British spies plotted to spike Adolf Hitler's food with female hormones to make the Nazi Party leader less aggressive in the hope it would bring a swifter end to World War II.
The plan was to put doses of oestrogen into the Nazi leader's food in order to make him more tame and feminine, like his secretary and sister Paula, UK newspaper Telegraph reports.
As Hitler had his food tested before he ate it, the oestrogen — which was tasteless and would have a subtle effect on its patient — would have passed his testers unnoticed.
Professor Brian Ford, a Cardiff University fellow and author of Secret Weapons: Technology, Science and The Race to Win World World War II, uncovered details of the oestrogen plot and other unusual schemes through looking at reams of recently declassified files.
"There was an Allied plan that they would smuggle oestrogen into Hitler's food and change his sex so he would become more feminine and less aggressive, Professor Ford was quoted as saying.
"Their research had showed the importance of sex hormones — they were beginning to be used in sex therapy in London."
Professor Ford said there was "no mileage" to putting poison in his food because his testers would have immediately fallen victim to it, whereas sex hormones would take time to have an effect.
Other tactics included dropping glue on Nazi troops to stick them to the ground, disguising bombs in tins of fruit being imported to Germany, and dropping boxes of poisonous snakes onto enemy troops.
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