The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the use of the first large-scale chemical weapons was during World War I. They were primarily used to demoralize, injure and kill dissident dissidents, against whom they are indiscriminate and in general very slow-changing or static properties of a gas cloud would be most effective. The types of weapons used range from deadly chemicals, such as tear gas, to deadly agents such as phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas. This chemical war was a major component of the first global war and the first total war of the twentieth century. The gas killing capacity is limited, with about ninety thousand casualties from a total of 1.3 million casualties caused by gas attacks. Gas was unlike other weapons of the time because it was possible to develop retaliatory actions, such as gas masks. In the final stages of the war, when the use of gas increases, its overall effectiveness decreases. The widespread use of these chemical war agents, and wartime advances in the composition of high explosives, gave rise to the sometimes-expressed view of World War I as a "chemist war" and also an era in which weapons of mass destruction were created.
The use of poison gas by all the major criminals during World War I was a war crime because its use violated the 1899 Denominational Declaration of Asphyxia Gas and the 1907 Plan Convention on Land War, which prohibited the use of "toxic or poisonous weapons" in warfare. The widespread horror and public outcry over the use of gas and its consequences led to the almost complete refusal by all combatants to use toxic gases in World War II.
Video Chemical weapons in World War I
Sejarah gas beracun dalam Perang Dunia I
1914: Gas air mata
The earliest military use of chemicals during World War I was an irritant that triggered tears rather than a lethal or paralyzing poison. During World War I, the French army was the first to use gas, using a 26 mm grenade filled with tear gas (ethyl bromoacetate) in August 1914. The small amount of gas delivered, about 19 cm per cartridge, was not even detected by gas. German people. The stocks were quickly consumed and in November new orders were placed by the French military. Like the rare bromine among the Entente allies, the active ingredient is converted to chloroacetone.
In October 1914, German troops fired shells filled with chemicals that disrupted the British position at Neuve Chapelle; The concentration achieved is so small that it is hardly noticed. None of the fighters considers the use of tear gas against the Hague Agreement of 1899, which prohibits the launching of asphyxiating or toxic gas-containing projectiles. <19> 1915: _Large-scale_use_and_lethal_gases "> 1915: Large-scale use and lethal gas
The first example of large-scale gas usage as a weapon was on January 31, 1915, when the Germans fired 18,000 artillery shells containing tear xylyl bromide tear gas on Russian positions on the Rawka River, west of Warsaw during the Bolimov Battle. Instead of yawning, the chemicals freeze and fail to have the desired effect.
The first assassin agent used by the German military was chlorine. Chlorine is a strong irritant that can cause damage to the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. At high concentrations and prolonged exposure may cause death due to asphyxia. The German chemical company BASF, Hoechst and Bayer (which formed the conglomerate IG Farben in 1925) have made chlorine a by-product of their dye production. In collaboration with Fritz Haber of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin, they began to develop a method of discharging chlorine gas against enemy trenches.
According to the fieldpost letter Major Karl von Zingler, the first chlorine gas attack by German forces occurred before January 2, 1915: "In other war theaters have not gone much better and it has been said that our Chlorine is very effective 140 British officers have been killed.... ".
On April 22, 1915, the German Army had 168 tons of chlorine dispersed in 5,730 cylinders from Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres. At 17.30, with little breeze, gas was released, forming a green gray cloud that floated across the positions held by the French Colonial forces of Martinique, as well as the 1st Tirailleurs and the second Zouaves from Algeria. Faced with a foreign threat, this force broke rank, left their trenches and created a gap of 8,000 yards (7 km) on the Allied line. The German infantry was also alert to gas and, unassisted, failed to take advantage of the break before the 1st Canadian Division and various French troops reformed the line in a hasty and hasty position with a distance of 1,000-3,000 yards (910-2,740 m). The Entente government claims the attack is a striking violation of international law but Germany argues that the Hague treaty only prohibits chemical shells, rather than using gas projectors.
