Chapter XVIII

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CHOICE OF MASKS FOR U. S. TROOPS

When it became necessary, with the creation of a Chemical Warfare Service in France in August, 1917, to decide upon a mask for American troops, there were available for purchase two types—the British type and the French M-2. The French M-2 consisted essentially of 32 layers of cloth impregnated with various chemicals, through which the air was breathed both in and out. This mask was quite effective against ordinary field concentrations of most gases, but was utterly inadequate to care for the high concentration of phosgene obtained in the front line from cloud gas or from projector gas attacks. It was also poor against chloropicrin. The M-2 was, however, very light and easy to carry and moreover was deemed sufficient to protect against concentrations of cloud gas even, at points more than five miles distant from the front line.

Furthermore, it was felt desirable at first to have an auxiliary or emergency mask in addition to the principal one, for use in case the principal mask was worn out or damaged. Accordingly both types of masks were adopted and the day after Fries took charge of the Chemical Warfare Service, A.E.F., on August 22, 1917, 100,000 of each were purchased, although there were then only ten or twelve thousand American troops in France requiring masks. Later additional masks of both kinds were purchased to tide over the American troops until a sufficient quantity of the British type masks could be manufactured in the United States. The total of British masks purchased amounted to about 700,000.

However, within a comparatively short time after American troops got into the front line it was realized that a second mask, inferior in protection to the first, was highly undesirable. During a gas attack men seemed to acquire an uncontrollable desire to shift from one mask to the other. This shifting in nearly every case resulted in a casualty. We then came rapidly to the conclusion that one mask only should be furnished, and that one the best that could be made, and then to impress upon the soldier the fact that his life depended upon the care he took of his mask. This proved to be an entirely sound conclusion, as the number of men gassed through injuries to the mask was comparatively small. An interesting proof of the value the soldier placed upon his mask was shown by the articles of equipment thrown away by 10,000 British stragglers in the great German offensive of March, 1918. Of the articles thus thrown away the gas mask came at the foot of the list, with only 800 missing. The steel helmet is said to have come next with about 4,000 missing.

SIZES OF FACES FOR MASKS

When adopting the British respirator in August, 1917, it was decided that the American face as well as the American stature was probably larger than the English. Accordingly inquiry was made in regard to the sizes of masks issued to the Canadians as it was thought probable they required a greater proportion of the larger size masks than did the English. When prescribing the relative quantities of each size of mask to be furnished Americans, the Canadian requirements were taken as a base but with the larger sizes increased slightly over the Canadian requirements. As a matter of fact even these increases proved considerably too small, so that the numbers in the two sizes above normal had to be finally more than doubled.

OBJECTIONS TO GERMAN TYPE MASK

The American Gas Service felt from the beginning that a design which attached the box of chemicals to the facepiece was unsound in principle (this design was used in the German mask and in the French A. R. S. masks), since it did not allow proper flexibility for increasing the size of the box to care for new gases. Furthermore, the weight of the box during movement caused the facepiece to swing slightly from side to side. This interfered with vision and tended to lift the facepiece away from the face and allow gas to enter. That the objections of the American Gas Service to this type were correct was proved by the difficulty encountered toward the end of the war by both the French and the Germans in trying to provide a suitable filter for protection against particulate clouds and the smokes, such as stannic chloride and diphenylchloroarsine.

STRUGGLE BETWEEN MASK AND GAS

As between the mask and poisonous gases, we have the old struggle of the battleship armor against the armor-piercing projectile. While the armor-piercing projectile has always had a little the better of the game, it is just the reverse with gases. The gas mask has always been just a little better than the gases, so that very few casualties have occurred through failure of the mask itself. This margin of safety has never been any too great, and that we have had a margin at all is due to the energy, skill and enthusiasm of those developing and manufacturing masks in England, France, and particularly in the United States.

