the Bolsheviks, that is, against the Russian. Against us. Chemical weapons were used by the British while trying to conquer Afghanistan. Then, in Iraq.

And the main ideologist of the use of gas against “savages”, to which, and Russians in London carry to this day, was sir. Winston Churchill.

A lot of interesting things almost no one today knows.

By the way – now famous all over the world, a laboratory at Porton Down near Salisbury, he worked in his field for over a hundred years ago.

And the gas shells against Russian peasants were used far not only Tukhacheskogo.

In a memorial to Russia November 1917, Churchill proposed to drop gas bombs from aircraft. As it was supposedly made in the Duma. There is in fact ONE with the gas pushed out of the plane…

Handwriting however.

Source: spartacus-educational.com

(English translation by Vladimir Imuran)

Winston Churchill and chemical weapons

In April 1915 the German army used gas bombs with chlorine against the French army at Ypres. Gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death through suffocation. General William Robertson recommended that Brigadier General Charles Howard Fouls to General John French as the best performer, to organize a retaliatory strike. Fulks accepted the post, and on 25 September 1915 the British army launched their first gas attack.

Brigadier General Folks eventually received the title of senior officer commanding the special brigade responsible for chemical warfare and Director of gas services. He worked closely with scientists working in government laboratories at Porton Down, near Salisbury. His biographer John Bourne said: “Despite the energy of Foulkes, the ingenuity of its people and the consumption of expensive resources, gas was ultimately disappointing as a weapon, despite his terrifying reputation.”

In July 1917, David Lloyd George appointed Churchill Minister of munitions and to end the war, he was responsible for the production of tanks, planes, guns and shells. Clive Ponting (Clive Ponting), author of “Churchill” (1994), stated: “the Technology that Churchill had placed the greatest faith, it was the chemical agents first used by the Germans in 1915. At this time Churchill developed what was to prove a lifelong enthusiasm for widespread use of this form of war.”

Churchill established a close relationship with Brigadier General Charles Howard Foulkes. Churchill urged Folks to provide him with effective ways of using chemical weapons against the German army. In November 1917, Churchill proposed to drop gas bombs from aircraft. However, this idea was rejected “because it would lead to the deaths of many French and Belgian civilians behind the German lines and raising too many soldiers rare specialty for operation and maintenance of airplanes and bombs.”

6 APR 1918 Churchill said to the French Minister of armaments Louis Lawguru: “I … for the benefit of the highest possible development of the gas war”. In an article prepared for the war Cabinet, he urged the wide use of tanks, large-scale bombing of German civilians and the massive use of chemical warfare agents. Foulkes told Churchill that his scientists are working on a very powerful new chemical weapon, codenamed “M-device”.

According to Giles Milton, author of Russian Roulette: “How British spies thwarted Lenin’s global plot (2013)”: “Tests in the Porton showed that the M device was indeed a terrible new weapon. The active ingredient in M-device was diphenylaminochloroarsine, toxic chemical. For turning this chemical into thick smoke that can incapacitate any soldier who had the misfortune to inhale it, was used by thermoelectric … Strong and unpleasant symptoms were uncontrolled. Uncontrollable vomiting, coughing up blood and instant and crippling fatigue were the most common features … the Victims that were not killed outright were struck by fatigue and fell into a depression for a long time.”

Как Уинстон Черчилль любил применять химическое оружие

British soldiers with M-device

Churchill hoped that he would be able to use the top secret “M device”, an explosive shell which will release a highly toxic gas derived from arsenic. Fools called it “the most effective chemical weapon ever created.” Scientist John Haldane later described the impact of this new weapon: “the Pain in the head is described as if contact with fresh water in the nose while swimming, but much more poignant … accompanied by the most terrible mental suffering and anguish.” Folks argued that the strategy should be “the release of gas in an enormous scale.” This was followed by “a British attack, bypassing the trenches filled with choking and dying people.” However, the war ended in November 1918, before this strategy could be deployed.

After the First world war Prime Minister Lloyd George, Churchill was appointed Minister of war. In may 1919, Churchill ordered British troops to use chemical weapons during the campaign to conquer Afghanistan. When the Indian office objected to the policy, Churchill replied: “the objections of the government of India for the use of gas against natives are unreasonable. Gas is a more merciful weapon than an explosive bomb, and forcing the opponent to make a decision with less loss of life than any other military means. The moral effect is also very large. Could not be conceivable reason why it should not be used“.

Winston Churchill also took the controversial decision to use the stockpiles of M device (diphenylaminochloroarsine) against units of the red Army, who participated in the struggle with the invaders, hostile to the Russian revolution. He was supported by sir Kate Price, head of the chemical warfare agents at Porton Down. He stated that it was “the right medicine for the Bolsheviks,” and the terrain allows you to “drift very well.” Sir Pryce agreed with Churchill that the use of chemical weapons will lead to a rapid collapse of the Bolshevik government in Russia: “I believe that if you put the exact shot only one time with Gas, you will find many of the Bolsheviks on this side of Vologda”.

