History 28/01/20 Why Stalin did not use combat gases against Hitler’s army
Historians still wonder why in the European theater of world war II there was not a single case of the use of chemical warfare agents. As for the red Army, the failure of command from chemical warfare may be due to the banal lack of toxic munitions.
the Failure of the production program
in the 20-30-ies of the revolutionary military Council assumed that the coming “imperialist war” will be accompanied by a gas attack. The population of the Soviet Union psychologically prepared for this, schools and enterprises conducted classes on the use of gas masks. However, after Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union it became clear that his accumulated resources for chemical warfare, the red Army is not enough.
in 1941, In accordance with the order of t-bills was deployed mass production of chemical warfare agents. But not all production facilities, which are located Narkompros, actually turned out to be suitable for production. Researcher of the history of the Soviet chemical weapons, Lev Fedorov, in his book “chlorine and phosgene, to “Novice”” enumerates a number of problems faced by the Agency. For example, constantly broke the equipment mustards shop of the plant No. 100 in Stalinogorsk. Capacity for the production of lewisite at the same company actually failed, and the production in Berezniki and Stalingrad. The plant No 96 in Dzerzhinsk luisiny shop had to be rebuilt, because the previously developed method proved to be ineffective. One of the plants for the production of phosgene after the loss of Ukraine was in the hands of the enemy, two more — in Moscow and Stalingrad — are unable to earn because of the proximity to the front.
the security Level of production at the enterprises was extremely low, which is regularly leaking chemicals. Cases of poisoning INMwas eslalis tens and hundreds in a month, some workers were killed, others went crazy and got into psychiatric hospital. The result is a real the release of chemical warfare agents during the war years was considerably lower than planned. For example, plan on the most important mustard of Levinstein in 1941-42. was 89 thousand tons, in reality, the army has received only 25 thousand tons.
Analysis of “chemical” flight
In February 1942, the chemical industry Commissar Mikhail Denisov wrote to Stalin that the failure of production of chemical warfare agents is due to “unsuccessful selection of leading cadres of the Central Board and individual plants”. The head claimed that “bums” demoted or fired. Such excuses Denisov was found repeatedly, blaming the failure to evacuate enterprises, low-skilled workers and other reasons. However, the situation in Narkomhimproma had already engaged the Prosecutor’s office. After reviewing the documents, she came to the conclusion that the leadership of the Commissioner “made a series of actions bordering on sabotage”. Prosecutors acknowledged the “criminal” neglect of the superiors to safety, which led to the large number of poisonings. In addition, the inspectors found that in Narkomhimproma engaged in “fraud”. Knowing the shortage of raw materials necessary for the production of toxic gases, the leaders kept it from the government.
“I Believe it necessary to arrest and prosecute former head of the 1st dome, St. Michael, former chief engineer of the 1st Cupola, Kofman, chief engineer of the plant N96, Goldberg,” — reported on the results of the investigation, the Prosecutor of the USSR Victor Bochkov.
unlike the above-mentioned persons, the Commissar, Mikhail Denisov, though was dismissed, contrary to the requirements of the Prosecutor’s office without being called to account — he just transferred to another job in the government.
it is Worth noting that towards the end of the war, production problems in the Commissariat of the chemical industry have been largely resolved. In 1945, SSSR had already in 2 times more toxic substances than Germany. However, no offensive use of mustard gas and phosgene after the “great break” was gone. And the Nazis did not unleash chemical warfare, apparently fearing thus speed up his defeat.
Timur Sagdiyev
Source:
© Russian Seven
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