Chemical warfare gas

“ It has been many times suggested since the Armistice that the use of poisonous gas in war may be done away with by agreement among nations. The arguments against the use of gas are that it is inhumane and that it might be used against non-combatants, especially women and children. The inhumanity of it is absolutely disproven by the results of its use in the World War. The death rate from gas alone was less than one-twelfth that from bullets, high explosives and other methods of warfare. ”

“ Diphenylchloroarsine, used extensively by the Germans in high explosive shell, is more poisonous than phosgene, the most deadly gas in general use in the past war. In addition, it has the quality of causing an intolerable burning sensation in the nose, throat, and lungs, in extremely minute quantities. This material can be kept out of masks only by filters, whereas true gases are taken out by charcoal and chemical granules.
There is still another quality which helps make chemical warfare the most powerful weapon of war. ”

“ As to non-combatants, certainly we do not contemplate using poisonous gas against them, no more at least than we propose to use high explosives in long-range guns or aeroplanes against them. The use of the one against non-combatants is just as damnable as the other and it is just as easy to refrain from using one as the other.
Gas Cannot be Abolished. As to the abandonment of poison gas, it must be remembered that no powerful weapon of war has ever been abandoned once it proved its power unless a more powerful weapon was discovered. ”

“ In the future Gas Troops will put off the majority of all cloud gas attacks even with toxic smoke candles.
Necessity for Training in Peace. This is an outline of the subject of chemical warfare. As stated in the beginning, the fundamental underlying principles for the successful use of poisonous gas is necessarily the same as for any other war materials. The necessity for continuous training in peace is just the same with chemical warfare as with the rifle, the machine gun, with field artillery or any other weapon of war. ”

“ Any new chemical warfare development capable, under a given system of individual protection, of successfully attacking the hitherto protected individual, may be termed strategic. The method may be aimed at a protected or hitherto immune human function, but if it overcomes protection it is then capable of effecting strategic results by its use on a sufficiently large scale. Thus we regard the first introduction of cloud gas by Germany, or their use of mustard gas, as examples of strategic chemical warfare moves. ”

“ It is impossible to humanize the act of killing and maiming the enemy’s soldiers, and there is no logical grounds on which to condemn an appliance so long as its application can be so confined. Experiments in this and other countries during the World War completely established the fact that gas can be so confined. The range of gas clouds is no greater than that of artillery and the population in the area behind the front line must, if they remain in such range, take their chance. The danger area in the future will be known to all. ”

“ We must continue our studies of what is known as chemical warfare. No nation has renounced the use of poison gases as the result of the Peace Conference. There are nations whose word we could not respect if they did renounce it. It is essential to study the offensive side of chemical warfare if we are to be prepared for defence. The great importance of adequate defensive appliances arises from the fact that preparations for the offensive use of gas can be made in peace-time with great secrecy, and may have far-reaching and even fatal results in the early stages of a war. ”

“ The production of a protective appliance, the gas mask, was vital. This development will be considered later. Allied chemical warfare organisations arose, to become an important factor in the later stages of the war. The history of Allied gas organisation is one of the gradual recognition that chemical warfare represented a new weapon with new possibilities, new specific uses, and new requirements from the rear. Its beginnings are seen in the English and French Scientific Advisory Committees appointed to examine the new German method. ”

“ Indeed whenever great results are promised, envy is engendered in those in other lines whose importance may be diminished, or who are so short-sighted as to be always opposed to progress.
Chemical warfare has had, and is still having, its full share of these difficulties. From the very day when chlorine, known to the world as a benign substance highly useful in sanitation, water purification, gold mining and bleaching was put into use as a poisonous gas, chemical warfare has loomed larger and larger as a factor to be considered in all future wars. ”

“ The first gas attack, which was simply an adaptation of the peacetime use of the chemical chlorine, inaugurated the change. Gas was so new and instantly recognized as so powerful that the best brains in research among all the first class powers were put to work to develop other gases and other means of projecting them upon the enemy. The result was that in the short space of three and one-half years a number of substances were discovered, or experimented with anew, that are aiding today and will continue to aid in the future in the peaceful life of every nation. ”

“ We cannot envisage advances in the use of explosives in shell or bomb to render them more humane. Explosives, if their development be pressed, can only become more violent, with a wider range of action. Chemical warfare may follow the same lines, but it has the unique possibility of developing on more humane lines. The vesicant action of mustard gas produced huge casualties with relatively little permanent harm. Chemicals may be found which temporarily influence human functions, enabling military objectives to be attained with a remarkably small amount of pain and death. ”

“ This propaganda kept up the morale and fighting spirit of the Allies, and was thoroughly justifiable upon that score, even when it led to wild exaggeration. [Pg 388]
The chlorine used in the first attack by the German is the least poisonous of the gases now used. Those later introduced, such as phosgene, mustard gas and diphenylchloroarsine are from five to ten times as effective.
The measure of humanity for any form of warfare is the percentage of deaths to the total number injured by the particular method of warfare under consideration.
American Gas Casualties. ”

“ A few words right here about the humanity of gas are not out of place, notwithstanding the Army and the general public have now so completely indorsed chemical warfare that it is believed the argument of inhumanity has no weight whatever. There were three great reasons why chemical warfare was first widely advertised throughout the world as inhumane and horrible. ”