In the greatest mystery of 50,000 M devices were shipped to Arkhangelsk, together with the tools required for their firing. Churchill sent a message to major-General William Ironside: “At the present time, we must make the fullest use of gas shell with your forces, or supply us forces of the White Russian movement”. He told Ironside that it was “a thermoelectric ARSENICAL dust which penetrates all known types of protective masks”. Churchill added that he likes that “Bolsheviks” will get it. Churchill also arranged for 10,000 respirators for the British troops and twenty-five officers of the experts on gas for use of this equipment.

This information was leaked to the press, and Churchill was forced to answer questions on this subject in the House of Commons on 29 may 1919. Churchill insisted that the Red Army used chemical war: “I don’t understand why, if they use poison gas, they should object to use it against them. Very correct and necessary to use them against poison gas”. His statement was false. There is no evidence of Bolshevik forces using gas against the British troops, and Churchill himself sanctioned his initial usage of approximately six weeks before.

August 27, 1919, the British bombers Airco DH.9 dropped the gas bomb in the Russian village Emtsa. According to one source: “soldiers of the Bolsheviks fled when the spread of green gas. Those who could not escape were vomiting blood before they lost consciousness”. Among other settlements were Canova, Vitova, pocha, Chorga, Tavoyan and Sipalki. During this period, the Russian was dropped 506 gas bombs.

Lieutenant Donald Grantham told the Bolshevik prisoners about these attacks. One man by the name of Backrow said that the soldiers “did not know, what is this cloud, and fled to him, and some were broken in the cloud and died there, and the rest wandered for a short time, and then fell and died.” Backrow claimed that twenty-five of his comrades were killed during the attack. Bactroba managed to avoid the main “gas cloud”, but he was very ill for 24 hours and suffered from “dizziness in the head, running from ears, bleeding nose and cough with blood, slezotechenii eyes and difficulty breathing”.

Major-General William Ironside told David Lloyd George that he is convinced that even after these gas attacks, his troops will not be able to move very far. He also warned that the White army had experienced a series of rebellions (in the British armed forces was also some unrest). Lloyd George agreed that Ironside should withdraw its troops. Their conclusion was completed by October. The remaining chemical weapons were considered too dangerous to send to the UK, and it was therefore decided to reset it in the White sea.

Churchill was a great controversy over his policies in Iraq. It has been estimated that to control the country will need around 25,000 British and 80,000 Indian troops. However, he argued that if Britain trust on air power, these figures can be reduced to 4,000 (British) and 10,000 (Indian). The government was convinced in this argument, and it was decided to send the newly formed Royal air force in Iraq.

In 1920 there was an uprising of more than 100,000 armed insurgents. Over the next few months RAF1 dropped 97 tons of bombs, killing 9,000 Iraqis. It are unable to end the resistance and Arab and Kurdish uprisings continued to pose a threat to British rule. Winston Churchill suggested that the RAF should use chemical weapons for the rebels. Some Cabinet members objected to this tactic: Churchill argued: “I do not understand this squeamishness in regard to the use of gas … I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gases against uncivilized tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be minimized … it is Possible to use gases which cause great inconvenience and leave a lively terror and yet would not leave serious permanent effects on most victims.”

As soon as he gained power in may 1940, Churchill began to consider the use of chemical weapons. However, he changed his mind when military intelligence reported that Germany is able to lose four times more chemical bombs than Britain. However, introduced the plans for using the gas war, Adolf Hitler, was ordered to plan the invasion of Britain. May 30, 1940, he told the Cabinet “we should not hesitate to contaminate our beaches with gas”. By the end of September, when the invasion scared him, he decided not to use the weapon first. He charged General Ismeyu Hastings, chief of staff, to keep a store: “I am deeply concerned that the gas war should not be taken at the moment … We don’t have to start, but we need to be able to answer.”

In 1943 Churchill made a public statement that if Germany uses chemical bombs against the Soviet Union, he will issue instructions that Britain would also use these weapons. Churchill told General Ismeyu: “We shall retaliate by drenching the German cities with gas in the large scale.” In March 1944 Churchill ordered 500,000 anthrax bombs from the United States. These bombs were to be thrown “outside” to make the city unfit for life and indeed dangerous to enter without a respirator”.

In 1944 Churchill military intelligence also reported that the British are much larger stocks of poison gas than Nazi Germany. He wrote Ismeyu 6 July 1944: “it is Absurd to consider morality on this topic when everybody used it in the last war without a nod to complaints from the moralists of the Church … It’s just a question of fashion changing as she does between long and short skirts for women … actually should not be related to the silly conventions of the mind.”

Churchill now sent a message to his superiors: “I can certainly ask you to support me in using poison gas. We could shed the city of the Ruhr and many other cities in Germany so that a large part of the population will require ongoing medical care … If we do that, let’s make it a hundred percent. Meanwhile, I want to have the matter studied in cold blood by sensible people and not this particular set of Psalm-singing defeatists in uniform who now run here and there”.

28 July 1944 the chief of staff told Churchill that a possible gas war, and that Britain can throw more than Germany but they doubt that it will cause the government difficulties in controlling the country. However, they were deeply concerned about the possibility that Germany will respond, fearing that the British public would react differently than German: “the same cannot be said about our own people who have no such a sorry state”. Reading the judgment of the chief of staff, Churchill grimly concluded: “I’m not entirely convinced by this negative report. But, okay, I can’t go against Church Ministers and generals at the same time”.

1RAF – Royal air force

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