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Cetun t1_je89rft wrote

Everyone took amphetamine salts, you could buy it over the counter in the US up until the 70s.

This is a common reddit trope because one guy wrote a book about amphetamine use in the German army and claimed that's how they beat France. Literally that's about the only source for "widespread" use of amphetamines by the German army. The book has been roundly criticized by historians as sensational and dubious, has been criticized by addiction advocates as characterizing drug addiction as "bad because Nazis are addicts", and has been criticized by anti-nazis as unnecessary because Nazis were bad on their own, being addicted to drugs isn't the bad thing about them.

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zezxz t1_je8r5xw wrote

Yeah but that everyone includes Germans too. Amphetamines are generally steroids on the battlefield, and that’s not a concern during war. The premise of the drugs helping Nazis push through against France makes perfect sense but I’ve never heard it called anything more than just that: an aid

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MaxDickpower t1_je8vsnn wrote

It does not make perfect sense. Having your soldiers addicted to meth and crashing hard after the meth wears off is not conducive to effective warfare.

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yawningangel t1_je97nfs wrote

You do realise that USAF pilots were using "pep" pills during the first gulf war?

[Of pilots who were surveyed, 65% used amphetamines during the deployment to the SWA AOR and/or during Operation Desert Storm. Pilots who used amphetamines in air operations described it as "occasional." The most frequent indications for amphetamine use were "aircrew fatigue" and "mission type." Of pilots who used amphetamines, 58-61% considered their use beneficial or essential to operations. ] (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7661838/)

You think the were more restrained in the 30's?

https://thesecuritydistillery.org/all-articles/pervitin-how-drugs-transformed-warfare-in-1939-45

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zezxz t1_jed9y3h wrote

Why doesn’t it make sense?If you’re throwing out troops to slaughter I don’t see what advantage there would be from throwing out sober sacrifices

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