In what became the Second Battle of Ypres, Germany used gas on three more occasions; on April 24 against Canadian Division 1 on May 2 near Mouse Trap Farm and on 5 May against England on Hill 60. The Official British History states that on Hill 60, "90 people died from gas poisoning in trenches or before they could be brought to the dressing station, from 207 brought to the nearest clothing station, 46 dead almost immediately and 12 after long suffering. "
On August 6, German forces used chlorine gas against Russian troops defending the Osowiec Fortress. The defenders who survive push back the attack and defend the fort.
Germany used chemical weapons on the east front in an attack on Rawka, south of Warsaw. The Russian army took 9,000 casualties, with more than 1,000 casualties. In response, the Russian army's artillery branch organized a commission to study the delivery of toxic gas in the shell.
Effectiveness and countermeasures
It quickly became clear that people who lived in their place suffered fewer than those who fled, because every movement exacerbated the effects of gas, and that those who stood on the fire stairs suffered less - indeed they often escaped from the serious. effects - rather than those lying down or sitting at the bottom of the trench. The man standing on the parapet is suffering the least, because the gas is denser near the ground. The worst opinion is that the injured lying on the ground, or on the stretcher, and people returning with clouds. Chlorine is less effective as a weapon than Germany expects, especially as soon as simple countermeasures are introduced. The gas produces visible greenish clouds and strong smell, making it easily detectable. It is soluble in water, so a simple way to cover the mouth and nose with a damp cloth is effective to reduce the effects of gas. It is thought to be more effective to use urine than water, as is known when chlorine reacts with urea (present in urine) to form icha dichoro.
Chlorine requires concentrations of 1,000 parts per million to be fatal, destroying tissue in the lungs, possibly through the formation of hydrochloric acid when dissolved in water in the lungs (2Cl 2 2H 2 O -> 4HCl O 2 ). Regardless of its limitations, chlorine is an effective psychological weapon - the sight of the incoming gas cloud is a constant source of fear for infantry.
Quick countermeasures are introduced in response to chlorine use. The Germans pulled out their troops with a small gauze pad with cotton wastes, and a bicarbonate solution bottle to muffle the pads. Immediately after the use of chlorine gas by Germany, instructions were sent to British and French troops to hold a wet handkerchief or cloth over their mouths. A simple respirator pad similar to that issued to German troops was immediately proposed by Lt. Col. N. C. Ferguson, A.D.M.S. 28th Division. The pad is intended for moist use, preferably immersed in a bicarbonate solution stored in a bucket for that purpose; Other liquids are also used. Since such bearings can not be expected to arrive up front for several days, the military divisions begin to make themselves. Available gauze, flannel and gauze are locally available, officers are sent to Paris to buy more and local French women are employed that make unfinished pads with straps. Another unit uses a cloth bandage produced at a monastery in Poperinge. The cushioned respirator was sent with the quota to the British troops on the line as early as the evening of 24 April.
In the UK, the Daily Mail newspaper encourages women to produce cotton, and within a month various respirators are available for British and French troops, along with motor goggles to protect the eyes. The response was remarkable and one million gas masks were produced in a day. The Mail design is useless when it dries and causes suffocation when it is wet - the respirator is responsible for the deaths of some men. On July 6, 1915, the entire British army was equipped with a more effective "smoke helmet" designed by Major Cluny MacPherson, the Newfoundland Regiment, which was a flannel pouch with a celluloid window, completely covering the head. The race was later among the introduction of new and more effective poison gas and effective countermeasures, which marked the gas war until the truce in November 1918.
UK gas attack
Britain expressed outrage at the use of German poison gas in Ypres and responded by expanding its own gas war capability. Commander of Corps II, Lieutenant General Sir Charles Ferguson, said of the gas:
This is a form of coward war that does not praise itself or other British soldiers... We can not win this war unless we kill or paralyze our enemies more than we do, and if this can only be done by us copying the enemy in choosing weapons , we must not refuse to do so.
