,,gas ,,and ,,flame ,,major ,s4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,auld1 ,m4,c4 ,illustration3 ,lieut4 ,w4 ,g4 ,thayer1 of the ,gas ,defense ,division1 ,u4 ,s4 ,army1 is the artist of the drawing here reproduced which was designed for the purpose of bringing home the necessity of care in all that pertains to the use and manufacture of the gas mask4 ,in order to impress upon the soldier in training the need of care and speed in adjusting the mask in case of gas attack1 the poster was printed with this wording3 ,,keep ,,your ,,head2 ,,hold ,,your ,,breath1-- ,,be ,,quick66 ,,and ,,this ,,won',t ,,happen ,,to ,,you ,that the workers engaged in the manufacture of gas masks might realize the importance of care and flawlessness in their work1 the same poster was placed in the factories with a legend reading3 ,,the ,,final ,,inspector ,,gas ,,and ,,flame ,,in ,,modern ,,warfare ,,by ,,major ,s4 ,j4 ,m4 ,,auld1 ,m4,c4 ,,royal ,,berkshire ,,regiment ,member of the ,british ,military ,mission to the ,united ,states ,,frontispiece ,,by ,w4 ,g4 ,,thayer ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company ,copyright1 #aiah1 ,by ,george ,h4 ,doran ,company ,copyright1 #aiah1 ,by ,the ,curtis ,publishing ,company ,copyright1 #aiah1 ,by ,doubleday1 ,page ,company ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,,publisher',s ,,note ,need for the education of vast numbers of men in various branches of ,gas ,service and those in camps on the position of ,gas ,warfare at the front1 has made imperative the publication of this book1 as has also the need of educating the public1 owing to the many misleading newspaper reports1 sometimes merely misinformative1 sometimes distinctly mischievous1 appearing from time to time4 ,major ,auld1 chemist and teacher before the war1 and as he modestly styled it1 8amateur soldier10 volunteered for service at the front as a 8,territorial10 at the very outset of the conflict4 ,some months after the first gas attack1 he was taken into the ,gas ,service1 owing to his training and ability as a chemist1 and later became ,chief ,gas ,officer to ,sir ,julian ,byng's ,army4 ,he was awarded the ,military ,cross after the ,battle of the ,somme1 and was wounded in an expedition into ,no ,man's ,land to observe the effect of a ,british ,gas attack4 ,he has therefore been in touch with gas warfare from the beginning and knows all phases4 ,as the natural consequence of all this1 the ,government of the ,united ,states welcomed him as the representative of ,great ,britain in its counsel to ,america on all aspects of gas warfare4 ,in this official capacity the ,major has been engaged here assisting in organization and development of training1 research and production aspects of ,gas1 and lecturing at camps1 the ,war ,college1 and ,west ,point4 ,the ,american ,gas ,service has1 for all these reasons1 deemed the publication of ,major ,auld's experiences very desirable4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,page ,the first rumours of ,german gas attacks--,sceptically received--,first attack in #aiae--;,canadian pluck under gas--,nernst and ,haber the inventors of ,german gas--,the difficulties of getting practicable gases--,the technic of gas attacks--,a ,german prisoner's account #i ,,chapter ,,ii ,the first respirators--,first-aid devices--,the smoke helmet--,anti-gas sprayers--,their use and delicacy--,the ,english chemists set to work--,the task of training the whole army #bf ,,chapter ,,iii ,popular terror of gas--,necessity for drilling and early personal experience--,sure defence from gas possible--,the first gas alarms--,the prussic acid scare a myth--,the phosgene scare a reality--,the helmet made to combat it--,necessity for renovating the helmet #db ,,chapter ,,iv ,the attack of ,dec4 #aiae--,the ,allies' good training tells--,the casualties analysed--,the new element of surprise--,evidences of the use of phosgene--,the incident of the bulb--,improved alarms--,the ,strombos sirens--,accidents to the horns--,the ,tear ,gas ,shell--,its chemical analysis--,combated by anti-gas goggles--,tommies scoff at ,tear ,gas--,the ,germans make it formidable #fb ,,chapter ,v ,summer of #aiaf the highwater mark of the ,german gas cloud--,their improved methods--,the need of speed and secrecy--,gas as a rat exterminator--,causes of ,allied casualties--,germans killed with their own gas--,gas masks for horses and mules--,reduced ,allied casualties--,humorous incidents #hh ,,chapter ,,vi ,the last ,german gas cloud sent over ,august #aiaf--;,its intensity--8,delayed0 cases of phosgene gassing--,cigarettes as a test of gassing--,dangers of carelessness--,the sprayer abandoned for ,mrs4 ,ayrton's fan--,responsibilities of the divisional gas office--,russian gas victims--,the day of the gas cloud over #aab ,,chapter ,,vii ,the rising importance of the gas shell--,the variety of gases practicable with the shell--,the deadly ,green ,cross ,shell--,risks of transporting 8duds0 for chemical analysis--,reduced ,allied casualties--,german blunders in shelling tactics--,importance of universal discipline #abg ,,chapter ,,viii ,the gas-proof dugout--,first-aid methods of alarm--,von ,buelow improves ,german gas tactics--,popular errors about gas--,effectiveness of new ,british respirators--,vomiting gas--,germans speed up their manufacture--,gas as a neutraliser of artillery fire--,as a neutraliser of work behind the trenches--,raw recruits ashamed to wear the mask--,casualties resulting #ade ,,chapter ,,ix ,mustard or ,yellow ,cross gas--,not deadly but a dangerous pest--,its troublesome persistence--,cleaning it out by fires--,sneezing of ,blue ,cross gas--,another pest--,its violent effect--,the limit of gas shell effectiveness--,the need for constant vigilance and disciplinary training #afi ,,chapter ,x ,liquid fire--,first used by ,germans in ,july #aiae--;,a great surprise and success--,german hopes from it--,construction of a flame projector--,flammenwerfer companies--,their perilous duties and incidents of desertion from them--,improved types of projectors--,co-operation of machine-gun fire--,failure of liquid fire--,its short duration and short range--,ease of escape from it #ahe ,,gas ,,and ,,flame ,,gas ,,and ,,flame ,,chapter ,i ,the first rumours of ,german gas attacks--,sceptically received--,first attack in #aiae--;,canadian pluck under gas--,nernst and ,haber the inventors of ,german gas--,the difficulties of getting practicable gases--,the technic of gas attacks--,a ,german prisoner's account4 ,in the early part of ,april1 #aiae1 we were in the trenches opposite ,messines4 ,we enjoyed the usual morning and evening 8hate02 we sniped and were sniped at2 we patrolled and wired and attempted to drain away the superfluous water1 and there was much mud and humour and expectancy4 ,it is true there were no ,mills grenades or ,stokes mortars or tin hats1 but trench warfare was not so very different then from what it is now--with one great exception3 ,there was no gas4 ,and there were consequently no respirators to carry day and night4 ,it is almost impossible now to remember the time when one did not carry a respirator in the trenches4 ,somehow it makes you feel quite naked to think of it--and yet there we were1 imagining we knew what war really was like6 ,the newspapers we got at that time were generally a good many days old1 and censored at that1 and our chief source of news about the war in other people's parts of the line was a summary of so-called information issued from headquarters1 which percolated down to the battalion and1 like every other summary before and since1 went by the name of 8,comic ,cuts40 ,somewhere about the middle of the month we heard that in somebody else's summary had appeared a paragraph to the effect that a deserter from the ,german lines up in the salient had told a cock-and-bull story of how they intended to poison us all with a cloud of gas1 and that tanks full of the poison gas were already installed in their trenches4 ,of course nobody believed him4 ,the statement was 8passed for information for what it is worth40 ,and as nobody ever believed anything that appeared in ,comic ,cuts in any case1 we were not disposed to get the wind up about it4 ,and then1 about a week later1 on ,april #bb1 #aiae1 was launched the first gas attack2 and another constant horror was added to an already somewhat unpleasant war4 ,details about the attack are still somewhat meagre1 for the simple reason that the men who could have told much about it never came back4 ,the place chosen for the first gas attack was in the northeast part of the ,ypres salient at that part of the line where the ,french and ,british lines met1 running down from where the trenches left the canal near ,boesinghe4 ,on the ,french right was the ---- ,regiment of ,turcos1 and on the ,british left were the ,canadians4 ,try to imagine the feelings and the condition of the coloured troops as they saw the vast cloud of greenish-yellow gas spring out of the ground and slowly move down wind toward them1 the vapour clinging to the earth1 seeking out every hole and hollow and filling the trenches and shell holes as it came4 ,first wonder1 then fear2 then1 as the first fringes of the cloud enveloped them and left them choking and agonised in the fight for breath--panic4 ,those who could move broke and ran1 trying1 generally in vain1 to outstrip the cloud which followed inexorably after them4 ,the majority of those in the front line were killed--some1 let us hope1 immediately1 but most of them slowly and horribly4 ,it is not my intention to try to play upon feelings1 but those of us who have seen men badly gassed can only think with horror of a battlefield covered with such cases1 over which the ,germans subsequently advanced4 ,the ,canadians on the ,british left fared both better and worse than the ,french coloured troops4 ,only their left appears to have been in the main path of the poison cloud1 but there is little doubt that in the thickest part those who did not escape either to a flank or to the rear were killed on the field4 ,thousands of those in the support trenches and reserve lines and in billets behind the line were suffocated--many to die later in the field ambulances and casualty clearing stations4 ,of those on the fringe of the cloud many saved themselves by burying their faces in the earth4 ,others wrapped mufflers round their mouths and noses or stuffed handkerchiefs into their mouths4 ,many of these men were saved by their presence of mind1 for though gassed at the time they recovered later1 after treatment in the hospitals4 ,it is on record that the ,canadians1 with handkerchiefs or mufflers tied over their mouths1 continued to engage the ,germans and that a number of them actually charged back through the gas cloud in an endeavour to reach the enemy4 ,what became of them is not known4 ,in this way a big gap was made in the ,allied lines1 through which the ,germans advanced4 ,but the ,canadians quickly formed a flank on the left and stoutly engaged the enemy1 with such success that they first slowed up and then brought to a halt the advance of the ,germans4 ,it was this prompt action and gallant resistance that probably saved the day4 ,whether the ,german high command had underestimated the probable effect of the gas and had arranged for only a limited objective past which the local commanders did not take the initiative to go1 or whether the latter were unaware of the real weakness of the ,canadian line is unknown4 ,the fact remains that they did not press their advantage to the full4 ,they had taken the ,allied front line on a wide front1 killed or captured thousands of men and taken sixty guns1 and seemed to have a clear way through to ,calais2 but they were stopped by the pluck of a handful of ,canadians4 ,reinforcements of men and guns were rushed up1 and the immediate danger was over4 ,it is a matter for surmise how long the ,germans had been planning and preparing their use of gas4 ,the idea may have been a pre-war one1 but it is difficult to believe that a project deliberately planned for years would not have been developed so as to make it a sure winner--for it could easily have been that4 ,if1 for example1 they had made the attack over a wider front with such strong gas clouds as are now used nothing could possibly have stood against them4 ,every living thing to a depth of fifteen miles or more could have been killed4 ,on the other hand it is impossible to imagine the use of poison gas as having been decided on without better preparation having been made to meet retaliation1 unless it was assumed either that the use of the gas would be decisive or that at any rate the war would be finished before the ,allies could hit back with the same weapon4 ,in any case the preparation must have been going on for months4 ,all the production of material1 organisation of personnel and so on takes a long time4 ,this we realised ourselves later1 for though the decision to retaliate with gas was made in ,may it was ,september before an attack could possibly be made4 ,if we assume that a like interval of four months elapsed for the perfecting of the ,german arrangements it means that the decision to use gas was made about ,christmas1 #aiad4 ,the onus of urging the ,kaiser's advisers to adopt the use of poisonous gases had been laid at the door of ,professor ,nernst1 professor of chemistry at the ,university of ,berlin4 ,professor ,nernst is a noted chemist1 and even before the war was a notorious ,pan-,german and ,anglophobe--one of the 8professors0 who carried too much weight in ,germany and whose arrogance and shortsightedness helped to lure her to her downfall4 ,some time after the use of gas was started ,professor ,nernst was made a count by the ,kaiser for his 8notable services0--meaning presumably the use of gas in warfare4 ,the actual carrying out of the gas operations was intrusted to another professor of chemistry1 this being one ,haber1 of the ,kaiser ,wilhelm ,physical ,chemical ,institute at ,berlin4 ,in #aiad1 long before the war started1 ,professor ,haber and his assistants are known to have been working secretly with some intensely poisonous arsenic gases and liquids1 and one of the assistants was killed and another is reported to have had his arm blown off during the researches4 ,haber's particular job was to make all the scientific arrangements in the field2 to decide on the gases to be used1 and the quantity to employ2 to study the wind directions and decide exactly when to make the attack4 ,in the weeks preceding the twenty-second of ,april1 ,haber was continually at the ,front receiving reports from the wind observation stations and in close touch with the men in charge of the cylinders in the trenches4 ,on several occasions during this time the attack was fixed for a certain hour1 but was postponed by ,haber1 owing to the wind's being unsuitable4 ,the actual arrangements that had to be made were much more complex than the carrying out of the attack itself4 ,first of all1 decision had to be come to as to the gas to be used in the fiendish attempt4 ,such a gas had of course to be highly poisonous4 ,then it must be cheaply and easily made in large quantities2 it had to be compressible1 so that it could be transported easily2 it must be heavier than air1 so that it should keep close to the ground when first liberated2 and for preference it should not be unstable--that is1 decompose easily and enter into nonpoisonous combinations with materials1 other than man1 that it should come across in its passage through the air4 ,any chemist to whom such a problem is put will inform you there are very few gases that fill the bill4 ,the ,german choice rested on that gas well-known to students of chemistry--chlorine4 ,chlorine in large quantities was available from the alkali works in ,germany1 and it meets all the other requirements except that of not easily combining with other things4 ,this deficiency was fortunate1 for it meant that protective chemicals were easy to find when it became necessary to provide respirators to the ,allied troops4 ,then there was the question of transport and emission4 ,the gas was eventually put up in steel cylinders1 about thirty inches long and eight inches across and stout enough to stand a pressure of about ten atmospheres1 the gas being stored in them compressed to a liquid4 ,on opening such a cylinder the liquid boils and gives off the gas again1 but this would not do for field work1 because of the intense cold which is produced by the sudden expansion4 ,this would freeze up the pipes and slow down the discharge to such an extent that the gas attack would be too weak4 ,to get over this difficulty the ,germans fitted their cylinders with internal siphon tubes so that actually liquid chlorine was forced into the air1 where it evaporated without affecting the gas remaining in the cylinder4 ,by this means the whole of the gas in the cylinder1 amounting to forty-five pounds1 is emptied into the atmosphere in less than three minutes4 ,the sudden expansion of the chlorine in the air also makes both it and the surrounding air cold and helps to keep the cloud close to the ground4 ,the actual handing of the gas attacks was allotted to two regiments of pioneers--the #ceth and #cfth ,pioneer ,regiments1 which were specially organised for this purpose4 ,these regiments have the ordinary organisation of two battalions per regiment1 with three companies and a park or transport company per battalion4 ,the rank and file are ordinary pioneers1 but the officers are specially picked and include chemists1 mechanical experts1 meteorologists1 and other men with special scientific qualifications4 ,the choice of country in which to make a gas attack was a serious matter to the enemy4 ,the gas of course will go with the wind1 but it depends largely on what the country is like where the wind will go4 ,the ,germans themselves say they prefer a flat country without any marked under features and sloping gently toward our lines1 just as they had at ,ypres4 ,indeed1 they went the length of saying that a gas attack could not be carried out in hilly or very broken country2 and they suffered in consequence later on1 through being taken unawares by the ,french in just such country in the ,vosges when retaliation was commenced4 ,but taking it altogether the ,germans were wise in their choice of position4 ,another thing that had to be considered was the outline of their own trench system1 so that they would not let off the gas in such parts of the line that it would float back and gas their own troops in the neighbouring trenches4 ,to do this they invented a 8factor of safety10 which represented an angle between the direction of the wind and the line of the trenches4 ,no attack was to be made if the wind direction came within forty degrees of any trench within gassing distance4 ,this worked very well4 ,another consideration was the strength of the wind4 ,the wind must not be too strong when the gusts disperse the gas cloud1 or it will weaken it so that it loses a lot of its effect and will be blown over the enemy too quickly2 nor must it be so weak that it will take a long time to reach the opposing trenches4 ,another great danger in winds of too low velocity is that these are just the winds which change their direction most frequently1 and anything under two miles per hour is just as likely to blow the gas back to the place from which it came4 ,it was disregarding this principle on one occasion later on that caused the ,germans numerous casualties from one of their own gas clouds4 ,in general1 however1 it may be laid down that the most favourable winds are those between four and twelve miles an hour1 so that with a wind of eight miles an hour the cloud would move just twice as quickly as a man walking rapidly1 and would take only twelve and a half seconds to cross ,no ,man's ,land in places where the trenches are fifty yards apart4 ,let me try to give an account of the procedure of carrying out gas attacks as it was told me by a ,german prisoner taken not so very long ago4 ,he said3 8,i am not one of the gas pioneers1 but being an engineer by trade and having been in the trenches for many weeks with the #ceth ,regiment of ,pioneers ,i have got to know their methods fairly well4 ,indeed ,i assisted on one occasion in carrying cylinders into the trenches for an attack against the ,british4 ,gas is not popular with us2 we have had too many mishaps1 and the cylinders are a nuisance to carry into the trenches4 ,they weigh ninety pounds and they are always carried in by the infantry4 ,a gas regiment does not do that for itself4 ,it is a long carry and it is really more than a one-man load4 ,at the most two men are allotted to carry in each cylinder1 whatever the distance4 8,several thousand of these cylinders must be taken into the trenches1 and then we have the job of putting them in position4 ,deep holes are dug just underneath the parapet of the trench1 and into these holes are placed the separate cylinders with the tops flush with the ground4 ,as each cylinder is placed into position the hole is covered with a board1 on top of which is placed a thing we call a #8,salzdecke1' which is really a kind of quilt stuffed with peat moss and soaked in potash solution so as to absorb any of the gases that may leak out4 8,on top of the ,salzdecke are built up three layers of sandbags1 so that there is not much danger of the cylinders' being hit by shell fragments4 ,this also serves to hide the cylinders in case a raid is made1 and the sandbags form an excellent firing step4 ,in fact1 you would never guess that the gas was ready in position to make an attack4 ,all of this takes a long time to do1 and then we have to wait for a wind that is favourable4 8,it may be weeks before the right time comes1 but all the time the pioneer officers and ,unteroffiziere make observations of the wind and report back to somebody at headquarters4 ,on the night fixed for the attack all the infantry are warned beforehand4 ,if the wind continues favourable the sandbags are taken off1 the domes removed from the cylinders1 and to each cylinder is attached a lead pipe which is bent over the top of the parapet into ,no ,man's ,land1 with the end slightly bent up1 so that if any liquid comes out it is not wasted in the ground but evaporates in the air4 ,the end of the lead pipe is weighted with a sandbag1 so that it will not kick when the gas is turned on and blow the gas back into our own trenches1 as happened in one or two of the earlier attacks4 ,it is this kind of thing that makes gas unpopular in the ,german ,army4 8,eventually the time really does arrive for the attack1 and the pioneers stand by the cylinders1 of which twenty form a battery2 and to each battery there are two pioneers and one noncommissioned officer waiting to unscrew the taps4 ,a signal is given by means of a rocket4 ,all the infantry have been eagerly waiting for this signal1 which means that they have five minutes to clear out of the front-line trenches before the gas is turned on2 and ,i can tell you they do not waste any time4 ,everybody makes a rush to the support trench and leaves the front line entirely to the pioneers4 8,we all keep our masks ready to put on at a moment's notice1 because in the earlier attack the wind on two occasions blew the gas back again into our own trenches and killed a lot of the infantry who were unprepared for its return4 ,according to the length of time the attack is to last the cylinders are turned on1 from one up to five at a time1 in each battery4 8,as soon as the taps are turned on the pioneers make for cover1 but they have a good many losses from bursting cylinders1 from leaks1 and from the shrapnel and high-explosive shells which invariably greet the start of an attack4 ,the promptness with which this happened at the time ,i was in the line made us believe that your people had known all about our gas preparations for some time4 ,the infantry are all very glad to be away from the front-line trench when the cloud is sent over40 ,this method has been practically unaltered throughout the time the ,germans have made gas attacks4 ,in the first attack they probably had one gas cylinder on every yard of front on which gas was installed1 but the number was increased in subsequent attacks4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,the first respirators--,first-aid devices--the smoke helmet--,anti-gas sprayers--,their use and delicacy--,the ,english chemists set to work--,the task of training the whole army4 ,there is no need to dwell on the execration with which the use of gas was met by the whole civilised world1 and ,i will merely try to recount how it was taken by the men in the trenches4 ,the ,british ,tommy is a difficult man to terrify1 and the moral effect on the men1 though quite unprotected1 was remarkably small considering the terrors of the game4 ,for two or three days all we heard about were the things we should do in the event of being similarly attacked4 ,it appeared that great chemists from ,england had immediately taken up the question of providing efficient respirators1 and until they came out were advising people as to emergency measures4 ,some of these methods seemed to us very funny4 ,we were told1 for example1 that a respirator could 8easily0 be made by knocking the bottom off a bottle1 filling the bottle with earth1 and then learning to breathe with the neck of the bottle stuck in the mouth4 ,the breath was to be taken in through the bottle and let out through the nose2 but as bottles were scarce and few of them survived the attempt to get the bottom broken off there was not much doing4 ,however1 we learned that handkerchiefs filled with earth and kept moist would keep some of the gas out1 and by the time the first novelty had worn off we were receiving private respirators from ,england4 ,these had all been made in response to an appeal by ,lord ,kitchener to the women of ,england to make respirators for the troops out of cotton wool wrapped up in muslin or veiling4 ,the result of this was that the ,war ,office was absolutely swamped with millions of these respirators within a few days1 and most fellows in the trenches had one or two sent out by post straightaway4 ,besides these1 arrangements were made by the various divisions for respirators to be made in towns behind the lines2 and the government factories in ,england got to work to turn out a simple type of respirator which had been devised by the ,english chemists as the quickest to make and the simplest to use4 ,the result was that within about one month we had four or five different kinds of respirators issued to us4 ,most of these were simple pads of either cotton wool or cotton waste4 ,the earlier ones were soaked in washing-soda solution1 and the later ones were moistened with a special solution consisting of ordinary photographic hypo and washing soda mixed with a