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Originally Posted by unipus
Lots of good points there. One issue is that the Twilight war backstory has always been largely incompatible with these truths we know about the actual plans, ie "seven days to the Rhine." The backstories rely on a form of prolonged war that doesn't really match the technology or doctrine anyone is using. But, that's neither here nor there.
My targets are Polish coal plants/mines. I'm assuming a reticence to nuke them because they're not high priority military targets, but they are critical strategic infrastructure. If you assume you can deny them to the enemy for a few weeks/months and then reclaim them, that seems like a good use case? Especially if the war has already reached limited-strategic. The Soviets certainly had tactical aircraft capable of delivering chemical weapons; I'm sure several NATO nations must have as well.
Lewisite seems like it might be a better fit. I can't find reliable hard info on it but what I have found suggests that (a) there were larger stockpiles of it around than mustard and (b) it remains liquid in a larger temp range.
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Lewisite is less persistent than mustard because of its higher vapor pressure and hydrolysis in the presence of moisture (the WHO states it's seven times less persistent in Annex One of "Public health response to biological and chemical weapons"), but it can be mixed with HD to depress the freezing point without any other significant effect, making HD more effective in the cold (which is part of why it was kept around). Mixtures range from minimal amounts of Lewisite to a eutectic mix, which is Agent Yellow. Lewisite's effectiveness was also questioned because it's immediately painful on exposure, so people will get out of it before absorbing a high dose, as opposed to mustard potentially going unnoticed by a masked target and seeping through the skin.
One possibility that hasn't been mentioned yet is
nitrogen mustard. Best known now for HN-2's use as the first chemotherapy drug, they were originally designed as chemical weapons. HN-3 in particular has similar vesicant qualities to sulfur mustard, is relatively easy to produce, and appears to be more stable than sulfur mustard (its boiling point is 257C to sulfur mustard's 217C).