However, the mask at the best is uncomfortable, causes some loss of vigor, and even with the very best American masks there is some loss in vision. The wearing effect on troops results mostly from the increased resistance to breathing. Accordingly a tremendous amount of study and effort was made to decrease this breathing resistance. In the English type masks this resistance was equal to the vacuum required to raise a column of water about four and one-half inches. Adding the sulfite paper to protect against diphenylchloroarsine increased this resistance by about one inch. This put a heavy burden on the wearer of the mask whenever it was necessary for him to do any manual labor while wearing it. In addition earlier masks left a good deal to be desired in the way of reducing resistance by proper sized tubes, angles and valves through which the air was drawn. This was much more easily overcome than reducing the resistance through the chemicals and charcoal and the materials for protection against diphenylchloroarsine. In the latest type canister, devised after long trials for the American forces, this resistance was brought down to about two inches of water. What this reduction in resistance means no one knows except one who has worn the old mask with its mouthpiece and four to six inches’ resistance and has then replaced that mask for one through which he breathes naturally with only two inches’ resistance.

DESIGN OF NEW AMERICAN MASK

The American Gas Service felt from the beginning that the mouthpiece and noseclip must be abandoned and bent every effort toward getting a mask perfected for that purpose. The English opposed this view fiercely for nearly a year. This position on the part of the English was more or less natural. They developed their mask in the beginning for protection against cloud gas. In those days the opposing trenches were close together. Moreover, front line trenches were quite strongly manned. The result was that a large number of men were exposed to a very high concentration of gas, but—and highly important—for a short period only. Inasmuch as the German feared this cloud gas even more than the English there was no danger of his attacking in it. The English rules of conduct during a gas attack called for all movement to stop and for every man to stand ready until the cloud passed. Accordingly, the man was breathing the easiest possible and hence did not suffer

## particularly from the resistance.

With the advent of mustard gas, however, the whole general scheme of protection changed. Mustard gas, as is well known, is effective in extremely low concentrations and has very great persistency. In dry warm weather mustard gas, scattered on the ground and shrubbery, will not be fully evaporated for two to three days and accordingly will give off vapors that not only burn the lungs and eyes but the soft, moist parts of the skin as well. In cool, damp weather the gas remains in dangerous quantity for a week and occasionally longer. Since this gas, in liquid form, evaporates too slowly for use in gas clouds, it is used altogether in bombs and shells. Accordingly it could be expected to be and actually is fired at all ranges from the front line to nearly eight miles back of that line. Hence, with the coming of mustard gas, the need for protection changed from high protection for a short period to moderate protection for very long periods. Indeed, mustard gas makes it necessary for men to wear masks just as long as they remain in an area infected with it. There is still occasional need for high protection for short periods, but with the increase in the efficiency of charcoal alone, it is found that the amount of charcoal and chemicals in the canister can be very greatly reduced and still maintain sufficient protection for the high concentrations encountered in cloud gas and projector attacks.

EXHAUSTION AND MALINGERING

It seems physically impossible for the ordinary man to wear the British mask with its mouthpiece and noseclip more than six to eight hours and vast numbers are unable to even do that. How many thousands of casualties were suffered through men losing their mental balance from exhaustion and the discomfort of the mouthpiece and noseclip no one knows. Such men tore off the mask, stating that they would rather die than endure the torture of wearing it longer. Furthermore, the poor vision of this mask led to the habit of taking the facepiece off while still leaving the mouthpiece and noseclip in place. This gave protection to the lungs, but exposed the eyes, and as mustard gas affects the eyes very readily this alone led to thousands of casualties. There was another interesting side to this situation. The malingerer who wanted to get out of the front line and was willing to take any action, however cowardly, to achieve that end, deliberately removed the facepiece and thus suffered gassing of the eyes. The effect of mustard gas soon became so well known that the malingerer knew gassing of the eyes never resulted in death or permanent loss of sight. With the new type of American mask, the protection of eyes and lungs depends solely upon the fit around the face and no such playing with the mask can be done.