The first use of gas by the British was at the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915, but it was a disaster. Chlorine, codenamed Red Star , is the agent used (140 tons in 5,100 cylinders), and the attack depends on favorable winds. On this occasion, the wind proved to be fluid, and the gas remained in no man's land or, in some places, exploded in the British trenches. This is exacerbated when the gas can not be released from all British canisters because the wrong turn key is sent with them. After the German shootings revenge hit several unused cylinders, releasing gas among the British troops. The worsening situation is a primitive flannel gas mask that is distributed to the UK. The masks became hot, and small eye pieces fouled, reducing visibility. Some troops lift the mask to get fresh air, causing them to gass.
1915: More lethal gas
Chlorine deficiency was overcome by the introduction of phosgene, prepared by a group of French chemists led by Victor Grignard and first used by France in 1915. Colorless and has an odor similar to "moldy straw", the phosgene is difficult to detect. , making it a more effective weapon. Phosgene is sometimes used alone, but it is used more often mixed with the same chlorine volume, with chlorine helping to disperse more dense phosgene. The allies call this combination White Star after the painted mark on the shell contains the mixture.
Phosgene is a potent killer agent, more deadly than chlorine. It has a potential weakness in some exposure symptoms taking 24 hours or more to materialize. This means that the victims were initially still capable of resisting; this could also mean that seemingly fit troops would be paralyzed by the effects of gas the next day.
In Germany's first combined chlorine-phosgene attack, against British troops in Wieltje near Ypres, Belgium on 19 December 1915, 88 tons of gas released from the cylinder caused 1069 casualties and 69 deaths. The UK P gas helm, which was released at the time, was impregnated with sodium phenolate and partially effective against phosgene. Modified PHH gas helmets, impregnated with fenate hexamine and hexamethylene tetramine (urotropine) to enhance protection against phosgene, were expelled in January 1916.
About 36,600 tonnes of phosgene were produced during the war, out of a total of 190,000 tonnes for all chemical weapons, making it number two after chlorine (93,800 tonnes) in quantities produced:
- Germany 18,100 tons
- France 15,700 tons
- England 1,400 tons (also using French stock)
- United States 1,400 tons (also using French stock)
Phosgene was never famous in public awareness as a mustard gas, but killed more people, about 85% of the 90,000 deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I.
1916: use of Austria
On 29 June 1916, Austrian troops attacked the Italian lines in Monte San Michele with a mixture of phosgene and chlorine gas. Thousands of Italian troops were killed in the first chemical weapons attack on the Italian Front.
1917: Gas mustard
The most widely reported and, perhaps, the most effective chemical agent of the First World War was a sulfur mustard, known as "mustard gas". It is a volatile oily liquid. It was introduced as a vesicant by Germany in July 1917 before the Third Battle of Ypres. The Germans marked their skin yellow for mustard and green gas for chlorine and phosgene; then they call the new gas Yellow Cross . It's known to Britain as HS ( Hun Stuff ), and the French call it Yperite (named after Ypres).
Mustard gas is not an effective killer agent (although in high enough doses it is fatal) but can be used to harass and paralyze the enemy and soil the battlefield. Shipped in artillery shells, mustard gas is heavier than air, and it sticks to the ground as an oily liquid. Once on the ground, the gas mustard remains active for several days, weeks, or even months, depending on weather conditions.
The skin of the mustard gas victims blistered, their eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas causes internal and external bleeding and attacks the bronchial tubes, disarming the mucous membrane. This is very painful. The severely injured victims sometimes require four or five weeks to die from exposure to mustard gas.
A nurse, Vera Brittain, writes: "I hope those who talk about this war, whatever the cost, can see soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning, big mustard blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and united , always struggling to breathe, in a mere whisper, saying that their throat closes and they know they're going to choke. "
The nature of polluting mustard gas means that it is not always suitable to support the attack because infantry attacks will be exposed to gas as they progress. When the Germans launched Operation Michael on 21 March 1918, they saturated FlesquiÃÆ'¨res with protruding mustard gas instead of directly attacking, believing that the effects of harassing the gas, coupled with threats to prominent sides, would make the position England can not be maintained.