little glycerin4 ,one type that we had for a week or two in the trenches consisted of the usual pad of cotton waste together with a small wad of the same material which was kept separate4 ,the respirators were stored in boxes let into the paradoses1 or rear walls of the trenches4 ,on the alarm being given each man in the trench made a dive for a respirator1 stuffed the wad into his mouth as a first protection1 and then bound the pad round his mouth and nose1 the wad being afterward taken out of his mouth and stuffed round his nose so as to make a tight fit4 ,these practices were popular for once or twice1 but when it began to be realised that the wads were not always used by the same man the novelty waned4 ,we thought we were getting pretty smart at it when we could get every man in the trench fully protected--that is1 with the tapes tied--in forty seconds from the word 8,go40 ,later on we had the official 8black-veiling respirator10 which was issued to all the ,british troops and which went through two or three of the earlier attacks as the chief protection4 ,it was from one of these attacks delivered in the salient again1 on the twenty-fourth of ,may1 that the first benefits of good training in the use of the respirator were seen4 ,one of the regiments which had been on the flank of the first attack and had seen the effects of the gas and what it really meant had taken the training very seriously1 and the officers had insured that every man had a respirator1 kept it in good condition1 and knew how to use it in the quickest possible time should occasion rise4 ,other regiments were not so good1 and it was just this training or lack of it that made all the difference between heavy casualties and light casualties in subsequent attacks4 ,on the twenty-fourth of ,may the regiment mentioned above happened to be in the very thickest part of the cloud1 and though the battalion on either side of it suffered serious losses they themselves came off almost scot-free4 ,instances of losses from insufficient education in the use of the respirator were numerous on this occasion4 ,a lot of men took their respirators off in the middle of the attack in order to wet them with solution again2 and as they did not wring them out sufficiently the respirators were difficult to breathe through and the men thought they were being gassed and repeated the dose--the result being that they could not draw air through the sodden cotton waste1 and they were gassed either from pulling off the respirators altogether or from the air coming in at the side4 ,one very bad instance was quoted by a medical officer at an advanced dressing station which was taking in gas cases as they came down from the line4 ,two or three men from one battalion came in pretty badly gassed1 but still able to walk4 ,the ,m4 ,o4 asked them if they had respirators issued to them4 ,they said 8,yes40 8,well1 why didn't you put them on80 ,they said3 8,we did put them on2 we've got them on now40 ,and so they had--strapped across their chests6 ,at that time respirators were generally carried by the men tied round their caps1 and in some cases could not be removed in time2 and the ,may twenty-fourth attack made it apparent that the respirators should be carried in a position ready for immediate use4 ,for this purpose a waterproof cover was provided and the respirator kept in a small pocket inserted into the jacket1 or else in a pouch slung over the shoulder4 ,the other bad feature about the preparations was the arrangement for dipping the respirators in solution in the trenches1 as referred to above4 ,during the attack a lot of the men dipped their respirators in water2 which of course washed the chemicals out of the respirators and made them ineffectual much sooner than they should have been4 ,but all of these matters were remedied before another gas attack was made4 ,after the first emergency respirator had been issued every effort was made to devise a more effective form of protection than that given by the cotton-wool pads1 in expectation of a recurrence of ,german attacks4 ,as a matter of fact there were no attacks between the beginning of ,june and ,december1 #aiae1 because the wind was unfavourable to the ,germans4 ,this was another point that they had apparently overlooked1 because on investigation we found that the prevailing winds in ,flanders blew from west to east1 and that about three-quarters of the total winds were in our favour and against the ,germans4 ,the long interval of the summer of #aiae gave us a splendid opportunity to develop the protection against gas which had been commenced in the spring while attacks were still being made4 ,the most important of these developments were the invention of the celebrated 8smoke helmet0 and the use of sprayers for the removing of gas from the trenches4 ,we also found out the exact value of certain other devices and methods which had been suggested for combating the gas clouds1 and a lot of impossible ideas were consequently turned down4 ,the latter might be discussed first of all4 ,one suggestion which was made and believed in by most people at various times--including the ,germans themselves--was that fires built in the trenches or on the parapet would cause such an upward draft as to lift up the gas cloud and carry it safely over our heads4 ,experiments showed1 however1 that this idea was absolutely false1 because though an upward draft was certainly formed the incoming air carried with it just as much gas from the surrounding atmosphere1 and nothing was gained by it4 ,it was a long time before the ,germans tumbled to this1 and even many months later their own instructions on defence against gas included statements that showed their reliance on this procedure4 ,one suggestion which actually reached the point of being acted on was that the gas cloud could be dispersed by an explosion1 and for this purpose we were provided with wooden boxes filled with black powder and with fuses attached1 which we were supposed to light at the crucial moment and throw into an advancing cloud4 ,this heroic procedure was never actually made use of1 however1 because experiments in the meantime again showed that such explosions had very little effect on a cloud of gas4 ,two suggestions which really did turn out to be winners were those referred to previously--the smoke helmet and the ,vermorel sprayer for clearing the trenches4 ,the idea for a respirator in the form of a helmet to go right over the head is stated to have originated from an idea of a sergeant of the ,canadians who was gassed at ,ypres1 who stated that he had seen some of the ,germans through the gas cloud with things that looked like flour bags pulled over their heads4 ,it was thought that something of this kind could actually be made use of1 and experiments showed that it was really a practical idea1 because breathing is done through a very big surface and not only through the chemicals directly in front of the mouth and nose1 as in the case of the respirator4 ,by having a big surface it is possible to have thinner material and there is1 therefore1 less resistance to breathing4 ,all that is required is to tuck the helmet down inside the jacket and button the latter tightly round it at the neck1 and if this is done there is little possibility of gas leaking in4 ,as a matter of fact there is no evidence that the ,germans ever did use anything of the kind4 ,the first types of smoke helmet were made of flannel and had a window for seeing through which was made of mica or celluloid4 ,the helmets were soaked in the same kind of solution--hypo1 carbonate of soda and glycerin--that had been employed for the respirators4 ,helmets of this kind were capable of standing up against really considerable concentrations of chlorine1 and they were quickly recognised both by the troops and by experts as being a very big improvement on the old respirator4 ,these helmets were made and issued to the troops as quickly as possible and a few of them were actually used in the attack of ,may twenty-fourth4 ,men unpracticed in their use were apt to find them hot and stuffy1 and1 not realising that the feeling wears off1 were often inclined to think that they were being suffocated or gassed4 ,as a matter of fact well-drilled men could do almost anything while wearing the helmet1 the chief difficulty being that of limited vision4 ,after wearing the helmet for a short time the celluloid window got clouded over from the moisture in the breath1 but this could easily be remedied by wiping it on the forehead4 ,in many cases also the windows got cracked or broken from the rough treatment they were bound to meet in trenches1 and this was a constant danger until men learned how to fold the helmet properly so as to protect the celluloid and to place a small sheet of cardboard or thin wood over the window before folding4 ,the sprayers previously mentioned were originally suggested for use against the gas cloud itself1 the idea being that chemicals should be sprayed at the cloud so as to neutralise the poisonous gas and thereby purify the air4 ,nearly everybody with even a nodding acquaintance with chemistry wrote in suggesting ammonia for this purpose1 oblivious of the fact that the chemical reaction between chlorine and ammonia in these circumstances produces a dense cloud which is most irritating to the eyes and throat1 and that this together with the excess of ammonia would be almost as bad as the original gas4 ,in any case it is impossible to deal with the gas cloud by spraying1 because of the enormous amount of chemicals and apparatus that would be required to neutralise the attack4 ,a cloud of chlorine from one thousand cylinders1 for example1 would require more than forty tons of the strongest ammonia solution obtainable to kill all the gas1 even if none of the spray were lost in the ground4 ,besides this the spraying might have to be continued for hours1 some of the attacks having lasted intermittently for more than three hours4 ,it was quickly seen that this was an utter impossibility1 but experiments showed that a spray of the hypo solution was quite capable of removing what remained of the gas cloud out of trenches and shell holes and from dugouts into which the gas had penetrated4 ,this of course applied only to chlorine4 ,arrangements were therefore made for supplying a large number of these sprayers1 which are exactly the same as those used for spraying fruit trees and potatoes with fungicides1 and men were specially trained in their use so that they could be employed after an attack was over4 ,these men were officially known as the 8,vermorel sprayer men10 and were popularly supposed to preface all their operations with the words 8,let us spray40 ,the solution to fill the sprayers was kept in all the trenches in corked rum jars1 and there were many amusing incidents rising out of the dual purpose to which these revered vessels were put4 ,it is stated that a certain battalion on going into the line for the first time saw these rum jars safely ensconced in niches in the parapet and immediately thought that they contained the rum ration concerning which they had heard so much before they came out4 ,some of the more adventurous ones surreptitiously tried out the supposed rum and drank a few mouthfuls of the nauseous liquid before discovering their mistake4 ,the real joke lay in the fact that even after they realised that the liquid was not rum they continued to drink it1 and by the time they finished their two days' tour of instruction there was not a drop of ,vermorel sprayer solution left in any of the trenches4 ,the sprayers were somewhat delicate pieces of apparatus to keep in good condition in the trenches1 and were apt to get crusted with mud and out of order unless they were well looked after4 ,like everything else connected with the defence against gas1 their condition in the trenches varied with different regiments according as they were well trained and disciplined or otherwise1 but as a rule the sprayers were well enough looked after1 and proved extraordinarily useful on many occasions after their first appearance in the line4 ,as stated before1 the long interval of the summer and autumn of #aiae gave the chemists and the army plenty of opportunity for thinking about the gas question1 developing organisation and methods to meet attacks in the future1 and making arrangements for the training of the troops so that they should be thoroughly prepared when the next attack should arrive4 ,one of the most important things that was done was to start a big field laboratory for dealing with questions of gas warfare4 ,and as it had already been realised that the whole basis of defence against gas was going to lie in the hands of the troops themselves by increasing their steadiness1 developing their discipline1 and generally accustoming them to the idea that gas was now an ordinary method of warfare1 chemists and instructors were appointed for attachment to each of the ,british armies4 ,these men were all chosen from the line4 ,for the most part they were infantry officers who could realise the real needs and limitations of the troops1 but they were picked in each instance because they had1 at any rate1 some chemical knowledge and could translate into practice for the benefit of the troops various chemical measures which had been adopted for the latter's safety4 ,their first chief job was to see that respirators and smoke helmets were issued in sufficient number2 to see that they were in good condition2 and then to arrange for the training of all the troops in the army in their use4 ,this was a heroic task1 to be accomplished in as short a time as possible1 but by dint of speaking to large bodies of officers and men at the same time it was so far completed that all ranks were given practical instruction in the use of the helmet4 ,when it is realised that each of these officers had to deal with at least one hundred thousand troops it will be seen that it was no mean feat that was accomplished4 ,what was started then has never been completely accomplished1 partly because of the continual development of gas warfare and partly because it is a matter of education--which is always slow--but very largely also because of the continually changing personnel and the enormous numbers of men that have had to be trained4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,popular terror of gas--,necessity for drilling and early personal experience--,sure defence from gas possible--,the first gas alarms--,the prussic acid scare a myth--,the phosgene scare a reality--,the helmet made to combat it--,necessity for renovating the helmet4 ,the final object in the training of men in defence against gas is that troops shall be able to protect themselves completely and as quickly as possible in all the multitudinous circumstances in which they may encounter the poisonous gas in the field4 ,to attain this it is necessary to inspire confidence by letting them in as far as possible on the principles underlying the use of gas and the tactics which are adopted by the enemy2 and1 secondly1 to bring their practical proficiency and discipline up to such a standard that they make the very best use of the apparatus that is given to them4 ,it must be remembered that one of the greatest difficulties in talking to people about gas is the mystery of it4 ,even educated people hardly understand the word 8gas0 in connection with war and are apt to think of coal gas and dentists' gas in consequence4 ,the result is that the gas of the ,germans was sometimes credited with all sorts of impossible qualities of movement and deadliness1 and it can hardly be realised what alarm and distrust may exist in the raw recruit with regard to gas until he has been given some instruction4 ,this is even as great a danger as the over-confidence of the veteran soldier1 who may know just as little about it4 ,mere drilling and assertion are not sufficient to inspire confidence and acquire proportion1 and it was realised very early that personal experience was needed4 ,to gain this arrangements were made for every man to see and smell gas in concentrations that would at any rate produce severe discomfort if dwelt in for any length of time1 and for each soldier subsequently to be exposed to gas while wearing a gas helmet in such a concentration that negligence in obeying orders or in using the smoke helmet correctly would lead to real danger to life4 ,by this means confidence could be inspired in everybody1 though there is always a certain danger due to recklessness among the more adventurous types4 ,besides this it was necessary to give as many men as possible some idea of the common sense of the operations in which the army was being drilled4 ,this could only be done by giving a clear idea of how the gas is used2 how gas travels2 where it accumulates2 how it can be removed1 and so on2 and under what conditions a respirator or smoke helmet protects or ceases to protect its wearer4 ,it was on these lines that instruction was built up2 and to do it thoroughly it was found that a large number of instructors were required in order to train the officers and noncommissioned officers and to get them to treat their respirators with as great respect as their rifles and to learn to carry them through a gas-defence drill in just as smart a manner as the ordinary arms4 ,for this purpose special schools of instruction were started at each army headquarters1 and as many regimental officers and noncommissioned officers as possible were given a four or five days' course of gas training1 so that they in their turn could go back to their regiments and spread the gospel1 as the responsibility for getting things done must eventually fall upon them4 ,not only was it found impossible to provide specialist officers for each regiment or battalion1 but it was recognised that such a procedure would have a bad effect on the gas-defence measures4 ,gas defence was a matter which affected everybody and was in no way to be regarded as a specialist's job2 battalions were already full of specialists4 ,indeed the colonels were apt to complain that they had nobody but specialists to command4 ,there were bombers1 snipers1 signalers1 machine gunners and sanitary men2 and at that time the trench-mortar personnel was also a part of the infantry battalion4 ,with all these things the feeling was that if a job could be looked on as being a specialty it should be put on the specialist officer concerned1 and nobody else worried about it much4 ,now if gas defence was to become ,lieutenant ,snook's job1 it meant that it was going to be nobody else's job1 and it was essential that the idea should grow up in the army that gas defence was a purely military matter and affected everybody4 ,what was said then is just as true to-day--that the defensive appliance is a certain protection if it is used properly and in time4 ,defence against gas is thus on an entirely different footing from defence against shells and bullets1 where protection cannot be assured2 and1 to quote instructions on the subject3 8,for destructive effects gas must depend on surprise1 on poor discipline or on defective appliances4 ,consequently gas casualties are preventable if the soldier is trained continually to exercise vigilance and is well drilled in the use and care of his respirator40 ,the basis of the whole thing1 therefore1 was that every officer should see that the men under his command were properly instructed in defensive measures against gas attacks1 and that all orders on the subject were thoroughly understood4 ,it was then up to the officers to see that their men could get their helmets on properly in the minimum time1 and this involved considerable amount of drill practice4 ,it was pointed out to the officers that since protection had been provided1 those battalions which had been carefully instructed had come through practically unharmed1 while those battalions in which instructions had been neglected suffered severely4 ,it was also up to the officers to explain to their men as much as they themselves had learned about gas clouds1 and to impress on them1 for example1 that by moving to the rear they would move with the gas1 and that if they got flurried they would breathe more deeply and would run much more risk of being gassed4 ,besides these questions of instruction and drilling a lot of other arrangements had to be made1 so that warning of ,german gas attacks should be spread in the quickest possible time4 ,arrangements were made to install alarms of various kinds in the trenches4 ,of course no reliance could be placed on any method of communication which involved the use of the lungs4 ,a man cannot blow a bugle or a whistle while he has a helmet on1 and if he waited to give a signal by such a method before protecting himself he would be almost certain to be gassed4 ,what was done was to place bells and gongs made from shell cases up and down the trenches4 ,at first these were rather futile things1 the bells generally being much too small--some of them merely cow bells4 ,the shell cases were a bit better and are still used for local alarms2 but the arrangements for giving warning were not really very good at that time4 ,the best devices were a number of motor horns1 which were obtained locally1 but the supply was insufficient and there was no general issue4 ,later on the alarm arrangements were tremendously improved4 ,in some cases signal lights were used1 but so many different kinds of rockets were already employed for signalling to the rear that there was great difficulty in finding a light sufficiently distinctive4 ,there was also the danger that it could be quickly copied by the boche1 who would thus amuse himself by giving us all kinds of shocks from false alarms4 ,quite as important as the provision of signals was the making of observations to see when the wind was in a dangerous quarter4 ,this was done partly at the meteorological stations at headquarters and partly on the front line itself4 ,the latter was regarded at the time as the most important1 and orders were given that each unit in the front line should rig up some kind of wind vane and learn to ascertain the strength of the wind1 so that they should be immediately prepared for an attack whenever the wind was in a dangerous quarter4 ,wind vanes in the trenches were of the simplest types and a great deal of ingenuity was displayed in fitting up weathercocks that would be capable of turning in really low wind--say1 one with a speed of only two miles an hour4 ,the bearings for the central rod were the greatest difficulty1 but it was found that by boring out a rifle bullet a sharp pointed stick or a thick piece of wire could be got to revolve in the hollow bullet quite easily1 what remained of the lead core acting as a kind of lubrication4 ,the greatest nuisance of these wind vanes at first was that they were made so generally obtrusive that they could be seen from the enemy's lines1 and they nearly always drew fire from snipers1 and sometimes actually from the artillery4 ,presumably the enemy thought that where the wind vanes were installed company headquarters were probably situated4 ,the position of the wind vanes consequently had to be chosen so that the direction and speed of the wind would be measured several feet above the ground without the apparatus being too obvious4 ,one of the simplest types of vane adopted1 and one which could hardly be seen from any distance1 was a bit of a stick to the end of which was tied ten to twelve inches of thin thread with a tiny bit of cotton wool at the end4 ,when the wind is blowing the direction taken by the thread shows the line of the wind fairly exactly1 and the behaviour of the cotton wool in rising and falling indicates the strength of the wind4 ,the latter1 however1 was supposed to be measured by reference to ,beaufort's scale1 which depends on the movement in wind of natural objects4 ,beaufort's scale1 which was devised long ago by an ,english admiral of that name1 is as follows3 ,smoke moves straight up1 speed of wind is nil2 smoke slants1 speed is two miles an hour2 the wind is felt on the face1 speed is five miles2 paper1 etc41 move about1 speed is ten miles2 bushes are seen to sway1 speed is fifteen miles2 tree tops sway and wavelets are formed on water1 speed is twenty miles2 tree tops sway and whistle1 speed is thirty miles4 ,all of these arrangements for training and equipment of the troops were hurried on as quickly as possible1 but at the same time sight was not lost of the probability of the ,german's using gases different from the chlorine which had originally formed their stand-by4 ,it was felt that a good all-round protection should be capable of keeping out not only chlorine and similar gases but also others which were quite likely to come into use4 ,during the whole of this time we were getting a lot of information from the intelligence branch as to materials which the ,germans were making for use against us in their next gas attacks4 ,some of this information was really farcical1 but on the other hand some of it was very good and helped to confirm the conclusions to which our own scientists were coming as to the likelihood or unlikelihood of particular gases4 ,in the former category may be classed one story which came to us containing a very circumstantial description of some experiments which were stated to have been carried out in ,berlin4 ,these trials were stated to have been made in what we considered a very proper place1 namely1 ,hagenbeck's menagerie1 where1 in the presence of a large number of military representatives1 a new gas was tried out4 ,a noncommissioned officer appeared with a tank of the gas on his back1 the spraying nozzle coming out under his arm4 ,a camel and an elephant were brought out4 ,the noncommissioned officer advanced toward them1 and at twenty paces' distance he pressed down the lever on the tank and out came some small black bubbles of gas1 which floated down the wind toward the faded animals4 ,the bubbles burst1 giving off a yellow vapour1 and the minute this vapour came in contact with the camel and the elephant the beasts dropped down dead6 ,this sounded very terrible1 but even in the conditions we were at the time it was not taken too seriously1 and of course nothing of this kind has ever made its appearance4 ,another story which commenced to make its appearance at that time and which we have heard a great deal about ever since was that the ,germans were busy making prussic acid in enormous quantities for a huge offensive which was to finish the war4 ,it was stated that the ,kaiser had at last been persuaded to use this terrible weapon in order by its use to finish the war at once and prevent needless suffering4 ,when they first made their appearance stories with regard to prussic acid had to be taken a great deal more seriously than those like the 8little black bubbles40 ,for one thing we were