“ Unsolved Problems of Mustard Gas.—The use of a chemical which attacks some unexpected human function introduces many disturbing and disorganising factors. Thus the introduction of mustard gas has left us with a number of unsolved problems. By employing this substance Germany departed from her usual caution and violated one of the first principles of chemical warfare. It is unsound for any nation to introduce a new weapon, unless that nation is, itself, furnished with the means of protection against its eventual employment by the enemy. ”

“ When one considers the high boiling point of mustard gas, and its consequent low vapor pressure, he is likely to conclude that such a substance would be of comparatively little value as a toxic or poison gas. While it is true that an important part of the military value of mustard gas has been because of its vesicant properties, the fact still remains that it is one of our most toxic war gases. ”

“ It is a struggle for the initiative.
More than this, as the use of chemical warfare becomes an organic part of operations, as it did during the war, these operations become correspondingly dependent upon conditions imposed by the chemical campaign. One can imagine the case of an army unprotected against a new gas, aware that the enemy is ready to employ the latter, compelled to postpone some huge offensive until its protective methods were equal to countering the new chemical. ”

“ Before taking up in some detail the methods of projecting gas upon the enemy, it is very desirable to understand the fundamentals of chemical warfare, in so far as they pertain to poisonous gases. Following the first use of pure chlorine all the principal nations engaged in the war began investigations into a wide range of substances in the hope of finding others more poisonous, more easily produced, and more readily projected upon the enemy. ”

“ The gases, smoke, and incendiary materials that make up chemical warfare are used to a greater or lesser extent by other arms, but wherever gas is used it compels precautionary measures that are found in no other branch of the Service.
"Considering its power, it has no equal. Physical vigour is one of the greatest assets in any army. Gas, used properly and in quantities that will be easily obtainable in future wars, will make the wearing of the mask a continuous affair for all troops within two to five miles of the front line, and in certain places for many miles beyond. ”

“ I feel sure that the army appreciates the value of chemical warfare, and that it appreciates also the value of the chemists to chemical warfare.
"So long as there is any danger of other nations continuing these methods of warfare, research and experiment in chemical warfare must be pursued. Research must not only be directed towards the gases and apparatus, likely to be employed in the future, but also towards protection against all possible gases. Training in the use of gas will be confined to appropriate branches, but training in defensive measures will include the whole army. ”

“ White phosphorus that burns and cannot be put out wet or dry will be rained on ships. Yes, chemical warfare materials will be used by the Navy.
Gas Against Landing Parties. The use of gas against landing parties or to aid landing parties has come up in many ways. Our studies to date indicate that gas is a greater advantage to the defense against landing parties than to the offense. Mustard gas and the like may be sprinkled from aeroplanes, and while it will not float long on the water, it will float long enough to smear any small boats attempting to land. ”

“ For these reasons men simply took shelter from the bombardment without putting on masks or taking other precautions. As a result of the Paris conference a long cable was sent to the United States asking among other things that immediate report be made on the possibilities of producing ethylene chlorhydrin, one of the essentials in the manufacture of mustard gas by the only method then known. ”

“ A good deal of abuse has been showered on chemical warfare methods by those who understand very little about them. It has been claimed by such that gas is particularly atrocious. Feeling on the matter has been so strong in certain quarters that the fact that all war is particularly vile and atrocious seems to have been completely lost sight of. Let us take up this matter in a rational way. In the first place, what do we mean by the atrocity or inhumanity of a weapon? ”

“ By permitting the individual soldier to retain the efficient use of his weapons in gas, the mask, or other form of individual protection, may render a costly counter-attack unnecessary. In this way protective methods in chemical warfare may be the determining factor in some strategic campaign or tactical activity. The distinction between tactics and strategy in chemical warfare cannot be made by grouping substances, or their methods of application to war, any more than one can say that certain infantry or artillery formations or weapons have a purely strategic or tactical function. ”

“ Another important consideration requiring the rapid firing of non-persistent gases is the fact that nearly all masks thoroughly protect against phosgene and similar gases. It is accordingly necessary to take the enemy unawares and gas him before he can adjust his mask; otherwise, practically no harm will result. From the considerations previously mentioned, these “gas shoots” are usually made at night when, as before stated, carelessness, sleepiness and the resulting confusion of battle conditions always insure more casualties than firing gas in the daytime. ”

“ The use of sufficient quantities of mustard gas will almost certainly stop the occupation of areas by the enemy and probably even stop his crossing them. It also enables strong points which it is not desired to attack to be completely neutralized,—that is, made so unhabitable that the area must be evacuated. ”

“ Due to the very slight concentrations ordinarily encountered in the field, resulting from a very slow rate of evaporation, the death rate is very low, probably under 1 per cent among the Americans gassed with mustard during the war.
If, on the other hand, the gas be widely and very finely dispersed by a heavy charge of explosive in the shell, the gas is very deadly. In such cases the injured breathe in minute particles of the liquid and thus get hundreds of times the amount of gas that would be inhaled as vapor. ”

“ If sufficient high explosive be used to pulverize solids, they may be used in the same way, and to a large extent certain highly persistent liquid gases may have their persistency greatly reduced by using a large amount of high explosive, which divides the liquid into a fine spray. The “Persistent” group constitutes those gases that are very slowly volatilized upon exposure to the atmosphere. The principal ones of these now used or proposed are mustard gas and bromobenzylcyanide. ”