Pervitin is a drug developed in Nazi Germany by the pharmaceutical company Temmler, before the start of World War II. Originally sold without prescription to the population, it was claimed to suppress fatigue, make one more alert, reduce hunger, and help fight depression. The main ingredient of this wonder drug was methamphetamine, the primary component of what we now call crystal meth. This miracle drug’s effectiveness against fatigue caught the attention of the director of the Research Institute of Defense Physiology of the German forces, Dr. Otto Ranke, who considered that fatigue was enemy number one of a soldier during battle. An order of thirty five million Pervitin tablets were purchased for the Wehrmacht’s invasion of France in May 1940 to increase effectivity of the campaign that relied especially on speed for success. History will claim that the use of mobile warfare over positional warfare with Germany’s motorized army, French high command mistakes, and an equipment disadvantage led to the ultimate defeat. My research aims to show that Pervitin was a crucial factor in the iron force of the blitzkrieg by the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, and that it did not as much come from its tactics, inferiority of the Allies, and employment of mobile warfare but from an army that was blitzed on Pervitin to turn it into a steamroller of a machine that could not be stopped, day or night.
Why it is too soon to celebrate the Alzheimer's 'wonder drug'
