World War II is without a doubt one of the most devastating events to affect humankind since the last ice age. The war and the conditions it caused killed close to 3% of the planet’s human population, mostly European, and finally ended with the use of atomic weapons against two Japanese cities. In most wars there are events that participating governments would rather people forget. One of these events occurred on December 2nd, 1943, when a German air raid destroyed an American ship containing mustard gas in Bari Harbor.
Approximately 50 Allied ships were present in Bari Harbor that evening, waiting to have their cargos unloaded to support the final Allied offensive in Italy. Within 20 minutes a surprise air raid by the German Luftwaffe destroyed 17 of those ships, the worst attack on Allied shipping since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. So similar was the destruction that the event became known as Little Pearl Harbor. A U.S. Liberty ship loaded with mustard gas bombs was hit, releasing the poison gas into the harbor and surrounding city. Unfortunately mustard gas is not a clean weapon, distasteful as it might be to use the term “clean” in reference to a weapon of mass killing, chemicals like mustard gas could never be put in that category because even brief exposure can lead to horrible and crippling symptoms that can appear years after initial contact. If the gas doesn’t kill outright it can destroy the body over time or cause a lifetime of suffering. Lasting effects of exposure are extreme sensitivity to light, blindness, impotence, painful sores and blisters that do not heal properly, respiratory, gastric and bowel problems, cancer and birth defects. Over one thousand Allied servicemen were killed at Bari harbor as well as over a thousand Italian civilians. Six years after the war teams of medical personnel were sent to Bari to investigate why the population of the city was experiencing sudden deaths. There is no way to be certain exactly how may Italians or Allied servicemen died or suffered because of the delayed effects of the poison.
Certainly there were efforts to reduce the carnage and curtail the damage done by modern weapons, such as the 1926 Geneva Convention. While largely credited with preventing the gas warfare that was the hallmark of the First World War, many of its prohibitions were violated at times by both sides of the conflict.
In their efforts to control the Horn of Africa, the Italian air force used mustard gas bombs in Ethiopia in 1936, although to the best of my knowledge the Axis powers did not use them against Allied forces. Growing up in America, it was easy to see how this would be readily accepted and believed with few questions, and in this case the information was absolutely true. What is more difficult to accept is that the U.S. and Allied governments were ready and willing to use mustard gas in violation of the Geneva Convention. Intellectually I understand that once one side violated it the other would inevitably follow suit, and that both sides were prepared to do so if necessary, but for an American with my upbringing the revelation that mustard gas bombs were present on U.S. Navy ships in the war zone was disconcerting. Apparently the Allied leadership thought so too, because they did what they could to suppress knowledge of the incident.
Elements of the Allied military launched an investigation without complete information because the mustard gas was classified, but they did not discount the presence of chemical weapons. An American officer, Lt. Colonel Stewart F. Alexander, a chemical warfare expert, was dispatched and determined that mustard gas was definitely the cause of many of the casualties. He advised the hospitals of the proper treatment and sent his report to the Allied authorities. At first it was rumored that the Germans had dropped the gas, but a recovered shell fragment showed that they were from American M47A1 bombs. The Allied Governments chose to publicly deny the reports, after the war the Americans attempted to reduce the significance of the gas. Eisenhower stated “Fortunately the wind was offshore and the escaping gas caused no casualties.” Winston Churchill directed that any mention of mustard gas be purged from British records, the victim's burns were to be described as “due to enemy action" and all mustard gas symptoms were to be described as dermatitis. He continued to deny the existence of chemical weapons in Bari even after the war ended. I understand the need for secrecy during the war, even though it became impossible to hide from continental Europeans, but continuing to conceal the fact from their own citizens afterward should not have been necessary.
The British government eventually admitted that their servicemen were exposed to mustard gas during the attack on Bari harbor, but it took four decades to happen. This admission was made only after the remaining survivors suffered half their lives with classic mustard gas symptoms. Some members of the medical profession were aware of what caused these veteran’s symptoms, but were likely prohibited from speaking of it to the general public. If not for the resilient efforts of activists like Betty Stevens, the remaining survivors might never have known the cause of their illness:
“Bert’s case highlights the injustice in the way the survivors were treated. It was not until the 1980s that the Government finally admitted that there had been mustard gas at Bari and that men had suffered the effects. Bert’s devoted wife, Betty, had witnessed the change in the young man she married in 1944 and had endured with Bert his long-drawn-out years of illness and distress. In 1983, Bert was diagnosed as having cancer of the throat and after discussions it was decided to operate. Betty recalls, ‘He died on the operating table, but was revived.’ She also says, ‘I found out what had been the cause of all Bert’s illnesses when quite by chance I overheard two doctors discussing his condition. This was at the first cancer diagnosis, when I heard the words “mustard gas” mentioned.’ From then on, Betty never gave up the fight for justice. She contacted members of Parliament, appeared on television and wrote to then Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, from whom she received a negative response.“After forty years Betty realised what had been the cause of her husband’s debilitating illness. Had she not overheard those two fateful words, perhaps neither Bert nor anyone else would have been granted war pensions or compensation. On 24 February 1995, Bert Stevens gave up the struggle. He died on the date of his fifty-first wedding anniversary. He was the first survivor to be officially recognised as having been contaminated by mustard gas at Bari, and the fist to be awarded a pension; it was grudgingly awarded in 1985 and was not back-dated. Betty again dug her heels in and after more months of protesting and lobbying, perseverance and determination, the pension was finally back-dated to the time Bert’s illness was first recognised.” (Poisonous Inferno, by George Southern p. 157-158)
By 1993 perhaps three dozen more British veterans were awarded pensions and disbursements based on the official recognition of the incident, hundreds more didn’t. To add insult to injury, the official medical records are not due to be released until 2018. Even servicemen who were 18 at the time will be 93 years old, and any who showed symptoms of exposure are unlikely to be alive to refute those documents.
