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It's long been known that German soldiers
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used a form of methamphetamine called Pervitin
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during the Second World War.
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But have tales of Nazis on speed
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diverted attention away from the other side of the story?
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Wow, that's amazing, isn't it?
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The widespread use of stimulants by British and American troops.
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Did World War II unleash the world's first
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pharmacological arms race?
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And in the face of industrial slaughter,
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what role did drugs play in combat?
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Now, one historian...
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My goodness, look, there's the swastika.
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..is on a quest to dig deeper...
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You've got the machine guns there. You've got the tools.
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So you just, literally, just go... Precisely.
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A cannon shell is just going to rip through.
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This soldier here, they can hardly walk. Yes.
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..to reveal the truth about World War Speed.
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Stand by.
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8, 7, 6...
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The amount of dust was incredible!
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..5, 4...
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Oh, my goodness me, look at that!
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3, 2, 1.
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Shoot. Fire one.
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Oh, my God.
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BOMBER ENGINE DRONES
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RADIO CRACKLES PILOT SPEAKS GERMAN
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MAN REPLIES
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December, 1942.
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A German bomber crew struggle to keep their damaged plane aloft.
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RADIO CONVERSATION CONTINUES
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BOMBER ENGINE WHINES
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Seven decades after it went down,
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this German Heinkel He 115 bomber
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was raised from a Norwegian fjord.
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It was an amazing discovery -
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the only aircraft of its kind ever recovered,
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from a time when Britain stood alone
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against fascism in Europe.
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The fjord's oxygen-poor water
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left the plane remarkably intact
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and the recovery team discovered artefacts
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in near-pristine condition...
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..including brandy...
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..caffeine-infused chocolate...
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..and speed.
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MAN CHATS ON NORWEGIAN RADIO
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We're going to see the remains of a Heinkel 115,
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which is a float plane, a seaplane,
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that was used by the German Navy.
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And not only did they pull up this Heinkel 115,
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they also found lots of things on it,
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including, it turns out, a packet of Pervitin.
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For me, there is a massive difference between just being
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an armchair historian and actually getting out on the ground,
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rolling up your sleeves and doing some proper primary research.
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ELECTRICITY CRACKLES
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You can't really understand a subject
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unless you've actually seen what you're looking at for real -
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you know, touched those pieces of paper, looked at the sites...
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..talked to other people who really know what they're talking about.
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And it is amazing how it actually then prompts you
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to ask all sorts of other questions
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that you might not have thought about in the first place.
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James Holland has written nearly 30 books about the Second World War.
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He's an expert on the blitzkrieg of 1940 and the Battle of Britain,
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both pivotal chapters in his quest to understand amphetamine use
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during the conflict.
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MAN CHATS ON NORWEGIAN RADIO
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Did German amphetamine packets survive both the crash
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and decades underwater?
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If so, they could provide unique insight
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into the role speed played
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during German bombing missions over Britain.
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You know, I've seen a few aircraft wrecks that have
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been pulled out of the water, but this Heinkel 115
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that's been pulled up out of the fjord was in incredible condition.
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So good that you could still see the paintbrush marks
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on the tailplane.
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So, I'm looking at the bomb bay here, aren't I? Yeah, yeah.
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OK, but this was carrying bombs when it was found? Yeah, yeah.
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So where would they have been? They was in the centre section.
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And this is the camouflage for going over the dark North Sea.
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You know, you wouldn't want it light, would you?
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You look at that sea from above,
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you can see how dark it is all the time.
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German bomber crews on night missions from Norway -
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a 12-hour round trip over the North Sea -
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faced the RAF and flak over the British Isles.
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BOMBER ENGINE DRONES
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German victories made the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht seem invincible.
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Rumours circulated of German soldiers and airmen
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fuelled by a super drug that made them fearless
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and able to press on without the need for rest or recuperation.
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ENGINE WHINES
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The performance of Nazi dive-bombers
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led to theories about so-called Stuka tablets...
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..pills that enabled pilots
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to withstand impossible G-force dives to target.
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HE MOUTHS
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This is the Heinkel 115 elevator.
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It was cut in two when the plane crashed.
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Right.
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In the wing, there was a dinghy. Yes.
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And, within that dinghy, there was a rescue package.
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Is it possible to look at it? Yes. Fantastic.
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So, when I walked in and saw the table full of objects
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from this escape kit, plus a few other little bits and pieces
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they found, you know, I was absolutely staggered.
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And, obviously, we've got a brace of machine guns here.
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These are 17s?
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MG 17s, yeah.
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You've got the machine guns there, you've got the tools,
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you've got all this,
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but this is the bit that's really catching my eye.
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Matches. Yeah.
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Cigarettes. Yeah, it is.
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And this is obviously chocolate.
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This has a high caffeine content, doesn't it? Yes.
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And this is the brandy?
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Yes, that's the brandy.
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I can't believe you haven't tried it.
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OK, but there's one item here that, to me, is missing.
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Yes, I guess you are missing the Pervitin.
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Yes, where's that?
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Well, when it came up and we tried to clean it,
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it started to dissolve.
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And when we looked back in the box,
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it was just nothing left.
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So, it just vanished.
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Well, I'm sorry we have only a photograph of it.
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The whole reason for coming here
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is because Pervitin has been found on this plane
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when it was brought up from the fjord.
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It was a little disappointing.
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Despite Jim's disappointment,
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the Pervitin's location on the plane could well be more important
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than seeing the package itself.
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So, this was in the...
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This was in the wing?
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What was really interesting is that it wasn't, sort of,
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in the cockpit equivalent of the glove compartment.
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You know, it wasn't found right by the pilot's seat or something.
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You know, it was actually found in a pre-prepared
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emergency escape pack.
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That made me kind of think that it wasn't used in a kind of,
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sort of, casual way,
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but in a quite pragmatic way.
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If the Pervitin was kept out of reach,
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it suggests the drug wasn't meant to keep men awake during flight,
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but would help keep them alive should their plane go down.
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So, you've got the brandy to keep the cold away.
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You got some cigarettes to keep you going.
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Chocolate with caffeine in it
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and, of course, you've got the Pervitin.
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We all know what that does - that keeps you going
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for another 12 hours or so,
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while you're bobbing around on the North Sea.
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They were flying in winter,
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so it's going to be bitterly, bitterly cold.
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The most important thing is that they don't fall asleep
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and die of hypothermia.
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So, what's going to keep you awake?
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Well, Pervitin's going to do that.
