Yesterday, I wrote about the mustard gas at Bari, Italy, in the Ten Things You Might Not Know About World War II. I must admit that I didn't know. Here is some more information from Wikipedia.
Bari, Italy has the unfortunate experience of being the only European city to be involved in chemical warfare during the war. And it wasn't the case of one side using it on the other.
Bari had become a major supply depot for Allied forces as they pushed their way up the Italian peninsula. The mustard gas was aboard the US Liberty Ship John Harvey and was in Italy in case Germany started using their chemical weapons. On December 2, 1943, German Junkers JU 88 bombers attacked the port.
The existence of the mustard gas was highly classified and the physicians treating the victims did not know what they were dealing with which led to higher casualties.
It is not known for sure how many deaths were attributed to the mustard gas or the attack itself. One reason is because the Allied leaders, FDR, Churchill, and Eisenhower ordered the records destroyed.
It is known that 69 deaths occurred, mostly merchant seamen (and they still are not recognized as veterans of the war!!). Others believe that as many as a thousand Americans died and an equal number of Italian civilians.
It has been called "Little Pearl Harbor." Two books have been written about it.
And I Never Heard of It. --Cooter
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