Oh! Oh! I know that!
Colorado Beetle Mania
In addition to a report in the People’s Almanac that Adolph Hitler owned 8,960 acres of grazing land in Cheyenne County, Colorado, there is another unusual story about Colorado, the Nazis, and a force of thousands of Coloradans who aided the Allies before the U.S. became involved in World War II.
Colorado potato beetles (so named when 1859 Colorado gold rush pioneers discovered the pests after the bugs developed a new taste for the Pikes Peak or Bust miners’ cultivated potatoes) were reported in 1940 by the Nazis as accomplices in biological warfare conducted by British Allied Forces.
Authorities in Berlin charged that British airmen dropped bags of the ravenous bugs onto potato fields in Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium as an example of British unfairness to lay waste the major food source of those countries. Two days before, the Germans alleged British airman were throwing millions of self-igniting “leaves”—made of phosphorous and guncotton—to cause fires in German fields and forests. British authorities stated, “there is no truth in a German declaration that British fliers are dropping bags of Colorado potato beetles on Germany’s fields;” however, they did admit to using the incendiary “leaves.”
The editor of the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune asked the questions: “Just how did those Colorado potato bugs fall into the hands of British aviators? Weren’t they exported in violation of the neutrality act exposing them to a rigorous European climate to which they are not accustomed, and then dropping them on German potato fields?”
The 3/8 inch yellow-orange Colorado potato beetle was not a stranger to international conflict. In 1880, Irish patriots considered using Colorado potato beetles in biological warfare. Reportedly, “Hitherto the Colorado beetle has confined himself strictly to a potato diet, but it is hoped by sanguine Irish patriots that with a little training he can be induced to eat all sorts of vegetables and grain. When an army of trained beetles shall have eaten England, the wretched Saxons will gladly grant to Irishmen all their demands.”
The Germans established the Potato Beetle Defense Service in 1942, which evolved into an aggressive offensive beetle breeding program. In preparation for a Colorado potato beetle assault on England, Nazi researchers released thousands of the bugs on fields near the German town of Speyer. Even though the beetles were each painted to aid in their easy recovery, only 57 were found. In 1943, Germany started Colorado beetle bomb attacks on England near Chale on the Isle of Wright. According to British naturalist Richard Ford, teams of English children, all taking an oath of secrecy, were dispatched to quietly collect the beetles. Rather than redeploying them for attack on Germany (the beetles, not the children), the children dropped the beetles into boiling water to kill them. The secrecy was perhaps thought prudent to prevent widespread panic.
Colorado potato beetles (so named when 1859 Colorado gold rush pioneers discovered the pests after the bugs developed a new taste for the Pikes Peak or Bust miners’ cultivated potatoes) were reported in 1940 by the Nazis as accomplices in biological warfare conducted by British Allied Forces.
Authorities in Berlin charged that British airmen dropped bags of the ravenous bugs onto potato fields in Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium as an example of British unfairness to lay waste the major food source of those countries. Two days before, the Germans alleged British airman were throwing millions of self-igniting “leaves”—made of phosphorous and guncotton—to cause fires in German fields and forests. British authorities stated, “there is no truth in a German declaration that British fliers are dropping bags of Colorado potato beetles on Germany’s fields;” however, they did admit to using the incendiary “leaves.”
The editor of the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune asked the questions: “Just how did those Colorado potato bugs fall into the hands of British aviators? Weren’t they exported in violation of the neutrality act exposing them to a rigorous European climate to which they are not accustomed, and then dropping them on German potato fields?”
The 3/8 inch yellow-orange Colorado potato beetle was not a stranger to international conflict. In 1880, Irish patriots considered using Colorado potato beetles in biological warfare. Reportedly, “Hitherto the Colorado beetle has confined himself strictly to a potato diet, but it is hoped by sanguine Irish patriots that with a little training he can be induced to eat all sorts of vegetables and grain. When an army of trained beetles shall have eaten England, the wretched Saxons will gladly grant to Irishmen all their demands.”
The Germans established the Potato Beetle Defense Service in 1942, which evolved into an aggressive offensive beetle breeding program. In preparation for a Colorado potato beetle assault on England, Nazi researchers released thousands of the bugs on fields near the German town of Speyer. Even though the beetles were each painted to aid in their easy recovery, only 57 were found. In 1943, Germany started Colorado beetle bomb attacks on England near Chale on the Isle of Wright. According to British naturalist Richard Ford, teams of English children, all taking an oath of secrecy, were dispatched to quietly collect the beetles. Rather than redeploying them for attack on Germany (the beetles, not the children), the children dropped the beetles into boiling water to kill them. The secrecy was perhaps thought prudent to prevent widespread panic.
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After World War II, children were again engaged after school to collect Colorado potato beetles—allegedly dropped from American planes during 1950 in East Germany. According the BBC, “The East German press reported a number of cases in which planes flying overhead had been followed by a plague of Colorado potato beetles. East German Politicians raged against the ‘six-legged ambassadors of the American invasion’ and a government report described ‘a criminal attack by American imperialist warmongers on our people’s food supply.’”
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