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Jim's Norway stop has been illuminating and frustrating.
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He heads south to a museum in Germany,
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where you can still see Pervitin samples from World War II.
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And I met with Dr Peter Steinkamp, who's an expert on this.
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You know, I just really wanted to pick his brains about
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what this stuff was, how it came to be,
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and to look at Pervitin packets for the first time.
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Wow. That's amazing, isn't it?
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This was a methamphetamine
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created in the 1930s
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by a German pharmacologist.
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He called it Pervitin.
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This is a version for injection
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and this is the version for pills.
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And what does it say here?
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Inject slowly,
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not too fast.
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JIM CHUCKLES
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Goodness me.
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Imagine buying, over the counter,
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vials of stuff to inject yourself, you know, with a Class A drug.
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I mean, it's just absolutely extraordinary
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and just so casual.
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If I took one of those, how long would I be completely wired for?
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Well, about two nights.
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So, this came out in Germany, what, in the late 1930s?
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Yes, in 1938,
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it was first available in tobacco stores.
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So I could just walk in and I could go,
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I'll have a packet of 12 Pervitin, please? Yeah, really. Wow!
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That's amazing, isn't it?
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By 1938,
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Pervitin manufacturer, Temmler Pharmaceutical of Berlin,
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had launched a PR campaign,
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modelled on Coca-Cola's global marketing strategy.
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HITLER ADDRESSING CROWD
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And despite Hitler's vehement anti-drug rhetoric,
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many Nazis, including the Fuhrer himself,
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were heavy drug users. CROWD CHEERS
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Methamphetamine seemed geared to the modern, tech-embracing Reich.
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The Nazi state is all about,
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"If you work hard, if you strive for a better Germany,
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"then you'll get a better Germany.
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"Come on, get your backbone into it and let's get working.
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"Let's make Nazi Germany - the Third Reich -
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"let's make it a thousand-year Reich.
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"Let's make it brilliant!"
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You know, and they embrace science and technology,
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and pharmacology is all tied in with that
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and that's why it appeals.
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So, it's not much of a step,
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is it, from day-to-day domestic use,
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to being used in the armed services?
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Yes. Yes, you're right.
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The officials said to the medical officer,
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"Please, now give Pervitin to our soldiers."
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By May 1940,
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German troops, under the influence of Pervitin,
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had conquered Poland.
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Hitler's army massed for another attack against France.
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The British and French armies facing them
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outnumbered the Germans in men, artillery, and tanks.
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But the German plan was audacious -
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using air power as moving artillery,
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what some called a new method of warfare.
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The German way of war, what has become known as blitzkrieg,
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has always been traditionally depicted as something new. It isn't.
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It's an extension of the way of war
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that Germans have always been practising
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and before Germany became Germany, in 1871,
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the Prussians before them.
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And it's because they're stuck in the middle of Europe.
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They don't have those resources of bauxite and copper and iron ore
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and, more latterly, oil -
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and food, actually -
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that you need to protract a long, attritional war.
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So what do you do?
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Well, you get round that by fighting your wars
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with overwhelming force at the point of impact,
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where you first attack, knocking your enemy off balance,
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surrounding them and annihilating them.
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And you do that incredibly quickly.
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The German army was outgunned and outnumbered.
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To win, they had to move swiftly.
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And, like the Luftwaffe, the army also had a secret weapon
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to help defeat their oldest enemy...
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..sleep.
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I mean, how much Pervitin was used in 1940?
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During the war against France, in 1940,
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there was a delivering of 35 million pills
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of Pervitin to the Wehrmacht.
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Wow. So, literally, just in sort of 10, 12 weeks,
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they're issuing 35 million tablets of Pervitin?
260
00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:53,280
Yeah, yes.
261
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,440
You know, all in, there's only about 3 million troops involved
262
00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:58,080
in the whole thing.
263
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,160
In the end, the German army pulled off what seemed impossible,
264
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:08,320
even to Hitler.
265
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,640
Wehrmacht tanks and soldiers managed to fight and march
266
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,360
for ten days straight,
267
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,280
trapping the British Army on the beaches of Dunkirk.
268
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:26,480
German troops advanced an average of 22 miles a day, under fire.
269
00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:28,520
GUNFIRE
270
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,200
It's considered one of the greatest feats in military history.
271
00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:37,720
So, obviously, Pervitin keeps you awake,
272
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,320
but what else does it do to you?
273
00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,360
When you are taking it and you have to do a duty...
274
00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,120
..you are focused on it.
275
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:49,640
There was no fear.
276
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,080
You don't think about anything else in that moment.
277
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,440
What other side-effects are there?
278
00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:01,400
I talked to some veterans who used Pervitin
279
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,000
and they said, after doing their duty,
280
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,680
they sometimes got frightened,
281
00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:14,320
"Because we were in fear that we could never ever sleep again.
282
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,120
"And when we could not sleep any more, we must die."
283
00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,680
However the drug affected individual soldiers,
284
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:26,280
the outcome was clear.
285
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,200
German troops, fuelled by methamphetamine,
286
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:36,000
crushed the combined arms of Western Europe in little over a week.
287
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,480
Nazi tactics and technology seemed unstoppable.
288
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,080
But did the Wehrmacht need a stimulant
289
00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,840
to achieve victory in 1940?
290
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:57,000
Was marching 22 miles in a single day such an amazing pace?
291
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,800
Or had the blitzkrieg tale turned into legend?
292
00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:05,800
Jim has gathered a group of fellow history fanatics
293
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,680
to put these questions to the test.
294
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,840
They start by comparing British and German infantry gear.
295
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,320
..is much more.
296
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:19,320
I'm just asking.
297
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,120
Taff Gillingham has served as a military consultant for film and TV.
298
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,880
You then don't need to take your eye off target
299
00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:30,800
until you've knocked him over. So...
300
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,560
He's an expert on Second World War paraphernalia.
301
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,080
Well, Taff, you know, we've got this all laid out.
302
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:39,440
We've got British here, German here.
303
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,880
Presumably, this is an ammunition pouch? That's right.
304
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:43,320
That's the ammunition pouch.
305
00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,920
You've got three clips in each of those pouches.
306
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,640
I mean, they do love leather, don't they, the Germans?
307
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:51,040
I mean, very bit of it is just leather, leather, leather.
308
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:52,680
The British had a simpler idea,
309
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,320
which was to carry a cotton bandolier,
310
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,160
then you just pull the clips out, really, to push into the rifle. Hmm.
