With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Did Nazi scientist save Britain from Hitler's deadly gas that could have killed millions?

...All this leads one to ask the question that has vexed historians since 1945: why didn't Hitler use chemical weapons against the Allies? After all, he had shown no qualms against using gas on Jewish men, women and children, so why not against enemy troops as well?...

But now a startling new explanation has come to light. According to Frank J. Dinan, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York State, a scientist close to Hitler exaggerated the Allies' capability of hitting back with their own chemical weapons, which caused the Fuhrer to rethink his plans.

If Professor Dinan's extraordinary claim is true, it means that a German scientist, up until now regarded as a war criminal, might be one of the greatest unsung heroes of the 20th century.

That man was Otto Ambros. Born in 1901, he was a highly able chemist who earned his doctorate at Munich University in 1925. He initially worked for the German chemical company BASF, but by 1938 had risen to become a board member of the giant IG Farben, where he helped mastermind the firm's chemical weapons section....
Read entire article at Daily Mail (UK)