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AS THE world recoils at the horrific possibility of al-Qaeda terrorists waging anthrax war against United States citizens, the Sunday Herald can reveal that Britain manufactured five million anthrax cattle cakes during the second world war and planned to drop them on Germany in 1944.
The aim of Operation Vegetarian was to wipe out the German beef and dairy herds and then see the bacterium spread to the human population. With people then having no access to antibiotics, this would have caused many thousands -- perhaps even millions -- of German men, women and children to suffer awful deaths.
The anthrax cakes were tested on Gruinard Island, off Wester Ross, which was finally cleared of contamination in 1990. Operation VEGETARIAN was planned for the summer of 1944 but, in the event, it was abandoned as the Allies' Normandy invasion progressed successfully.
Originally posted by PhoenixOD
Apparently its all still sitting at the bottom of the sea in barrels slowly leaking out into the environment.
Biological warfare testing Main article: Operation Vegetarian In 1942, during the Second World War, Gruinard was the site of a biological warfare test by British military scientists from Porton Down.[7] At that time there was an investigation by the British government into the feasibility of an attack using anthrax: to test the vulnerability of Britain against a German attack and the viability of attacking Germany with a British bio-weapon.[8] Given the nature of the weapon which was being developed, it was recognised that tests would cause widespread and long-lasting contamination of the immediate area by anthrax spores. In order to limit contamination a remote and uninhabited island was required. After a survey, Gruinard was deemed suitable and was compulsorily purchased from its owners by the British Government.[9]
TextAfter the tests were completed, British scientists concluded that a large release of anthrax spores would thoroughly pollute German cities, rendering them uninhabitable for decades afterwards.[7] These conclusions were supported by the discovery that after the biological warfare trials had ended, initial efforts to decontaminate the island failed due to the high durability of anthrax spores. For many years, it was judged too hazardous and expensive to decontaminate the island sufficiently to allow public access. As a result, Gruinard Island was quarantined indefinitely. Visits to the island were prohibited, except periodic checks by Porton Down personnel to determine the current level of contamination.
In 1981 British newspapers began receiving messages with the heading "Operation Dark Harvest" which demanded that the government decontaminate the island, and reported that a "team of microbiologists from two universities" had landed on the island with the aid of local people and collected 300 lbs of soil. The group threatened to leave samples of the soil "at appropriate points that will ensure the rapid loss of indifference of the government and the equally rapid education of the general public". The same day a sealed package of soil was left outside the military research facility at Porton Down; tests revealed that it contained anthrax bacilli. A few days later another sealed package of soil was left in Blackpool, where the ruling Conservative Party was holding its annual conference. The soil did not contain anthrax, but officials said that the soil was similar to that found on the island.
Originally posted by TBR47
reply to post by skuly
Do you think it was justifiable that we was going to exterminate a race for exterminating another? 2 wrongs don't make a right we would have been just as evil as the Nazis,i think it was a bit extreme what we did to Dresden the whole city in flames a mile high
Dresden in the 20th century was a leading European centre of art, classical music, culture and science until its complete destruction on 13 February 1945. Being the capital of the German state of Saxony, Dresden had not only garrisons but a whole military borough, the Albertstadt. This military complex, named after Saxon King Albert, was never targeted in the bombing of Dresden. During the final months of World War II, Dresden became a safe haven to some 600,000 refugees, including women, children, and wounded soldiers, with a total population of 1.2 million. Dresden was attacked seven times between 1944 and 1945, and was occupied by the Red Army after German capitulation. The bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force between 13 February and 15 February 1945 remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of the Western European theatre of war.
Originally posted by TBR47
I know we Brits aren't very eco friendly look what British petroleum recently did to the gulf of mexico.im surprised vegetation still grows in Britain