American researchers also worked on a plan to use bats to carry incendiary bombs, but the programme was shelved. In 2004, the British government unveiled a memorial dedicated to the animals including horses, dogs and pigeons who served and died alongside British and allied troops.ĭuring the first world war, glow worms were often kept by British soldiers to help them read maps at night.
Each scenario generally reflects the world on a given date by translating researched information into game data. Making History games areas the name impliesdesigned to allow players to change the outcome of important historical conflicts. In comparison with the biological research of the allied forces, he said, Nazi research had been "risible".Īnimals were frequently employed for military operations during the first and second world war, though mainly for transport and communication. The Second World War: Historic Timelines & Advanced Weapons August 08, 2017. Behind the project was "a bizarre mix of Himmler's smattering of scientific knowledge, personal paranoia, an esoteric world view, and genuine concerns about his SS troops", Reinhardt told Süddeutsche Zeitung. In the end, the research proved of little value. Research into the mosquito project had to be carried out in secret. With Germany having signed up to the 1925 Geneva protocol, Adolf Hitler had officially ruled out the use of biological and chemical weapons during the second world war, as had allied forces. At the end of the trials, the director of the institute recommended a particular type of anopheles mosquito, a genus well-known for its capacity to transmit malaria to humans.
These weapons have the capacity to kill millions directly and through their impact on agriculture have likely the potential to kill billions. In 1944, scientists examined different types of mosquitoes for their life spans in order to establish whether they could be kept alive long enough to be transported from a breeding lab to a drop-off point. The world’s nuclear powers have more than 10,000 nuclear warheads in their arsenals. Chlorine gas caused suffocation after the victim experiences chest pains and burning in the throat. During the Battle of Ypres, also in 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time. Its official mission was to find new remedies against diseases transmitted by lice and other insects: German troops were often plagued by typhoid, and there were concerns about a developing typhoid epidemic at the Neuengamme concentration camp.īut in an article for the science journal Endeavour, Klaus Reinhardt says protocols kept by the head of the institute allow no other conclusion than that the institute also pursued research into biological warfare. In fact, during World War I, an estimated 1.3 million had died from the use of chemical weapons. In January 1942, the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, ordered the creation of the Dachau entomological institute.
Towards the end of the war, scientists at an institute in Dachau conducted research into how malaria-infected insects could be kept alive for long enough to be released into enemy territory. The Nazis considered using mosquitoes as biological weapons during the second world war, research has revealed.