[Moose4]

The dead-animal-in-the-well theory was used as recently as 1942. As Soviet troops retreated across the steppe toward Stalingrad, they would kill farm animals and dump them into the wells, to deny the Germans use of the water. (Interestingly, Kalmuks, Cossacks, and Ukranians often did the same thing to the Red Army during its retreats as well.)

}:-)4

[FreedomCalls]

And both the British and Germans accused each other of pouring motor oil down the water wells they dug in Libya each time Libya changed hands throughout the war. Neither realized that the oil in the wells was due to natural seeps in the area. The huge oil fields under Libya weren't discovered until after the war. It's interesting to speculate how the course of the war would have changed if the Germans had realized before the war that there were these huge oil fields in Libya.