Britian almost poisoned an entire country



If you've ever felt swamped by the chaos of life and craved some time alone in nature, consider venturing to Groinart Island. This remote lump of land off the northwest coast of Scotland is utterly uninhabited, devoid of irritating modern conveniences like Wi-Fi, running water, or reliable shelter. Encircled by the frosty waters of the North Atlantic, you could even satisfy your penchant for cold water swimming. However, along with your Speedos, you might want to pack your hazmat suit. Instead of sun cream, given it's Scotland, it's probably a good idea to top up your vaccinations, specifically the kind that protects you from deadly bacterial infections. Oh, and don't be alarmed if the locals refer to your new holiday spot as the "Island of Death." According to the British Ministry of Defense, it's perfectly safe to visit. Well, it is now, anyway.

Groinart Island's history is closely tied to one of the most bizarre covert operations of World War II - Operation Vegetarian. Despite its somewhat misleading name, this was no assault on humanity's herbivores. On the contrary, it was a crazy campaign against carnivores, specifically the German ones. For that reason, it was arguably one of the most misnamed military campaigns of the 20th century, right up there with Operation Toenails (the invasion of New Georgia by Allied troops), Operations Red Bean and Frequent Wind (which must have been unpleasant for everyone involved), and Operations Beaver Cage and Viking Snatch (the less said about those, the better).

Operation Vegetarian was a proposed bio-warfare campaign during World War II that aimed to sabotage Germany's food supply by contaminating cattle with Anthrax - the horrific bacterial infection, not the American thrash metal band, although I'm sure Castle wouldn't have liked that very much either. The brainchild of British scientist Paul Fields, a distinguished biology buff, who, three years into World War II, was tasked with concocting a biological weapon that could turn the tide against Hitler.

His answer was simple - drop millions of Anthrax-laced linseed cakes across Germany during the summer when the nation's cattle would be out grazing. If everything went to plan, the cattle would consume the cakes and become infected, subsequently infecting the people who ate their meat. If it turned out that cattle didn't like the taste of Anthrax, the cakes would simply dissolve the next time it rained, poisoning the grass, which the cows would eventually eat anyway. Either way, things would end badly for the bovines.

The whole idea sounds like something imagined by a James Bond villain. But soon after, the Allies committed an operation just as horrific - the infamous bombing of Dresden, Germany. While this firestorm resulted in massive civilian casualties, like Operation Vegetarian promised, Dresden was also a strike at the wealth of the German Empire. The city was filled with cultural wealth and artifacts, including sculptures and artwork, along with many German elites who hoarded such wealth. Their obsession for these fine artworks runs deep. In fact, the German art market experienced a boom during the war, with art seen as stable wartime investments.

Flash forward to the 21st century, and art stability as an investment has still held over time. It's a strategy that used to work only for the uber-rich. Until today's sponsor, Masterworks, cracked the market wide open, selling $45 million worth of art last year alone and returning the net proceeds not to billionaires but to people like you and me. In fact, every Masterworks exit to date has returned a profit, with another two sales in just the last few weeks. With over 700,000 users, Masterworks' offerings have sold out in minutes. They even had to create a waitlist for new users. But, lucky you, I've got you special access to skip it. So just click the link in the description right now and don't miss out.

Now, back to Anthrax. The bacteria that causes Anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through direct contact with the skin. The side effects are ultimately the same - sepsis, multiple organ failure, and swelling of the fluid and membranes around the brain and spinal cord, resulting in extensive internal bleeding and eventually cutaneous Anthrax, the one you get for your skin. Inhalation Anthrax is the deadliest, but gastrointestinal Anthrax, the one the British planned to spread through Operation Vegetarian, isn't far behind. Left untreated, over half of gastrointestinal Anthrax patients perish, and even if treated with the right antibiotics (which weren't around in 1942 anyway), 40 percent of patients don't make it.

Anthrax isn't man-made; Bacillus anthracis is found naturally all over the world, mainly in soil. It mostly infects farmed and wild animals, who occasionally transmit it to humans. Some scholars think it was the real cause of the fifth plague in the Bible, which describes the sickness that afflicted livestock. Today, we still witness roughly 2,000 cases annually, but Operation Vegetarian would have dwarfed those numbers.

The plan was to contaminate Germany's beef cattle, possibly infecting humans who feasted on the meat. But at the very least, it would have killed all the cows, creating a colossal food shortage that would force the Nazis to reroute resources and attention away from beating the crap out of half of Europe. However, this logic was flawed from the outset. When Paul Fields started his research, Hitler and his forces were at the peak of their European expansion, granting them access to food supplies far beyond Germany's borders. Killing a lot of local cows would have been horrible, but it wouldn't have starved the nation. So, not a particularly pragmatic strategy.

But that was far from the worst of it. Operation Vegetarian, despite its tree-hugging name, was an ethical catastrophe. Had it been carried out, it would have been impossible to control the spread of Anthrax, which would have infected not only the targeted cattle but many other animals, humans, and even the land itself, potentially killing millions and rendering all of Germany uninhabitable for generations. In fairness, the British didn't know all of this at the time. To discover Anthrax's full lethality, they needed to do the sciency bit and test the stuff. And for that, they would need a remote, unoccupied area far away from people, especially those who liked to ask inconvenient questions. And that brings us back to Groinart Island - your next dream holiday.

In 1942, scientists from Porton Down, the government's biochemical research lab in southern England, descended on Groinart Island, taking 60 sheep along for the company. In the first test, a modified plane dropped an Anthrax bomb on the island, killing all 60 sheepies, but also some animals on the nearby mainland. Later tests involving Anthrax cake bombs caused more unplanned spread of the disease when a contaminated sheep carcass washed upon the shore across the bay, sparking an outbreak of Anthrax in local animals and livestock. The government told farmers that a passing Greek ship was to blame and washed everything up through the tactical use of some very generous bribes. Despite their collateral damage, Anthrax bombs were clearly a very deadly success. Groinart Island was transformed into a forbidding hellscape, bringing death upon anyone