unprotected against prussic acid1 and for another it was known of course to be an extremely deadly poison4 ,indeed before the war it was regarded as the most poisonous vapour known1 so a great deal of weight was attached to these statements1 and experiments were at once put on foot to find protection against prussic acid and to see exactly how poisonous it was compared with other gases4 ,as a matter of fact prussic acid has not been used by the ,germans simply because it is not poisonous enough4 ,it is not so poisonous1 for example1 as phosgene1 and a lot of captured ,german documents showing the relative toxicity of different vapours always put it on a rather low basis4 ,it was this and not a desire to avoid utter barbarity which decided the ,germans not to use it4 ,the ordinary ,german soldiers1 just like ourselves1 still consider prussic acid as the most dangerous possible material1 and whenever they have a story to tell of a new gas being invented or being got ready to use against us they will tell you in awestruck tones that it is prussic acid4 ,the most valuable piece of information which we got was a complete set of notes of some very secret lectures given to specially selected senior officers at a conference in ,germany4 ,we gathered that this conference was held behind closed doors and triple lines of sentries1 and all that kind of thing1 and ,i cannot of course indicate how the information came into our hands1 but there it was4 ,it described a lot of new gases which had been considered1 and stated among other things that they intended to make a big gas attack against either the ,french or ourselves in ,flanders in ,december1 #aiae1 some time before ,christmas when the wind was favourable4 ,for this purpose they were going to use a mixture of chlorine with another gas1 phosgene--the amount of phosgene to be twenty per cent of the whole4 ,now phosgene had been realised by our own chemists as a very likely gas to be used4 ,i cannot say that it is more poisonous than chlorine1 but it is infinitely more deadly because it is much more difficult to protect against and is more insidious in its nature4 ,for one thing1 though it is an asphyxiant like chlorine it is possible for a man to be only slightly gassed and think he is all right1 and then1 especially if he takes any exercise in between1 to fall dead several hours later from heart failure4 ,the information was so complete that our arrangements to provide a helmet which would protect against phosgene were hastened as much as possible2 and it was as well that they were1 for the attack actually did come off just about the time and place mentioned1 in the ,ypres salient4 ,it was realised of course that any change in protection would have to include both prussic acid and phosgene2 and this is not nearly so easy as it sounds4 ,phosgene is peculiarly chemically inert for such an active poison1 and it was some time before a reasonable protection was found which could be incorporated in a smoke helmet4 ,the substance actually decided upon was a solution of sodium phenate--that is1 carbolic acid dissolved in caustic soda1 the mixture containing an excess of caustic4 ,this solution is quite capable of dealing with reasonable concentrations of phosgene and would successfully protect against three parts of phosgene to ten thousand of the air1 which in the circumstances was quite good enough4 ,the ,french also altered their protection at the same time and used sodium sulphanilate as the basis of protection against phosgene4 ,the objections against the sodium phenate were that it could not be absorbed into a flannel helmet owing to its destruction of the fabric1 and on account of its being strongly caustic it would tend to burn the faces of the men it came in contact with4 ,these difficulties were overcome by making the helmet of two layers of flannelette instead of one layer of flannel1 and by mixing with the sodium phenate a large quantity of glycerin4 ,this kept the fabric moist and prevented the caustic from exerting its corrosive action4 ,it was realised from the start that a smoke helmet containing free alkali would deteriorate considerably on exposure to air1 and it was found advantageous to provide a breathing tube in the mask so that a man would breathe in through the helmet and out through an outlet valve2 in this way the breath1 which contains a lot of carbonic acid1 would have no bad effect on the chemicals4 ,the use of an outlet valve was also found to have the advantage of keeping the air purer inside the helmet and preventing the stuffy feeling which accompanied the older types of helmet4 ,this additional complication to the helmet was not looked upon favourably at first by the troops1 but it was very quickly realised that only a little practice was required to make a man breathe quite normally in the way mentioned above1 and that the advantages accruing from the alteration were very great indeed4 ,we found that we could carry on for much longer stretches of time without being fagged out1 and more exact trials by the scientists showed that a man's temperature1 pulse and rate of breathing did not increase nearly so rapidly if he used an outlet valve as when breathing out and in through the same material4 ,this is largely due to what is called 8dead space10 which means the volume of air in between the lungs and the atmosphere and in which the air is largely composed of breath exhaled from the lungs4 ,the smaller this space the easier it is to breathe4 ,this principle of using an outlet valve has been retained in all the ,british respirators which have been invented since and is regarded as one of the very highest importance4 ,another thing which had to be taken care of was that the new helmets1 which were called 8tube0 or 8,p0 helmets1 would gradually deteriorate on exposure to air1 and would consequently have to be withdrawn from the troops in the line from time to time in order to redip them in chemicals and make them as effective as before4 ,for this purpose large repair factories were started at the bases and were placed in charge of ,englishwomen who were brought over for the purpose4 ,these factories were organised with local labour1 helped out by a little military personnel1 and were capable of washing the helmets returned from the line1 redipping them in new solution1 and sending them back in good condition again4 ,this was no small job1 as the smoke helmets which were sent in were generally filthy dirty1 sometimes soaked in mud and sodden with water1 and requiring very careful handling to be brought back into good condition4 ,all sorts of things got back with these helmets to the repair stations1 and it was not an uncommon thing for the satchels containing the helmets to be found to hold anything from a live hand grenade to the photograph of some girl1 which had been stored there for safe keeping4 ,both then and later we always had considerable difficulty in preventing ,tommy from using his helmet satchel1 and later on his box respirator satchel1 for these illicit purposes4 ,he seemed to consider that if he had to carry another haversack he had a perfect right to put in it whatever he liked--rations1 knives and forks1 ammunition1 private knickknacks of all kinds4 ,this of course had to be stopped1 owing to the damage these things might do to the respirator and the difficulty they might make in getting it out quickly4 ,during ,september and ,october1 #aiae1 there were several scares as to the imminence of gas attacks by the ,germans1 and on one or two occasions it was definitely stated that the cylinders were actually in position in their trenches4 ,this helped to hasten things up1 and the factories in ,england and the repair stations in ,france kept themselves busy in producing the new type of helmet4 ,a large number of them were actually issued to the troops by the time the ,battle of ,loos was started1 and were consequently employed by our men when the first gas attacks were made1 in ,september of that year4 ,it was these helmets which appeared in so many of the picture papers showing the charge of some ,british ,territorial infantry through the gas cloud at the beginning of the battle1 and there is no question about it that the men had a very fearsome appearance4 ,with the hood over the head and the two big goggle eyes1 and the outlet valve sticking out where the nose should be1 it is small wonder that the ,germans described them as 8devils10 and were so terrified as not to be able to put up much fight on the front where the particular charge was made4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,the attack of ,december1 #aiae--,the ,allies' good training tells--,the casualties analysed--,the new element of surprise--,evidences of the use of phosgene--,the incident of the bulb--,improved alarms--,the ,strombos sirens--,accidents to the horns--,the ,tear ,gas ,shell--,its chemical analysis--,combated by anti-gas goggles--,tommies scoff at ,tear ,gas--,the ,germans make it formidable4 ,the expected ,german gas attack was actually made on ,december #ai1 #aiae1 at about #e3ae ,a4 ,m41 just before 8,stand to0 in the morning1 the venue being the north of the ,ypres salient1 from the canal bank at ,boesinghe down to ,wieltje1 a distance of three miles4 ,it was preceded by the appearance of parachute lights of an unusual kind and by a number of red rocket flares4 ,almost immediately afterward gas was smelt in the front trenches4 ,in some cases a hissing sound made by the gas's leaving the cylinders was heard and was taken as a warning by the soldiers in the trenches4 ,in other cases the noise seems to have been deadened by rifle fire4 ,taking it altogether1 however1 there was very little warning1 as the wind was favourable and the gas traveled surprisingly quickly4 ,there was absolutely no confusion1 and the men put on their helmets at once and lined the parapets within a minute4 ,where the trenches were close together the men had some difficulty in getting on their helmets in time4 ,this was particularly the case in listening posts where we had patrols out quite close to the ,german wire4 ,in the support and reserve trenches the arrangements for spreading the warning were not so good as those in the front line1 and a number of men were caught by the gas before they had their helmets on4 ,indeed in a number of cases1 especially in batteries1 the gas was smelt before the receipt of the warning4 ,the actual gas wave lasted only about half or three-quarters of an hour1 but in some places the helmets had to be kept on for four hours1 as the gas hung about in hollows and dugouts for a long time4 ,this was particularly noticeable in the neighbourhood of the canal4 ,the cloud was felt as far back as ,vlamertinghe1 eighty-five hundred yards behind the line1 and was still visible at this point4 ,for at least three miles back behind the front-line helmets had to be put on everywhere1 and for six miles behind the line the smoke helmets were generally worn1 some men who did not put them on at this distance being gassed4 ,the actual gas wave was accompanied by a heavy bombardment of the front line and of ,ypres and the villages behind it1 shrapnel and high-explosive shell and also tear shell being used1 the latter shell being fired particularly against our artillery4 ,this bombardment lasted throughout the day and most of the following night4 ,though our wire had been cut in many places by the artillery fire1 the ,germans made no serious infantry attack1 and small patrols which left their trenches in a few places were immediately shot down1 as our fellows were continually on the alert and had not suffered to any considerable degree4 ,altogether a large number of troops were exposed to the gas1 but1 compared with its extent1 the cloud caused only a small number of casualties4 ,this was very satisfactory after our experiences of the spring4 ,men who were gassed but not killed were all subsequently questioned as to the reason for their being gassed1 and in each case a definite reason was forthcoming4 ,in no single instance was the fault laid at the door of the smoke helmet1 which apparently had been quite capable of standing up to the highest concentrations in any part of the cloud4 ,among the reasons given for the casualties were things like the following3 ,some men in the fire trenches did not get on their helmets quickly enough owing to the short distance between the trenches1 lack of warning in the support line and insufficient practice4 ,some officers and men sleeping in dugouts did not have their helmets attached to them or they were caught away from their dugouts without helmets4 ,helmets in many cases were under the overcoats1 which made it very difficult to get them and put them on quickly1 as it was necessary to undo the overcoat1 the top button of the jacket and the cardigan waistcoat before the helmet could be tucked in4 ,one cause of casualties was that the 8,p0 helmet smelt very strongly of carbolic1 and a lot of men who had not had this explained to them thought that the peculiar smell was that of gas coming in and they took their helmets off with a view to replacing them with other helmets4 ,this of course was fatal4 ,one sergeant was gassed through his helmet's being holed by a bullet1 though he himself was not wounded4 ,in some cases wounded men tried to remove their helmets and were gassed in this way1 and it was found necessary to watch men who were hit to prevent this4 ,in many ways this attack of the ,germans was of the greatest importance1 as it displayed all of the features on which the subsequent development of the gas cloud was based4 ,these features were3 ,increased concentration2 the use of new material2 surprise4 ,these three things are really the basis of all gas warfare1 even at the present day1 whether the attacks are made in the form of clouds or by the use of gas shells or other projectiles4 ,the increased concentration was obtained chiefly by the reduction in the time occupied by the attack4 ,the first attack of all lasted about one hour and a half4 ,the next attack lasted about three hours4 ,the one in question lasted only thirty minutes1 so that if the same amount of gas was used the concentration of the cloud must obviously have been increased six times over that of ,may twenty-fourth1 as there is little doubt that the cylinders had been installed in approximately the same numbers--that is1 one to a meter of front4 ,probably the most important feature of the attack was the introduction of phosgene4 ,now there never was any actual chemical evidence of the poisons of phosgene in the ,german gas clouds until some of their cylinders were captured by us when they retreated on the ,somme in the beginning of #aiag4 ,but unfortunately the peculiar effects of phosgene on our men who were gassed were only too apparent4 ,there were a large number of 8delayed0 cases--men who thought they were only slightly gassed but who became ill or even died several hours or sometimes a day or so later from heart failure1 especially if they had taken any heavy exercise in between4 ,in these cases there was hardly any coughing4 ,what was really wanted was rest1 but this was not realised at the time1 and many men walked to the dressing stations--sometimes a mile or more--through deep mud and became quite exhausted4 ,one officer of the ,durhams had been slightly gassed at the beginning of the attack but felt perfectly all right until about noon1 when he became faint and exhausted1 though not apparently seriously ill4 ,after lying down he felt better1 but in the evening got worse again1 and in walking to the ambulance to go to the field dressing station he suddenly collapsed and died4 ,this was fourteen hours after the attack4 ,another weighty piece of evidence as to the nature of the gas was given by the smell1 which to trained observers was quite different from the typical chloride-of-lime smell of chlorine2 and by the peculiar effects on the taste of tobacco to men who had smelt the gas4 ,if you take a good smell of dilute phosgene and then smoke a cigarette the tobacco tastes like nothing on earth4 ,tommy's nearest description of the taste and smell is 8mouldy hay40 ,this peculiar effect is quite typical of phosgene and is known as the 8tobacco reaction40 ,in the hope of getting samples of the ,german gas clouds for analysis a large number of gas vacuum bulbs were distributed up and down the line1 and selected men were taught how to use them4 ,this was supposed to be done by nipping off the drawn-out end of the gas bulb1 whereby the contaminated air would rush in4 ,the end was then to be closed with a hollow stopper containing wax4 ,to get these samples was asking a great deal4 ,even when packed in special boxes glass bulbs are somewhat fragile things for trench life1 and the wooden boxes made excellent kindling wood1 which was always being sought for4 ,the result is that when the cloud does come along the vacuum bulbs are often conspicuous only by their absence4 ,even if they are kept whole it is asking rather a lot of a man to take an accurate scientific sample during the excitement of a gas attack which is accompanied by a bombardment by explosive shells and gas shells4 ,for a long time none of the bulbs found their way back to the field laboratory4 ,eventually one did come1 carefully packed in shavings and wadding4 ,i happened to be present when it was brought in1 and there was a good deal of excitement at the little prodigal's return4 ,the bulb was taken out1 but under it was found a leaf from a field-service note book1 on which was written3 8,danger4 ,this bulb was found in a hedge4 ,it seems to have been dropped from an aeroplane and probably contains cholera germs4 ,fortunately it has not been broken40 ,the 8surprise effect10 which was mentioned above as being the third fresh feature of this new-era gas-cloud attack1 took the form of making the attack in the dark and at a time when men were least prepared--that is1 just before the morning 8,stand to10 the hour before dawn1 when all troops in the trenches stand to arms4 ,by making the attack at night1 or at any rate in the dark1 the boche achieved two objects3 ,first of all1 there were better wind conditions for an attack1 because the night winds tend to flow down toward the earth and keep the gas cloud low-lying and thick1 whereas in the day the sun warms the ground and produces so many upward currents of air that the cloud gets lifted up and dissipated2 in the second place it was impossible to see the cloud when it was first liberated1 and this reduced the means of detecting the attack to only two--the hissing noise of the gas escaping from the cylinders and the smell of the advanced parts of the cloud4 ,later on it was known that the best hours for all gas attacks1 both cloud and shell bombardment1 are in the night2 and as a matter of fact practically all gas warfare is now carried out at night1 but at that time the significance of this was not grasped1 and many of our casualties were due to lack of preparedness1 numbers of men being caught 8on the hop0 and overwhelmed4 ,some most important steps in improving our protecting measures were taken as a result of the lessons learned from the attack2 in fact1 it may be taken that all measures in defence against gas have been learned from bitter experience1 and to this extent the sufferings of the victims may be taken as having at any rate some compensating value4 ,in such a new and strange and continually developing kind of warfare very little can be done by a priori argument4 ,this fact we have always tried to impress on the men--that the gas warfare orders1 sometimes apparently trivial and frequently wearisome and annoying1 have all been made as the result of lessons learned from actual attacks4 ,among the chief things that were done after the ,december nineteenth attack was the improvement of our system of alarms4 ,the bells and horns in the front line had been found quite insufficient1 especially for warning people in the rear2 and the telephone could not be depended on for this purpose owing to the possibilities of the wires being cut by shell fire4 ,to protect them from being cut1 all wires would have to be buried at least six feet deep in the ground1 and this is practically impossible owing to the work involved4 ,it would consequently be fatal to depend on telephonic communication1 especially as a gas attack is nearly always accompanied by a pretty heavy bombardment of rear lines4 ,in one case ,i knew1 during just such a bombardment1 the staff captain at a brigade headquarters was talking to one of the battalions when the whole telephone instrument seemed to burst into a sheet of flame in his hands1 owing to a cut wire4 ,the battalion concerned was isolated for more than an hour as a result1 and anything might have happened in the meantime4 ,for these reasons it was decided to adopt for gas alarms sirens worked by compressed air1 which would make a noise sufficiently loud and distinctive to be heard long distances away4 ,the type of siren which was used has been kept in use ever since in continually increasing numbers and has proved extraordinarily useful4 ,it is known as the ,strombos horn1 and consists of the horn proper and two iron cylinders of compressed air charged to a pressure of one hundred and fifty atmospheres4 ,only one cylinder at a time is connected to the horn1 the other being kept as a reserve4 ,the ,strombos horns are mounted in the trenches in such a way as to protect them from shell splinters as far as possible4 ,this is generally done by packing them round carefully with sandbags1 only the mouth of the horn being displayed and pointing toward the rear4 ,every sentry must know how and when to sound the horn4 ,all he has to do when he realises that a gas attack is being made1 or on receiving instructions from an officer to do so1 is to loosen the tap on the cylinder one complete turn1 when the horn will sound continuously for more than a minute4 ,the noise is terrific and in an enclosed space or in a quiet region it is absolutely deafening4 ,in the trenches1 however1 it is none too loud1 and the distances between the horns in the front system of trenches are never more than four or five hundred yards4 ,farther back in the chain1 toward the rear1 the distances can be increased4 ,horns are now installed at battalion1 brigade and divisional headquarters4 ,by turning them on when the noise of those in front is heard it is possible to pass the alarm in an incredibly short space of time and thus forestall the cloud of gas to such an extent that every man in the support trenches or in rest billets or the villages behind the firing line is aware that an attack is in progress and gets ready to protect himself4 ,naturally1 things don't always work out exactly according to schedule4 ,the horns are frequently damaged4 ,in one place ,i was at1 just this side of the canal1 near ,boesinghe1 a heavy ,german trench mortar wrecked three of our ,strombos horns within a week1 and another and less suitable position had to be found for the alarm4 ,then there are occasional false alarms4 ,these sometimes arise from individual men 8getting the wind up0 from a bombardment by gas shell and thinking that a cloud attack is being made4 ,others ,i am afraid have been more in the nature of experiments 8to see how it works40 ,after all1 it must be a great temptation to a sentry to be in charge of a ,strombos horn and never have the pleasure of turning it on4 ,false alarms are a great nuisance1 however1 and good arrangements have now been made to prevent their spreading4 ,it is possible to avoid all the unnecessary disturbance to which troops are subjected by a false gas alarm4 ,this disturbance is particularly objectionable in back areas where regiments returned from the trenches are in billets4 ,when the alarm goes everybody has to turn out--probably in the middle of the night4 ,sentries wake the officers and men in all the billets2 messengers have to be sent post-haste to outlying villages or farms with which there is no telephonic communications2 respirators are hurriedly inspected and placed in the alert position2 the gas-proof curtains of cellars and dugouts are adjusted2 the officers move about in the darkness to see that all their men are accounted for and ready2 every one is in a state of expectancy--and then the word comes through that it is a false alarm1 and the men go back1 cursing1 to their billets4 ,not only is an occurrence of this kind wearying to tired troops1 but it has the old disadvantage of crying 8,wolf1 wolf60 when there is no wolf--the consequent determination on the part of the men not to take the next alarm so seriously4 ,though it was not realised at the time1 it is almost certain that the ,germans started to use gas in shell almost simultaneously1 and probably actually in the first attack1 with the use of the poisonous gas clouds in the attacks of ,april and ,may1 #aiae4 ,many instances came to notice of men's eyes being strongly affected to such an extent that they could not keep them open4 ,there seemed to be something in the air which made an unprotected man weep copiously if he tried to keep his eyes open1 and of course if he closed them he could not see what he was doing4 ,these effects1 and a peculiar smell which was noticed both during and after the gas-cloud attacks1 gave rise to the belief that something like formaldehyde was being used by the ,germans mixed with some chlorine gas4 ,others described the smell as being that of chloroform or ether1 but nobody could say definitely what the material actually was4 ,it was only after a number of blind shell had been obtained and examined that it was realised that the ,germans were firing shell filled with liquid which had a powerful lachrymatory effect4 ,it does not appear certain whether the use of lachrymatory liquids for putting men out of action by making their eyes water is in itself contrary to ,the ,hague ,convention1 as the vapours need not actually be poisonous4 ,this was the case with the first ,german gas shell1 as it was found that the liquid contained consisted only of a material known chemically as 8xylyl bromide40 ,the vapour of this liquid and of many similar substances has a most powerful effect on the eyes1 like that of onions but much stronger4 ,except in very high concentrations it cannot be regarded as poisonous--at any rate not in the sense that chlorine is poisonous4 ,examination of the ,german lachrymatory shells showed that the liquid was contained inside the shell in a sealed lead vessel so that the material should not come in contact with the steel of the shell1 which it destroys gradually4 ,shell of this kind1 though termed gas shell1 are not really such1 as the liquid has to be broken up into fine droplets by the explosive charge of the shell before the vapour can produce its effect4 ,the liquid has no pressure of its own inside the shell and depends entirely on the