Gas never reproduces the dramatic success of April 22, 1915; it became a standard weapon which, combined with conventional artillery, was used to support most of the attacks in the final stages of the war. Gas is used primarily on the Western Front - a static and limited trench system is ideal for achieving effective concentration. Germany also used gas against Russia on the Eastern Front, where the lack of effective countermeasures resulted in the deaths of more than 56,000 Russians, while the British experimented with gas in Palestine during the Second Battle of Gaza. Russia began producing chlorine gas in 1916, with phosgene produced later this year. Most of the gas produced is never used.
The British Army first used mustard gas in November 1917 in Cambrai, after their army managed to pick up a stack of German mustard gas bullets. It took England more than a year to develop their own mustard gas weapon, with production of chemicals centered on Avonmouth Docks. (The only option available for the UK is the Despretz-Niemann-Guthrie process). It was first used in September 1918 during the dissolution of the Hindenburg Line with a Hundred Days Attack.
The Allies stepped up more gas attacks than Germany in 1917 and 1918 due to the sharp increase in gas production from Allied countries. The Germans were unable to follow this step despite creating new gases for use in combat, largely as a result of very expensive production methods. The entry of war by the United States allowed the Allies to increase the production of mustard gas far more than Germany. Also the wind that blows on the Western Front is blowing from west to east, which means England more often has favorable conditions for gas release than with Germany.
When the United States enters the war, it has mobilized resources from the academic, industrial and military sectors for research and development into toxic gases. A Subcommittee on Dangerous Gases was created by the National Research Committee, a major research center founded at the University of Camp America, and the 1st Gas Regiment was recruited. The Gas Regiment 1 eventually served in France, where phosgene gas was used in several attacks. Artillery uses mustard gas with significant effects during the Meuse Argonne offensive at least three times. The United States began a large-scale production of a gas vesikan known as Lewisite, to be used in an attack planned for early 1919. At the time of a ceasefire on November 11, a plant near Willoughby, Ohio produced 10 tonnes per day of substance, totaling about 150 ton. It is uncertain what effect this new chemical will have on the battlefield, as it degenerates in humid conditions.
Post-war
By the end of the war, chemical weapons had lost much of their effectiveness against trained and equipped forces. At that time, chemical weapons agents caused about 1.3 million casualties.
However, in subsequent years, chemical weapons were used in several wars, especially colonial, where one side had an advantage in the equipment above the other. Britain used toxic gas, perhaps adamsite, against Russian revolutionary forces that began on August 27, 1919 and contemplated using chemical weapons against Iraqi insurgents in the 1920s; The Bolshevik troops used poison gas to suppress the Tambov Reboard in 1920, Spain using chemical weapons in Morocco against Rif tribes throughout the 1920s and Italy using mustard gas in Libya in 1930 and again during the Ethiopian invasion of 1936. In 1925, a Chinese warlord, Zhang Zuolin, contracted a German company to build a mustard gas plant in Shenyang, completed in 1927.
Public opinion at the time turned against the use of such weapons that led to the Geneva Protocol, a renewed and extensive prohibition of toxic weapons. The protocol, which was signed by most of the First World War fighters in 1925, banned the use of (but not stockpiling) lethal gas and bacteriological weapons. Most countries that signed ratified it in about five years; some took longer - Brazil, Japan, Uruguay and the United States did not do so until the 1970s, and Nicaragua ratified it in 1990. The signatory countries agreed not to use any future toxic gas, which states "use in gas asphyxiating wars, toxic or otherwise, and all analog fluids, materials or devices, have been condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world. "
Chemical weapons have been used in at least a dozen wars since the end of the First World War; they were not used in large-scale battles until Iraq used mustard gas and a more lethal nerve agent in the Halabja chemical attack near the end of the 8-year Iran-Iraq War. The full use of the conflict from the weapon killed about 20,000 Iranian troops (and injured 80,000 others), about a quarter of the total deaths caused by chemical weapons during the First World War.
