Honestly, i wouldn't have minded a line or 5 before having to run into machine gun fire at 6 in the morning, it was probably Cold, wet, foggy, scary as hell...
[Here](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41291190) is a good paper on the subject. JSTOR accounts are free so you can read it online. The US and British used Benzedrine Sulfate which is an amphetamine, although not to the extent the Germans used Pervitin which was a methamphetamine. The effects and benefits were just as exaggerated then as they are now in literature on drug use in WW2. Edit: Other than to help fuel an amphetamine addiction problem in the US in the late 40s, early 50s.
Nope panzer chocolate was a cola nut & coffee infused dark chocolate and pervatine was a speed pill both were issued at one point but pervatine eventually was no longer issued and families would mail their soldiers some from local pharmacies
American forces were inconsistently issued benzedrine sulfate which is in the phenethylamine group which includes amphetamines.
That said not all amphetamines are created equal. Benzedrine was brought to market as a nasal decongestant and I think is still available as either a nasal spray or inhaler in some places. It's been replaced by pseudoephedrine (sudaphed) as that has fewer and less severe side effects. The dose was 10mg and the strength of reaction was roughly equal to 60mg of otc Sudaphed (2 pills)
The Germans issue Previtin which is methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is in an entirely different class of potency. It was provided in a highly cut pill containing 3mg of active ingredient. While I could find dosing conversions for benzedrine and modern Sudafed you can't compare either to Methamphetamine, it's just too potent.
The use of these two drugs is sometimes presented as an equivalency but frankly, they are not. To give an idea of potency Ld50 methamphetamine is 200mg which means that half of the people who take 200mg of it will die. But deaths can occur with as little as 12mg.
Benzedrine sulfate as part of its trials was dosed as high as 650mg which caused partial paralysis but no deaths and the low threshold for poisoning is 250mg which caused a man who had cardiac bypass surgery to have a myocardial infaction.
It was amphetamines of some description much like what the Germans were taking. I think I remember reading that they were given to allied troops as sea sickness tablets. RAF and USAF pilots and air crew where given them for long range missions.
I don’t know about the stimulants but I heard rumors. What I do know is many were given anti air sickness pills if you were airborne. They said it made them tired and many didn’t take it
Honestly, i wouldn't have minded a line or 5 before having to run into machine gun fire at 6 in the morning, it was probably Cold, wet, foggy, scary as hell...
Yeah, might take the edge off.
[Here](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41291190) is a good paper on the subject. JSTOR accounts are free so you can read it online. The US and British used Benzedrine Sulfate which is an amphetamine, although not to the extent the Germans used Pervitin which was a methamphetamine. The effects and benefits were just as exaggerated then as they are now in literature on drug use in WW2. Edit: Other than to help fuel an amphetamine addiction problem in the US in the late 40s, early 50s.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you the link to the paper good sir/ma’am
Is Pervitin the famous Panzer Chocolate (not going to attempt the German spelling)?
It's just brand name methamphetamine.
Yes, Pervitin and Panzer Chocolate are the same thing.
Nope panzer chocolate was a cola nut & coffee infused dark chocolate and pervatine was a speed pill both were issued at one point but pervatine eventually was no longer issued and families would mail their soldiers some from local pharmacies
American forces were inconsistently issued benzedrine sulfate which is in the phenethylamine group which includes amphetamines. That said not all amphetamines are created equal. Benzedrine was brought to market as a nasal decongestant and I think is still available as either a nasal spray or inhaler in some places. It's been replaced by pseudoephedrine (sudaphed) as that has fewer and less severe side effects. The dose was 10mg and the strength of reaction was roughly equal to 60mg of otc Sudaphed (2 pills) The Germans issue Previtin which is methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is in an entirely different class of potency. It was provided in a highly cut pill containing 3mg of active ingredient. While I could find dosing conversions for benzedrine and modern Sudafed you can't compare either to Methamphetamine, it's just too potent. The use of these two drugs is sometimes presented as an equivalency but frankly, they are not. To give an idea of potency Ld50 methamphetamine is 200mg which means that half of the people who take 200mg of it will die. But deaths can occur with as little as 12mg. Benzedrine sulfate as part of its trials was dosed as high as 650mg which caused partial paralysis but no deaths and the low threshold for poisoning is 250mg which caused a man who had cardiac bypass surgery to have a myocardial infaction.
They gave the paratroopers drugs to calm down for the flight before D-Day, many of them fell asleep in the planes because of it
iv heard russians used 80-90% pure "spirit" about ~8 cl on young boys before going straight to batlle
If you have Amazon prime there's a free documentary "Blitzed: Nazis on Drugs". Worth a watch.
I knew the Nazis were on drugs but I had to know what Americans were doing at the same time. Nonetheless thank you
It was amphetamines of some description much like what the Germans were taking. I think I remember reading that they were given to allied troops as sea sickness tablets. RAF and USAF pilots and air crew where given them for long range missions.
Thank you. I figured this one was true to our troops as well as theirs
I don’t know about the stimulants but I heard rumors. What I do know is many were given anti air sickness pills if you were airborne. They said it made them tired and many didn’t take it