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The Allies’ Secret Chemical Contingency Against Nazi Germany
World War II could have become a chemical war
On December 2nd, 1943, nearly two years to the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, another surprise attack hit an Allied port with devastating results. In order to assist the Italian campaign, the Allies had started to build out the ancient harbor of Bari. Bari was the traditional escape route and entry point for various Roman emperors and generals forced out of Rome or looking to surprise Rome from the south. The Allies believed that Bari could bolster their shipping capacity in Italy while the port of Salerno was rebuilt.
The attack on Bari came as a complete surprise. Few Allied military planners believed that the Luftwaffe had the capability to launch a coordinated strike so far to the south. They were dead wrong.
The resulting attack was one of the worst surprise attacks of the war and it was dubbed Little Pearl Harbor. It also unveiled a sinister plan and a dark future involving mass chemical warfare.
The Raid on Bari