Effects on World War II
All the main fighters were stockpiling chemical weapons during the Second World War, but the only report of its use in the conflict was the relatively small use of Japan from the mustard and lewisite gas in China, the use of Italian gas in Ethiopia (in this case more commonly referred to as the Second Ito-Ethiopia War) , and very rare events in Europe (eg some mustard gas bombs dropped in Warsaw on September 3, 1939, recognized by Germany in 1942 but indicated to have been deliberate). Mustard gas is the preferred agent, with UK stocks 40,719 tons, Soviet 77,400 tons, America over 87,000 tons and Germany 27,597 tons. The destruction of American cargo ships containing mustard gas caused many casualties in Bari, Italy, in December 1943.
In both Axis and Allied countries, children in school are taught to wear gas masks in the event of a gas attack. Germany developed toxic gas, sarin, and soman gas during the war, and used Zyklon B in their extermination camps. Both Germany and the Allied nations do not use their gas war in battle, despite maintaining large stocks and occasional calls to use. Poison gas plays an important role in the Holocaust.
The British made plans to use mustard gas on landing beaches in the event of an invasion of Britain in 1940. The United States considers using gas to support their invasion plans to Japan.
Maps Chemical weapons in World War I
Victim
The contribution of gas guns to the total number of victims is relatively small. The English figures, accurately maintained from 1916, noted that 3% of the gas victims were fatal, 2% were permanently invalid and 70% were eligible for another duty within six weeks.
It is said to be a joke that if someone shouts 'Gas', everyone in France will wear a mask.... Gas shock is just as frequent as a shock shell.
Gas deaths are often slow and painful. According to Denis Winter (Death's Men, 1978), the fatal dose of phosgene eventually causes "shallow breath and vomiting, pulse up to 120, pale face and four pints (2 liters) lung every hour for 48 of a drowning spasm. "
The common fate of those affected by gas is blindness, chlorine gas or mustard gas that is the main cause. One of the most famous paintings of World War One, by John Singer Sargent, captured a scene like a mustard gas accident he witnessed at a makeup station at Le Bac-du-Sud near Arras in July 1918 ( The gases used during the battle (tear gas) cause temporary blindness and/or painful sting in the eye, these bandages are usually soaked in water to provide an imperfect form of pain relief for the victim's eyes before they reach more organized medical help. )
The proportion of casualties of mustard gas against total casualties is low; 2% of the victims of mustard gas died and many of them died from secondary infections rather than the gas itself. After being introduced in the third battle of Ypres, mustard gas produces 90% of all UK gas victims and 14% of any type of combat casualties.
Mustard gas is a source of extreme fear. In Anatomy of Courage (1945), Lord Moran, who had been a medical officer during the war, wrote:
After July 1917, some gas took a high explosive role in bringing nature's unconscious to war. The gassed man is an expression of trench fatigue, a threat when the virility of the nation has been taken over.
Mustard gas does not need to be inhaled to be effective - any skin contact is sufficient. Exposure 0.1 ppm is sufficient to cause large blisters. Higher concentrations can burn meat to bone. It is very effective against the soft skin of the eyes, nose, armpits and groin, as it is dissolved in the natural moisture of the area. Typical exposure will result in swelling of the conjunctiva and eyelids, forcing them to close and make the victims blind temporarily. Where it contacts the skin, moist red spots will appear immediately which after 24 hours will form into blisters. Other symptoms include severe headache, pulse and high temperature (fever), and pneumonia (from blistering in the lungs).
Many of them survived a lifetime of injured gas attacks. Respiratory illness and failed vision are common postwar woes. From Canada which, without effective protection, has survived the first chlorine attack during the Second Ypres, 60% of the victims had to be discharged and half of them still unfit by the end of the war, more than three years later.