bursting charge to get it distributed into the atmosphere4 ,the xylyl bromide used by the ,germans was not pure1 but contained a big proportion of benzyl bromide1 showing that it had been made by the action of bromide on coal-tar light oil from which most of the toluene had been removed for the manufacture of the well-known high explosive1 trinitrotoluene4 ,the effect of xylyl bromide on an unprotected man is instantaneous and remarkable4 ,even such small proportions as one volume of vapour diluted with one million volumes of air will at once make a man weep so copiously that he cannot possible keep his eyes open4 ,obviously a material of this kind has great military value1 for though it does not put men out of action permanently by killing them it neutralises their effectiveness to such an extent that for the time being they may be regarded as of no military importance4 ,in strong concentrations the effect on the eyes is most powerful4 ,i have walked into an area which was being bombarded with lachrymatory shells and suddenly got the effect just as if ,i had been hit in the face4 ,fortunately the lachrymation has no lasting effect on the eyes1 and a man on getting into pure air very quickly recovers4 ,throughout the spring and summer of #aiae these lachrymatory shells were used in considerable numbers1 especially in the vicinity of ,ypres1 and at times the ramparts of that much bombarded town reeked of lachrymatory vapour and nobody could stay in certain spots for any length of time without having his eyes protected by specially constructed goggles or by wearing a gas helmet right over his head4 ,taking it altogether we were not troubled nearly so much by this new type of gas as were the ,french1 in the southern part of the line4 ,in much the same way that the gas cloud was developed by the ,germans against the ,english the gas shell were developed chiefly against the ,french1 and very much larger numbers were employed against the ,french positions than we had to contend with during the first six months or so4 ,later on things were more equallised in this direction4 ,captured ,german documents and statements by prisoners showed us that the ,germans were counting very considerably on the effect produced by the lachrymatory shell1 and detailed instructions for their use in various circumstances were carefully laid down4 ,the lachrymatory shell was known by the ,germans as 8,t-,shell10 and the xylyl bromide as 8,t-,stoff10 and instructions were laid down for the use of this material4 ,another kind of shell was known as 8,k-,shell10 which up to that time had not been used against us1 or at any rate had not been recognised4 ,the ,t-,shell was particularly to be used against positions which it was not intended to occupy immediately1 the reason for this being that ,t-,stoff hangs about for a long time4 ,some of the liquid is apt to be spread about the ground and gives off enough vapour to make the neighbourhood of the shell hole uninhabitable for many hours1 and in favourable condition--for the enemy--for several days4 ,the ,k-,shell1 on the other hand1 was intended to be used against infantry positions and strong-points which it was hoped to assault and capture within an hour or two of the bombardment or on areas which it was hoped to traverse during a big attack4 ,the advent of the lachrymatory ,t-,shell incommoded us considerably1 but1 as it was quickly realised that the gas was not poisonous1 the ,tommies were not much taken back1 and the 8tear shell10 as they were quickly called1 were not considered by the rank and file to have importance1 which as a matter of fact they have2 but at the same time we heard rather alarming stories of the effects of gas shell as used against the ,french4 ,it was rumoured1 for example1 that in the ,crown ,prince's big advance in the ,argonne1 in the late spring of #aiae1 that such enormous numbers of gas shell had been used against the ,french positions that the infantry occupying them were not only put out of action by the effect on their eyes but that the amount of gas used was so large that the ,french soldiers were actually ansthetised and were taken prisoners by the ,germans while in an unconscious condition4 ,whether this was true or whether it was exaggerated is not certain1 though it is certainly true that the ,crown ,prince's advance was prefaced by a hurricane bombardment of gas shell1 the tactical effect of which was considerable4 ,stories of this kind1 however1 combined with the effects which we ourselves were experiencing1 made us realise that protection against tear gas was essential1 and for this purpose arrangements were made to supply every officer and man in the front line with a pair of anti-gas goggles4 ,the earliest types of these goggles were very simple in construction1 and we are told were copied from a ,french pattern4 ,they consisted of a waterproof fabric lined with flannel containing a wire spring for the nose and fitted with celluloid eyepieces4 ,by bending the wire to the shape of the nose it was possible to close the nostrils and at the same time give a reasonably good fit to the flannel on the face4 ,in some cases the flannel was anointed with some kind of grease so as to make a still closer fit1 in order to keep out small traces of gas which are quite sufficient to produce lachrymation4 ,later on we had a much better type of goggle backed with rubber sponge to make a tight fit to the face4 ,with the small numbers of gas shell used against us we had no experience of any effect on the lungs1 and it was found also that the helmet form of respirator was enough to keep out1 at any rate1 low concentrations of the lachrymator2 but we got a rude awakening when the boche began to use his tear shells in larger numbers4 ,such a case happened to us in the beginning of #aiaf1 at the celebrated village of ,vermelles1 a little ruined town just behind the lines near ,loos4 ,the enemy tried out an attack on us over about a mile front for the purpose of bagging some of our trenches1 and he attempted to keep reinforcements from coming up to counter attack him by putting down a tear-shell barrage through ,vermelles and north and south of it over the roads on which our fellows would have to advance4 ,he used thousands of his tear shells and the neighbourhood absolutely stank of them4 ,fortunately1 it was almost impossible to put down an effective standing barrage with gas1 and our reserves got through on two roads that had not been blocked effectively4 ,the boche attack was a fizzle1 but ,vermelles was a little private hell of its own for that day and most of the next forty-eight hours as well4 ,during and immediately after the bombardment1 troops passing through the village wore both goggles and gas helmets1 but the concentration of lachrymator was so great that many of our fellows were sick and actually vomited inside their helmets4 ,if you can imagine men going up to a battle with these flannelette bags over their heads and then being sick inside them1 you can realise that the boche was not particularly popular with us at the time4 ,besides this1 ,vermelles was much used by troops in reserve and was full of cellars and dugouts occupied by the waiting infantry and also by signallers1 headquarters of various kinds1 and so on4 ,the vapours--and some of the shells themselves1 for that matter--got down into these cellars and made them almost uninhabitable for days1 except in those cases where they had been properly protected by double lines of blankets hung at the entrances4 ,about the same time in #aiaf the enemy began making surprise bombardments with a new lachrymator and with the ,k-,shell mentioned previously1 for the purpose of assisting in raids4 ,both of these gases rejoice in long names1 the lachrymator being bromethylmethylketone1 and the ,k-,shell gas monochlormethylchloroformate4 ,these gases are much more poisonous and do not hang about as long as the old 8,t0 tear gas4 ,one such raid in which they were used was carried out at a place called ,la ,boiselle--afterward famous as a jumping-off point in the ,somme ,battle4 ,i was not in at the raid1 but heard details of it afterward4 ,the boche rained his gas shells into the selected area and at the same time prevented reinforcements from getting up by putting down a so-called box barrage with explosive shells round the trenches to be attacked4 ,our men were taken completely by surprise4 ,many of them were badly gassed1 all were temporarily blinded2 and then after a short interval the boche came in4 ,he timed his arrival so that most of the gas had disappeared4 ,then there was some very fierce fighting--so fierce that a number of our men died afterward because of the exertion following on the breathing of the ,k-gas4 ,but gassed and blinded men1 however brave1 cannot fight successfully against others fresh and unaffected1 and the enemy captured a number of prisoners and two ,lewis guns4 ,curiously enough1 during the ,somme ,battle a few months later we did in properly the regiment which had carried out the raid and captured the official report of the commander of the raiding party4 ,in this report he said3 8444 the men of the ,royal ,irish ,rifles created a fine impression both as regards their physique and their mode of repelling an assault4 ,had it not been for the use of the gas shells it would have been impossible to clear the section of trench attacked40 ,rather a fine tribute--and one thoroughly deserved6 ,of course surprises of this kind cannot be pulled off twice1 but occurrences like this and the bombardment at ,vermelles let us see that the enemy intended to develop his gas-shell industry much more than we had anticipated1 and our protective measures were taken in hand so as to meet future eventualities4 ,in fact it was about this time that the box respirator was being hurriedly developed so as to protect us against any further devilment that ,fritz might send along4 ,,chapter ,v ,summer of #aiaf the highwater mark of the ,german gas cloud--,their improved methods--,the need of speed and secrecy--,gas as a rat exterminator--,causes of ,allied casualties--,germans killed with their own gas--,gas masks for horses and mules--,reduced ,allied casualties--,humorous incidents4 ,the great time for the ,german gas troops was undoubtedly #aiaf1 and from ,april to ,august of that year they carried out five big cloud gas attacks on the ,british alone1 not counting several on the ,french ,front and a number against the ,russians4 ,during the interval from the ,december attack of the previous year they had obviously been thinking hard and preparing lots of gas1 for the new attacks showed several fresh features both as regards extent and tactics4 ,along the lines of making the gas more poisonous1 using greater quantities and higher concentration and the springing of surprises1 everything was done to make the gas cloud an even more deadly affair than it had been in previous shows4 ,that our own casualties were much less than before1 and that the boche in at least one case had a lot more killed by his own gas than we had1 were very satisfactory results of all the labour and research as far as we were concerned4 ,for the same reason that the ,december attack had been reduced in duration to half an hour1 the new clouds lasted only ten to fifteen minutes2 thus once more multiplying the concentration by two or three4 ,on top of this the amount of phosgene was increased up to at least twenty-five per cent and probably to about fifty per cent1 so that in this way also the cloud became much more deadly than before4 ,it is interesting to note that pure phosgene cannot be used1 otherwise the ,germans would undoubtedly have employed it4 ,straight phosgene does not come out of the cylinders satisfactorily--it must have a big proportion of something like chlorine mixed with it to force it out and get it into the air as quickly as may be4 ,all of this made the gas cloud a nasty thing to face4 ,as it became progressively more deadly it required less and less to kill4 ,a couple of breaths of the poisoned air became enough to kill a man2 but as our protection was good enough1 it meant that the most important thing for the enemy to do was to take us unawares by getting his gas over so quickly or deceiving us in some other way that we should be down and out almost before we knew it4 ,this is where his surprise tactics came in4 ,these tactics consisted in attempting a great secrecy in the preparations1 in the use of smoke clouds to put us off the real track of the gas1 and the putting over of a number of different waves of gas at varying intervals4 ,the value of the last two will be more apparent from the accounts of the individual attacks1 but the importance of the first-mentioned method must be emphasised a bit4 ,it must be remembered that the carrying in of the gas cylinders is the work of the infantry and1 as we discovered ourselves when we started retaliation1 is a very unpopular job owing to the difficulties of the carry4 ,any carelessness in allowing the cylinders to clank by bumping against each1 other or against any other metal objects in the trenches1 or metallic sounds made by rather bored pioneers in unscrewing the domes or attacking the pipes1 are going to give away the fact to the opposing side that something unusual is going on4 ,and something unusual going on or suspected generally spells g-a-s in the trenches4 ,in some cases1 too1 the opposing trenches can be seen from observation posts--,o4 ,p4's or ,o4 ,pips1 as they are called in ,british ,army parlance--and in such cases if the carrying is started or the installation of the cylinders is continued during the day there is a good chance of the whole show being blown on by some watchful observer with a telescope to his eye a mile or so away4 ,all this the boche realised and made his arrangements accordingly4 ,but in at least one case1 in ,april1 in his anxiety to get the cloud over without diminution of strength and so that we should have little time for protecting ourselves and spreading the alarm1 he chose as his venue for the attack a big portion of the line where the trenches were very close together--seldom1 in fact1 more than fifty yards apart4 ,of course it is just in such circumstances that secrecy of preparation is of the greatest importance--but at the same time it is of the greatest difficulty to maintain4 ,as a matter of fact the ,germans overreached themselves by this choice of position1 and little indications spotted by our watchful sentries and patrols made us pretty certain that a gas attack was impending1 and our watchfulness and preparedness were correspondingly increased and a constant state of 8,gas ,alert0 kept up4 ,the first two attacks of the year were made against the #afth--the ,irish ,division4 ,this was the division in which ,willie ,redmond was a captain1 and it was composed of some of the best fighting material in the world--all ,nationalist ,irishmen and anxious to get one over at ,fritz4 ,whether the ,irishmen were chosen as a target with the foolish idea of 8putting the wind up10 or whether it was out of revenge for their appearance in the ,british ranks after all the labour that had been expended in trying to spread sedition in ,ireland1 we do not know4 ,whatever the idea was it terminated in most abject failure1 for the ,irishmen came through both attacks wonderfully well and absolutely smashed up the ,german infantry advances which were attempted after the passage of the cloud4 ,both attacks were made on that part of the line near ,hulluch running for about two miles south from ,cit ,st4 ,elie4 ,the ,germans opened the ball by letting our support and reserve lines have a heavy bombardment of tear shells4 ,almost immediately after1 in the dim light of the early dawn1 the first gas cloud floated over4 ,it was very thick and had been largely mixed with smoke in the hope of leading our fellows to believe that it was terribly strong4 ,it was not4 ,but the cloud was so dense that even at brigade headquarters1 three miles behind the front line1 it was impossible to see across the road4 ,there was enough gas in this mixed cloud to make it very dangerous and uncomfortable to unprotected men1 but there were very few casualties4 ,the alarm was quickly spread1 the men remained cool1 and an attempted attack by the enemy infantry to follow up the cloud was smashed up without being able to get closer than our barbed wire4 ,after this first wave there was a tendency among the men to regard the danger as over and to congratulate themselves on the apparent and obvious boche failure4 ,as they were prepared to go through with anything the boche could put over1 there was a natural tendency to underrate the effects of gas1 seeing it had caused them no losses4 ,it is undoubtedly true that a number of helmets were discarded entirely--some of the soldiers thought they were useless after being through an attack1 and threw them away1 depending entirely on their reserve helmets4 ,these they omitted to place in the 8,alert0 position1 pinned up on their chests ready for immediate use4 ,in one or two cases which came to my notice officers and men went off to the latrines or to headquarters without helmets at all4 ,this of course1 was not general1 but it shows how some of our men fell for the boche ruse1 which consisted of putting over a second wave two hours later on exactly the same ,front4 ,the second cloud was a frightfully strong one1 composed entirely of gas in the highest possible concentration4 ,it was this wave which caused all our losses on ,april twenty-seventh1 as it took a number of men completely by surprise4 ,but even so1 the ,irishmen were not a bit dismayed1 and when the ,germans again attempted to advance--parties of their bombers in some cases appearing immediately behind the gas cloud--they were met by such a stout resistance that those who were not shot down retired in disorder to their own trenches4 ,the intensity of the second wave can be gathered from the fact that buttons and ammunition were quickly corroded and turned a villainous green colour4 ,in a few cases rifles stuck and ,lewis guns jammed1 owing to the effects of the gas on the ammunition and the breach mechanism4 ,one good thing about the attack was that most of the rats in the trenches were killed4 ,in some parts of the line the trench rats are an absolute plague4 ,they eat any food or candles left lying about or kept in cardboard boxes4 ,they swarm in the dugouts and appear in all sorts of odd corners4 ,they disturb the little rest one does get2 and ,i have had them run all over me1 even over my face1 while lying in my dugout4 ,all attempts to clear them out were useless4 ,but what ferrets and terriers and virus could not accomplish the boche gas did4 ,mister ,rat cannot stand up to a strong mixture of chlorine and phosgene without a gas mask1 and so in this attack1 as in others we experienced1 he died by hundreds2 and nobody mourned him4 ,curiously enough two kittens1 which inhabited the dugout of the commanding officer of one of the battalions of the ,scottish ,borderers1 who were in reserve1 came through alive4 ,the kittens were badly gassed and lay breathing rapidly1 suffering from spasms and with profuse salivation4 ,possibly their fur helped to absorb some of the gas1 for five hours later the little victims were almost themselves again1 though they continued to cough occasionally and drank water continually4 ,the water they took in preference to milk4 ,the effects of the poison on the soldiers who were gassed were pretty much the same as has been so frequently described in the press before4 ,in the lighter cases it was mostly severe and painful coughing and bronchitis1 with occasional retching and vomiting4 ,the severe cases had the frothing at the mouth1 the painful fight for breath and the blue face with staring eyes which are typical of severe gassing with chlorine and phosgene4 ,i was told that there were not many delayed cases--that is1 men being taken seriously ill hours after the attack1 though apparently unscathed before4 ,the casualties were really remarkably small in the circumstances1 and even despite the surprise tactics1 were not as numerous as those of the ,december attack4 ,apart from the men who were caught without their respirators1 most of the casualties were the result of some special circumstances4 ,the helmets themselves when properly inspected and adjusted gave good protection4 ,in connection with the laying aside of the respirators after the first cloud a sergeant told me that when the second wave came over he had seen two soldiers trying to get into the same helmet4 ,the humorous side of this had apparently appealed to him even in the middle of the attack4 ,of course with the trenches so close together a lot of men had difficulty in getting protection in time4 ,parties of men in advanced saps and listening posts had the greatest difficulty1 and numbers of these men were killed4 ,one pioneer of a tunnelling company came out of a mine gallery knowing nothing about what had been happening aboveground1 and walked straight into the middle of the gas cloud4 ,a man in one of the companies of the ,irish ,rifles was wounded in the head by shrapnel through both his steel and gas helmets4 ,in spite of the wound and the hole in his gas helmet he held the latter close round his mouth and nose and was not gassed at all--a clear case of presence of mind saving his life4 ,one thing which impressed every one with the need for thorough gas training at home1 and which should be taken to heart by all men in training at the camps or likely to go there1 was the way in which reinforcements and men who had recently joined up suffered4 ,their casualties were out of all proportion to their numbers and were due entirely to the fact that insufficient attention was given at that time to the gas-defence training of the recruits4 ,many of them had never put on a helmet before1 and none of them had ever smelled gas4 ,in one particular instance a batch of twenty men had come straight over from ,england and were in the gas attack the day after their arrival in the trenches4 ,the only training they had had was a lecture from their own regimental officers1 and consequently they knew little or nothing about the use of their helmets4 ,every one of these men was gassed4 ,it is true that they had scrambled into their helmets somehow1 and none of them died2 but the fact remains that absence of training at home cost the fighting line twenty men in one company4 ,in this company they were the only men gassed4 ,largely as a consequence of this1 gas-defence training was taken up very seriously in the early training of recruits1 and big gas schools were established at all the camps both in ,england and at the bases in ,france1 so as to catch the young soldier early4 ,the boche made another gas attack on the ,irish ,division on the same ,front two days later4 ,once again he let off two waves--this time with an interval of only a quarter of an hour4 ,but despite his idea of 8mixing them up0 he could not bring off that particular surprise again4 ,the second attack was one of the most interesting on record1 for it was here1 near ,hulluch1 that the gas blew back on the ,germans and killed many more of them than our total gas casualties4 ,the thing happened in this way3 ,the first gas wave was loosed off at three-fifty ,a4 ,m41 opposite the celebrated ,chalk ,pit ,wood4 ,fifteen minutes later a heavy cloud was discharged on the ,hulluch front4 ,but the wind was too light and variable4 ,the cloud came over our line and then the gentle wind first dropped altogether and then gradually veered round4 ,the gas hung on ,no ,man's ,land and over both sets of trenches for a short time1 and then with increasing pace drifted back right over the ,german position1 just where ,fritz had been seen massing for an attack on the ,hulluch sector4 ,we did not see the confusion which reigned1 but almost simultaneously with the arrival of his own gas our barrage came down and the ,german attack dispersed4 ,all that day our observers reported the carrying out of ,german casualties from the trenches on stretchers and a constant stream of ambulances coming up and then returning along the roads to the rear4 ,we surmised that the boche had swallowed some of his own poison1 but it was not until several months later1 from some documents captured during the ,battle of the ,somme1 that we were able to appreciate his disaster to the full4 ,the first of these documents was the diary of a soldier who had been in the neighbouring trenches4 ,it ran3 8444 ,we went along the trenches to find the headquarters of the ----th4 ,it was awful4 ,everywhere lay dead bodies or men gasping for breath and dying from the gas4 ,somebody must be to blame4 ,at first ,i could not go on4 ,one almost had to step on them to get through4 ,i asked an officer of the ----th what had happened4 ,they were going to be relieved44440 ,but the other documents were more explicit1 as they happened to be the official report on the matter from the war office in ,berlin4 ,it appears that the ,germans had eleven hundred deaths from their own gas4 ,a most rigid enquiry was held and it was found that many of the men were not carrying respirators1 either in the trenches or in the area immediately behind the line4 ,but this did not explain the extent of the disaster1 so eight hundred of the respirators collected from casualties were sent to ,berlin for examination and report4 ,even allowing for those which might have been injured in transit1 there were still thirty-three per cent of the masks so defective that their owners were certain to be gassed4 ,to see whether this applied only to the area affected a large number of respirators were collected from up and down the whole ,western ,front1 and it was found that even among those as many as eleven and a half per cent were similarly at fault4 ,it would seem that there had been very poor inspection of the respirators both in manufacture and after issue to the troops4 ,apart from the joy of seeing the boche hoist with his own petard it was rather a relief to find that the efficient ,german ,army was not so frightfully efficient after all4 ,this matter of inspection is taken very seriously in the ,british ,army4 ,besides the rigorous factory inspection all respirators are inspected thoroughly every day even in the trenches1 and ,tommy is expected to look after his respirator just as he looks after his rifle4 ,as an official statement issued after the ,april attack said3 8,a defective helmet frequently leads to the death of the wearer4 ,inspection of respirators must be frequent and thorough40 ,a sergeant who was notorious for his thorough dealing with recruits got away with it in even better terms when addressing a squad on parade4 ,in thundering tones he said3 8,if you don't look for the 'oles in your 'elmet1 they'll soon be looking for a 'ole for you40 ,another