Without going into further details in regard to masks it is sufficient to state that at the end the Americans had produced a mask thoroughly comfortable, giving complete protection against gases and smoke clouds, and one that was easy to manufacture on the huge scale (fifty to seventy-five thousand per day) which was necessary to provide masks for an army of three to four million men in the field.

PROTECTION IN WAR IS RELATIVE ONLY

Napoleon is credited with saying “In order to make an omelet, it is necessary to break some eggs.” Every student of war realizes that casualties cannot be avoided in battle and yet one American Staff Officer went so far as to refuse to use gas offensively unless the Chemical Warfare Service could absolutely guarantee that not a single American casualty could occur under any circumstances. This same idea early got into the heads of the laboratory workers on masks. They seemed to feel that if a single gas casualty occurred through failure of the mask, their work would be a failure or at least they would be open to severe criticism. Accordingly efforts were made to perfect masks and to perfect protection regardless of the discomfort imposed upon the wearer of the mask. This idea was very difficult to eradicate. The laboratory worker who accustoms himself to experiment with a particular thing forgets that he develops an ability to endure discomfort, that is not possible of attainment by the ordinary man in the time available for his training.

Furthermore, if the need for such training can be avoided it is of course highly desirable. This applies to the mouthpiece of the British respirator; to elastics that cause undue discomfort to the face; to the noseclip and to the large boxes that cause too great resistance to breathing.

It may be taken as a general rule that when protection requires so much effort or becomes so much of a burden that the average man cannot or will not endure it, it is high time to find out what the average man will stand and then provide it even if some casualties result. Protection in battle is always relative. A man who cannot balance protection against legitimate risk has no business passing on arms, equipment or tactics to be used in battle.

TRAINING

Bitter experience taught the Allies as well as the Americans that no matter how efficient the gas mask and other defensive appliances, they would not take the place of thorough and constant training. One of the greatest difficulties at first was to get American troops to realize that a thing as invisible as gas, with in many cases no offensive smell and producing no immediate discomfort, could be deadly. Nothing but constant drill and constant reiteration of these dangers could get this fact impressed on them. Indeed it never was impressed sufficiently in any of the earlier divisions of American troops in the line to prevent their taking such chances that each division suffered heavy loss on one or more occasions from gas attacks.

A great deal of emphasis had been placed by the English upon the adjustment of the mask in the shortest possible time, this time having been officially set at six seconds after the alarm. The Americans in adopting the mask _in toto_ naturally had to adopt the rules for adjusting it and wearing it. Experience, however, taught them in a few months that the effort to attain too great speed was dangerous. It tended to rattle the soldier and to result in poor adjustment of the mask, both of which led to casualties. Accordingly in the latest instructions for defense against gas all reference to six seconds was eliminated and emphasis placed on the necessity of accurate adjustment of the mask. Inasmuch as any man, practically without effort or previous drill, can hold his breath for twenty seconds, the need for great speed in adjusting the mask is not apparent.

HOLDING THE BREATH

The first regulations and those in general use up to near the close of hostilities, prescribed that the soldier should hold his breath and adjust his mask. It seemed impossible to overcome the natural inference that “holding the breath” meant first the drawing of a full breath. This was obviously highly dangerous if gas were actually present before the alarm was heard, as was often the case with projector and artillery gas shell attacks. The change was then made to the phrase “Stop Breathing and Stay Stopped until the Mask is Carefully and Accurately Adjusted.”

PSYCHOLOGY IN TRAINING

While the importance of impressing upon the soldier the danger of gas was early appreciated it was deemed necessary not to make him unduly afraid of the gas. However, as gas defense training in our Army got a big start over gas offense training, this became a matter of very great importance. In fact, due to a variety of causes, training in the offensive use of gas was not available for any troops until after their arrival in France. This resulted in officers and men looking upon the gas game, so far as they were individually concerned, as one of defense only. Accordingly after their arrival in France it became very difficult not only to get some of our officers to take up the offensive use of gas but even to get them to permit its use along the front they commanded.