Many of them are immediately noted as feasible for services left with scarring in their lungs. This tissue is susceptible to tuberculosis attacks. From here many of the 1918 victims died, around the time of the Second World War, just before sulfa medicine became widely available for its treatment.
English victim
A British nurse working on a mustard gas case noted:
They can not be bandaged or touched. We closed it with a bedspread tent. Gas burns have to torture because usually other cases do not complain even with the worst injuries but the gas cases are always beyond endurance and they can not help crying.
A postmortem account from the UK's official medical history recorded one British casualty:
- Case four. 39 years old. Gassed July 29, 1917. Confessed to the victim's clearing post on the same day. Died about ten days later. Brownish pigmentation is present on the large surface of the body. The white circle of skin where the watch is located. Characterized by facial burning and shallow scrotum. Larynx is crowded. The entire trachea is covered by a yellow membrane. Bronchus contains abundant gas. Lungs are large. The right lung shows a wide collapse at the base. Heart tightness and fatty. The abdomen shows a lot of submucosal bleeding. The substance of the brain is too wet and very dense.
Civilian casualties
The distribution of victims of gas clouds is not limited to the front. Nearby cities are at risk of winds blowing toxic gases. Civilians rarely have a warning system to warn their neighbors about the dangers and often do not have access to an effective gas mask. When gas comes into the cities, it can easily get into homes through windows and doors open. An estimated 100,000-260,000 civilian casualties were caused by chemical weapons during the conflict and tens of thousands (along with military personnel) died from scarring in the lungs, skin damage, and brain damage in the years after the conflict ended. Many commanders on both sides knew that such weapons would cause huge losses to civilians because the wind would blow poison gas to nearby civilian cities but still use it throughout the war. British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig wrote in his diary: "My officer and I know that the weapon will harm women and children living in nearby cities, because strong winds are common on the battlefield, directed against the enemy, none of us are too worried at all. "
Countermeasures
None of the First World War fighters were prepared to introduce poison gas as a weapon. Once the gas is introduced, the development of gas protection begins and the process continues for most of the war resulting in a series of more effective gas masks.
Even in the Second Ypres, Germany, still unsure of the effectiveness of weapons, simply took out breathing masks to the engineers who handle the gas. At Ypres, a Canadian medical officer, who is also a chemist, quickly identified the gas as chlorine and recommended that soldiers urinate on a cloth and hold it over their mouths and noses. The first official equipment issued is equally raw; pad material, usually impregnated with chemicals, tied over the lower face. To protect the eyes from tear gas, soldiers were given gas glasses.
The next advance is the introduction of a gas helmet - basically a bag placed overhead. The bag fabric is impregnated with chemicals to neutralize the gas - the chemicals will wash into the eyes of the warrior whenever it rains. The eye patches, which are vulnerable to fog, were originally made of powder. When going to battle, a gas helmet is usually worn overhead, to be pulled down and secured about the neck when a gas alarm is given. The first English version was a Hypo helmet, a cloth soaked in sodium hyposulfite (commonly known as "hypo"). British P gas helm, partially effective against phosgene and with all infantry equipped with Loos, impregnated with sodium phenolate. A funnel is added where the wearer will breathe out to prevent carbon dioxide formation. Adjutant of the 1/23 Battalion, London Regiment, recalling his experience of Helm P at Loos:
Glasses are quickly dimmed, and the air enters in small amounts of choking as it requires constant practice of will power on the part of the wearer.
A modified version of P Helmet, called PH Helmet, was issued in January 1916, and impregnated with hexamethylenetetramine to improve protection against phosgene.
The self-box respirator represented the peak of gas mask development during the First World War. The respirator box uses a two-part design; the funnel is connected through the hose to the filter box. The filter box contains granules of chemicals that neutralize the gas, giving clean air to the wearer. Separating the filter from the mask allows a large but efficient filter to be provided. However, the first version, known as the Large Box Respirator (LBR) or "Harrison Tower", is considered too large - the tube box needs to be carried in the back. LBR does not have a mask, only a funnel and a nose clip; separate gas spectacles should be worn. This continues to be issued for artillery artillery crews but the infantry is supplied with a "Small Box Respirator" (SBR).