thing that resulted from the attacks just described1 and from another similar attack shortly afterward in the salient1 was the putting on the screw with regard to the carrying of respirators continuously by every one in the trenches4 ,a very good and well-known story on the ,british ,army in this connection is that of a brigadier general who was proceeding to the line for his daily inspection when he discovered that he was minus a gas bag4 ,he stopped the first orderly he saw1 borrowed the man's helmet and serenely went his way with a clear conscience4 ,arrived in the trenches1 one of the first sights that met his horrified gaze was a soldier without a gas mask4 ,in virtuous tones he demanded the reason for its absence1 and then1 waving aside the halting explanation1 went on loudly to assert his belief that the soldier would not know how to use a respirator even if he had one4 8,here10 he said1 8take mine and show me whether you can put it on in quick time40 ,the awe-stricken ,tommy slung the satchel over his shoulder1 and on the word 8,gas60 from the general thrust his hand into the haversack and pulled out--a very dirty pair of army socks4 ,the fourth ,german attack of #aiaf was made on ,june seventeenth in ,flanders1 near ,messines2 in fact1 just north of the ,wulverghem-,messines road4 ,like those of ,april1 it was intensely strong1 very short1 and sent over in successive waves at intervals of about twenty minutes4 ,there were really no fresh features about the show1 but the cloud seems to have been even stronger than before4 ,i had no personal experience of this attack1 but the cloud must have been very strong1 for it killed animals at 8,plugstreet0--the only name we used in the ,british ,army for ,ploegsteert--three and half miles away1 and was quite distinctly perceptible even at ,bthune4 ,at the 8,piggeries0--the remains of a model farm in rear of ,plugstreet ,wood belonging to a notable ,french sportsman1 a place well-known to so many ,british soldiers--a calf was found dead1 after the passage of the cloud1 with the body very much blown out4 ,dead rats lay in close proximity4 ,even farther back than this animals were seriously affected4 ,the army mules in the line of the gas were seized with fits of coughing and kicked violently1 making them even more difficult to handle than usual4 ,it is probably not realised that horse masks are now issued on a scale sufficient to provide protection for all horses and mules1 such as those of the first-line transport and the artillery1 which have to approach anywhere near the lines4 ,the present form of these respirators is that of a big bag soaked in chemicals which fits over the animal's nostrils1 leaving its mouth free so that the use of the bit is not interfered with4 ,when not in use the horse respirator folds up very nicely and neatly into a canvas case which can be carried on the breastband of the harness or any place from which it can be quickly adjusted4 ,some of the animals take to these masks--8,horspirators10 some wag called them--quite quickly1 but others are strenuous objectors2 some of those hardened sinners1 the mules1 transforming themselves into masses of teeth and hoofs whenever an attempt is made to fix on the gas bags4 ,in one case where a horse and a mule in the same supply column were fitted with their masks at the same time the difference was most marked4 ,the horse was dressed up without much trouble1 though he did not like it4 ,he whinnied and sneezed1 breathed hard and perspired and looked rather pitiable1 but stuck it out4 ,the mule1 on the other hand1 had to be roped to get the mask on at all4 ,then he danced about1 heels in the air and head down1 and tried to rub off the objectionable appendage against the rope1 and then against a tree4 ,this did not effect its removal1 and for a minute the cunning animal stood still with his ears cocked at different angles4 ,then suddenly he put his head to the ground and before anything could be done to prevent it put his foot on the respirator1 pulled his head up smartly and left the respirator under his hoof4 ,these masks have proved of the greatest value and have saved any number of horses' lives4 ,the cavalry are not provided with them1 as it is not anticipated that they will be near enough to be affected by gas-cloud attacks1 and when the cavalry are mounted and in action it is unlikely that they will meet even poison-gas shells in large numbers4 ,added to this is the fact that a horse can stand more gas than a man without being distressed4 ,the casualties in the ,june attack were lower than in any one previously4 ,indeed1 it was a satisfactory feature of the whole gas business that despite the increasing deadliness of the ,german clouds the losses they caused became less and less4 ,of course the proportion of severe cases in those gassed became greater1 for with such strong clouds it had become a case of hit or miss4 ,either a man was protected completely or he was caught out badly2 and this spoke well for the protection supplied1 for otherwise there would have been a much bigger proportion of light cases4 ,of the minor effects of these boche gas clouds1 that on vegetation is the most marked and gives a good idea of the strength of the gas4 ,for miles in the track of the cloud all green stuff is burned up or wilted4 ,grass is turned yellow1 the leaves of trees go brown and fall off1 and the garden crops are entirely destroyed4 ,i have seen root crops in the fields and garden crops of onions1 beans and lettuce quite destroyed4 ,but curiously enough1 farther back1 in places where this still happens to the garden crops1 the cereals and the hedges seem to escape serious injury4 ,of course over a wide area all metal work is thickly tarnished1 and this might be a danger in the case of telephone instruments and other delicate appliances1 except that the exposed parts are always kept slightly oiled and then cleaned thoroughly after the attack4 ,the same thing is done with rifles and machine guns and their ammunition1 and with the clinometres1 fuses and breech mechanism of guns and trench mortars4 ,since this war started very little difficulty has occurred through corrosion1 but the chief thing is to clean off the grease and reoil all metal parts exposed to the gas immediately after the attack is finished1 otherwise the greasy surface seems to hold the gas or the acid it engenders1 and allows it to eat in at its leisure4 ,during the attacks of #aiaf the alarm arrangements worked very well1 and the ,strombos ,horns in particular justified their use4 ,even above the noise of machine-gun fire and the bursting of shells their shrill1 unmistakable note could be heard for long distances1 giving warning to all troops on the flanks and in the rear4 ,there were very few instances where they were not let off in time and the sentries posted over them apparently knew their jobs better1 for instance1 than one man who was questioned on the subject4 ,this particular sentry was asked by a noncommissioned officer going the rounds in the trenches what he would do in the event of a gas attack being made4 8,oh10 replied the bright boy1 8that's easy4 ,if any gas comes over it blows the horn and ,i call the platoon sergeant and tell him about it40 ,a much more conscientious sentry over a ,strombos ,horn had been told to be particularly on the lookout for a gas attack1 as one was expected at any time4 ,the officer on duty1 going round about midnight1 heard a suspiciously regular sound coming from one of the fire bays1 and thinking that one of the sentries was indulging in a stolen forty winks he cautiously rounded the traverse4 ,here he found the sentry lying on the top of the parapet staring into the darkness and going sniff1 sniff1 sniff with his nose4 ,being asked more forcibly than politely what was the matter with him the man replied3 8,i'm sniffing for gas40 ,sniff1 sniff1 sniff4 8,can you smell any80 8,no1 sir2 but ,i want to smell it if it does come1 as ,i'm a gas sentry and the leftenant told me always to keep smelling for gas40 ,sniff1 sniff1 sniff4 ,the job of seeing that the air cylinders of the ,strombos ,horns are kept at their full pressure is intrusted to the divisional gas noncommissioned officers1 who go round periodically with pressure gauges and test them out4 ,if they fall below a certain pressure they are replaced at once by fresh ones from the divisional store4 ,some ,australians going up the line one night were carrying a number of such cylinders for replacement1 when one of them got turned on accidentally and they didn't seem able to stop it4 ,a passing officer hearing the hissing noise called out3 8,what have you got there80 8,air bottles10 was the answer4 8,what for80 persisted the officer4 ,a pause1 and then out of the darkness3 8,oh1 hell6 ,to put the wind up the boche1 of course40 ,this story will probably be appreciated more by ,britishers than ,americans1 though ,i think the latter in many cases already know the significance of the expressions 8getting the wind up0 and 8putting the wind up40 ,they refer of course to what official reports or newspaper men would style as 8reduction of morale40 ,,chapter ,,vi ,the last ,german gas cloud sent over ,august1 #aiaf--;,its intensity--8,delayed0 gases of phosgene gassing--,cigarettes as a test of gassing--,dangers of carelessness--,the sprayer abandoned for ,mrs4 ,ayrton's fan--,responsibilities of the divisional gas office--,russian gas victims--,the day of the gas cloud over4 ,the last ,german gas cloud to be discharged against the ,british ,front was in ,august1 #aiaf4 ,in every way it was the greatest test to which our men had been put4 ,it was the strongest cloud attack the ,germans had made--not only were the individual waves of only ten minutes' duration but the boche had more cylinders in his line than usual4 ,according to his own admissions the bottles were put in at the rate of three every two yards and in some places two per yard4 ,added to this he had brought up the proportion of phosgene to the maximum that can be used4 ,the circumstances1 too1 were very unfavourable to us4 ,it must be remembered that the ,battle of the ,somme was in full swing1 and that for once in its war history the ,ypres salient1 where the gas attack took place1 was a 8quiet0 sector where divisions used up in the battle went to 8rest0 and reorganise4 ,the result was that the divisions attacked were composed very largely of fresh drafts4 ,they had lost very heavily in officers and most of the company noncommissioned gas officers had been knocked out4 ,their gas training was therefore not at the high standard that it had attained previous to the battle4 ,added to this1 a relief was going on in the trenches4 ,this1 by the way1 was the second time that our fellows were caught by a gas attack during a relief4 ,whether it was that the boche intelligence was particularly good or whether it was simply that his luck was in is not certain1 but it meant that our trenches1 both the front line and the communication trenches1 had just twice the number of men in them that they would have had normally4 ,and every man1 both incoming and outgoing1 was carrying his complete 8,christmas ,tree0 rig--rifle1 ammunition1 full pack1 haversack1 greatcoat1 gas masks1 and all the rest of it2 in some places hardly able to squeeze through the trenches in his bulky marching equipment4 ,into this congestion the boche let off his gas on the eighth of ,august about ten o'clock ,p4 ,m4 ,it says worlds for the steadiness of our fellows that the total casualties from the three waves he sent over remained at the same low ebb that they had reached in the ,june attack4 ,of course but for the adverse circumstances they would undoubtedly have been still lower4 ,it is interesting to note that the position on which the attack was made--namely1 the line between ,bellewarde ,lake and the ,yser ,canal--included much of the line over which the first attack of all had been made a year and a half previously4 ,the intensity of the cloud can be realised from the fact that helmets had to be worn at a division headquarters nine miles from the point of discharge1 and the gas was perceptible1 though not so dangerous1 many miles beyond this point4 ,the most distinctive feature of the whole affair was the number of men who suffered from the delayed action of the phosgene and collapsed several hours after the attack1 especially if they had taken any exercise or eaten a heavy meal in between4 ,the latter is not very likely1 though it does occur1 for a man even slightly gassed with phosgene feels very depressed--8fed up0 and not particularly inclined for a hearty meal4 ,but the getting of the exercise is only too easy1 what with the necessary work in the trenches and the possible walk back to the aid post or the march back to rest billets in the event of a relief4 ,it was men who had done this kind of thing who suffered most4 ,after the attack we received official orders that no man suffering from the effects of the gas should be allowed to walk to the dressing station1 and that if possible after a gas attack troops in the front trenches should be relieved of all fatigue and carrying work for twenty-four hours4 ,it was also ordered that during the passage of the gas all movement should be reduced to a minimum and there should be as little talking as possible4 ,these were very wise orders1 for there had been too many officers and noncommissioned officers gassed through moving up and down to control the positions of their men and from shouting orders through their helmets4 ,a certain amount of talking is necessary1 of course1 but too much of it makes a man breathe more deeply and may be just the added strain sufficient to affect his heart and cause his collapse4 ,of course after a gas attack there are always a certain number of malingerers--8,skrimshankers10 as we call them--who affect to be gassed in order to get away from the line for a bit4 ,these are generally spotted easily enough by the doctor men4 ,one medical officer ,i knew1 harassed by the number of slightly 8gassed0 cases who would have to be evacuated1 and suspicious about the genuine character of some of them1 handed round cigarettes4 ,all those who accepted and smoked their cigarettes were kept back4 ,later examination showed that he was right in every case4 ,a similar instance that ,i heard of1 this time in a practice attack in a camp in ,england1 concerned a very poor specimen who pretended to be badly gassed4 ,he was taken to the orderly room on a stretcher2 but unfortunately for him the medical corps sergeant recognised him as a man who had fallen out during a march a short time before1 and knew all about him4 ,meantime the man was feigning unconsciousness1 but the sergeant winked at the medical officer and said3 8,it's a pity that order about sick leave prevents men from going home in a case like this unless they live in ,london4 ,what this poor fellow needs is a couple of weeks in his own home40 ,the corpse thereupon sat up and said3 8,that's all right1 sir4 ,i live in ,bow4 ,when can ,i go80 ,as in all the previous attacks an analysis of the casualties showed that where the helmets had been kept in good condition and had been used properly and in time they had given perfect protection4 ,the casualties were all due to preventable causes--some of them lamentable1 others humorous1 had it not been for their tragedy4 ,many men were gassed through taking off their helmets too soon4 ,it is really up to the officers and noncommissioned officers who have attended a course at a gas school to decide when the atmosphere is safe1 and it is not nearly so risky to do this as it sounds4 ,all that is necessary is to let a little air in from the outside by cautiously opening up the face piece of the mask--or the skirt of the helmet in the case of the old gas bag--and sniffing cautiously4 ,of course if it is not done cautiously and there happens to be a lot of gas about1 the rash man suffers4 ,a number of men were gassed through going into unprotected dugouts before they had been ventilated or through wandering into pockets of the gas after the attack4 ,they should have been on the lookout for these patches1 as the gas notoriously keeps close to the ground at night1 and sheltered places are bound to remain unhealthy for much longer periods than the open4 ,it is curious that by some vagary of the wind the cloud farther back hopped over some houses that were used as billets and affected neither the inhabitants nor the unprotected animals on the ground1 whereas some fowls that were roosting in the trees and on the tops of the houses were killed4 ,one instance that shows how carelessness spells casualty in gas warfare was that of a working party of thirty or forty men who were busy on railway work a mile or two behind the line4 ,they had taken off their coats and gas helmets and placed them on some trucks1 but when the alarm was given and a rush was made for the helmets the trucks were found to have gone4 ,one thing that was done after the ,august attack was definitely and finally to withdraw the ,vermorel sprayers for use for clearing the gas out of the trenches and dugouts4 ,these instruments1 brought up for the work of spraying fruit trees and vineyards1 had done some first-class fighting of the ,german gas1 right in the front line1 as long as the gas was chlorine4 ,but with the introduction of large quantities of phosgene the work of the sprayers was gone4 ,they could not touch the phosgene1 and consequently ,tommy's dependence on them was a snare and made things more dangerous for him than if they had not been used at all4 ,for a dugout might be sprayed and thought1 therefore1 to be quite healthy to sleep in and yet contain as much phosgene as would at any rate cause minor and delayed effects4 ,to clear out the gas recourse was had to ventilation by means of fires and by specially constructed canvas fans4 ,these fans were the invention of an ,english lady named ,ayrton--the widow of the physicist of that name--and were originally intended by her for fanning back the gas cloud to the ,german trenches4 ,of course they were quite incapable of doing any such thing1 but during trials with them it was found that they were quite good1 after an attack1 for fanning the gas out of the trenches or creating such a draft of air into a dugout or cellar as to force out the impure air from the interior4 ,these anti-gas fans1 or flapper fans as they were called1 are made of canvas supported by braces of cane and attached to a hickory handle about two feet long4 ,the blade of the fan1 which looks like an immense fly swat1 is hinged in two places and measures about fifteen inches square4 ,when the fan is brought down on the ground it bends over on the back hinge and produces a sharp puff of air1 in just the same way that the sudden shutting of an open book does4 ,by working the fans in series1 one man behind another1 it is possible to keep a current of air going which will ventilate a room or clear out a trench in remarkably quick time4 ,in clearing out a trench the fan is brought back over the shoulder1 and this helps to 8shovel0 the contaminated air out of the trench after it has been brought off the ground by the lower stroke1 which is more like a smart slap4 ,these fans are kept as trench stores1 which means that they are handed over on relief to the incoming unit taking over the line of trenches4 ,they have proved very useful1 especially in skilful hands their chief value being that1 unlike the sprayers1 they do not distinguish between different kinds of gases and they will deal as unceremoniously with tear gas and phosgene as they do with chlorine4 ,by the time of the last gas-cloud attack the organisation of the ,british ,army for defence against gas had been brought to a pretty high state of efficiency4 ,a special branch of the gas service had been detailed for the purpose and special gas officers were appointed to the staffs of the various formations1 from army down to division4 ,the position of divisional gas officer is no sinecure4 ,besides having the job of screwing up the gas discipline of his division and having a general oversight of all gas-defence training and supplies1 he is responsible to the divisional commander for the preparedness of the line to meet a ,german gas attack4 ,he is the 8intelligence0 officer of his general as regards all things pertaining to gas and has to be a walking dictionary on the subject4 ,he has to be a great part of his time in the front trenches and it is up to him to see that all enemy blind shells1 and so on1 are examined and brought in if they seem to be anything new4 ,as he must deal direct with the battalion commanders he must know them and the senior officers of each regiment personally1 so as to smooth the way in getting things done4 ,then if a gas attack or bombardment is made he must get there quick1 so as to find out all about it from personal experience4 ,altogether he is a very important and busy person1 and to those acquainted with his work the following incident will appeal4 ,i happened to overhear part of a conversation between two ,cockney ,tommies on the road3 8,what's this 'ere divisional gas officer1 ,bill80 8,why1 he's the bloke what goes round and blows up these observation balloons40 ,the divisional gas officer has a number of specially trained noncommissioned officers to help him1 and each company of infantry and battery of artillery has at least one noncommissioned officer4 ,it is the first and most important job of these noncommissioned officers to help the commander in everything pertaining to defence against ,german gas4 ,he assists at drills and inspections1 help in the arrangement and fitting up of alarms1 in the taking of wind readings and the protection of the shelters and dugouts4 ,in his charge are placed the gas fans and the sampling apparatus4 ,a good company gas noncommissioned officer is a real joy and can polish up the gas discipline of the company tremendously1 as well as take a lot of responsibility off the overworked company commander's shoulders4 ,a bad noncommissioned gas officer1 on the other hand1 can be the direct and indirect cause of the loss of many lives when the gas attack does come4 ,this ended the ,british experience of ,german gas-cloud attacks1 for though the #ceth and #cfth ,pioneers made three subsequent visits to the ,western ,front it was each time to gas the ,french4 ,the last cloud attack of all was made near ,nieuport1 at that time in the ,french lines1 on ,april #bc1 #aiag4 ,since then the only cloud attacks have been made against the ,russians and the ,italians4 ,probably the chief reason that has caused the boche to hold back with his cloud attacks has been his conclusion that they were unprofitable against well-disciplined1 highly trained and thoroughly protected troops4 ,with a limited amount of gas available he naturally chose the method that would give him the best results4 ,for the cloud attack his cheapest target was the ,russians1 who were incompletely equipped with gas masks of a modern kind and who for a long time were badly disciplined in anti-gas measures4 ,against such troops the gas cloud is just the thing1 and the ,germans have estimated that ten to fifteen per cent of all troops exposed to a successful gas cloud would become casualties4 ,this was probably true on the ,russian ,front1 but was certainly not true in the ,west4 ,then the gas cloud has almost reached its apparent limit of development4 ,there is a limit to the number of gases that can be used from cylinders1 and there is a limit to the number of cylinders that can be discharged at one time4 ,besides this the gas cloud is largely dependent on infantry labour for carrying and installation1 and it is mighty difficult to bring off a complete surprise owing to the time it takes to prepare an attack4 ,on top of all this the whole procedure is wrong as regards efficiency1 for it puts up the highest concentration of gas where the boche does not want it--just in front of his own trenches instead of in ours4 ,for all these reasons the boche during the past year has specialised on the development of his gas shells4 ,of course he may come back with the cloud again1 and we do not relax our vigilance or it certainly would reappear4 ,but unless he discovers something new in the cloud line1 and if we keep up a high standard of training1 he will not do much damage1 though for that matter the same thing is true about gas shells and trench mortar bombs4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,the rising importance of the gas shell--,the variety of gases practicable with the shell--,the deadly ,green ,cross ,shell--,risks of transporting 8duds0 for chemical analysis--,reduced ,allied casualties--,german blunders in shelling tactics--,importance of universal discipline4 ,one of the most interesting things about the development of gas warfare has been the way in which the gas shell1 from being the least important method of poisoning the air1 has become the chief gas weapon in the ,german armoury4 ,the reasons for this extraordinary development1 though various1 are not far to seek4 ,they lie chiefly in the fact that unlike the gas cloud we have not even yet approached the limit of the number or size of the gas projectiles that can be used4 ,nor1 which is even more important1 is there any limit to the variety of the poisons that can be used in gas shell4 ,the fact of the matter is that the gas shell is not really a gas shell at all4 ,it is nearly always a 8liquid0 shell and sometimes even a 8solid0 shell4 ,the term 8gas shell0 is used because the liquid or solid contents are atomised by the explosion of the bursting charge or are distributed round in the form of such tiny particles or droplets1 as the case may be1 that they act almost as a gas4 ,in the latter case they form what might be described as a mist or smoke1 but with this difference from ordinary smoke--that the gas mist or smoke is generally1 though not always1 invisible4 ,just imagine what would happen supposing a shell were filled with water4 ,burst such a shell with a sufficiently big charge of high explosive and all the water would be distributed into the air in the form of such finely divided spray that it would form a mist4 ,this mist would either vapourise into the atmosphere completely or hang about like a cloud1 according as the air was dry or moist4 ,in any case1 if the burster were big enough no water would be spread on the ground2 nor would any big drops be formed4 ,this is just what happens with any of the poisonous materials filled into a shell4 ,indeed if the burster were big enough and carefully chosen it would be possible to form a 8gas0 with treacle4 ,with a volatile material like gasoline on the other hand all that would be needed would be a burster just big enough to open the shell4 ,it can be seen therefore that the choice of materials for gas shell is practically unlimited