Notwithstanding all the care taken in training Americans in gas defense there arose an undue fear of the gas that had to be overcome in order to get our troops to attack close enough to their own gas to make it effective. This applied to the use of gas by artillery as well as to its use by gas troops. However, it should be said that in every instance where gas was once used on an American front all officers in the Division, or other unit, affected by it were always thereafter strongly in favor of it.

GERMAN PROBLEMS IN GAS TRAINING

The Germans also had serious troubles of their own over the psychology of gas training. As stated elsewhere they were using mustard gas nearly eleven months before the Allies began using it. During that time, for purposes of morale, if not sheer boastfulness, the Germans told their men that mustard gas could not be made by the Allies; that it was by far the worst thing the war had produced—and in that statement they were correct—and that they would win the war with it—in which statement they were far from correct. When the Allies began sending it back to them they had to reverse their teachings and tell their men that mustard gas was no worse than anything else, that they need not be afraid of it and that their masks and other protective appliances gave full protection against it. They thus had a problem in psychology which they never succeeded in fully solving. Indeed there is no question but that the growing fear of gas in the minds of the German is one of the reasons that prompted him to his early capitulation.

GAS AT NIGHT

In the early days it was very difficult to get officers to realize the absolute necessity of night drill in the adjustment of the mask. For various reasons, including surprise, gas attacks were probably eighty to ninety per cent of the time carried out at night. Under such conditions confusion in the adjustment of the mask is inevitable without a great deal of practice before hand, especially for duty in trenches with narrow spaces and sharp projecting corners. There are numerous instances of men waking up and getting excited, who not only gassed themselves, but in their mad efforts to find their masks, or to escape from the gas, knocked others down, disarranging their masks and causing the gassing of from one to three or four additional men. The confusion inherent in any gas attack was heightened in the latter stages of the war by heavy shrapnel and high explosive bombardments that accompanied nearly all projector and cloud gas attacks for that very purpose. The bombardment was continued for three or four hours to cause exhaustion and removal of the mask and to prevent the removal of the gassed patients from the gassed area.

DETECTION OF GASES

Efforts were made by the enemy and by all the Allies throughout the war to invent a mechanical detector that would show when gas was present in dangerous quantities. While scores, perhaps hundreds, of these were invented none proved simple, quick, or certain enough in action to make their adoption desirable. In every case it was necessary to rely on the sense of smell. Thus it was that as the war wore on, more and more attention was given to training officers and non-commissioned officers to detect various kinds of gases in dangerous quantities by the sense of smell.

In the American Gas Defense School for officers this was done wholly by using captured German gases. This was because certain gases have quite different smells, depending upon the impurities in the gas and also upon the solvents sometimes mixed with them. Thus the German mustard gas has a mustard smell, while the Allies mustard gas, due to a slight difference in the method of manufacture, has a very perfect garlic odor. Not only must officers and men who handle gas training know the smell of the various gases, but they must know when the concentration of each is high enough to be dangerous. This is not easy to learn because the strength of the various gases in dangerous concentrations varies through wide limits. Not only does the strength of the gases vary and the sharpness of the odors accordingly, but the mingling of poisonous gases with other gases from high explosive and shrapnel tends to obscure these odors and make them more difficult of detection.

DECEPTIVE GASES

A great deal of thought was given toward the end of the war to the subject of deceptive gases which could by powerful or peculiar odors mask the dangerous gases. This masking was to deceive the enemy when dangerous gases were present or to admit an attack without masks while the enemy was wearing his through thinking there was a dangerous gas when as a matter of fact none existed.