The Small Box Respirator features a rubber mask with a single cap with an eye piece. The box filter is compact and can be worn around the neck. SBR can be upgraded soon as more effective filter technology is developed. The UK-designed SBR was also adopted for use by the American Expeditionary Force. SBR is a valuable possession of ordinary infantry; when the British were forced to withdraw during the German Spring Attack of 1918, it was discovered that while some troops had unleashed their rifles, almost nothing left their respirators.
Horses and mules are important transportation methods that can be threatened if they are in close contact with gas. It's not so much a problem until it becomes common to launch long-distance gases. This led the researchers to develop masks that can be used in animals such as dogs, horses, mules, and even post pigeons.
For mustard gas, which can cause severe damage by simply making contact with the skin, no effective precautions were found during the war. Scottish regiments that use kilts are particularly vulnerable to mustard gas injuries because of their bare feet. At Nieuwpoort in Flanders, several Scottish battalions wore women's underwear pants as a form of protection.
Gas warning procedures become routine for front-line soldiers. To warn of a gas attack, a bell will be sounded, often made from artillery shells spent. In siege batteries, siege strombus air horns are used, which can be heard nine miles (14 km) away. The notice will be posted on all approaches to the affected area, warning people to take precautions.
Other UK efforts in countermeasures are not very effective. The original plan was to use 100,000 fans to dissolve the gas. Burning coal dust or carborundum has been tried. A proposal was made to equip the vanguard with a diving helmet, the air pumped to them through a 100 ft (30 m) interval.
The effectiveness of all countermeasures is obvious. In 1915, when toxic gas was relatively new, less than 3% of UK gas victims died. In 1916, the proportion of casualties jumped to 17%. By 1918, the numbers were again under 3%, although the total number of UK gas victims was now ninefold from the 1915 level.
Delivery system
The first system used for mass-delivery of the involved gas releases a gas cylinder in a favorable wind as it is carried over the enemy trench. The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of toxic gas sent by projectiles. The main advantage of this method is that it is relatively simple and, in appropriate atmospheric conditions, produces a concentrated cloud capable of crippling the gas mask's defenses. The disadvantages of the cylinder release are numerous. First and foremost, delivery is under the wind. If the wind changes, as it did in Loos, gas can backfire, causing friendly casualties. The gas clouds give many warnings, allowing the enemy time to protect themselves, although many soldiers find a frightening view of gas clouds. The gas cloud has limited penetration, only able to influence the frontline ditch before it disappears.
Finally, the cylinder must be superimposed on the very front of the trench system so that the gas is released directly over the no man's land. This means that the cylinder must be tapped through the communication trench, often clogged and soaked, and kept in front where there is always a risk that the cylinder will be prematurely violated during the bombing. Leaky cylinders can emit gas clumps, which if seen, will surely attract bullet shots.
A British chlorine cylinder, known as "oojah", weighs 190 pounds (86 kg), of which 60 pounds (27 kg) is chlorine gas, and requires two to carry. The phosgene gas was introduced later in a cylinder, known as a "rat", which weighed  £ 50 (23 kg).
Sending gas through an artillery shell overcomes many of the risks of dealing with gas in a cylinder. Germany, for example, uses 5.9 inches (150 mm) artillery shells. The gas shells do not depend on the wind and increase the effective gas range, which makes anywhere within range of those rifles vulnerable. The shells of gas can be delivered without warning, especially clear, nearly odorless phosgene - there are many reports of shells of gas, landed with "celopuk" instead of exploding, originally dismissed as shells HE shell and bullets, giving a gas to work before the army is on standby and takes precautions.
The major flaw associated with delivering gas through artillery is the difficulty of reaching murder concentrations. Each shell has a small gas charge and an area should be subjected to bombardment bombardment to produce clouds to adjust cylinder shipments. Mustard gas does not need to form concentrated clouds and therefore artillery is the ideal vehicle for the delivery of these battlefield pollutants.
