Chemicals such as tear gas, phosgene, mustard gases, tarin and sarin, and other chemical derivatives of highly concentrated chlorine or acetic type acids which were at the disposal of the German War machine. The end of World War One in November 1918, marked the end of a very dark and sinister period that history should never be permitted to forget, let alone repeat, and was simply an exercise in wholesale ‘bloodshed’ with the sacrifice of human life on a massive scale, an event where both sides of the English Channel had stepped into the realms of mass genocide. The campaign itself was a deliberate show of force and power and certainly a battle of very long term attrition and military wits, this was simply seen by the external world as a private war ‘where Hitler versus Churchill’, and there was evidently a psychological siege between the two country Leaders, not only from both of their perspectives where the situation was a stale mate delivered on a colossal scale by both sides of ‘No Man’s Land’, but from an external International view, and as far as International intervention into war was concerned this was the worst kind of all, simply because the Wermacht had little time to think, then knee jerked and turned to chemical warfare as a last resort having deployed their final destructive tool in their volatile arsenal of weapons.
The International community were either not quick witted enough to intervene, or they simply distanced themselves completely from the European theatre of politics. The German war cabinet had decided that they were now somewhat desperate, and took the decision to deliver to the opposing forces a batch of highly toxic gases coupled with a concoction of nerve and gas agents. The Wermacht had stepped over the boundary of basic human rights and had literally dropped tons upon tons of chemical weapons down on to the killing fields and had brought into existence a very sinister aspect to the battle arena. As a result of the first world war, and detrimental to every living soul on the planet there was clear advancement in bio technology that now meant, that a ‘new breed’ of military scientist and biologist was emerging from the academic ranks, and by most accounts they were a complex hybrid of highly technical assassins who had a penchant for human destruction and their work was to shape global society in the years to come. Then, of course there was this newfangled Military chemical warfare team who were armed with a deadly program to deliver, it was a schedule that was now in it’s infancy and conception stages, these new age genocidal maniacs were collectively discussing issues around the testing stages of a newly discovered chemical mix that was going to be known in the future as:- ‘agent orange’.
If Britain and America were to keep the Germans under control then they would have to ensure that they could retaliate in collaboration accordingly, but, if the Wermacht were going to conduct their ethnic cleansing using chemical warfare, then Britain and America had a serious challenge on their hands. Hitler’s war cabinet already had their technical microscopic ‘lenses’ trained on American and British scientists who were creating this new age ‘germ’ warfare concoction of nasties, and Hitler’s Abwehr BND arm, their secret war machine had been doing their utmost to gather as much evidence as possible from across the globe. Hitler wanted secret information and constantly was promoting any breakthrough that could be exploited in the German favour, and more importantly of which, could be employed in delivering these deadly agents or bacteria into the theatre of war.
‘Herbicides and defoliants’, in essence were chemical agents that comprise of a mix of Herbicide Orange (HO) and Agent LNX, a noted deadly mixture, which would be heavily used in the Vietnam War of the future. It was more by a stroke of luck rather than good planning for Bletchley’s intelligence gathering services and by chance that one of their field operatives who was out earning his keep had intercepted a German courier who was in transit to Europe via Scotland and, it was only after a lengthy chase through the many back streets and alleyways of Edinburgh when the courier was eventually shot dead by his ‘handler’ and relieved of the precious information package. But, surprisingly for the field agent during a routine interception was when the most disturbing discovery was made. As Hastings viewed the footnotes of the field report, he soon realised that a person, who could be a British Field Agent was currently in Police custody having been arrested after Street lighting up time, and was apprehended with some articles that led to espionage suspicions being held against him. The report somehow was not directly related to any actual event but the man appeared in the vicinity under suspicious circumstances without a reasonable or plausible story.
The man who was in the current custody of the local constabulary was reported to have been very stressed and anxious although he had good reason to be, and had been in possession of some high end state of the art 1930’s camera equipment which consisted of a single new camouflage coloured technical box type camera, along with some hand written sketches of military establishments and a single German Luger P08 hand pistol and thirty bullet rounds. As Hastings absorbed the field operative’s report he suddenly stopped reading, it was then that he rubbed his forehead and wiped his chin, then spoke softly to himself.
‘What in Hell’s half acre is going on here.’ He muttered and sat upright in his leather chair.
What made Hastings shudder was the simple thought that a small glass phial containing a yellowy greenish liquid which according to the report summary detail was reported to possess the aroma of ‘almonds’, and, as far as Bletchley was concerned, was a very important piece of this conundrum indeed but, not, only because it was mentioned in the field report, but, the fact that it was physically found in the possession of the now very dead German field courier. The only reason the Bletchley field agent found out about the bottle was due to the fact that the train guard had watched as the agent our deceased man had placed the little bottle under a carriage seat, and that he was about to alert the Police as soon as possible but the British field operative was quick witted enough to intervene and had assured the guard that he was indeed an undercover Policeman.
The Colonel read the report twice before laying it back down on the desk. It appears by all accounts from the report the Agent was a known German courier who had been on an assignment and travelling on a train from the city of Edinburgh heading southbound. It was obvious that at some point the German field agent must have been in the vicinity of a chemical establishment or had been given the chemical from someone who had traces to Porton Down, near Salisbury. Hastings rubbed his chin again, and read the label from the picture, yep he was correct the ID label was clearly Porton Down.