← Back to the front page

Governments that Tried to Create Super Soldiers and Super Weapons

Khalid Elhassan January 15, 2022 37 min

Super Facts - Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military — Workers at the Temmler factory in Berlin, where methamphetamine-based Pervitin tablets were produced for the German military. The Guardian

A member of the SS tweaking during WWII. American Heroes Channel

3. Many German Soldiers Suffered All the Symptoms of Methamphetamine Addiction

The addition of cocaine to the methamphetamine of Pervitin resulted in an even more addictive drug cocktail. Millions in the German military could not get enough of their de facto crystal meth, and especially not enough of their crystal meth after it got laced with cocaine. Many wrote home and begged their loved ones to send them Pervitin via military mail. One such was Heinrich Boll, a German postwar author who won the 1972 Nobel Prize for literature. For example, in a May 20^th, 1940 letter to his parents, 22-year-old Boll begged them to send him some Pervitin, which he said not only kept him alert but also chased away his worries.

Millions of Pervitin pills were issued before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, the German surprise attack against the USSR. They became incredibly popular with the troops, who nicknamed them “tank chocolate“. However, hooking the troops on cocaine-laced crystal meth produced serious problems. The long-term effects were disastrous, and short rest periods were inadequate to make up for the long stretches of wakefulness as the soldiers tweaked on methamphetamine. Millions became addicts, with side effects such as copious sweat, dizziness, depression, and hallucinations. There were also numerous psychotic episodes, in which soldiers shot themselves or their comrades. In the meantime, however, Nazi soldiers performed feats of super stamina and endurance that awed their opponents.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.