and is governed only by their being poisonous enough and by the ease of production4 ,another thing in which the gas shell has the advantage over the cylinder gas is in getting surprise1 which is naturally much easier to effect with shell4 ,by the way1 if the reader wishes to be counted among those who knows1 he will always speak or write the plural of shell without adding a final 8s40 ,to talk of a number of shells is very civilian4 ,as ,i pointed out before1 we were expecting something new to happen in the gas-shell line during the whole of #aiaf1 and had an idea that the new arrival would be something of a cyanide nature--possibly prussic acid itself4 ,when it did come1 however1 it proved to be a liquid filling closely related chemically to phosgene and to the ,k-,stoff1 which ,i have previously described4 ,these new gas shell were the first of the present series of ,german gas shell1 which are all distinctly marked with coloured crosses and named accordingly4 ,these particular shell were the ,green ,cross ,shell1 a green cross being painted on the base of the cartridge or on the side of the shell or sometimes on both4 ,they made their appearance on the ,somme ,front about a fortnight after the battle had started--that is1 about the middle of ,july1 #aiaf--though a few of them had been used against the ,french on the ,verdun ,front sometime in ,june4 ,it was not long before blind or unexploded shell--8duds10 we call them--were collected and sent back for examination4 ,this is one of the disadvantages of using gas shell--your opponent can always keep track of what you are doing4 ,sooner or later a fuse will not function or a bursting charge will not explode and your watchful enemy carefully collects the shell1 and has for examination a considerable amount of the poison material4 ,i say 8carefully collects10 for it is no child's play dealing with shell which may go off in your hands on the slightest provocation4 ,however1 it has to be done1 and as it is the gas officer's pidgin he manfully shoulders his task and the shell and has it brought in4 ,very frequently the fuse fails to act because a powder pellet holding up the striking needle has not burned away2 but ,i remember one case where the gas officer of one of the armies took back a big dud gas shell4 ,it meant transporting the weighty souvenir in a not particularly well sprung car over very bumpy roads1 and he was quite relieved to arrive at his destination--the field laboratory4 ,here it was reverently taken to bits by the experts4 ,imagine the gas officer's horror to find he had been bumping along for several hours in the company of a shell the powder pellet of which had burned away and whose only safety device was the weakest of weak creep springs on which the striker rested4 ,a hard knock or a drop of six inches would almost certainly have exploded it4 ,the laboratory officers1 who are experts at the game1 may have to go up to the ,front themselves to solve important duds which are regarded as dangerous and require expert attention4 ,in one instance the officer concerned--in civil life a very celebrated professor at one of the ,london colleges--went up to the salient and explored about a mile and a half of trenches and finally located his prey--a fine dud #d4b-;inch howitzer gas shell--out in the open4 ,though the place was pretty unhealthy he 8climbed the bags0 and made a careful examination of the shell where it lay1 finally bringing it back in with him4 ,i forget whether he drew its sting on the spot1 but in any case it was a pretty good effort1 especially for a man no longer in his first youth4 ,chemical analysis of the blind ,green ,cross ,shell showed the contents to be a colourless liquid known to chemists by the extensive name of 8trichlormethylcholoroformate40 ,its effects are just as ferocious as the name implies1 and experience showed it to be very poisonous4 ,indeed it is as poisonous as phosgene itself4 ,the ,green ,cross ,shell gas--8diphosgene10 to give it its short name--has many effects and symptoms that make it a dangerous weapon4 ,when dilute it has a peculiar though not particularly nauseating smell1 a smell variously described as 8earthy10 8mouldy rhubarb0--whatever that smells like--and damp hay4 ,unlike the shell gases we had encountered before1 it has very little effect on the eyes and causes practically no lachrymation4 ,and this was a trap1 because we had been used to lachrymators1 so that many men despite the obvious smell were not particularly quick in protecting themselves because of the new symptoms4 ,of course this applies only to such low concentrations as would take a long time to gas a man4 ,in the higher concentrations the ,green ,cross very quickly asphyxiates--just as phosgene and chlorine do--and there is no question of whether it is deadly or not4 ,the old ,army quip about there being only two kinds of people in gas warfare1 namely 8,the ,quick and the ,dead10 certainly applies if you get a ,green ,cross ,shell bursting close to you4 ,but even for gas shell bursting some distance away immediate and complete protection is necessary because of the delayed or after effects of the gas1 which are exactly similar to those of phosgene4 ,every care that is taken with regard to men poisoned with phosgene has to be taken for men poisoned with ,green ,cross gas4 ,those suffering from the effects of the gas are not allowed to exert themselves at all or to take heavy meals4 ,they are kept under close observation for at least two days1 and are treated1 in fact1 as casualties even though they are not apparently ill4 ,before the need for this was understood an officer ,i knew was slightly gassed with shell gas but thought nothing of it4 ,later on he felt a bit queer1 and the regimental medical officer advised him to go down to the dressing station4 ,he walked the length of the communication trench and then mounted a 8push bicycle0 for a mile's ride to the aid post4 ,the exertion was too much1 however1 and he reached the aid post only to fall dead4 ,the danger of not treating gassed men as casualties and resting them for a couple of days1 after which they would probably be fit for work again1 is shown by a case where forty men were lost to the line for a considerable time1 though fortunately none of them died4 ,these men were part of a working party engaged in the construction of dugouts4 ,they were caught in a surprise bombardment1 but were apparently not much affected4 ,after completing their night's work they marched back to billets and turned in as usual4 ,the next morning several of them were so ill--nearly to the point of collapse--and the remainder were so visibly affected that the medical officer ordered the whole party to be sent down to the casualty clearing station1 where they were evacuated to the base4 ,in still another case ,i remember a sergeant and twenty men of a wiring party engaged in the consolidation of a recently captured position were similarly caught by a sudden and intense ,green ,cross bombardment4 ,a number of the men were gassed and felt pretty seedy1 but continued their work and then withdrew4 ,the sergeant felt no ill effects until an hour after turning in1 when he woke with a bad cough and internal pain and died two hours afterward4 ,one private went to bed without complaining at all and was found dead next morning4 ,another died soon after getting up4 ,a third reached headquarters complaining of shell shock and died three hours later4 ,i mention these cases so that my reader will realise why such great care is now taken with men who have been exposed to poison gas1 and how by looking after them in this way it has been possible to reduce the number of delayed cases of death or serious illness to a minimum4 ,talking of delayed effects of gas shell reminds me that at least two documents were captured during the ,somme--one of them ,i got myself--which were obviously notes of lectures given to officers at a ,german gas school or staff course4 ,in both of these sets of notes there were references to the ,lusitania1 showing that the ,german ,higher ,command was trying to explain that dastardly act to its own troops by making out that the ,lusitania was sunk because it was carrying phosgene shell for the ,allies4 ,this lie can easily be nailed to the board1 as not a single drop of phosgene--or any other poison gas or liquid1 for that matter--was shipped from ,america before this year1 #aiah4 ,both of the paragraphs ,i refer to contained a double lie1 for they each asserted that the ,french started the use of gas shell4 ,one of them ran as follows3 8,the ,french first started the use of gas shell--with great hopes1 but with little success6 ,the most striking result was that experienced by the passengers of the ,lusitania1 whose rescued mostly died later40 ,but to return to the ,green ,cross ,shell4 ,these were used during the ,somme ,battle in enormous numbers1 far surpassing anything we had had before in the extent of the bombardment4 ,there were a great many new features about these shell quite apart from the altered nature of the gas4 ,first of all there was the size4 ,until then we had had gas shell of only two sizes--#aej-millimetre howitzer shell and the #aje-millimetre howitzer shell4 ,the former contained from five to eight pints of liquid according to the construction of the shell1 and the latter about three pints4 ,to these longer shell were now added shell from the ordinary field gun1 or #gg-millimetre gun--quite a small affair compared with the others and containing only two-thirds of a pint of liquid poison4 ,but then1 though so small1 it could be fired more rapidly and accurately and could bring off an initial surprise in a way that the bigger guns could not do4 ,shell of these three sizes were used then on nearly all occasions and in very large quantities4 ,one thing that made large numbers possible was the simplicity of the shell compared with the old pattern4 ,there was no separate lead container and the 8gas0 was filled straight into the body of the shell1 as the new material was unacted on by iron or steel4 ,the head of the shell was screwed in and kept in position and perfectly gas-tight by means of a special cement4 ,as very little explosive was needed to open them up and spread the contents round the noise made by the burst of the ,green ,cross ,shell was little more than a pop--at any rate when compared with the high-explosive shell or the old tear shell4 ,the result was that at first men were apt to regard them as duds and to delay the putting on of respirators until it was too late4 ,these gas shell are supposed to make a peculiar wobbling noise in the passage through the air because of the liquid inside them1 and in this way to be recognisable beforehand4 ,personally ,i cannot tell any difference in the noise compared with ,h4 ,e4 or shrapnel of the same calibre1 though ,i have heard thousands of both kinds2 but ,i dare say some people can1 as the belief is fairly widespread4 ,of course ,fritz's liberality with his gas shell caused us a lot of casualties1 but not nearly so many as we might have had if he had known how to use them4 ,the fact was he had not at that time got hold of the proper technic--developed later on by the ,french--of concentrating his gas shell on special targets4 ,by now1 of course1 he has2 but at that time he still clung to the idea of being able to poison big areas with his shell gas by putting down a series of barrages over the country to be attacked4 ,either he had not enough shell or he chose his areas too big1 for he did not produce effective concentrations anywhere but locally4 ,if he had1 our losses might have been tremendous4 ,as it was it became rather a hit-or-miss proposition1 and ,i have seen hundreds and hundreds of these shell drop into absolutely unpopulated areas of the devastated ,somme battlefield4 ,in one case a battery of field guns came in for its share of one such promiscuous bombardment while ,i was there4 ,the number of shell coming over was so great that it was like a magnified machine-gun shoot1 but only a very few got on to the battery and the casualties were only two--both caused by a direct hit on one of the guns by a gas shell4 ,if the boche had been able to concentrate his shell on and round the battery instead of giving it just the same amount as the unoccupied surrounding country the effect might have been very different4 ,one possible reason for the promiscuous and sometimes very casual shooting may have been the fact that the boche at that time had practically no air observation4 ,our flying fellows had temporarily chased his planes out of the skies and had shot down all his observation balloons4 ,this made it impossible for him to pick his targets1 and he either had to bombard the countryside or shoot 8by the map10 neither method being particularly conducive to good results with gas shell4 ,on the other hand1 one or two places that he knew were pretty certain to be occupied by our troops were given their full dose4 ,one such place was ,caterpillar ,wood--a big narrow spinney running off from the ,fricourt ,valley and so named because of its shape and the fact that on the ordnance maps1 on which the woods are colored green1 it looks just like a green caterpillar crawling over to the shelter of ,mametz ,wood4 ,this place was continually shelled with large numbers of the ,green ,cross ,shell1 and as it stood in the side of a valley the gas persisted longer there than elsewhere and built up a tidy concentration which caused a lot of trouble4 ,the gunners were among our chief sufferers from these gas shell1 as their guns were so frequently placed in sunken roads and folds in the ground for protection against explosive shell and arial observation1 and these were just the kind of places that held the gas longest4 ,in the open much less damage was done4 ,i remember one night the first-line transport of a battalion of the ,black ,watch ran into a patch of country into which the boche was raining #gg-millimetre ,green ,cross ,shell1 and came out with only three casualties1 two of which were from a direct hit on one of the wagons1 the driver being killed instantly4 ,it seems particularly bad luck to be killed by a direct hit from a gas shell1 for the bits of shell that fly about don't do much damage in the ordinary way and don't travel great distances4 ,indeed it is remarkable1 even in the biggest gas-shell bombardments1 how very few men are hurt by the fragments4 ,the first week or two after the advent of the ,green ,cross the toll of gas-shell casualties was considerable if not alarming1 but steps were immediately taken to get the situation in hand4 ,it is in a case like this1 where a surprise had been brought off1 that ,discipline1 with a very big 8,d10 counts for so much4 ,fortunately the gas discipline of the ,british ,army was pretty good1 and it was not difficult to get new instructions carried out and orders obeyed4 ,once they got going their effect was most apparent and the gas-shell casualties dropped from week to week until they approached a minimum4 ,among the important steps that were taken were a revision of the methods of spreading the alarm1 and the protection and clearing out of dugouts into which the gas had penetrated4 ,mention has already been made of the slight noise caused by the explosion of the gas shell1 and instructions were accordingly issued that all shell that sounded like duds were to be regarded as gas shell1 and the respirators adjusted accordingly4 ,this got over one of the elements of surprise4 ,a great many men1 especially those in battery positions1 had been gassed in their dugouts before warning of the gas bombardment had been spread4 ,numbers of these men were actually gassed in their sleep and were awakened too late by the choking fumes themselves4 ,what was done was to post a gas sentry at every battery in just the same way that it was done in the trenches4 ,special local-alarm signals were arranged so that the sentry could wake every one in the neighbourhood without having the alarm spread beyond the limit of the gassed area4 ,these alarms generally took the form of bells or of gongs made from big shell cases2 but later on policemen's large rattles were found to be the most effective 8weapon0 for the purpose1 and numbers of these were distributed up and down the line and in the battery positions4 ,it was feared at first that the noise of the rattles would be mistaken for machine-gun fire and no attention be paid to it1 but this did not materialise and the rattles have done good service4 ,the only thing about them is that they are made of wood--and nicely pickled1 easily burning wood at that4 ,in the trenches kindling chips of any kind are eagerly sought after to make a miniature fire to warm tea or cook an egg4 ,when men will go the length of shaving the handles of their entrenching tools to obtain dry wood it could hardly be expected that policemen's rattles would always be respected4 ,i am afraid a number of them disappeared4 ,with the artillery things are not so bad as fuel is easier to obtain and the rattles are therefore less liable to get lost4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,the gas-proof dugout--,first-aid methods of alarm--,von ,buelow improves ,german gas tactics--,popular errors about gas--,effectiveness of new ,british respirators--,vomiting gas--,germans speed up their manufacture--,gas as a neutraliser of artillery fire--,as a neutraliser of work behind the trenches--,raw recruits ashamed to wear the mask--,casualties resulting4 ,probably the most important thing that was done as the result of the ,somme ,battle experience was to insist on there being at least one protected or gas-proof dugout at every headquarters1 battery position1 signal station1 aid post1 or wherever gas shell were particularly likely to drop4 ,i have deferred describing these protected shelters until now1 but as a matter of fact they had been devised and adopted nearly a year previously1 though not many of them had got into actual use4 ,the protection consists essentially of a damp blanket fitting closely over the entrance to the cellar or dugout or emplacement1 whichever it may happen to be4 ,the value of the blanket depends on the fact that if you prevent the movement of air you prevent the movement of gas4 ,that is all there is to it4 ,stop any possible draft and you will keep out the gas4 ,in practice the blankets are kept rolled up out of the way and are let down only when the alarm is sounded or when gas is about4 ,in order to get an air-tight joint the blanket is made to rest on a sloping framework set into the entrance to the dugout4 ,to make sure that the blanket really does remain stretched out over the frame and does not gape at all1 two or three wooden battens are fastened across it at intervals4 ,where space is available two such sloping blankets are used1 at least two feet apart and preferably far enough apart to allow a stretcher in between4 ,this forms an 8air lock0--you must go into the lock and close the outer blanket before going through the inner one--and not only makes protection of the interior doubly sure but makes it possible to enter the dugout even in the middle of an attack or bombardment4 ,in the old days the blankets used to be sprayed with the ,vermorel sprayer solution1 but anything that will keep them damp and flexible will do4 ,in the early days1 too1 the companies or batteries used to do all their own work on protecting dugouts1 and it was always possible in cold weather to obtain an extra supply of blankets on the plea that they were required for making gas-proof shelters4 ,nowadays a close eye is kept on these supplies1 which are doled out by the engineers1 and it is seen that if blanket material is supplied for protected dugouts it is going to be used for protected dugouts1 and for nothing else4 ,gradually all dugouts1 cellars and buildings within the gas-shell area--let us say up to three miles from the front line--are being provided with blanket protection1 which means a big decrease in casualties1 for once inside such shelters men can sleep in more or less comfort until they again have to don their respirators and face their tour of duty in the poisoned air outside4 ,it practically came then to this--that protection against the poison-gas shell was a question of gas-proof dugouts on the one hand and rapidity of spreading the alarm and quickness of getting protected on the other4 ,at the gas schools and in the regiments and batteries men are trained to be so quick in their movements that they can get on their masks in six seconds4 ,they are also taught on the burst of a gas shell in their neighbourhood to hold their breath at once4 ,it sounds easy enough to do this1 but it must come to a man automatically in any circumstances he may happen to find himself--and you can find yourself in some queer circumstances in war--and to assure this a great deal of training is needed4 ,anybody1 however1 can hold his breath for thirty seconds1 and with practice it is possible to go well over a minute4 ,during this time it is possible to make a fool of oneself in half a dozen different ways in putting on a respirator1 and yet get it on in time in the end4 ,but drill sergeants will stand for nothing less than the standard time and the most meticulous accuracy4 ,god bless these tyrants--they must have saved a lot of lives6 ,one of the difficulties we began to encounter with regard to gas shell was the spreading of the alarm among men on the march or in communication trenches where no alarm devices are installed4 ,in some battalions it was the custom to teach men to spread the glad tidings by taking off their steel helmets and beating them with their bayonets4 ,this certainly makes a good old noise1 but unfortunately it is just when gas shell are coming over that shrapnel is also likely to be in the air1 and to deprive a man of this tin hat at this time in order to provide him with a gas alarm is rather robbing ,peter to pay ,paul4 ,the best way undoubtedly1 and the one now taught throughout the ,british and ,american forces1 is to hold the breath1 then put on the respirator1 and finally spread the news to everyone else by shouting 8,gas shell60 as loudly as possible with the mask on4 ,in this way the information can be spread throughout a big working party or from front to rear of a column of infantry on the march in a remarkably short space of time4 ,even in the trenches it is well to give word-of-mouth warning as well as by means of the local-alarm devices1 for a second or two of absolutely invaluable time may be saved in this way4 ,one soldier questioned by an officer going the rounds as to what he would do in the event of a gas shell bombardment replied nervously3 8,put on my gas mask and shout #8,rattles6'0 ,for the remainder of #aiaf the boche treated us with gradually increasing numbers of ,green ,cross ,shell4 ,his tactics1 too1 got a bit better--,i mean for him--for he began to make more concentrated bombardments on particular targets4 ,possibly this was because of special orders that were issued on the subject4 ,one of these was by ,general von ,buelow to the artillery of his army1 in which he said3 8,there have been many instances of ,green ,cross ,shell being fired in small quantities4 ,this is a waste of ammunition1 as with all gas shell good effects are only obtained by using them in large quantities4 ,the firing of small quantities of gas shell has also the disadvantage that the enemy is practiced in the use of his anti-gas appliances and attains a higher degree of gas preparedness4 ,for this reason the effect produced by larger quantities will be reduced40 ,this showed the increasing interest in the use of gas shell taken by the ,german ,general ,staff1 and heavier and more concentrated bombardments based on the above orders became more frequent4 ,one of these1 brought off in unusual circumstances1 occurred at ,arras in ,december1 #aiaf4 ,i say 8unusual0 because the weather was so cold at the time that the ,green ,cross liquid did not evaporate so quickly as usual but hung about in some places for long periods4 ,the bombardment occurred at night and about three thousand shell must have been fired into one corner of the town--in fact1 all round the old gateway through which the whole of the transport from the ,st4 ,pol road would have to pass4 ,the surrounding houses and cellars got filled with gas1 and in such billets1 especially where shell had actually burst inside a room1 the liquid soaked into the walls and floors and only evaporated the next morning when the air grew warmer4 ,a lot of men were gassed in this manner on the following day1 as they naturally thought the gas had vanished1 and were gradually overcome as things warmed up4 ,in the open1 gas disappeared more at its usual rate1 though it hung about all during the bombardment and for several hours after1 thus forcing men in the neighbourhood to wear respirators for long periods4 ,some of these men1 overcome by fatigue1 actually slept in their respirators4 ,i think this was the first time ,i had heard of its being done1 though it has been done often enough since4 ,by this time the ,british ,army had been fitted out with the celebrated box respirator--a respirator of particular interest to ,americans1 as it was the type adopted for and at present in use in the ,american ,army4 ,a short description of it will not be out of place4 ,the principle of the respirator is to have a box filled with chemicals and attached by a flexible tube to a face piece or mask1 which fits closely to the face4 ,all air breathed by a man must therefore pass through the chemicals1 and these are so chosen that they will absorb any and every poison that may be present in the atmosphere at the time4 ,in order to keep the air pure in the mask and to have a double line of protection a man breathes through a special mouthpiece and has his nose clipped4 ,so even if the face piece1 which is made of rubber cloth1 should be torn or damaged in any way the soldier is perfectly safe as long as he does not attempt to talk--that is1 if he keeps his nose clipped and does not remove the mouthpiece from his mouth4 ,the respirator is not only active against a diversity of poisonous gases but it will keep out very high concentrations of gas for many hours4 ,one of the most misleading statements made about gas masks--sometimes by newspaper men and consequently given wide publicity--is that such and such a mask will stand up for so many hours against gas4 ,it is a very natural thing to want to know or to state how long your respirator will last1 but without stating what concentration of gas is being talked of it is impossible to give such definite information about any mask4 ,it simply depends on the amount of gas there is in the air4 ,but the box respirator if kept in good condition and properly used is guaranteed to keep out ,german gas continuously for many hours1 