311
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:03,240
The British kit is actually pretty quiet,
312
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,080
because it's all cotton, it's canvas,
313
00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:07,280
it doesn't make much noise as you move around.
314
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,080
Whereas veterans always had this story that you could hear
315
00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,200
the German army coming, because they sounded like a loose cutlery drawer,
316
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,600
with all this stuff clinking and clanking away as they...
317
00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:16,960
German...
318
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,000
Exactly, the gas mask tin bouncing around.
319
00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:25,960
Next, they set out to see how hard it would have been
320
00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,040
to cover 22 miles carrying a 60lb combat load
321
00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,120
with only coffee or tea to keep them going.
322
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:35,160
That's quite heavy.
323
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,160
I can't believe that they'd have walked a long way
324
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,040
with a kit like that. I mean, this is the reason for doing this.
325
00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,080
It's only when you actually start using this practically
326
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,160
that you can understand how people would operate with it
327
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:50,440
back in the day.
328
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,200
So, the real point of this entire experiment is,
329
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,720
after walking 20 miles around here with all this kit,
330
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,120
if you've got a drug that can keep you going,
331
00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:03,760
can we understand why they're using this in 1940?
332
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:05,840
OK. Let's do it. Let's do it.
333
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:15,520
My feet hurt.
334
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:20,600
How's that? That looks good.
335
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:21,840
Feels better.
336
00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:23,120
Oh, post.
337
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:31,560
Oh!
338
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:32,920
That's my feet.
339
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,000
Now they hurt.
340
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,520
HE GROANS
341
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:41,720
HE GRUNTS
342
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,960
We'll maybe leave that bit out. THEY LAUGH
343
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,600
Two hours and seven miles in, the group break for tea.
344
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,320
That's heating up pretty quick, isn't it?
345
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:52,920
For many Allied soldiers,
346
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:55,200
caffeine was the stimulant of choice.
347
00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,920
Coffee was so critical to American GI Joes that "a cup of Joe"
348
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,240
is still synonymous with the drink.
349
00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,240
All right, cheers.
350
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,200
I've got my foot out. Put your heel up.
351
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,520
Where is it? Just there. Wiggle your foot.
352
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,160
How much am I getting paid for this? That's all I want to know.
353
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,200
So, because we're able to take caffeine,
354
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,520
we're on these lovely delicious-looking chocolate.
355
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:19,960
Caffeine-enhanced chocolate.
356
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:21,560
So, James, this should send us round
357
00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,720
the next bit of the march a bit quicker then, eh? Should do.
358
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:25,800
All right, let's go.
359
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,920
They may not be in combat...
360
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,000
Hello, woofits! DOG BARKS
361
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,560
..but they are carrying the same 60lb load that
362
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,960
German and British soldiers would have humped, back in 1940.
363
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,600
It's no easy task.
364
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:45,200
Where's this short cut?
365
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:49,840
And if it's not 100 yards,
366
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,160
I'm going to collapse in a pile there.
367
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,160
HE GROANS
368
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:55,680
Oh. Oh!
369
00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:58,400
My feet are broken.
370
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,520
My ankles are broke.
371
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,600
So, I reckon the 20 miles is achievable,
372
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,320
but day after day, that's a very hard thing to ask
373
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:10,760
for a platoon of soldiers.
374
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:13,960
Despite bruised ankles,
375
00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,680
they log 14 miles in just under four hours.
376
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,840
At this pace, they would easily hit the 22-mile mark of the Wehrmacht.
377
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,600
You know, they were all trained up for doing this kind of stuff.
378
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,360
So you have to think that walking 22 miles a day
379
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:33,400
over consecutive days, for those guys,
380
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,440
really shouldn't have been a massive problem without drugs.
381
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:41,920
I am not convinced that the Germans needed it, at all.
382
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,480
Whether the Wehrmacht needed Pervitin or not,
383
00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,560
by June 1940, France was on its knees...
384
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,560
..and the British army lay in tatters.
385
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:53,680
BOMBER DRONE
386
00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:55,760
FAINT AIR-RAID SIREN
387
00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,840
Soon, London was ablaze.
388
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,160
The British were desperate to understand the reasons
389
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:08,720
for Germany's success.
390
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,680
When a German plane went down in southern England,
391
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,080
they discovered an answer.
392
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,240
A packet of an unknown substance that held the key
393
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:33,920
to the Nazis' energy.
394
00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:39,480
Lab analysis soon revealed the substance was methamphetamine.
395
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,240
To find out more about the British side of the story,
396
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,200
Jim meets pharmacology historian, Dr James Pugh.
397
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,240
So, what have you got here? So, I brought some files along
398
00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,760
which I thought you might be interested in seeing. Mm-hm.
399
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,480
The first is a letter to Winston Churchill, in fact. Oh, really.
400
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,720
And it's actually from his physician, Sir Charles Wilson,
401
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:09,200
letting Churchill know that the British have discovered
402
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,880
that Germany is making use of amphetamines
403
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,920
in the military context... Mmm.
404
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,080
and suggesting to him that, perhaps, this is something
405
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,080
the British need to consider.
406
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,080
I mean, this is a really interesting line. "In short, it was concluded
407
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:23,360
"that the drug would be useful to the majority of men,
408
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,600
"if it is desired to keep them strenuously and dangerously active
409
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,240
"for 24 hours at a stretch."
410
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,960
Germany has occupied France by this stage... Mmm.
411
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:34,120
..so anything that the British feel they can do to gain an advantage
412
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:35,720
or to level the playing field again
413
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:37,720
is something that they need to consider.
414
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,040
And I guess you could characterise this as, maybe,
415
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,320
the beginning of a chemical arms race, I suppose.
416
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,720
One of the other ways that the drug was used is in its inhaler form.
417
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,000
Gosh, look at that.
418
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,600
God, it's like a Vicks inhaler. So, you just literally go...?
419
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,840
Yeah, I probably wouldn't do that at this point, but...
420
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,040
No, but I mean, that's the process? Yeah.
421
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,880
The Allied version of Pervitin was called Benzedrine.
422
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,960
Like German speed, it was already used by civilians
423
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,480
before the war started.
424
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,160
Both drugs make users intensely alert,
425
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,000
flooding them with a sense of euphoria.
426
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,040
With its added methyl group molecule,
427
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:17,600
Pervitin races across the blood-brain barrier
428
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,000
faster than Benzedrine.
