THE USE OF GAS IN WORLD WAR ONE

Use of Gas in WW1

The use of gas throughout WW1 became one of the most feared weapons on both sides as a silent and often invisible weapon. It provided a means of attack that was secretive and deadly at the same time - it caused a high number of casualties and in the majority of cases a slow painful death. Before protective equipment became more sophisticated it was very hard for soldiers of all ranks to hide from the effects of gas attacks.

The first use of gas in the war was by the French in 1914 when it was used to slow the advance of German troops during the Schlieffen Plan manoeuvre. The gas used was tear gas, a painful but not deadly gas that was designed to incapacitate soldiers and not kill them. Later in 1914 the Germans used gas for the first time but again this was tear gas. The first deliberate use of poisonous gas to kill on a large scale was not until the war had really begun in 1915.

In the afternoon of 22nd April 1915, German forward troops were preparing to release 168 tons of Chlorine Gas on the soldiers of the French Colonial Corps near Gravenstafel. These mostly Moroccan and Algerian troops were about to feel the effects of poison gas on a major scale for the first time. Earlier that year on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Bolimo the Germans had fired over 16000 shells containing xylyl bromine a variety of tear gas but this failed as the air temperature caused the gas to freeze and become inert.

At Gravenstafel (as part of the Battle 2nd Ypres) the use of gas was more successful. The French thought the advancing yellow-green cloud was a diversion attack to cover the advance of German infantry so they got ready to combat the advance. Unfortunately it meant that large parts of the French front line were in the path of the gas and many died within the first 10 minutes and those that didn’t were forced out of the trench into the German machine gun fire.The gas attack created a 7km gap in the Allied lines which the Canadian forces reformed and held despite huge casualties. The St Julien memorial below commemorates the Canadian 1st Division participation in the battle which marked the first use of poison gas on the Western Front on 22nd April 1915.

At the Battle of Loos, the British attempted to use chlorine gas – it was a partial success as the wind changed direction causing casualties for the British on their own frontline.

Later in the war, the use of gas developed with 2 forms mostly being used. Phosgene gas was the most stealth-like as it was not visible nor were its affects immediately felt as it had a 48 hour time lag, but often proved fatal. Mustard gas, more visible also had more immediate impact with blisters internal and external (within the lungs) – it caused less fatalities but had a high casualty rating.

At the end of the war the debilitating effect of the use of gas were felt by many soldiers long after the war had ended.

Image showing German stormtroopers advancing through a gas cloud

Image showing US troops wearing gas masks whilst operating a machine gun.