British intelligence warned that Germany might resort to poison gas or biological weapons if its situation deteriorated badly enough, while the Soviet Union also maintained extensive chemical and biological capabilities. The reading then discusses the exceptional 1942 tularemia outbreak around Stalingrad and a Soviet defector's later belief that it had been deliberate. It retains the alternative explanation of natural disease amid catastrophic wartime conditions and notes that both German troops and Soviet civilians suffered. German defensive research and Hitler's reported ban on offensive biological work add another layer of uncertainty rather than a simple conclusion.
Notable Point · 7:02-10:24
Chemical and biological warfare fears around Stalingrad
A tense Absolute War passage examines Allied reports of German chemical preparations and the disputed possibility of deliberate tularemia use near Stalingrad.