In gas warfare, the German, as well as the Allies, was exercising his ingenuity in devising new and startling methods of making gas attacks. A well known trick with the German was to fire gases for several days,

## particularly against green troops, in concentrations so slight as to

do no harm. When he felt that he had lulled those troops to a sense of the ineffectiveness of his gas, he sent over a deadly concentration. In spite of the warning that this was what was happening, he often achieved too great a success. Before the war closed, however, the American was beginning to out-think and out-wit the German in this method of warfare.

MUSTARD GAS BURNS

With the advent of mustard gas which burned the body, a new and serious difficulty in protection arose. At first it was thought mustard gas burned only when the liquid from the bursting shell actually splashed on the clothing or skin. This was unfortunately soon found to be not true. The gas itself rapidly penetrates clothing and burns the skin even when the concentration of the gas is very low. Probably the majority of burns from mustard gas arose from concentrations of gas consisting of less than one part of gas to five hundred thousand of air. Furthermore, the gas is fully fifty per cent cumulative in its effects, that is, in extremely low concentrations over a period of hours it will produce more than fifty per cent the effect that a far higher concentration would produce in a relatively shorter time.

The Allies were not long in discovering that oilcloth afforded very complete protection against mustard gas. The ordinary oilcloth, however, was too thick, too hot and too heavy for general use. Experiments soon showed that cloth thoroughly impregnated with boiled linseed oil would give protection. In order to make this protection more perfect a certain amount of paraffin was added. All this made the clothing air-tight, rather stiff and always uncomfortable. Notwithstanding these discomforts, hundreds of thousands of oiled suits, and as many pairs of oiled gloves were made and issued to artillery troops, and to troops especially charged with handling mustard gas shells, or to those employed in destroying mustard gas in shell holes by spreading chloride of lime over them.

The importance of protection against mustard gas burns led to extensive researches being made with a view to finding a cloth which would be comfortable and porous and while stopping mustard gas would yet be sufficiently durable and comfortable to be issued to infantry troops as well as to artillery and other special troops. This, it is understood, had been achieved, just prior to the Armistice. Still more desirable would be the discovery of a chemical substance which could be applied to all uniforms and Army clothing and thus protect the regulation clothing against the penetration of mustard gas, and thereby avoid carrying extra clothing for that special purpose.

PROTECTING TROOPS BY MOVING THEM FROM INFECTED AREAS

As soon as it was fully realized that mustard gas persisted for several days it was decided to run complete reliefs of men into and out of areas that had been heavily shelled with mustard gas, or better still, where practicable, to completely evacuate the area. Inasmuch as the gas is dangerous to friend and foe alike, this method was comparatively safe and was used to a very considerable extent. With the warfare of movement that existed over most of the active front throughout the season of 1918, this moving of troops out of infected areas became highly important and, when skillfully done, often resulted in a great saving of troops and at the same time prevented the enemy from receiving any particular tactical advantage from his mustard gas attacks.

There was one very excellent example of this a few miles to the northwest of Château-Thierry prior to the counter-offensive of July 18, 1918. At that time the Germans heavily shelled with mustard gas four or five small woods and two or three villages. It was necessary for the men to stay in these woods during the day, as they afforded the only protection obtainable from machine guns, shrapnel and high explosive. At the time this occurred American gas officers generally understood the necessity of getting troops out of a mustard gas infected area. Accordingly all began searching for places safe from the mustard gas. In one particular instance the gas officer of a regiment discovered that a portion of the woods his men were in was free from the gas, and the regimental commander, promptly following his advice, moved his troops into the free area. As a result of this prompt action the regiment had only four light gas casualties, although all told there were several hundred mustard gas casualties in this attack, the number per thousand generally being from ten to twenty times that of the thousand men just mentioned.

MIXING POISONOUS GASES

On this as well as other occasions the Germans fired some diphosgene and Blue Cross (Sneezing gas), as well as mustard gas. This added to the difficulty of determining areas free from the latter. In the future such mixing of poisonous gases may always be expected and, in addition, gases which have no value other than that of masking the poisonous ones will be fired. While with practically all gases except mustard gas a man is comparatively safe while breathing a concentration very noticeable to the sense of smell, the only safe rule with mustard gas is to consider as dangerous any concentration that can be smelled.

