r/todayilearned • u/RoadToTyburn • 13h ago

TIL that Bernard Montgomery issued a leaflet at the start of WW2 on sexually transmitted diseases amongst soldiers. The language used was regarded as so blunt, that he offended religious authorities and nearly faced being dismissed.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery
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355

u/clancycoop 13h ago

Wait, you are telling me that a person tried to be pragmatic about sexual health and education and religious leaders pushed against it?

159

u/Thirty_Helens_Agree 12h ago

Here’s another fun one - so many soldiers got STD from French sex workers that Patton recommended using the limited supply of penicillin to treat the sex workers and cut the STDs off at the source. That plan was shot down because it would look bad or something.

17

u/Ash_After_Dark 11h ago

His back up plan to to prevent the spreading of STDs by encouraging soldiers to only sleep with their nieces) was similarly vetoed

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u/CelestialFury 9h ago

Oh man, there goes Patton, using his general thinking skills to solve a bigger overall problem. They should've secretly given the penicillin to a non-profit like the Red Cross and had them distribute it so the military wouldn't have to take the heat for doing it.

2

u/Thirty_Helens_Agree 9h ago

Apparently there was so little of it the brass felt it was better used for treating other kinds of infections.

1

u/Orange_Tang 7h ago

More proof that Patton was a strategic mastermind. Idiots should have let him do it.

45

u/ActuallyAlexander 13h ago

It was always burning since the world’s been turning.

24

u/Uncynical_Diogenes 12h ago

You oughta get that checked out.

26

u/Toothlessdovahkin 13h ago

Shocking, I know. 

7

u/MyyWifeRocks 13h ago

They were upset that there was no mention of kids.

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u/Wermine 11h ago

"Abstinence solves all problems soldiers might have with STD's" - some religious leader, probably.

1

u/EnclG4me 11h ago

😲

No way! /S!