Who Me

For other uses, see Who Me (disambiguation).

"Who, Me?" was deployed in a small squeezable container.

Who, Me? was a top secret, sulfurous, non-lethal chemical weapon developed by MIT-graduate Ernest Crocker while working in the Research and Development Branch (R&D) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, to be used by the French Resistance against German officers.^[1][2] Who, Me? smelled strongly of fecal matter, and was issued in pocket atomizers intended to be unobtrusively sprayed on a German officer, humiliating him and, by extension, demoralizing the occupying German forces.^[3]

The experiment was very short-lived, however. Who, Me? had a high concentration of extremely volatile sulfur compounds that were very difficult to control: more often than not, the person who did the spraying also ended up smelling as bad as the one targeted.^[4] After only two weeks, it was concluded that Who, Me? was a failure.

References

1. Couch, Christina (June 27, 2018). "The stench of war". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
2. Redazione (2022-12-27). "II Guerra Mondiale: l'ingegnere chimico Ernest Crocker l'uomo che studiava chimicamente gli odori più sgradevoli del mondo. Inventò il progetto "Who, me?"". Report Difesa (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-10-12.
3. "Aroma Therapy / In The Military, It's Known As 'Nonlethal Weapons Development'". SFGate. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
4. "Science that Stinks » American Scientist". www.americanscientist.org. May–June 2002. Archived from the original on 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2017-04-08.

External links

• Pain, Stephanie (July 7, 2001). "Stench Warfare". New Scientist