For the reason that this gas persists longer in calm areas, woods are always to be avoided, where practicable, and also, since all gases, being heavier than air, tend to roll into depressions and valleys, they should be avoided. There have been a number of authentic cases where batteries in hollows or valleys suffered severely from mustard gas, while troops on nearby knolls or ridges were comparatively free, though the difference in the amount of shelling of the two places was not noticeable.

Of great importance with all gases is the posting of a sufficient number of sentries around men sleeping within the range of gas shell. The worst projector gas attack against the Americans was one where the projectors were landed among a group of dugouts containing men asleep without sentries. The result was a very heavy casualty list, coupled with a high death rate, the men being gassed in their sleep before they were awakened.

DESTRUCTION OF MUSTARD GAS

Prior to the introduction of mustard gas all that was necessary to get rid of gas was to thoroughly ventilate the spot. Thus in trenches and dugouts, fires were found to be very efficient, simply because they produced a circulation of air. In the early days, among the British, the Ayrton fan, a sort of canvas scoop, was used to throw the gas out of the trenches. While this was taken up in the American Service, it did not become very important, since it was found that, under ordinary atmospheric conditions, natural ventilation soon carried the gas out of the trench proper, while fires in dugouts were far more efficient than the fans. Likewise the Ayrton fan smacked too much of trench warfare which had reached a condition of “stalemate”—a condition that never appealed to the Americans and a condition that it is hoped never will.

With mustard gas, however, conditions were entirely changed. This liquid having a very high boiling point and evaporating very slowly, remains for days in the earth and on vegetation and other material sprinkled with it. This was particularly true in shell holes where the force of the explosion drove the gas into the earth around the broken edges of the hole. While many substances were experimented with, that which proved best and most practical under all conditions, was chloride of lime. This was used to sprinkle in shell holes, on floors of dugouts and any other places where the liquid might be splashed from bursting shells. It was also found very desirable to have a small box of this at the entrance to each dugout, so that a person who had been exposed to mustard gas could thoroughly coat his shoes with it and thus kill the mustard gas that collected in the mud on the bottom and sides of his shoes.

CARRYING MUSTARD GAS ON CLOTHING

There are many instances where the occupants of dugouts were gassed from the gas on the shoes and clothing of men entering the dugout. Not only were occupants of dugouts thus gassed but a number of nurses and doctors were gassed while working in closed rooms over patients suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Even under the conditions of warfare existing where the Americans were generally in action, the quantity of chloride of lime required amounted to several hundred tons per month which had to be shipped from the United States. Chloride of lime was also very convenient to have at hand around shell dumps for the purpose of covering up leaky shells, though rules for handling mustard gas shells usually prescribed that they be fired and where that was not practicable to bury them at least five feet under the surface of the ground. This depth was not so much for the purpose of getting rid of the gas as it was to get the shell so deep into the ground that it would not be a danger in any cultivation that might later take place.

MUSTARD GAS IN COLD WEATHER

Much was learned toward the end of the war about ways of getting through or around areas infected with mustard gas. For instance, if mustard gas be fired when the weather is in the neighborhood of freezing or somewhat below, it will remain on the ground at night with so little evaporation as not to be dangerous. The same will be true during the day time if the weather is cloudy as well as cold. If, however, the days are bright and the nights cold, mustard gassed areas can be safely crossed by troops at night provided care is taken in brush and bushes to protect the feet and clothing from the liquid splashed on bushes. If the sun comes out warm in the morning such areas may be quite dangerous for three to four hours following sun-up and indeed for the greater part of the day. Quite a large number of casualties were ascribed to this fact in the heavy attack on the British front west of Cambrai just prior to the great German drive against Amiens, March 21, 1918.