429
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,200
Otherwise, the two drugs have virtually the same impact.
430
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:28,560
During the Battle of Britain,
431
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,200
exhausted Spitfire pilots were getting Benzedrine, unofficially,
432
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:33,520
from local pharmacies.
433
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,080
But Churchill seems to have pushed this to another level.
434
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,720
So, one of the very interesting things is that this is being
435
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,320
sent to Churchill and what's important about that
436
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,360
is he's a man of science, he's very interested in novel developments
437
00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:49,880
in new technologies and stuff.
438
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:51,840
And so drugs kind of fit that bill for him.
439
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:56,000
Soon, the Royal Air Force was testing Benzedrine
440
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,640
under combat conditions.
441
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,120
They turned to a 30-year-old flight surgeon named Roland Winfield
442
00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:09,160
to administer the drug to British aircrew and record the reactions.
443
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,080
By late 1941, Allied bombers hit back.
444
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,320
Long night missions over Nazi Germany,
445
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,480
with a fatality rate of more than 45%,
446
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,120
were a terrifying ordeal.
447
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,400
You know, that's one of those things where,
448
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,280
if that can keep you awake and keep you alive,
449
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,200
then clearly that's a good thing.
450
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,200
I suppose, on the other side of it, too,
451
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,440
if you think about the euphoric effects of the drug...
452
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,000
Jim and James set out to explore a Lancaster bomber -
453
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,400
the same type of aircraft in which Roland Winfield conducted
454
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,440
the only known combat tests of amphetamines during the war.
455
00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,960
Well, these bomb bays are pretty impressive, aren't they?
456
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:01,560
My goodness. That's gigantic.
457
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,320
They can take 6.5 tonnes. And they can be... 6.5 tonnes?
458
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,640
Yep, and they can be adapted to take a Grand Slam,
459
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,120
which is ten tonnes. Ten tonnes?
460
00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:09,960
I mean, it is incredible, the lift of this.
461
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,080
I'm just absolutely overwhelmed by the size of it.
462
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,200
This is going to be tight, I reckon, for you, James.
463
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,240
I mean, look at it.
464
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,680
It's a tin can, isn't it? So, there's no armour here or anything
465
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,080
like this? No. This is just thin. No. And you know, a cannon shell
466
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,520
or a bullet is just going to rip through. Rip straight through.
467
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,680
On that Lancaster, you are just thinking, this is a piece of tin.
468
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,800
I'm going be shot at, I'm going to be scared.
469
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,320
If I need to escape quickly, you know...
470
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:39,160
It's just next to impossible.
471
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,320
There is very few concessions to human comfort. Yeah, yeah.
472
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,880
And for me, this is designed for one thing and one thing only,
473
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:49,200
and that's dropping large amounts of bombs. Goodness me. Yeah.
474
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,760
This was physically exhausting and terrifying.
475
00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:58,880
In the air war over Europe, aviation technology pushed men
476
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,080
beyond the limits of human endurance.
477
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,760
You know, I can understand why you would take a Benzedrine pill.
478
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:06,840
I think I can as well.
479
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,240
Just going past the navigator's desk here.
480
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:12,080
Yeah, again, I mean, look how cramped it is.
481
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:13,560
And as you emerge into the cockpit,
482
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:15,720
there's a little bit more space here, I suppose,
483
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:17,640
until you try and get in the seat.
484
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,760
Oh, my goodness!
485
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,440
This is snug!
486
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,760
Yeah, really is, isn't it? Yeah, this is snug.
487
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,640
So, tell me about Winfield's tests that he was doing.
488
00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,040
Yeah, he actually flies with the crews.
489
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,160
He administers the drugs in-flight.
490
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,400
You know, he also administers placebos.
491
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,480
And then, yeah, he reports back on the experiences the crews have.
492
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,720
Winfield observed aircrew who were given amphetamines
493
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:48,680
on 20 RAF missions.
494
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,040
ARCHIVE: Half-an-hour to target, skip.
495
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:54,600
I mean, just imagine this, James.
496
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,560
You know, you're sitting here, you're piloting this plane.
497
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,240
You know, this is unpressurised, this cabin. Yeah.
498
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,480
You know, -45 degrees.
499
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:04,520
Freezing cold.
500
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,600
You've got to watch out for night fighters and you've got
501
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,040
lots of flak coming up. The whole thing is terrifying.
502
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,640
RADIO CHATTER GUNFIRE
503
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:30,920
So, after crews have dropped their bombs,
504
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,120
they will experience what's known as the post-adrenal crash.
505
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:36,240
So their bodies have been flooded with adrenaline
506
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,080
for an extended period of time.
507
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,520
That adrenaline starts to leave the body at that point
508
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,080
and they become extremely fatigued.
509
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,120
This is one of the things that Winfield concludes and
510
00:27:45,120 --> 00:27:47,000
he recommends in his reports,
511
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,560
is if you take the drug about an hour and a half before
512
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,280
you're going to drop your bombs,
513
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,600
the drug will start to act upon your consciousness at that point.
514
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,360
Of all Winfield's findings, perhaps the most influential
515
00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:02,800
were his reports describing how aircrews, high on speed,
516
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,800
showed increased aggression under fire.
517
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,920
One of the things that he notes in his report,
518
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,480
there's an example of an attack,
519
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,480
which the aircrews actually dive down to a very, very low height
520
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:15,840
and attack a flak site.
521
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,720
Really? They start shooting it up? Yeah, yeah.
522
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,320
Of course, Winfield is also simultaneously concerned
523
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,400
by some of this, too.
524
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,920
Ultimately, when the RAF come to think about this drug,
525
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,280
they're actually concerned about those effects...
526
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,000
Are you all right?
527
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,600
..where the crews will start to lean on the drugs,
528
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,560
as opposed to using them as a tool to help manage their wakefulness.
529
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,920
But if the RAF saw these side-effects as a potential problem,
530
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,760
the British army saw them as a benefit.
531
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,720
Even more than keeping troops awake,
532
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,520
British commanders wanted a pill that made men fearless.
533
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:01,320
By 1942,
534
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,520
the Allies had lost massive numbers of soldiers to shell shock...
535
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,200
..known today as post-traumatic stress disorder.
536
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,280
Over the course of the war,
537
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,520
as many as one in three front-line soldiers
538
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,160
were incapacitated by it.
539
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,680
Oh, God, listen!
540
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,240
Benzedrine, it was hoped, might offer a solution.