even in concentrations which it is quite impossible for the boche to maintain in the field4 ,in the ,american modification of the box respirator the absorptive power of the chemicals used is even greater than in the ,british box1 and this makes it the best respirator in the world1 which is very reassuring for those who have to make use of it4 ,the box respirator is contained in a haversack and is carried slung on the shoulder until such time as the soldier comes into the forward areas1 where it must be carried tied up on the chest ready for instant adjustment in case of need4 ,as ,i mentioned before1 it can be put on in six seconds from the word 8go10 and once a man is practiced in wearing it he can walk1 run1 shoot1 dig1 speak or do anything but eat and smoke in it2 and this for long stretches at a time4 ,i know many cases where men have been forced to wear masks literally continuously for more than eight hours2 and much longer periods than this1 with perhaps short intervals of rest in protected dugouts or in unaffected areas1 are common4 ,of course the soldier has to be practiced in putting the mask on quickly4 ,it is not quite so simple as the old 8gas bag10 about which a drill sergeant said to a squad3 8,you just whops it out and you whops it on40 ,but it does not take long to make men proficient with the respirator1 at any rate on the parade ground4 ,it is making him proficient under conditions of war that counts and all his instruction is now aimed toward this end4 ,with the mask in position and a tin hat on top of his head a soldier has a peculiar beetlelike appearance1 which is not very improving1 though the following conversation was reported to have been overheard by an officer about to enter a dugout3 8',ere1 mate1 take yer gas mask off40 8,it is off40 8,then for ,gawd's sake put it on60 ,the ,germans were much interested in our new respirators and their development1 and apparently had great difficulty in obtaining specimens for examination4 ,during the winter of #aiaf-ag ,german soldiers were being offered a reward of ten marks for every ,british box respirator that they brought in2 but as we were doing most of the shooting at that time ,i can hardly think that ,fritz made a fortune out of his chance4 ,but to return to the gas shell4 ,during #aiag1 it became apparent that the ,germans were placing more and more reliance on the use of gas shell and were manufacturing them in enormous numbers4 ,for a whole year after the introduction of the ,green ,cross there was only one modification of the chemicals used and that was the admixture with the diphosgene of a material which has been called 8vomiting gas40 ,this substance is a chemical named chloropicrin1 and it certainly lives up to its pet name if you take a real good breath of it4 ,the boche mixed it with his diphosgene in order to make the latter more potent if possible1 or else because he was running short of diphosgene2 but he still calls the mixture ,green ,cross and uses the gas for its killing power4 ,the chief development1 however1 was rather in the tactics than in the chemicals used4 ,gas shell were no longer thrown away2 each target or area was apparently considered separately and was given enough shell to make certain of putting up a very high concentration of gas on it4 ,at this time the boche divided his gas-shell shoots into two classes--those for 8destructive0 effect1 and those for 8harassing0 purposes4 ,the destructive fire was intended to take on big targets1 which were not only definite but were known to contain living targets--for example1 concentration points where troops were bound to be gathered2 billeting areas1 including well-known villages or towns2 areas known to have a number of batteries collected in them1 and so on2 in the latter case the batteries themselves would be taken on individually if their positions were known4 ,apart from a number of fairly big bombardments1 like that at ,arras1 mentioned above1 the destructive shoots were chiefly counter-battery ones1 intended if possible to 8neutralise0 our artillery while it should be actively engaged in putting down a barrage1 either to prevent a ,german attack or in preparing the way for our own infantry when we were attacking1 which1 of course1 was much more frequently the case in #aiaf and the first half of #aiag4 ,this neutralisation business wants a bit of explaining4 ,it will have been realised that the ,germans were and still are using two very distinct kinds of gas shell--those which kill1 like the ,green ,cross1 and those which only temporarily put a man out of action1 like the lachrymators and nowadays the mustard gas4 ,of course1 the idea underlying the use of gas shell in general--and the whole war for that matter--is to put men out of action4 ,the most effective way of doing this is to kill1 as that puts a man out of action for good and he doesn't return4 ,but you can kill men with gas only by taking them by surprise1 because of the excellence of the gas masks4 ,after the surprise has been effected the chief use of the gas shell is to force the opposing side to continue wearing their gas masks and in that way to hamper them and reduce their fighting efficiency for considerable lengths of time4 ,this is where the lachrymators and mustard gas and similar stuffs come in1 because they are very persistent1 and a little goes a long way in forcing a man to keep his respirator on4 ,the quick-killing gases1 like phosgene and the ,green ,cross1 are not very persistent1 and it would be waste of material to continue shooting them when you could effect the same thing with another stuff1 which would hang about for hours or perhaps for days4 ,now see how this affected the ,german 8fire for effect10 or destructive shooting1 as applied to a battery1 and why the gas shell are so particularly suited for taking on targets of this kind1 which used to be engaged only by high-explosive shell4 ,imagine a battery of1 let us say1 field howitzers4 ,our men are making an attack4 ,the howitzers are busy pounding the ,german trenches to bits1 and then they are going to 8lift0 on to the support trenches when our men go in4 ,the whole of the success of the infantry assault may rest on the guns' keeping up to the program with the requisite amount of fire4 ,the boche business then is to try to put our guns out of action4 ,if he can do this he has the infantry--,i won't say at his mercy1 but at any rate at such a serious disadvantage that their losses will be tremendous compared with what they would be under cover of a good barrage from the guns4 ,now if the enemy uses high-explosive shell to take on our batteries he can put them out of action only by registering a direct hit4 ,if the guns are well dug in in good emplacements with head cover it will be possible for high-explosive shell to drop within a dozen yards without doing anything but scare the gunners4 ,not so1 however1 with the gas shell4 ,drop enough gas shell within a dozen or twenty yards of the battery position and the gas will float down with the wind and penetrate every nook and cranny4 ,if the gunners are not quick some of them may be gassed2 and if1 as is sometimes the case1 the gun has been worked short-handed this alone may throw down the rate of fire to a very considerable extent4 ,add to this the fact that the remainder of the crew will have to don their respirators in order to fight their gun at all1 and it can be seen that the rate of fire may be reduced to such a low limit as to make it of little value for the time being2 or the gun may even be put out of action completely4 ,once the first surprise is over and no more immediate killing can be counted on1 the bombardment may be continued with persistent gas shell1 which are just as effective in making the men wear masks4 ,from our point of view it all comes down to the ability of the gunners to be quick enough at first in preventing themselves from being gassed2 and then later of their being capable of carrying on with their firing while wearing masks4 ,it means that gas training and discipline are1 if possible1 more important for the artillerymen even than for other branches of the service4 ,this is realised to the full in all their training and practice1 for if they are not able to respond to an ,s ,o ,s call from the infantry an otherwise abortive ,german attack may be turned into a disaster4 ,it is like everything else in this war--a question of training and discipline4 ,the neutralisation of the infantry or the transport is conducted on similar lines1 and though it rarely reaches the point of being complete a partial neutralisation of reserves which prevents their getting up in sufficient numbers or in time1 either for reinforcement or attack1 may have most serious consequences in an operation4 ,the partial neutralisation is attempted1 just as for the artillery1 by killing as many as possible by heavy surprise bombardments with the lethal shell and then continuing with persistent gas in order to force the remainder to wear their gas masks4 ,let me describe as an example a particular way in which the infantry may be partially neutralised if they are not thoroughly steady1 well-disciplined and trained up to the final dot in gas-defensive measures and the use of their respirators4 ,troops in the front line1 whether they are in settled lines of trenches or merely in temporary positions1 are absolutely dependent on their supplies4 ,supplies of ammunition1 barbed wire and1 above all1 rations must be brought up to them constantly2 otherwise they cannot continue to fight4 ,all these things are brought up at night4 ,the motor lorries of the ,army ,service ,corps take the supplies up to selected points1 where they are taken over by the first-line transport--that is1 the regimental transport1 which consists of horse or mule drawn general service or limber wagons4 ,as night approaches everything is loaded up and departure timed so that the trysting place with the infantry carrying parties is reached after dark4 ,these meeting places are very frequently crossroads immediately below the lines1 and in position warfare are usually situated close to the entrances of the communication trenches4 ,pass by such a place by day and you will find it deserted1 but as soon as darkness has fallen it becomes a hive of activity--as busy a crossroads as you might find in the centre of a big city4 ,there is a constant movement in and out of men1 animals and vehicles4 ,unloading and taking over of the supplies alternate with checking off the goods and the moving off of the carrying parties4 ,military policemen direct the traffic and relieve the ever-threatened congestion4 ,altogether it is one of the busiest and most important phases of the routine side of war1 and anybody there without a special job is a nuisance and is not wanted4 ,places like this of course are apt to be well-known to the boche1 and every now and again he will drop in some high-explosive shell or put over some shrapnel in the hope of catching the crossroads at its busy hour4 ,but even if he is lucky and manages to get on to the spot it hardly holds up the work at all4 ,i have seen a big shell drop into just such a place and make a huge hole in the road1 killing men and horses and smashing up a wagon4 ,half an hour later there was hardly a sign that anything had happened4 ,the hole had been filled in and the material debris cleared away4 ,the wounded of course had been looked after first4 ,now imagine instead of ordinary shell that a number of gas shell had been dropped into this busy centre4 ,on a dark night1 probably very muddy underfoot and with all the excitement of kicking mules1 flares going up and anything from machine-gun bullets at long range to shell of every size dropping in or expected1 things are difficult enough4 ,but with the advent of the gas shell every man must get himself protected4 ,it is now that the 8hold the breath1 and mask on in six seconds0 stunt is going to be of value4 ,with well-trained troops the losses from the gas may be negligible1 and it is equally true that they will be heavy if the discipline is poor4 ,but whether one way or the other it means that all the frightened horses and mules must next be fixed with their respirators and the work in hand must be proceeded with by everybody while wearing gas masks4 ,this is the real test4 ,if the men are well trained the carrying parties--perhaps with loads of barbed wire on their backs--will get away as before and proceed up the filthy communication trench to the front line2 swearing probably1 uncomfortable certainly1 but safe4 ,similarly the drivers will be able to get their teams away from the gassed area as soon as they are unloaded1 and the serving out of the supplies will go on as before1 though at a reduced rate4 ,but if the soldiers were not able to carry on in these terrific circumstances--could not wear masks for long periods and could not do anything in them--confusion would undoubtedly supervene and the work be brought to a standstill4 ,if this happened the men in the front line next day would be short of rations1 of ammunition1 of wire4 ,they would1 in fact1 be neutralised4 ,it is attempted neutralisation of artillery and infantry by methods such as these1 carried out over large selected areas and generally as a preface to an attack--either their own or ours--which constitutes the ,german 8fire for effect40 ,the 8harassing fire0 is simply the same thing on a smaller scale and with no immediate tactical reason at the back of it except that of killing and general annoyance4 ,as a rule a sudden burst of a few shell will be landed on some likely place1 such as the entrance to a communication trench1 a sunken road1 a bridge or an observation post4 ,these small shoots were always causing us a few casualties4 ,there was no warning1 or somebody was not quick enough1 or did not get his respirator on1 or took it off too soon4 ,there would always be some reason--but in the end it would generally come down to something that the disciplinary thumbscrew could cure4 ,it is almost unbelievable nowadays that at one time one of the chief sources of these constantly occurring casualties was shame-facedness at being seen in a mask4 ,men would not protect themselves until absolutely forced to do so1 for fear others would regard them as being too easily frightened4 ,this was especially the case with new comers1 who did not want to drop in the estimation of the older hands4 ,one case was reported where a corporal in charge of a small party of men in passing along a communication trench ran into some pockets of gas from a bombardment that had just stopped4 ,he ordered his party to don their masks and proceeded up the trench4 ,a few yards farther on they passed through the support line1 which happened to be fairly free from gas1 and here they were met by jeers from some of the supporting troops who shouted 8,hello1 got the wind up80 and in this way induced the corporal1 really against his better judgment1 to order masks off4 ,not more than twenty or thirty yards farther along the party ran into a particularly bad pocket of ,green ,cross and the corporal and several of his men were so badly gassed that they had to be sent to the rear4 ,the attitude of the officers is always reflected in the attitude of the men4 ,at that time you would sometimes meet young officers who had either been on the outer fringe of a gas-shell shoot or had merely smelled tear gas thinking they knew all about it and refusing to believe in the extreme deadliness of the poison gas and the need for enhanced discipline4 ,they would damn the gas and the need for taking precautions1 and their men would consequently damn the gas and the need for taking precautions4 ,this of course would mean another batch of casualties when ,fritz did treat them to the real article4 ,just to show how a small matter of indiscipline may result in disaster ,i would instance the case of two men who took off their respirators in a front-line trench4 ,their battalion was going to be relieved that night and they took off their webbing equipment for the purpose of fastening on the haversack and pack4 ,absolutely against orders they also removed their box respirators1 and of course it was just that moment that the boche chose for dropping in half a dozen small trench-mortar bombs filled with phosgene4 ,these vicious little guns are very accurate and most of the shell landed on or near the parapet and filled the fire bay with gas4 ,both men dived at once for their respirators and in so doing upset three other men in the bay4 ,all five were gassed and three of them died later4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,mustard or ,yellow ,cross gas--,not deadly but a dangerous pest--,its troublesome persistence--,cleaning it out by fires--,sneezing or ,blue ,cross gas--,another pest--,its violent effect--,the limit of gas shell effectiveness--,the need for constant vigilance and disciplinary training4 ,this was pretty well the position of things in ,july of last year1 when the ,german use of gas shell underwent a radical development due to the advent of the so-called mustard gas4 ,so much has been written about this gas and so many mis-statements have been made concerning it that it is as well for the public to understand what mustard gas is1 what it can do and what it cannot do4 ,on the one hand1 it has been credited with such impossible potency as would make it wonderful that any ,allied soldiers remain at all4 ,on the other hand1 it should be realised that in mustard gas the ,germans possess a very powerful weapon of war and one which they are using to a very considerable extent4 ,in the first place let it be said that mustard gas is not a killing gas like ,green ,cross1 but that it is of the persistent type1 like the older lachrymators4 ,unlike the lachrymators1 however1 its effects are not transitory and a man put out of action by mustard gas is going to be a casualty for several weeks and perhaps longer4 ,mustard gas principally affects the eyes and the lungs1 but in a very strong vapour or in contact with any of the actual liquid from the shell a man's skin may be burned very severely--even through his clothes4 ,more attention has been turned to this blistering effect of the gas than to anything else1 but as a matter of fact the blistering is of secondary importance and in itself does not result in the loss of many men to the line4 ,of course one has to be very careful4 ,it is foolish1 for example1 to lean up against sandbags that have been spattered with the liquid or to sit in a mustard-gas shell crater4 ,sooner or later the skin underneath will develop a severe and possibly extensive blister1 which is very painful and certain to last some time4 ,these burns are not dangerous1 but they are most uncomfortable1 to say the least1 especially as they are most easily produced on the more tender parts of the skin4 ,great excitement was caused at first among the ,highland regiments because the story was spread about that the ,scots were particularly susceptible to the mustard gas because of their attenuated clothing4 ,as a matter of fact the kilt doesn't seem to be a source of danger at all1 and ,highlanders are burned no more frequently than others4 ,possibly the continued exposure of their legs hardens them4 ,the chief effects of the mustard gas are on the eyes and lungs4 ,the first thing you notice is the smell--which is slightly of garlic or mustard--and irritation of the nose and throat4 ,neither effect is enough to make you feel gassed1 and the chief symptoms develop later on4 ,when the gas is strong it is apt to cause sickness and sometimes actual vomiting4 ,later on the eyes inflame and get very sore1 the lids swell and blister1 but no permanent injury to the eyes takes place1 though the victim may be temporarily blinded4 ,the effects developed in the lungs are equally painful and consist of severe inflammation and bronchitis1 which may take some time to get better and if not well looked after may develop into pneumonia4 ,it will thus be seen that for a persistent gas1 though not deadly poisonous1 mustard gas is a nasty proposition4 ,first the gas does not of itself force a man to protect himself4 ,with the old lachrymators a man either put on his mask or his eyes would smart and water so badly that he could not keep them open4 ,with the ,green ,cross and similar gases a man either protects himself or dies4 ,but with the mustard gas1 though the smell and irritation may be perfectly apparent1 the effect is not such as to force a man to don his mask4 ,yet if he does not do so and continues to live in the vapour unprotected he will certainly become a casualty4 ,it may take half an hour1 it may take several hours to come on1 but come on it will4 ,another particular disadvantage of the mustard gas is its persistence4 ,it will hang about in shell holes for many hours and even for days4 ,if it gets into a dugout it is very difficult to get rid of it1 and as long as there is enough to produce the faintest smell or irritation of the nose there is enough to bring on serious symptoms eventually4 ,this means that when it is used our fellows are forced to wear their masks for very long stretches of time4 ,the mustard gas is known officially by the ,germans as ,yellow ,cross gas1 and the shells are marked on the sides with bright yellow crosses and bands4 ,the paint used for these bands changes colour in contact with the mustard-gas liquid1 so that if a shell should leak it at once becomes apparent and can be taken away and buried4 ,the ,yellow ,cross gas was first used at ,ypres and bombardments there were quickly followed by similar ones at ,nieuport and ,armentires4 ,enormous numbers of shell of all calibres were employed1 including a new and larger size--the #h4c-;inch howitzer shell1 which holds nearly three gallons of the liquid and can be fired a distance of six miles4 ,at ,nieuport more than fifty thousand shell were fired in one night1 and equally large numbers were used in deluging the other towns4 ,since then the numbers used have continually increased1 especially when the boche was preparing for an attack or expecting one of ours4 ,duds that were collected showed that the mustard-gas liquid was a chemical called dichlorethyl sulphide1 a liquid that gives off its vapour only slowly4 ,the shell themselves were similar to the previous gas shell except that the small one have a new type of fuse--a very simple and quick-acting fuse which bursts the shell before it can get into the ground1 and consequently produces a very little crater4 ,this of course helps to spread the gas round more than if a big hole were formed4 ,the respirators keep out the ,yellow ,cross gas completely1 and the blanket protection of dugouts will also keep out the gas splendidly4 ,of course if a dugout gets a direct hit with a mustard shell there is nothing for it but to leave it empty for some days1 as the liquid cannot be removed by ventilation with either fans or fires4 ,a case that will illustrate what ,i mean was one in which a three-inch mustard-gas shell got a direct hit on a doctor's dugout and gassed him and his orderlies4 ,some time afterward the remaining orderlies thought they ought to send the doctor's things down the line and went in and got them out of the dugout4 ,they noticed a faint smell but did not worry about it1 and soon afterward found themselves gassed in consequence4 ,a fire was then placed in the dugout to clear it4 ,in the meantime the medical sergeant secured another dugout by clearing out some infantrymen4 ,in the evening the infantry felt soul-sick and wanted somewhere to sleep1 so they went into the original gassed dugout and slept there4 ,in the morning they all went down1 gassed4 ,where there has been no direct hit and the mustard-gas vapour gets into the dugout1 it can be cleared out just like ordinary gas1 by ventilation either with fans or by means of fires4 ,for clearing dugouts a great deal of reliance is placed nowadays on building small fires inside4 ,a dugout with two entrances can be very quickly cleared by means of fires1 as a through draft is produced1 which carries the gas away with it2 but difficulty is frequently found in getting the necessary fuel for the fire and in keeping the stuff handy4 ,bundles of firewood and kindling material are supposed to be kept in the dugouts ready for use2 but1 as has already been explained1 the ,tommies are always on the lookout for combustible materials for their own fires1 and continual inspection has to be made to see that the special supplies for ventilation are kept available4 ,one officer told me that he always had the supplies of wood1 paper and kerosene kept in an army-biscuit tin which was closed and sealed2 because1 as he said1 no ,tommy would ever investigate the contents of a biscuit tin unless absolutely forced to do so for lack of other food4 ,it should be realised1 however1 that properly protected dugouts have given perfect immunity from the mustard gas as long as the protection has remained intact1 and a great deal of attention is being paid to increasing the number of the protected shelters in order to give the men the necessary rest from wearing their respirators occasioned by the extensive use by the boche of his ,yellow ,cross ,shell4 ,in ,nieuport a special gas patrol was instituted for going the round of the town to see that blanket protection of cellars and shelters was kept in good condition1 as there was always a chance that they would not be well looked after or that the blankets had been taken down by some enterprising ,tommy for his own personal use4 ,round about battery positions the most annoying feature of the mustard gas is the length of time it persists4 ,in the shell holes it can at any rate be partly destroyed by sprinkling with chloride of lime4 ,it is rather interesting to find that in some captured ,german instructions great secrecy was laid on the use of chloride of lime for getting rid of the effects of mustard gas4 ,the boche kept boxes of chloride of lime in all positions where the gas shell were stored1 and issued instructions to his own troops that 8the use of chloride of lime for the protection of our own troops against ,yellow ,cross liquid must not become known to the enemy4 ,observation of the strictest secrecy is a matter of duty just as much now as it was previously4 ,the troops will be thoroughly instructed in these precautionary measures1 but nothing will be taught them as regards the nature or composition of the antidote employed40 ,during the present offensive the ,germans have used very large quantities of mustard gas1 generally for holding purposes and against our rear lines1 battery positions1 communications and reserves4 ,this is kept up for many hours in order to wear out the patience of our fellows and weaken them for the coming assault4 ,strong points that the boche does not wish to attack are also swamped with the gas1 and when ,armentires were evacuated by the ,british1 ,yellow ,cross liquid was actually running down the gutters4 ,but in places that he intends to assault he will complete the mustard-gas bombardment against our troops some considerable time before he advances2 otherwise his own troops would run into it and be forced to don their respirators4 ,the quantities of shell used in this preparation are enormous and supplies of the mustard gas must have been accumulated during the winter to an unexpected extent and their manufacture proceeded with to full capacity4 ,take it altogether1 ,yellow ,cross gas is very much more than an annoyance1 but there is no question that good discipline and thorough appreciation and carrying out of the orders laid down for the protection of troops have reduced the losses in very much the same way that the screwed-up discipline reduced the losses after the first introduction of ,green ,cross ,shell4 ,one of the most objectionable features of the mustard gas is the continual care that has to be exercised to prevent casualties4 ,it is so easy for a man whose clothing is slightly contaminated with gas to enter a dugout and contaminate the whole of the interior and all its occupants4 ,sentries also have to be posted to warn troops passing through or into an area that has been bombarded with mustard gas1 so that respirators can be put on4 ,after a cold night the officers must be continually on the watch to see whether the vapours that rise from the warming of the earth by the morning sun are charged with mustard gas1 and to take the necessary precautions on the slightest detection of the characteristic smell4 ,this smell to my mind is much more like garlic than mustard1 and the use of the term 8mustard gas0 is purely the origination of the ,tommies themselves4 ,as a matter of fact1 so as not to confuse the ,yellow ,cross liquid with true mustard oil1 efforts were made at first to prevent the stuff from being called mustard gas4 ,but once the ,british ,tommy decides on a name for anything1 that name it is bound to have1 and as he adopted the name 8mustard gas0 for it mustard gas it will remain for all time4 ,the other new material that was introduced by the ,germans in the summer of #aiag and which1 like mustard gas1 has been in use ever since is the ,german 8sneezing gas40 ,for a long time high-explosive bombardments were reported on many occasions to be accompanied with violent sneezing1 which at the time was laid down to the presence in the air of undecomposed explosive from the shell4 ,as a matter of fact the sneezing was due to the presence inside the high-explosive shell of bottles containing chemicals the chief effect of which is to cause violent sneezing when small quantities get into the air4 ,this sneezing material1 or sternutator1 to give it its scientific name1 in this case was a solid which is atomised into tiny particles when the shell bursts4 ,chemically speaking1 it is called diphenylchlorarsine4 ,this material is used embedded in the trinitrotoluene of the explosive shell in most cases1 and such shells are called ,blue ,cross ,shell1 and are marked accordingly4 ,this is the third of the present trilogy of the ,german coloured-cross gas shell4 ,the sneezing gas is also sometimes mixed in with the contents of the ,green ,cross ,shell in considerable proportions4 ,the idea underlying the use of this sneezing gas by the ,germans was apparently partly that of getting a gas which they thought might go through our masks4 ,in this of course they were disappointed1 as the respirator keeps out sneezing gas perfectly well4 ,the other idea underlying its use was apparently to cause such violent sneezing as to prevent men from getting their masks quickly adjusted or to cause them to sneeze them off if they had been put on4 ,this and all sorts of other tricks of the gas-shell business have been tried out at various times by the ,germans4 ,while putting over ,green ,cross or ,blue ,cross ,shell1 or both1 they will suddenly accompany them with violent bursts of shrapnel1 the idea being that men will be so busily occupied in putting on their masks or in sneezing that they will not take the usual care in finding immediate cover from the shrapnel2 or that1 on the other hand1 in taking cover from the shrapnel they will not get their masks on in the minimum time or will displace them in their efforts to get away4 ,the sneezing caused by the ,blue ,cross ,shell is a most peculiar and violent kind4 ,if you get the smallest dose of this stuff into your lungs you start sneezing at once4 ,you seem to sneeze from the very bottom of your stomach upward1 and feel as if the whole of your chest were going to come out with it4 ,this may continue almost continuously for a short time2 but there are apparently no after effects unless the gas has been very strong indeed1 in which case there is very painful irritation of the whole of the throat and lungs which will produce bronchitis4 ,this is the present stage of development of the ,german gas shell4 ,whether they will add another colour to their lot of ,green1 ,yellow and ,blue ,cross ,shell we do not know1 but we are prepared for it when it does come1 and in the meantime he is getting as good as he gives4 ,it will be news to most people to realise how the gas shell are gradually dominating the field4 ,some bombardments are composed entirely of gas shell4 ,as many as a quarter of a million have been fired on the attacking front during twenty-four hours1 and probably at least one-quarter of all ,german shell of all calibres are gas shell4 ,it must be remembered that there are certain things that gas shell cannot do4 ,they cannot replace high-explosive shell for the demolition of fortified works1 for example4 ,nor can they be used for cutting barbed wire previous to an advance2 and the creeping barrage that preceded the assaulting infantry cannot be made up by gas shell4 ,an ,s ,o ,s barrage in ,no ,man's ,land1 to cut up an attack1 also would have to be shrapnel and ,h4 ,e4 so as not to gas the defending troops4 ,when all these are cut out it will be realised that the proportion of gas shell that are used against living targets must be very big indeed4 ,it is hardly too much to assert that at the present day1 of the actual methods of attacking men direct gas is the most important4 ,it must be realised also that it can become1 and is likely to become1 still more important1 and that the fight between the offence and the defence on both sides will continue until the end of the war4 ,since ,december of last year the boche has been copying a method invented by the ,british for firing a large number of big drums of gas simultaneously4 ,these drums are used chiefly against the front-line troops and are generally filled with pure phosgene4 ,as each bomb contains a gallon and a half of liquid and many hundreds are fired at the same moment a good high concentration of gas is produced4 ,warning is given by the tremendous roar from behind the ,german lines when the flock of canister or rum-jar bombs starts on its way4 ,every man who hears the noise gets his mask on at once1 even before there is any sign of gas2 and if he does this there is little danger1 as the respirators are quite capable of dealing with even the very high concentrations of phosgene produced4 ,if a man keeps his head and obeys orders there is little to fear from gas4 ,but discipline must be high4 ,as one ,tommy said3 8,you must be so well disciplined that when the gas alarm goes you will even drop the rum ration so as to get your respirator on in time40 ,beyond that it is simply a question of carrying on the work in hand while wearing a respirator1 and this is entirely a matter of practice4 ,,chapter ,x ,liquid ,fire--,first used by ,germans in ,july1 #aiae--;,a great surprise and success--,german hopes from it--,construction of a flame projector--,flammenwerfer companies--,their perilous duties and incidents of desertion from them--,improved types of projectors--,co-operation of machine-gun fire--,failure of liquid fire--,its short duration and short range--,ease of escape from it4 ,when the ,german ,army entered on its policy of frightfulness there was none of its new and unprincipled methods which had more immediate and striking success than the use of liquid fire4 ,and there is now none of all its methods of frightfulness which has fallen more into disrepute1 and which has had less success when once the first surprise was over4 ,a great deal of attention has been drawn in the newspapers to the use of liquid fire1 but the average man1 even in the fighting forces1 knows very little about the ,german methods and the appliances for its use4 ,yet ,germany still has special troops trained in the use of liquid fire1 and seeks continually to alter and develop the fire weapons and their tactical employment in order to take advantage of the undoubtedly terrible appearance and destructive power of the high temperature flames which can be emitted4 ,this article is intended to show the stage to which the development has attained and the reasons for the relatively innocuous character of what is probably the most terror-inspiring method of modern warfare4 ,throughout #aiae ,england was pouring new divisions of its ,national army into ,france4 ,as with all new troops the procedure adopted at the time was to bring these divisions by easy stages to within a short distance of the front line1 and then send them in by companies for a four day 8instructional tour0 in the trenches to pick up all the wrinkles and habits from the seasoned troops holding the line4 ,after the whole formation had been put through it in this way the division would be allotted a definite part of the line1 taking it over possibly from the troops with whom it had been in for instruction and allowing the latter to get out for a much needed rest1 or to get 8fattened up0 for some impending or progressing show elsewhere4 ,one such new division1 absolutely fresh from ,england and with no war experience whatever1 was the target selected by the boche for his new deviltry4 ,the portion of line allotted to this division was on the outermost part of the ,ypres salient and included the ruins of the little village of ,hooge right at the point of the salient4 ,this position had always been a hot corner--8unhealthy0 in the ,british army parlance--and had changed hands several times4 ,the trenches there were poor as it was almost impossible to get effective work done on them owing to their exposed position4 ,indeed there were many parts of the line where no movement was possible by day and the men on the posts had to lie 8doggo0 until night4 ,the two lines were very close together--in many places less than twenty yards--and it was quite possible to hurl hand grenades from one set of trenches to the other4 ,it was on this position of the line1 over a front held by two battalions1 that the attack was made4 ,after a bombardment of several days1 a mine was exploded under the front line and then immediately afterward1 at #c3bj ,a4 ,m4 on the morning of the #bith of ,july and without the slightest warning1 the front line troops were enveloped in flames4 ,where the flames came from could not be seen4 ,all that the men knew was that they seemed surrounded by fierce curling flames which were accompanied by a loud roaring noise and dense clouds of black smoke4 ,here and there a big blob of burning oil would fall into a trench or a saphead4 ,shouts and yells rent the air as individual men1 rising up in the trenches or attempting to move in the open1 felt the force of the flames4 ,the only way to safety appeared to be to the rear4 ,this direction the men that were left took4 ,for a short space the flames pursued them1 and the local retirement became a local rout4 ,then the flames stopped and machine guns began to take toll of the fugitives4 ,only one man from the front trenches is known to have returned4 ,german infantry following up1 poured into the breach in the line1 widened it1 took our positions as far back as ,sanctuary ,wood1 and then consolidated4 ,ten days afterward we counter attacked and won back the whole of the line concerned but at very considerable cost4 ,incidentally1 we captured two of the ,german flame projectors1 one of them complete1 and they proved to be of the greatest possible use to us subsequently for educating the army in the new warfare1 and for inspection by our own experts with a view to their duplication for retaliation4 ,any one attempting to blame the troops attacked for their retirement can hardly appreciate the circumstances1 and1 ,i am convinced1 over-estimates his own capacity for resistance4 ,this attack was an utter surprise--the kind of warfare was unknown and unheard of4 ,imagine being faced by a spread of flame exactly similar to that used for the oil burners under the biggest boilers1 but with a jet nearly sixty feet in length and capable of being sprayed round as one might spray water with a fire hose4 ,personally1 ,i am pretty sure1 had ,i been there1 that ,i should have hopped it if ,i had not been fried by the heat or frozen with terror4 ,later1 when we knew the limitations of these things it was different1 though even then it is a pretty good test of a man's nerve4 ,the flame projectors taken by the #adth ,division in the counter attack were simple but very interesting in construction4 ,the main part was a cylindrical vessel of steel about two feet in height and fifteen inches in diameter provided with straps so that it could be carried on a man's back4 ,at one side about two-thirds of the way up was a filling hole for oil1 closed by a screw cap4 ,near the top was a pressure gauge attachment and toward the base was a lock closed by a lever handle and to which could be attached a long length of flexible hose ending in a peculiar shaped nozzle4 ,on examination it was found that the body of the projector was divided internally into two compartments which could be connected by opening another tap4 ,the upper compartment was the compressor and the lower the oil reservoir4 ,the compressor chamber was filled to a pressure of twenty-three atmospheres with deoxygenated air or nitrogen4 ,air itself cannot be used because of its oxygen content forming an explosive mixture with the vapours from the oil1 and any heating on compression1 or back-flash from the flame or fuse1 might make things very unpleasant for the operator4 ,the nitrogen required for the flame projectors is carried into the field in large cylinders about #d feet #f inches in length and #f inches in diameter4 ,several of these cylinders have been captured from the enemy since4 ,these cylinders are actually taken into the trenches and the flame projectors charged from them there4 ,the combustible liquid used in the flame throwers has varied in source and composition from time to time1 but it invariably has one characteristic which appears to be essential for good results--it must have light or easily volatile and heavy and less volatile fractions mixed in carefully graded proportions4 ,the heavy oil has sometimes been a petroleum product and sometimes a tarry residual oil from the distillation of wood4 ,the light portion1 which insures the jet's keeping alight was originally a light gasolene1 but at one period1 whether from shortage of petrol or not ,i do not know1 the place of the latter in the mixture was taken by ordinary commercial ether4 ,the lighting device1 fixed at the end of the flexible hose1 is the most ingenious part of the whole contrivance and is so made that the oil ignites spontaneously the minute the jet is turned on1 and is kept alight by a fiercely burning mixture which lasts throughout the discharge4 ,the nozzle is about #i inches long and detachable so that replacement is easy4 ,it clips into the end of the tube and is held in position by an annular ring4 ,when the oil with its twenty-three atmospheres pressure behind it is rushed out of the jet1 it forces up the plunger of a friction lighter and ignites a core of a fierce burning fuse mixture which fills the whole of the space between the central tube and an outer casing4 ,the latter consists of a thick wick soaked in paraffin wax and fitting loosely into a thin brass case4 ,when the nozzle is in position all that is necessary is to turn on the tap1 and the stream of flame issues from the tube and can be directed at will4 ,the official name for this instrument we discovered was the 8,flammenwerfer0 7flame thrower7 and it is now never known in the ,british army by anything else than its ,german name4 ,indeed this is one of the very few ,german words we have adopted as an outcome of the war1 the only others ,i can remember being 8strafe0 and 8,kamerad40 ,flammenwerfer attacks are made by the #crd and #dth ,guard ,pioneer ,battalions and by the ,guard ,reserve ,pioneer ,regiment--all of which troops are specially trained in flame tactics4 ,each battalion is composed of six companies and each company is equipped with #ah small or portable projectors similar to that described above1 and with #bj-bb large projectors of greater range4 ,the latter larger flammenwerfer are built on the same principle as the former1 but are too heavy to be used as mobile weapons4 ,they are consequently built in to the trenches at about #bg yards from the opposing lines1 and1 if the trenches are not close enough together for the purpose1 special saps are pushed out and the flammenwerfer installed at the end4 ,the range of these large projectors is #cc-dd yards and they can cover a front of #ee yards with flames4 ,it is probable that in the attack at ,hooge that both large and small flammenwerfer were employed4 ,it is possible with the above equipment for a flame company to cover a total front of #aajj-afjj yards4 ,service in the ,guard ,reserve ,pioneers is apparently a form of punishment4 ,men convicted of offences in other regiments are transferred either for a time or permanently1 and are forced under threat of death to engage in the most hazardous enterprises and carry out the most dangerous work4 ,the following incident will serve to show how the ,german soldiers are hounded to their death in these engagements4 ,in the summer of last year a small flammenwerfer attack was made against our line at a point near ,monchy1 south of ,arras4 ,two boches armed with flame projectors of a modified pattern were instructed to attack one of our advanced posts which was at the head of a sap running out toward the ,german trenches4 ,in broad daylight and with no covering fire worth talking about these two poor devils were forced over the top with revolvers pressed into their backs4 ,one was shot down immediately4 ,the other managed to get clear of his own barbed wire and then discarded his apparatus1 with the intention of crawling over to us and deserting4 ,by this time1 however1 he had been badly shot up--whether by his own people as well as by us1 ,i cannot say4 ,his left arm and his right thigh were both smashed1 and he had two bullets in his abdomen4 ,nevertheless this man managed to crawl into our lines and was taken care of4 ,he was sent down to a ,casualty ,clearing ,station in a perilous condition1 but despite his terrible injuries ,i understand the doctors managed to patch him up1 and that he recovered completely4 ,the portable flammenwerfer used in the attack just described was brought in by our patrols the following night1 the spot where he had left it being accurately described by the wounded prisoner4 ,it was found to be of a new pattern and other specimens of the same construction have since been captured1 chiefly in the neighbourhood of ,lens where they were employed by the boche in the course of abortive counter attacks against the ,canadians4 ,in this pattern1 which is shown in detail in the photograph1 the compressed nitrogen is contained in a spherical-vessel which is contained inside a ring-shaped oil container4 ,the whole thing looks like a life preserver and is mounted on a light frame so that it can be comfortably carried on the back4 ,for a man who may suddenly have to get down on his stomach and crawl1 the apparatus is much more compact and better fitting to the body than the original type1 but it has no advantage over the older varieties as regards range or duration4 ,the flexible hose which carries the lighting nozzle is made of canvas and rubber1 and enemy documents which have been captured show that only one tube is provided for each three reservoirs4 ,after the discharge of one apparatus the long tube is supposed to be fitted with a new nozzle and handed on to the others in succession4 ,the flammenwerfer companies are divided into squads4 ,following the ,german army habit of adopting contractions--a habit presumably forced on them by their cumbersome word-building language1 the squads are designated ,groftruppe or ,kleiftruppe1 according as they are armed with large or small projectors4 ,the former is a contraction for ,grosser-flammenwerfertrupp 7large flame projector squad71 and the latter for ,kleiner-flammenwerfertrupp 7small flame projector squad74 ,in the case of attacks with the large projectors1 or a combined attack with both sizes1 the chief thing is secrecy of installation in the trenches4 ,if it was ascertained or suspected that flammenwerfer were being put in1 our gunners would open on the position in no time and blow the apparatus sky-high4 ,as it is necessary to sap out to within #bg yards of our lines in order to get in a 8shot10 it can readily be seen that the possibilities of using the large projectors are very limited1 and as a matter of fact little use has been made of them4 ,attacks with the portable projectors are more possible owing to their greater mobility4 ,but here again the essential part of the tactics and the most difficult thing to do is to get near enough the target to make the shot effective4 ,the range is only fifty to sixty feet4 ,the ,german idea is to cover the advance of the 8,kleif0 men by protecting machine-gun fire4 ,in an attack1 the advance of the company is covered by machine-gun fire from each side1 converging at a point on the opposing trenches4 ,in the triangle thus formed the attacking force1 the 8,kleiftruppe0 in front1 then a party of bombers1 and finally the raiding or attacking party take up their positions in ,no ,man's ,land and crawl as far forward as possible in the 8protected area40 ,as soon as the flame projectors are within range1 the machine guns switch outward to each side1 the flame is discharged and the bombers rush in and try their luck in the trench4 ,if things go well1 the infantry follows the bombing party and proceeds to its objective4 ,in an attack of this kind1 or a less well-supported attack such as that at ,arras1 mentioned above1 the attackers suffer from two such severe disadvantages that against well-disciplined troops they stand little chance4 ,these disadvantages are 7#a7 the flammenwerfer carriers have to get so near their objective that they are almost certain to be shot1 and they then become a source of danger to their own side2 7#b7 men in trenches know they are perfectly safe from frontal flame attack if they keep well down and hug the parapet side of the trench4 ,the reason for this is that the flame will not sink down into a trench1 but having little force behind it at the end of its journey is curled upward by the rising currents of hot air4 ,the result is that any sort of head cover 7unless made of wood7 makes perfect protection1 and a man crouching in a trench or even lying prone in a shell hole1 is very unlikely to be more than slightly scorched at the very worst4 ,i can vouch for this1 for ,i have lain at the bottom of a trench with the flames playing over my head and have not been injured in the slightest1 though ,i confess to being very much relieved when the flame stopped4 ,the only danger in trenches to men who keep their heads is that of 8blobs0 of burning oil falling from the end of the fiery stream1 but this is not a very serious chance4 ,another serious disability in the ,german liquid fire is its very short duration4 ,the stream of flame from the portable flammenwerfer lasts rather less than one minute4 ,it is impossible to charge up again on the spot1 and the result is that once the flame stops the whole game is finished and the operators are at our mercy4 ,without making the apparatus of a prohibitive weight1 the duration of the flame cannot be increased4 ,even the heavy projectors give only a flame lasting at the best one minute and a quarter4 ,it must be realised that it is discipline and coolness 7if one may use the word7 which count1 and that the moral effect on unsteady troops1 unaware of the fact that the appalling flames have little destructive value1 may be very great indeed4 ,when men have bolted from the trenches into the open they are an easy prey4 ,an enfilade attack1 i4e41 one made from a flank1 would be much more dangerous were it not for the difficulty of approach and the fact that the traverses of a fire-trench are as good protection against flame as the parapet4 ,only where the 8,kleif0 squad can approach under cover and get in its shot at an exposed target is the flammenwerfer likely to have much success nowadays4 ,a certain amount of value was obtained from their use in this way in the attack on ,verdun for reducing isolated strong-points1 notably fortified farmhouses and broken down cottages in the ruined villages4 ,in certain cases the flame projector carriers were enabled to approach under cover or by crawling among the ruins and heaps of debris1 to within striking distance of the otherwise well protected machine-gun emplacements and positions4 ,by suddenly playing the fire jet into the loopholes1 enough flame penetrated into the interior of the emplacement to put the machine-gun and its crew out of action--either temporarily or permanently4 ,this was the opportunity awaited by the covering party of bombers who would rush the post the minute the flame ceased1 having made their approach while the projectors were in action4 ,but even for special cases like these the circumstances must be so favourable and the inherent disadvantages are so great that the flammenwerfer cannot be counted on to attain the required result4 ,the low value placed by the ,allies on the ,german flame attack can be realised from the fact that no special form of cover is provided against it4 ,there is no special form of fireproof clothing or other protection issued to the troops1 and the instructions for meeting the attack may be summarised as 8,shoot the man carrying the apparatus before he gets in his shot if possible4 ,if this cannot be done take cover from the flames and shoot him afterward40 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,italicized text is surrounded by underscores3 italics4 ,obvious typographical errors have been corrected4 ,inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized4 ,archaic or variant spelling has been retained4