The solution to achieve deadly concentration without releasing from the cylinder is a "gas projector", essentially a large-bore mortar that fires the entire cylinder as a missile. The British Livens projector (invented by Captain W. H. Livens in 1917) is a simple device; an 8-inch (200 mm) diameter tube sinks to the ground at an angle, propellant ignited by an electrical signal, firing a cylinder containing 30 or 40 pounds (14 or 18 kg) of gas up to 1,900 meters. By adjusting the battery of this projector and firing it simultaneously, solid gas concentration can be achieved. The Livens were first used in Arras on April 4, 1917. On March 31, 1918, Britain performed their biggest "gas shoot", firing 3,728 cylinders at Lens.
Unexploded weapons
More than 16,000,000 hectares (65,000 km 2 ) from France should be closed at the end of the war because of unexploded ordnance. About 20% of the chemical shells are used, and about 13 million of these ammunition are left in place. This has been a serious problem in the former battle area from shortly after the end of the War to the present day. Shellfish may, for example, be found when farmers plow their fields (termed 'iron harvest'), and are also regularly found when public works or construction work is completed.
Another difficulty is the tightness of current environmental regulations. In the past, the general method of removing unexploded chemical ammunition was to blow it up or throw it at sea; this is currently banned in most countries.
The problem is very acute in some areas of northern France. The French government no longer throws chemical weapons at sea. For this reason, a pile of unkempt chemical weapons accumulates. In 2001, it became clear that the pile stored at the depot in Vimy was not safe; residents of the neighboring city were evacuated, and the pile was moving, using refrigerated trucks and under tight guard, to the military camp at Suippes. The factory capacity is intended to be 25 tons per year (can be extended to 80 tons in advance), for a lifetime of 30 years.
Germany had to deal with unexploded ammunition and contaminated soil due to an explosion of ammunition trains in 1919.
In addition to unexploded shells, there are claims that toxic residues remain in the local environment for long periods of time, although this has not been confirmed; famous but unverified anecdotes claim that in the late 1960s, the trees in the area kept enough mustard gas residue to injure farmers or construction workers who cleaned it up.
Gas used
Long-term health effects
Soldiers who claim to have been hit by chemical warfare are often presented with unusual medical conditions that have caused much controversy. Lack of information has left doctors, patients, and their families in the dark in terms of prognosis and treatment. Nerve agents such as sarin, tabun, and soman are believed to have the most significant long-term health effects. Chronic fatigue and memory loss have been reported to last up to three years after exposure. In the years after the First World War, there were numerous conferences held in an attempt to eliminate the use of chemical weapons together, such as the Washington Naval Conference (1921-22), Geneva Conference (1923-25) and World Disarmament Conference) (1933). The United States was a genuine signatory to the Geneva Protocol in 1925, but the US Senate did not ratify it until 1975.
Although health effects are generally chronic, exposure is generally acute. Positive correlations have been evident between exposure to mustard agents and skin cancers, other respiratory and skin conditions, leukemia, some eye conditions, bone marrow depression and subsequent immunosuppression, psychological disorders and sexual dysfunction. Chemicals used in the production of chemical weapons also leave residues on the ground where weapons are used. Chemicals that have been detected can cause cancer and can affect the brain, blood, liver, kidneys and skin.
Although there is evidence to support long-term health effects, there are studies that show otherwise. Some US veterans who are severely affected by chemical weapons do not show neurological evidence in subsequent years. The same study shows that a single contact with a chemical weapon would be enough to cause long-term health effects.
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References
Further reading
External links
- Faith, Thomas I.: Gas Warfare, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Chemical Weapons in World War I
- Gas Warfare
- Gas-Poisoning, by Arthur Hurst, M.A., MD (Oxon), FRCP 1917 effects of chlorine gas poisoning
- Understanding Chemical Weapons in the First World War
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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