541
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,840
Jim travels to a small museum, connected to a hospital that treated
542
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,480
thousands of shellshock victims during the First World War.
543
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,040
Well, I suppose, when we think of the concept of war neurosis,
544
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,000
shellshock, it really goes back to the First World War, doesn't it?
545
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,160
And is that the first time that it starts to become recognised?
546
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,640
I think the stress of combat's always been recognised -
547
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,880
certainly from the Crimean War on onwards -
548
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,240
but what happens in the First World War
549
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,960
is that industry has intensified killing power.
550
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,200
So large numbers of soldiers, 60%, are killed by shrapnel,
551
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:14,800
by artillery, by mortars.
552
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:18,880
After the Battle of the Somme,
553
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,560
when there's been something like 420,000 casualties,
554
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,920
a significant number of those, maybe 50,000 to 60,000,
555
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:28,320
would be shellshock.
556
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,680
So it's not only a medical problem, it's also a military problem
557
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,720
because this is a war of attrition
558
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,280
and if you are losing large numbers of men
559
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,520
to battle exhaustion, to psychiatric breakdown,
560
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,200
and you're not able to treat them,
561
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,040
then its eroding your fighting strength.
562
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,880
So, in the treatment of combat fatigue,
563
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:53,840
when do they start looking at drugs?
564
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,480
When do they start looking at pharmacology and Benzedrine?
565
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,520
Well, Benzedrine has been introduced to the UK in 1935,
566
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,800
but as the war gets closer and closer,
567
00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,760
senior doctors and commanders recognise
568
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,360
that this could have a major beneficial use
569
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:12,480
in all three services in keeping soldiers awake, alert
570
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,960
and boosting their morale in times of stress.
571
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,720
So I think the British Army use Benzedrine to keep people awake,
572
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:20,200
but also to lift spirits.
573
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,320
So, Dr Jones was very interesting about the use of Benzedrine,
574
00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,760
not just as a wakey-wakey pill,
575
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,560
which is what it was sometimes referred to,
576
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,160
but also one that would improve morale,
577
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,360
that would give those who took it a sense of wellbeing
578
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,320
and greater physical courage.
579
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,640
Jim's Glenside visit gives him critical insight.
580
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,240
By using the drug as a tool to heighten aggression and lift morale,
581
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,520
Britain raised the stakes in the pharmacological fight
582
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,600
against the Nazis, who primarily saw amphetamine
583
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,280
as a way to offset fatigue.
584
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,480
By 1942, British troops in North Africa
585
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,600
were in desperate need of a morale boost.
586
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,040
They had retreated across 600 miles of desert,
587
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,520
chased by Germany's Africa Corps,
588
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,280
and were dug in around a tiny trading post, El Alamein.
589
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:23,600
But in October, a new commander,
590
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:27,520
possibly familiar with the RAF amphetamine tests, arrived.
591
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:28,960
Bernard Montgomery.
592
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,560
He was ready to go on the offensive.
593
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:36,400
When Montgomery took over,
594
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,200
morale in British Eighth Army was at rock-bottom.
595
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,360
And it was one of the things he realised
596
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:42,840
that he had to turn around.
597
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:44,680
By the way he was talking...
598
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,160
I want to impress on everyone that the bad times are over!
599
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,120
..and, you know, "There will be no more retreats,
600
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:51,560
"you're really well-equipped,
601
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,920
"we're going to smash the Germans and Italian forces."
602
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,280
And trying to give them a greater sense of self-belief.
603
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,600
If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead!
604
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,000
But if there's a pill that could do part of that job for you,
605
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,560
then it's got to be worth taking.
606
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,280
It's always been a bit of a mystery whether Monty himself
607
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,280
brought Benzedrine to the desert
608
00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,360
and whether he saw it as a morale builder.
609
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,880
But Jim has recently discovered a document
610
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,720
from Montgomery's medical officer, QV Wallace...
611
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,960
..proving orders for Benzedrine came straight from the top.
612
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,920
I've never before seen any direct written reference,
613
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,600
in any official capacity, to the mass use of Benzedrine.
614
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:42,800
But Brigadier Wallace's memo absolutely knocks that into touch
615
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,200
because there it is, absolutely spelled out.
616
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,160
The troops that were involved in the opening stages
617
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,440
of the battle of Alamein were given Benzedrine,
618
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,400
not just to keep them going, not just to keep them awake,
619
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,040
but also to give them resolve,
620
00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,080
to give them confidence, to bolster morale.
621
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,840
By late 1942,
622
00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,560
the Americans were not on the ground in the West.
623
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,000
But they had provided a new tank,
624
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,400
which gave the British a technological edge.
625
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,400
The Sherman is incredibly important when it comes in.
626
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,080
They get 300 of them straight into Egypt
627
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,680
and they're kind of tested out and made battle-ready.
628
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,840
At the time, it is the best tank on the battlefield.
629
00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,000
You know, it's got this incredibly accurate gun.
630
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,400
It's pretty well-armoured. it's very easy to maintain.
631
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,880
This is a very good tank,
632
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,800
which is now entering battle on the British side.
633
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,560
Just like long-range bombers, tanks like the Sherman pushed men
634
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,440
to the limits of endurance.
635
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,840
So, how welcome would a pill that could offset these conditions be?
636
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,760
Jim visits an old friend, who might be able to help him find out.
637
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,320
OK, so, Jim Clark is a restorer of wartime military vehicles
638
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:02,680
and he's got a whole host of stuff.
639
00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,160
He's got Jeeps, he's got trucks...
640
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:06,840
..but he's also got a Sherman tank.
641
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,280
So, Jim, one of the things I'm trying to find out a bit is,
642
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,280
obviously, you know when you're in a tank you're going to get shot at
643
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,240
and that's quite traumatic, but the other thing I'm quite interested in
644
00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:20,200
is just what it's like existing and operating in these tanks.
645
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:23,640
Cos it's a confined space, you know, man's not really designed for this.
646
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,200
All right? We're in! Right.
647
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,680
ENGINE GRUMBLES
648
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,640
ENGINE ROARS
649
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,360
It's not an environment that is comfortable
650
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,840
in any shape or form.
651
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,040
The smell of the fumes was immense.
652
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,920
Very quickly, you start to catch your throat.
653
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,560
I mean, Jim, I've got to say, the amount of dust is incredible!
654
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,400
The fan that cools the engine... Yeah? ..draws the air in
655
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,040
through the crew compartment. It gets drawn over you.
