Wartime Pranks Used As Weapons...!

We all know that war can be a nasty business, but the history of some strange weapons are worth looking at.

What might have been considered a childhood prank could be used as a weapon, and often was! Here is one example!

Itching Powder

As part of their remit to demoralize the enemy, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) decided to take a cue from school pranksters and started mass-producing itching powder. The powder, which had a powerful irritant effect on exposed skin, was smuggled into occupied Europe disguised as talcum powder. There it was distributed to resistance members at laundries and clothing factories, where it could be secretly sprinkled over German uniforms. This wasn’t a small-scale operation: In October 1943, the SOE reported that 25,000 U-boat crew uniforms had been contaminated with itching powder. Apparently this was successful in getting at least one U-boat to return to port, as the crew had become convinced they were suffering from severe dermatitis.

Meanwhile, other SOE agents decided to get even more creative. The agency’s Stockholm office began gathering German envelopes from Swedes with relatives in occupied countries, filling them with itching powder, and sending them back into the German postal system. However the scheme reached its horrifying apex in Norway, where local resistance members started putting the powder into condoms intended for German troops. The contaminated condoms were shipped mainly to the Trondheim area, where the local hospital soon filled up with soldiers complaining of “painful irritation.”

You have to admit some very imaginative folks came up with some interesting ways to fight the enemy. Many other creative forms of distraction were used according to Listverse. You can find out what others there were by following the link!

Coffee out on the patio this morning. That, my friends, is NOT a prank!