DEGASSING UNITS

Since mustard gas has a greatly delayed action it was found that if men who had been exposed to it could be given a thorough bath with soap and water within a half hour or even a full hour, the mustard gas burns would be prevented or very greatly reduced in severity. Accordingly degassing units were developed consisting essentially of a 5 ton truck with a 1200 gallon water tank, fitted with an instantaneous heater and piping to connect it to portable shower baths. Another truck was kept loaded with extra suits of underclothing and uniforms. These degassing units were to be provided at the rate of two per division. Then, in the event of a mustard gas attack anywhere in the division, one of these units would be rushed to that vicinity and the men brought out of the line and given a bath and change of clothing as soon as possible. At the same time they were given a drink of bicarbonate of soda water and their eyes, ears, mouth and nasal passages washed with the same.

PROTECTING FOOD FROM MUSTARD GAS

It was very early learned that mustard gas, or minute particles of the liquid gas settling on food, caused the stomach to be burned if the food were eaten, just as the eyes, lungs and skin of the body are burned from gas in the air. This made it necessary then to see that all food liable to exposure to mustard gas attacks was protected, and tarred paper for box linings or tops was found by the Gas Service to furnish one of the cheapest and most available means of doing this.

ALARM SIGNALS

Numerous, indeed, were the devices invented at one time or another with which to sound gas alarms. The English early devised the Strombos horn, a sort of trumpet operated by compressed air contained in cylinders carried for that purpose. Its note is penetrating and can be heard, under good conditions, for three or four miles. When cloud gas attacks, which occurred only at intervals of two to four months, were the only gas attacks to be feared, it was easy enough to provide for alarm signals by methods as cumbersome and as technically delicate as the Strombos horn.

With the advent of shell gas in general, and mustard gas in particular, the number of gas attacks increased enormously. This made it not only impossible, but inadvisable also, to furnish sufficient Strombos horns for all gas alarms, as gas shell attacks are comparatively local. In such cases, if the Strombos horn is used to give warning, it causes troops who are long distances out of the area attacked to take precautions against gas with consequent interference with their work or fighting.

To meet these local conditions metal shell cases were first hung up and the alarm sounded on them. Later steel triangles were used in the same way. At a still later date the large policeman’s rattle, well known in Europe, was adopted and following that the Klaxon horn. As the warfare of movement developed the portability of alarm apparatus became of prime importance. For those reasons the Klaxon horn and the police rattle were having a race for popularity when the Armistice was signed.

A recent gas alarm invention that gives promise is a small siren-like whistle fired into the air like a bomb. It is fitted with a parachute which keeps it from falling too rapidly when the bomb explodes and sets it free. Its tone is said to be very penetrating and to be quite effective over an ample area. Since future gas alarm signals must be efficient and must be portable, the lighter and more compact they can be made the better; hence the desirability of parachute whistles or similar small handy alarms.

ISSUING NEW MASKS

One of the problems that remained unsolved at the end of the war was how to determine when to issue new boxes, or canisters, for masks. One of the first questions asked by the soldier is how long his mask is good in gas, and how long when worn in drill where there is no gas. This information is of course decidedly important. Obviously, however, it is impossible to tell how long a canister will last in a gas attack, unless the concentration of gas is known—that is, the life of the box is longer or shorter as the concentration of gas is weak or heavy.

A realization of this need led mask designers to work very hard, long before the necessity for comfort in a mask was as fully realized as it was at the end of the war, to increase the length of life of the canister. To get longer life they increased the chemicals and this in turn increased the breathing resistance, thereby adding to the discomfort of the soldier when wearing the mask. Finally, however, it was found that in the concentration of gas encountered on an average in the field, the life of the comparatively small American boxes was sufficient to last from fifty to one hundred hours, which is longer than any gas attack or at least gives time to get out of the gassed area.