I’m at least peripherally aware of the how their families must have felt at this treatment. My great-uncle was driven insane by his mustard gas complications after World War One, and my own father was exposed to agent orange and other things in the Vietnam War. We feared that my younger siblings would have birth defects. Thankfully, they did not.
The people of Bari, unlike the U.S. and British governments, had no reason to cover-up anything, but were in no position to do much about the situation. Southern Italian immigrants in America had difficult times in both their homelands and their new country, they often dealt with their grief by refusing to speak of what caused it. Tales of Allied mustard gas bombs killing thousands of Italian civilians would not have been well received in America after the war, even if the tragedy was accidental, and especially if the government denied it. If not for the efforts of people like Betty Stevens and George Southern, I might never have learned the truth about the poison gas disaster in Bari.
Unfortunately the legacy of mustard gas poisoning in Southern Italy continues to be a danger. Despite the Allied governments attempts to safely remove or dispose of their chemical weapons, problems remain. Some vessels were sunk by enemy action and others were scuttled purposely, with little understanding of the future hazards they might cause. Doctors from the Department of Occupational Medicine at Bari University have done a study on those fishermen, compiling data from between 1946 to 1997.
“Bomb Shells containing mustard still lie at the bottom of Bari harbor. It has also come to light that the Allies dumped mustard in the Adriatic Sea off Bari. “Unpublished U.S. government records indicate that unspecified quantities of mustard and/or Lewisite bombs were dumped at the same site…” There have been many reports of fishermen being burned by mustard from bombs caught in their fishing nets in the waters between Molfetto, Giovinazzio, and Bari.”… “The mustard is dragged to the surface in fishing nets after the containers holding it are broken or have corroded. It consists of a lumpy mass that hardens upon exposure to sea water enabling it to be brought to the surface. The unsuspecting fishermen subsequently handle the tackle and the mustard, inhaling fumes and getting vapor in their eyes.” (Nightmare in Bari, by Gerald Reminick p.187-188)
These issues are not isolated to Italy, chemical munitions were also dumped in the Far East, Japan and Northern Europe. The Scandinavian and Baltic peoples are struggling with problems similar to Bari, and new dumpsites are still being discovered:
“In the Baltic, “Swedish and Danish fishermen frequently suffer injuries from mustard gas dragged up in the nets. Both countries have built special hospitals and decontamination facilities along their coasts to treat mustard-gas wounds – the legacy of ocean dumping after World War II”… “The fishermen of these areas call the scuttled ships “Gas Ships,” and wisely avoid the dumping areas.”… “Personnel responsible for removing and shipping the chemical toxins back to the U.S. were also injured.” (Nightmare in Bari, by Gerald Reminick p.189)
As of 2001, the U.S. Merchant Marines who were exposed to chemical weapons when retrieving them have still not received assistance from the U.S. authorities, despite showing typical symptoms of contamination. For those who would forget about the disaster in Bari, I would remind them that remnants of the poison are still harming people there and elsewhere today, and if this is not enough to warrant their attention then perhaps the following excerpt will be.
“The shipments brought back to the U.S. were dumped at sea in various sites on the eastern seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, and off California. The toxics were also stored in eight mainland sites. Those scuttled in ships at sea were part of Operation CHASE. CHASE meant Cut Holes And Sink ‘Em. These operations continued until 1972.” (Nightmare in Bari, by Gerald Reminick p.190)
Whether or not you are from Southern Italy, what happened in Bari and its aftermath in some ways should concern us all.
References:
• Poisonous Inferno, World War II Tragedy at Bari Harbour, by George Southern 2002, ISBN 1 84037 389 X
• Nightmare In Bari, The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Cover UP, by Gerald Reminick 2001, ISBN 1-889901-210
