Poison Gas

I mentioned this briefly in my WWI blog, but now I’ll address it in more detail.  Far more so than machine guns, artillery, rifles, grenades, mortars, or even airplanes, poison gas had a psychological effect far beyond its military usefulness.  Both sides used it, even US forces, and both sides suffered as a result.  It was used on the Italian Front, on the Eastern Front, in Gaza, and even against the Bolsheviks in 1919.  Even civilians and rear echelon troops were affected.  The gas masks necessary to protect against it gave the soldiers a disturbing, inhuman appearance.  By the end of the war, just under 90,000 fatalities were caused by poison gas (56,000 incurred by the Russians alone), and over a million non-fatal casualties.  

 Three basic types of gas were used in WWI.

Chlorine.  This gas kills by irritating the lungs so much that they drown in their own fluids  - the gas reacts to form hydrochloric acid in the lungs.  It has a smell like pepper or pineapple, and forms a yellowish/greenish cloud which tended to settle in the deeper parts of the trench.  Water-soaked pads were initially used to combat it, as well as pads soaked in bicarbonate, or even urine.  On one hand, its visibility made it easier to detect, so that masks could be put on, but on the other hand, that same visibility made it that much more terrifying.

 Phosgene.  Ten times more toxic than chlorine.  Unlike chlorine, phosgene is colorless, but has a smell like moldy hay.  It was more difficult to detect, but its effects took longer to kill – but by the time symptoms arose, it was too late to do anything about it.  Estimates that 85% of the fatalities caused by poison gas were from phosgene.

 Mustard Gas. First used by the Germans in 1917.  This gas tended to deny areas to the enemy, but still produced painful effects: blisters on the skin, pain in the lungs, and it caused eyes to puff up, thus temporary blindness.  Since it reacted to skin, rather than merely being breathed in, it bypassed gas masks.  Adolf Hitler was blinded by gas, which experience traumatized him and convinced him not to allow German forces to use poison gas against the Allies in WWII – even on the Eastern Front.

 Hydrogen cyanide was used occasionally by the French, but neither the Germans nor the British considered it to be effective.  The Germans later used this gas, better known by its IG Farben trade name Zyklon B, during the Holocaust.

 Part of the horror of gas is that the effects permanently ruined the lungs of many soldiers, long after the war – without killing them. 

 Projection.  Three basic ways of projecting the gas were used.

Cylinders/gas cloud.  Vast numbers of cylinders brought to the front trenches with manifolds, hoses, pipes, and other accessories, to disperse a vast cloud of gas to the enemy trenches – provided the wind cooperated, a factor which tended to favor the Allies over the Germans, as the prevailing winds in France generally blew eastwards.  Considerable casualties resulted when the wind blew gas back at the attackers.  This was the most terrifying method, but it was also the least reliable.

 Shells.  This allowed the attackers to deliver the gas to the enemy trenches, but a sizable amount of shells were required to achieve a meaningful concentration.

 Projectors.  Here they found a better trade-off, as these mortar-like tubes managed to project a larger volume of gas than the shelling could handle, while still projecting the gas well into enemy territory and away from friendly trenches.

 Protection.  Initially the solution was gauze pads wrapped around the mouth, soaked in water, bicarbonate, or even urine, combined with goggles to protect the eyes.  The British and French developed “gas helmets” which gave the user a particularly bizarre appearance, e.g. the French M2, the British PH helmet, and the Russian variant; these were hoods impregnated with the reaction chemical and integral goggles.  The Germans quickly developed what we normally think of as “gas masks”; these required soldiers to shave their beards and wear special glasses.  Eventually the French and British (plus Americans) developed their own versions, the ARS (French) and small box respirator (US/UK).  None of these were entirely effective against mustard gas.

 Since both sides used animals extensively, they had to develop protection for them as well – special masks for dogs, horses and mules, though the larger animals were less subceptible to gas than humans and required less effective filtration, whereas dogs were worse off.  The Germans used filters on carrier pigeon boxes.  There were also special masks for wounded soldiers lying on stretchers: since gases tended to settle closer to the ground, anyone closer to the ground was even more at risk than soldiers standing, and soldiers up on the parapet of the trenches were actually the least at risk.

 The major problems with gas warfare were (A) your own side needed masks too, which lessened the practicality, (B) it really wasn’t suited for mobile warfare – as soon as the front started moving consistently, you couldn’t project gas, as you’d be moving through it yourself if you broke through the enemy lines, (C) it didn’t kill enough enemy soldiers compared to the effort involved, since the enemy can and did take countermeasures, and (D) the enemy was liable to – and did – respond in kind, making both sides worse off.  Although gas has been used since WWI – mainly in the Iran-Iraq War – its use has been the exception rather than the rule, and more often against unprotected civilians.  Its primary effect seemed to be to dramatically amplify the horror of an already horrifying war without achieving any strategic results.