The British early appreciated the necessity of knowing when boxes should be replaced. They accordingly devised the scheme of furnishing with each mask a very small booklet tied to the carrying case in which the soldier could not only enter a complete statement of the time he had worn the mask but also the statement as to whether it was in gas or for drill purposes only. The soldier was then taught that if he had worn the mask, say for forty hours, he should get a new box. But the scheme didn’t work. In fact, it was one of those things which foresight might have shown wouldn’t work. Indeed, any man who in the hell of battle can keep such a record completely, should be at once awarded a Distinguished Service Medal.

As gas warfare developed not only were all kinds of gas shells sent over in a bunch but they were accompanied by high explosive, shrapnel and anything else in the way of trouble that the enemy possessed. A man near the front line, under those conditions, had all he could do and frequently more than he could do, to get his mask on and keep it on while doing his bit. Consequently he had no time, even if he had the inclination, to record how long he had the mask in the various gases.

In this connection, after the Armistice was signed we in the field were requested to obtain for experimental purposes 10,000 canisters that had been used in battle. Each was to be labeled with the length of time it had been worn in or out of gas, and if in gas, the name of each gas and the time the mask was worn in it. This request is just a sample of what is asked by those who do not realize field conditions. One trip to the front would have convinced the one making the request of the utter impossibility of complying with it, for really no man knows how long he wears a mask in gas. With gas as common and as difficult to detect (when intermingled with high explosive gases and other smells of the battle field) as it was at the end of the war, each man wore the mask just as long as he could, simply as a matter of precaution.

Before hostilities ceased we were trying out a method of calling in say fifty canisters per division once a week for test in the laboratory. If the tests showed the life of the canisters to be short new canisters would be issued. While we did not have opportunity to try out this plan, it gave promise of being the best that could be done. With gas becoming an every day affair, the only other alternative would seem to be to make issues of new boxes at stated intervals. On the other hand there are no definite records of casualties occurring from the exhaustion of the chemicals in the box. Undoubtedly some did occur, but they were very, very few. In nearly all cases the masks got injured, or the box became rusted through before the chemicals gave out.

TONNAGE AND NUMBER OF MASKS REQUIRED

It will probably be a shock to most people to learn that with more than two million men in France we required nearly 1500 tons of gas material per month. This tonnage was increasing, rather than decreasing, to cover protective suits, gloves, pastes, and chloride of lime, as well as masks. The British type respirator was estimated to last from four to six months. The active part of the war, in which the Americans took part, was too short to determine whether this was correct or not. The indications were, however, that it was about right, considering rest periods and fighting periods.

With the new American mask, with its much stronger and stiffer face material, the chances are that the life will be considerably increased although the more constant use of the mask will probably offset its greater durability. A longer life of mask would of course be a decided advantage as it would not only reduce tonnage, but would reduce manufacturing and distribution as well. The estimates on which we were working at the end looked forward to requiring from the United States about one-third pound per man per day for all troops in France, in order to keep them supplied with gas defense material and with the gases used offensively by gas troops. All gas shell, hand grenades, etc., used by other than gas troops required tonnage in addition to the above.

SUMMING UP

In summing up then, it is noted that there are several important things in defense against gas. First, the mask which protects the eyes and the lungs. Second, the training that teaches the man how to utilize to best advantage the means of protection at his disposal, whether he be alone or among others. Third, protective clothing that protects hands and feet and the skin in general. Fourth, a knowledge of gases and their tactical use that will enable commanders, whenever possible, to move men out of gas infected areas. Fifth, training in the offensive use of gas, as well as in defensive methods, to teach the man that gas has no uncanny power and that it is simply one element of war that must be reckoned with, thus preventing stampedes when there is really no danger.

While these are the salient points in defense against gas, above them and beyond them lies the vigorous offensive use of gas. This involves not only the research, development and manufacture of necessary gases in peace time, but also the necessary training to enable our nation to hurl upon the enemy on the field of battle chemical warfare materials in quantities he cannot hope to attain.

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