656
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:07,680
So you get covered in it.
657
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:13,800
If I'm feeling this amount of grit going into my eyes and up my nose,
658
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,880
just from going down a short stretch of track
659
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,600
in the middle of winter in England,
660
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,640
what's it going to be like in the desert?
661
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:22,680
It must have just been absolutely impossible.
662
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,160
Tank men, wrote one veteran,
663
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:33,640
fought their war in an enclosed, suffocating, noisy metal box,
664
00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:35,880
fearful of being struck and burned alive
665
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:37,800
by an enemy they could not see.
666
00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,320
You really do get a feel of how physically draining it must be
667
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:53,400
to just operate one of these things.
668
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,040
So, you can see, can't you, that...?
669
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,040
The stress and strain of doing that. Yeah.
670
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,280
You know, quite apart from the fact that you're,
671
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,240
almost on a daily basis, in battle. Yeah.
672
00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:09,520
The toll of fighting all day long and then no proper sleep, no rest.
673
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:16,800
Even if you were sleeping at night, there's probably shelling going on.
674
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:20,760
So you probably didn't have much decent rest.
675
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:27,080
And this is just stuffed full of highly explosive material. Yeah.
676
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,920
In the turret basket, I think there's about 15 or 20 rounds.
677
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:32,760
There's probably 20 or 30 on each side.
678
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,880
Yeah, so a good number. Yeah, a good number. Yeah.
679
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,840
Then there was 50-cal rounds in the base.
680
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,880
Then you've got your 160 gallons of fuel.
681
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:43,520
It's a mobile bomb, basically.
682
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,840
At El Alamein, the British 24th Armoured Tank Brigade
683
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,480
was tasked with punching through German defences.
684
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,880
As the Wallace memo makes clear,
685
00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:58,560
on the eve of the attack,
686
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,040
each man was given a huge dose of Benzedrine...
687
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,360
..20mg per day,
688
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:06,880
twice the amount recommended to RAF pilots.
689
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,080
I know that the 24th Armoured Brigade were issued with Benzedrine
690
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,160
because he wanted them to keep going.
691
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:14,400
You know, what he said was
692
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,000
the first bit of the battle was going to be the dogfight.
693
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,920
It was going to be the grinding, attritional battle.
694
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,320
And for that grinding, attritional battle,
695
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:24,040
he wanted his men to keep going.
696
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,640
Unlike modern pills, Benzedrine tablets in 1942
697
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,880
had no slow-release coating.
698
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:33,880
The full dose hit immediately.
699
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,840
For some soldiers, alertness and euphoria
700
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:40,840
gave way to a false sense of power.
701
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:47,120
The men of the 24th proved exceedingly aggressive...
702
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:51,880
..fatally so.
703
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:53,640
For crewmen of either side,
704
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,200
the use of amphetamine could do more than make them alert.
705
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,720
It could also suppress a natural reaction in combat -
706
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:03,520
fear.
707
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:05,560
Fear is about self-preservation.
708
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,120
You're scared because you don't want to die.
709
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,120
If you take that away
710
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:13,360
and you sort of don't care quite so much,
711
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:14,880
you're not quite so careful.
712
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:18,960
The problem of being charged up on Benzedrine
713
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,800
is that your ability to make rational decisions
714
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,600
and that normal preservation instinct,
715
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:28,240
which kicks in as a result of fear, might be absent,
716
00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:30,160
if you're absolutely pumped on speed.
717
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,040
Even with their new Shermans,
718
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,760
British soldiers faced an array of lethal German anti-tank guns.
719
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:46,240
What the Germans have is the infamous 88mm,
720
00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:48,440
which is a dual-purpose anti-aircraft gun.
721
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,920
This is something that can hurl a shell 24,000 feet,
722
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,080
vertically, into the air
723
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,160
and can also be used as an anti-tank gun
724
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,760
on a horizontal position, straight at something.
725
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,000
And this is firing at 2,900 feet per second.
726
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:08,720
If their judgment was impaired by high doses of Benzedrine,
727
00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,280
what fate awaited them?
728
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,880
Jim visits a military explosives range for a demonstration.
729
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,560
Trevor Lawrence runs the COTEC live-fire range
730
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,320
on Salisbury Plain,
731
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,440
where they test all new ordnance for the British Armed Forces.
732
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,320
Trevor Lawrence had been there, seen there, done it.
733
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,920
This is a guy who's been clearing mines, clearing IEDs,
734
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:37,240
explosives, in Northern Ireland during the height of the Troubles.
735
00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:40,640
But he had also served in Bosnia, during the Civil War there
736
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,200
and in Iraq.
737
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,200
So, you know, he knew a thing or two about explosives.
738
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,280
So, Trevor, what we're trying to replicate
739
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:49,880
is the first Sherman tanks - they're arriving, they're in action
740
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:52,160
at the Battle of Alamein, in Egypt in October 1942,
741
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,600
and they're under attack from German anti-tank guns,
742
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:58,600
either the 75mm Pak 40 or the 88mm.
743
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:00,680
And what we want to do is replicate
744
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,800
what it would be like, being in that tank
745
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,640
if you were hit by one of those shells OK.
746
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,960
I've arranged a metal framework. Yep.
747
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,680
What we're going to attach to that is a sheet of armoured steel.
748
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:18,880
And that's the sort of steel that you would have seen
749
00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:20,280
on a Sherman tank.
750
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:25,040
Now, rather than actually firing a hardened-steel projectile into it,
751
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,720
what I'm going to do is I'm going to attach
752
00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:30,200
an explosive charge to the plate, here.
753
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,720
So, for our purposes, Trevor, that is an 88mm anti-tank round?
754
00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:35,400
Absolutely.
755
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,120
As the shock wave runs through the explosive,
756
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,080
where it hits the plate, it will produce the same sort of force
757
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:44,320
that you'd get from a kinetic energy round striking the plate.
758
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,480
Wow. OK. And can we put anything behind here,
759
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,320
so you can see, actually, the effect of that spalling shrapnel?
760
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:56,520
Well, here comes the tank crew. Here they are,
761
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:58,720
and little do they know the fate that awaits them.
762
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,320
We can put some dummies close to it...
763
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,720
These are our tank crew. ..very close. The tank crew.
764
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:07,640
But also, to get a better idea of what fragmentation we've got,
765
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,080
what we tend to use is a sheet of aluminium... Mmm-hmm.
