I think it was on this list that the topic of drug use by combatants  
came up here a while ago which prompted me to get the book "Drugs and  
Contemporary Warfare" by Paul Rexton Kan, 2009, Potomac Books, Wash.  
D.C. This book comes out of military academics, and is limited  
thereby, but is interesting nonetheless. Here's the link to the  
publishers webpage.
http://www.potomacbooksinc.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productid=49890

Dave Trippel

On Dec 15, 2010, at 2:08 AM, Robin G W Room wrote:

> David, Scott & others --
>
>    The role of alcohol in collective violence is a rich topic for  
> someone to pick up on.  Jacek Moskalewicz wrote about the Nazis  
> supplying vodka to killing squads in occupied Poland in the  
> reference below, and I am copying this to him in case he has more  
> to add.
>
>    Here are a few lines and the attached references from: Rehm, J.,  
> Baliunas, D., Borges, G.L.G., Graham, K., Irving, H.M., Kehoe, T.,  
> Parry, C.D., Patra, J., Popova, S., Poznyak,V., Roerecke, M., Room,  
> R., Samokhvalov, A.V., & Taylor, B. (2010).  The relation between  
> different dimensions of alcohol consumption and burden of disease -  
> an overview. Addiction 105(5):817-843.
>
>
> ... there is ample anecdotal evidence of alcohol intoxication as  
> the source of ‘liquid courage’ in collective violence [217]
>
> and as being used to amplify cruelty in wartime (e.g. [217,218]).  
> Thus, Mueller [217] notes that the killing
>
> squads at Srebrenica were often shored up with generous quantities  
> of liquor, as was typical for the wars in former
>
> Yugoslavia. In the Rwanda genocide, massacres were often committed  
> by drunken militia bands, fortified with
>
> assorted drugs from pharmacies [219]. Similarly, there are reports  
> documenting the intoxication involved in the
>
> purposive violence of football hooligan crowds [220].
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 217. Mueller J. The banality of ‘ethnic war’.
>
>
> Int Secur 2000; 25:42–70.
>
> 218. Moskalewicz J. Monopolization of the alcohol arena by the state.
>
>
>
> Contemp Drug Prob 1985; 12: 117–28.
>
> 219. Gourevitch P.
>
>
>
> We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our  
> Families. New York: Farrar, Straus, &
>
> Giroux; 1998.
>
> 220. Buford B.
>
>
>
> Among the Thugs. London & New York: Secker & Warburg and WW Norton,  
> 1991.
>
>       -- Robin
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 14 Dec 2010 02:47:48 EST, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> Dear David and ADHS Listserv:
>     Thanks for your post.
>     I am working on alcohol policy and regulation under the Vichy  
> collaborationist regime and find much material on extra wine  
> rations for workers doing hard manual labor and at the same time  
> increasing restrictions placed on the sale of aperitifs and the  
> sale of alcohol in cafes.
>     Thanks, all the best, Scott
>
>
> In Forces of Habit I described the provision of extra alcohol  
> rations for German troops and their adjuncts involved in both  
> regular military and "special" actions, such as participation in  
> mass executions (pp. 143-144). I have since come across several  
> references to similar uses of alcohol in the Holocaust literature,  
> e.g., in Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men. I do not recall,  
> however, any cases of the Germans distributing alcohol in amounts  
> or circumstances that would be likely to foment rebellion. I would  
> also stress, with Frederick Smith, that the use of alcohol as an  
> incentive for work (particularly for difficult, unpleasant, and/or  
> morally compromised work) has a long and extensive history.  
> Comparatively speaking, I don't see anything unusual in the  
> Germans' "incentivizing" behavior.
>
> David T. Courtwright
> Presidential Professor
> Department of History
> University of North Florida
> 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224-2645 USA
>
> email: [log in to unmask]; office phone: 904 620-1872;
> office fax 904 620-1018; home phone 904 745-0530
> ________________________________________
> From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [[log in to unmask]]  
> On Behalf Of Frederick H. Smith [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 10:35 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Nazi alcohol policies in occupied Europe
>
> In my book Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History I explore  
> this issue in
> a different context. White sugar planters doled out huge amounts of  
> rum to
> enslaved workers on their estates, but they were ambivalent about  
> the practice.
> On the one hand planters used rum as a reward for good work and as  
> a work
> incentive. It was also given out during holidays, such as Christmas  
> and cropover.
> However, slave revolts and rebellions were frequent during these  
> holiday
> celebrations. Moreover, the planters wanted a productive workforce  
> and turned
> a blind eye to drinking and drunkenness as long as it did not  
> interfere with
> productive labor (the source of the planters' power). In short,  
> planter discussions
> of drinking by their enslaved workers reveal a strong ambivalence.  
> Rum was a
> tool of domination, but it was also a key instrument in fomenting  
> rebellion.
>
>
> ------
> Frederick H. Smith
> Associate Professor
> College of William and Mary
> Department of Anthropology
> Washington Hall
> PO Box 8795
> Williamsburg, VA   23187
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Phone: 757-221-1063
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 08:36:43 -0500
> >From: David Fahey
> >Subject: Nazi alcohol policies in occupied Europe
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >I recall at a conference hearing a Polish scholar say that his  
> father,
> >a railroad worker during the Nazi occupation, received vodka for good
> >work.  Providing alcohol to occupied populations had many
> >complications.  Did drunkenness encourage rebellion or acquiescence?
> >As in the example cited, could it be used to enforce good behavior?
> >Did Nazi policy vary from country to country?
> >
> >--
> >David M. Fahey
> >Professor Emeritus of History
> >Miami University
> >Oxford, Ohio 45056
> >USA=
>
>