It is lethal at a mix of 1:5000 (gas/air) whereas phosgene is deadly at 1:10,000 (gas/air) - twice as toxic! Diphosgene, first used by the Germans at Verdun on 2, was deadlier still and could not be effectively filtered by standard issue gas masks.īlistering Agent Dichlorethylsulphide: the most dreaded of all chemical weapons in World War I - mustard gas. Chlorine inflicts damage by forming hydrochloric acid when coming in contact with moisture such as found in the lungs and eyes. This class includes chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene. xylyl bromide was a popular tearing agent since it was easily brewed.Īsphyxiant These are the poisonous gases.
A gas mask offered very good protection from this type of gas. Lachrymator (tearing agent) Much like today's tear gas and mace, this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly inflamed the nose and throat of the victim. Gas was available in three basic varieties: It was a sort of physiological weapon with the non-lethal tearing agents inflicting as much panic as the dreaded mustard gas. Gas was invented (and very successfully used) as a terror weapon meant to instill confusion and panic among the enemy prior to an offensive. Sniper fire would then be used to break the bottle and release the gas. The gas concentrate is stored in bottles for placement near enemy trenches. Artillery men were soon referring to "yellow crosses" and "white crosses" - these were the markings used to differentiate the various gas shell types.Ī makeshift German gas laboratory near the front. The idea with both was to get the gas as far from friendly forces as possible before releasing it. The projector was a device that lobbed a football size gas projectile into the enemy trench. The use of cylinder gas was replaced with the safer gas artillery shell and projector. Unfortunately a shift in the wind blew the gas laterally across the trench lines so that it also gassed some British troops. On 2 they released chlorine gas from cylinders against the German trenches at Loos. The British were ready to return the favor by early autumn. This gas was named for it's similarity in both faint smell and color to mustard. The eye bandages indicate that a blistering agent such as mustard gas was used. On more than one occasion the wind would change direction and blow the gas back into the attacker's trenches.īritish gas casualties near Bois de l'Abbe France, May 1918.
Large gas cylinders were brought up to the front where the gas would be released under favorable wind conditions. ø Newspaper articles on the gas attack at LangemarckĪn aerial view of the beginning of a gas attack.The greenish-yellow cloud drifted over and into the French and Algerian trenches where it caused wide spread panic and death. At 1700 hours the Germans released a 5 mile wide cloud of chlorine gas from some 520 cylinders (168 tons of the chemical). The first use on the western front came several months later on 2 at the village of Langemarck near Ypres. It was a tearing agent dispersed by artillery shell. The first reported use of gas was by the Germans on the eastern front on. There was no mask that could offer protection from the blistering mustard gas which attacks all exposed flesh. This type of mask was not effective in filtering out the more deadly phosgene and diphosgene gases. The cannister gas mask was developed to protect the soldier from the use of chlorine gas and tearing agents such as xylyl bromide. These would be moistened with water to improve their effectiveness in filtering out the gas. The first army issue gas masks were little more than gauze bandages with ties. They convey the experience of gas warfare better than any photographs.)
(See the paintings "Hell" by Leroux and "Soldats Masques" by Zingg in The Fractal Gallery. Add a gas mask to the already surreal atmosphere of an offensive's rolling bombardments and heavy machine gun fire, and what you got must have been close to hell. Gas was a nuisance, a crippling nuisance, often only wounding and causing widespread panic instead of outright killing. The Germans have been credited with the first use, but the French and English were not far behind. The horrors of gas warfare had never been seen on a battlefield until 1915. The use of gas at Langemarck ø as reported in the New York Tribune, April 27, 1915 Met no resistance at all, the French at their front being virtually paralyzed." It is believed that the Germans, who charged in behind the vapor, Nausea and faintness, followed by an utter collapse. Ground like a swamp mist and drifted toward the French trenches on a brisk wind. Trenches on the Web - Armory: Gas Warfare
0 kommentar(er)