766
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,680
..and the fragmentation, the spalling, will go through,
767
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,800
punch holes in that and it'll give us a good idea
768
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:16,800
of just how much has been produced.
769
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,120
Wow, that sounds amazing.
770
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,880
At El Alamein, hard-to-see desert ridges
771
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,160
often concealed German 88s.
772
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,400
If Benzedrine led British tank crews to abandon caution
773
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:37,680
and charge recklessly into hidden enemy guns,
774
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,680
the results would have been devastating.
775
00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:42,320
Stand by.
776
00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:44,840
3...
777
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:46,480
..2...
778
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,040
..1...
779
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:49,080
..firing.
780
00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:52,360
Whoa!
781
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,040
Oh, my goodness me, look at that.
782
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:17,440
It does not look very well for our driver, does it?
783
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,080
No, it doesn't.
784
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:20,080
Ouch.
785
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:23,840
Really interesting. When we got there, we had a look at it and
786
00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:25,960
you could see it was just this little kind of marble -
787
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:27,240
small, little, circle -
788
00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:30,200
where it had actually punched all the way through.
789
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:31,720
But then you look on the reverse side.
790
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:34,600
Oh, my goodness me.
791
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,680
So, a huge bit of metal has just disintegrated
792
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,680
and has just shattered.
793
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:43,480
There we go. Oh, my God.
794
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:44,840
Right in the centre of the chest.
795
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,160
And look at all these.
796
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,360
But also, look at all this other fragmentation. On the head...
797
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:54,320
Cos although it's come off in one big scab,
798
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:56,560
it's also sent all these other smaller fragments out.
799
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:00,320
Both of them have been absolutely covered
800
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:02,240
with little splinter marks all over,
801
00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:05,400
each one of which could have been entirely lethal.
802
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:06,600
That's just the...
803
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:08,680
That's just the blast has just smashed his chest in.
804
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,440
Shrapnel melted onto the aluminium.
805
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:17,480
And you can just imagine, you're a crewmember behind these two...
806
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,040
..all into me, into the shells.
807
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:23,760
Oh, it would be impossible to survive.
808
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:26,120
Absolutely impossible.
809
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:30,440
I've interviewed so many people that have been in this situation,
810
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,440
that have been in tanks, have served in tanks.
811
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,840
What I never fully appreciated was the pressure blast
812
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:41,680
from the force of a shell like that hitting and penetrating
813
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,960
and transferring that huge force into the confined space of a tank.
814
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:50,200
If you're in an environment like a tank,
815
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,360
that shrapnel, that spalling,
816
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,560
would have just pinged all around here.
817
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,480
And you think about all that ordnance we've just
818
00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:57,920
been talking about. Yeah.
819
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:00,680
You know, it's only got... One of those has got to penetrate
820
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,280
one of the propellant charges on one of those shelves...
821
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,320
..and you're in big trouble, aren't you? Yeah.
822
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:12,560
Having taken huge doses of Benzedrine,
823
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:15,080
the 24th Armoured Brigade set out for battle.
824
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,440
With new Sherman tanks leading the way,
825
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,120
troops exhibited hyperaggressive behaviour
826
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,440
that some historians now attribute to the drug.
827
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:33,200
By the battle's end, the brigade had suffered 80% casualties
828
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:34,680
and ceased to exist.
829
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,360
By the end of it, they're absolutely shattered.
830
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:45,120
So where's the escape hatch? Oh, there. There, yeah.
831
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,720
Jesus. But you've got seconds to do it.
832
00:45:47,720 --> 00:45:49,480
You think, you may be on fire... Yeah.
833
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:56,120
..and maybe your crew members are also in agony
834
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:57,800
and you don't know whether to save them...
835
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,440
..or save yourself. Yeah.
836
00:46:10,240 --> 00:46:11,760
Yeah. I... You know, it's...
837
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,400
There's protection here, to a point, but...
838
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:19,720
..I don't think I'd want to be in a tank crew. No.
839
00:46:21,200 --> 00:46:22,840
It is sad. Yeah.
840
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,600
So, can you see if someone's...
841
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,480
If the medical officer of the regiment said,
842
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:32,920
"Look, here you go. Here's a Benzedrine pill.
843
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,000
"This'll keep you going,"
844
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,520
you'd be quite tempted to take that? Yeah.
845
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,480
I would. And I think if it worked, I think I'd be well up for it.
846
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:49,640
On the 8th of November 1942, a month after El Alamein,
847
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:53,080
American GIs finally entered ground combat in North Africa.
848
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:02,680
They carried with them packets of Benzedrine.
849
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:07,960
After the British victory at El Alamein,
850
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:11,160
US General Dwight Eisenhower ordered half a million tablets
851
00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:12,520
for American troops.
852
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,560
But just as the Allies had increased their use of speed,
853
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:19,480
the Nazis were reconsidering.
854
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:26,720
Ironically, Hitler's Reich health leader had concerns
855
00:47:26,720 --> 00:47:30,360
about amphetamine's addictive nature and dangerous side-effects.
856
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:40,000
Although German soldiers continued to use it sporadically,
857
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:43,840
the drug was severely restricted, especially for civilian use.
858
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:48,240
Still, Hitler's infatuation with science and technology
859
00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:49,440
remained strong.
860
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,480
By late 1944, with his Navy in tatters,
861
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,040
the Fuhrer looked to a bizarre wonder weapon that,
862
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,520
with the help of amphetamines, could turn the tide.
863
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:16,640
Jim returns to Germany to visit the site
864
00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,320
of one of the first Nazi concentration camps.
865
00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:29,720
In November 1944, some 40,000 men are stuck in this camp.
866
00:48:29,720 --> 00:48:31,440
What's it designed for?
867
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,920
10,000. OK. So, four times more than there should have been.
868
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:35,280
Four times more.
869
00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:39,360
Germany had lost the war already. Of course.
870
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,440
And the sphere of influence
871
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:45,200
of the German Navy was reduced to the Baltic Sea.
872
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:47,560
Everything else was controlled by the British.
873
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:53,680
So these small submarines were constructed,
874
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,200
mainly for espionage.
875
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,040
In addition to espionage capabilities,
876
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:05,840
Hitler's mini-subs were equipped with torpedoes,
877
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,760
designed to sink Allied ships moving supplies and troops
878
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:10,280
across the English Channel.
879
00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:14,120
They were very small. Only one or two soldiers
880
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:18,320
could sit in it and they had to sit there for 48 hours
881
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,280
without sleeping, without getting up, without anything,
882
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:24,600
so they needed a drug to keep them awake for that time.
883
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:26,360
It's just unimaginable, isn't it?
884
00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:28,720
So you need to this drug to keep you going and to keep...
885
00:49:28,720 --> 00:49:32,840
..but also, presumably, to keep your spirits up, as well? Yeah.
886
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:37,160
They were testing different drugs and comparing it,
887
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:40,000
wanting to find out which drug
888
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:43,200
keeps the people awake for the longest time
889
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,560
with the smallest side-effects.
890
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:49,360
This is the secret report on the experiments
891
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:53,080
and this gives the four different substances,
892
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:54,800
A, B, C, D.
893
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:58,480
The first is cocaine hydrochloride in different doses.
894
00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:01,040
The second is cocaine in chewing gum
895
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:03,160
and then Pervitin in a chewing gum.
896
00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:05,400
But 100 mg, that's a huge dose!
897
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:08,560
Yeah, it's a huge dose. Indeed.
898
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:11,880
The men must have been completely stoned.
899
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:14,960
100mg is really a lot.
900
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:16,280
I mean, can you imagine it?
901
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:18,840
You know, you're a young member of the German Navy,
902
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:22,280
you've been singled out to man one of these submarines,
903
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,520
you're chewing on gum that has been laced
904
00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,160
with cocaine and methamphetamines.
905
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:30,720
I mean, we're talking crystal meth here.
906
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:32,480
And you're chewing away on this thing
907
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:36,600
in this tiny, tight little cockpit and you're high on speed.
908
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:39,000
I mean, it's just... It's insane.
909
00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:40,880
I mean, it is absolutely insane.
910
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:44,640
To test the stimulants,
911
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:47,760
the German Navy decided to make Sachsenhausen prisoners
912
00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:50,920
take the drugs and force them to carry sacks of rocks
913
00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:52,960
around the camp's infamous shoe track.
914
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:01,000
So, this is the testing track. This one, here? This here.
915
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,600
It was once around the roll-call area.
916
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,240
and it was covered with different materials.
917
00:51:06,240 --> 00:51:08,520
So, here, you would have sand.
918
00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,200
The next one is concrete,
919
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:13,000
small gravel.
920
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:15,280
And the reason for setting it up
921
00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:18,880
was the testing of artificial leather.
922
00:51:20,520 --> 00:51:23,080
Germany did not have leather.
923
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:26,920
They always imported leather and when they started the war,
924
00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:29,440
nobody wanted to sell them leather.
925
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:33,680
So they ordered companies to develop...
926
00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:35,840
Fake leather? ..artificial leather, yeah.
927
00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:41,080
Oh, God, it's absolutely fascinating. I had no idea.
928
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:43,440
And it's quite hard to walk on here, isn't it? It is, yeah.
929
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:46,320
If you have to march, it's not so easy.
930
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,200
Sachsenhausen was designed by an architect
931
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:55,080
and the architect wanted to give a message
932
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:57,480
with the architecture of the camp,
933
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:00,760
with the warden tower as the highest point.
934
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:04,440
Every morning, the prisoners had to stand on the roll-call area,
935
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:08,640
being counted and up here there was a huge machinegun.
936
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:11,640
For the prisoners down there,
937
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:14,960
looking into the eye of this machinegun, up here,
938
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:17,160
the message was,
939
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:20,880
"You're completely in our hands, you're completely helpless
940
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,040
"and we can do whatever we want."
941
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:29,080
I mean, it's doing exactly what it's designed to do.
942
00:52:29,080 --> 00:52:32,720
I mean, you can feel it, even just standing up here. Yeah.
943
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:36,320
What a grim place.
944
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:44,240
After the mini-subs failed and his army faltered,
945
00:52:44,240 --> 00:52:48,680
Hitler, who himself could well have been addicted to drugs by 1945,
946
00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:49,920
took his own life.
947
00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:53,840
Luftwaffe commander and heroin addict
948
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:55,760
Herman Goering followed suit.
949
00:52:57,040 --> 00:52:59,440
But Benzedrine and Pervitin live on.
950
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:04,480
SHIP HORN BLASTS PEOPLE APPLAUD
951
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:06,080
During the Second World War,
952
00:53:06,080 --> 00:53:07,800
one of the things that it certainly does do
953
00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:10,600
is it familiarises hundreds of thousands of individuals
954
00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:13,720
with a drug that, perhaps, they otherwise wouldn't have used.
955
00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:17,160
So it sort of normalises the use of that drug
956
00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:20,240
and it sort of reinforces its position as a useful tool.
957
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:23,400
By the 1950s,
958
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:27,480
amphetamines were being marketed as a diet pill and mood enhancer.
959
00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,520
"Benny" inhalers were being offered on aeroplane menus.
960
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,600
Celebrities, ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Jack Kerouac,
961
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:37,800
were avid users.
962
00:53:39,240 --> 00:53:43,000
Soon, millions were abusing speed in what is now considered
963
00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:45,440
America's first prescription drug epidemic.
964
00:53:50,680 --> 00:53:54,480
One likely user was a young combat vet from Massachusetts,
965
00:53:54,480 --> 00:53:56,080
named John F. Kennedy.
966
00:53:57,160 --> 00:53:59,200
KENNEDY: Picking this country of ours up
967
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:02,040
and sending it into the '60s. CHEERS
968
00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:04,320
When I first embarked on this investigation,
969
00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:07,520
I was a bit scandalised that so much speed was taken
970
00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:10,720
during the Second World War and how outrageous that was.
971
00:54:10,720 --> 00:54:12,760
World War II's military leaders
972
00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:16,600
saw amphetamines as simply another technological tool
973
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:18,680
like rockets and radar -
974
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:20,800
tools that changed the world forever.
975
00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:27,520
For us, in the 21st-century, drugs are bad,
976
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:31,040
amphetamines are bad, speed is a dodgy word.
977
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:36,400
You've got to see this in the light of the 1930s and the 1940s.
978
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:39,400
World War II takes place over six years.
979
00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:42,000
A lot is being expected of the young men
980
00:54:42,000 --> 00:54:44,320
of the major combatant nations
981
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:47,160
and is it any wonder, in this life-and-death struggle
982
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:50,800
for the future of the world, that people are going to be
983
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:54,000
looking at drugs that can keep people awake,
984
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,720
that can keep morale improved?
985
00:54:56,720 --> 00:54:58,560
It's absolutely no wonder at all.
80104
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