Gas: The German's "secret" new weapon. A new terror.
1925 The Geneva Protocol of 1925, bans poison gas as a means of warfare.
	British soldiers blinded by gas, April 1918 IWM Q 11586

• Gas was invented (and very successfully used) as a terror weapon meant to instil confusion and panic among the enemy prior to an offensive. It was a sort of physiological weapon with the non-lethal tearing agents inflicting as much panic as the dreaded mustard gas. Sometimes the tear gas would be sent over first to get soldiers to remove their gas masks thereby making them more vulnerable to a later attack with one of the more deadly types.

• After the first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. 

• It was found that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes. Other soldiers preferred to use handkerchiefs, a sock, a flannel body-belt, dampened with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and tied across the mouth and nose until the gas passed over.

•  Soldiers found it difficult to fight like this and attempts were made to develop a better means of protecting men against gas attacks. By July 1915 soldiers were given efficient gas masks and anti-asphyxiation respirators.
  

This siren was used in the trenches in WW1 to warn the troops of an imminent mustard gas attack. 

The soldiers would don their gas masks when they heard the haunting crick of this alarm.

This example comes from a deceased estate of a WW1 Digger and was brought back by him as a memento

 This one is marked, in ink, "2nd Batt Devonshire Regt Trench143 1916  Gas Only  Rotate in 3 second Bursts" on one side and on the other "If you see's it rotate it, If you smells it you's too late mate".

During the fighting north of Ypres, a captured Prussian officer – whose life had been spared by our men even in the heat of a charge, and in spite of their exasperation at the enemy’s use of deadly gases – while being escorted to the rear passed some British soldiers who were lying in agony on the ground fighting for their breath, their lungs filled with the ghastly poison fumes. 

The Prussian stopped, looked at them, and then, pointing to the prostrate forms he burst into a sneering laugh and said, ‘What do you think of that?’

• Portrait of Sergeant Major Frank McGraw, 33rd Battalion. Science teacher of Leichhardt, NSW. 

• Died of gas poisoning at Villers-Bretonneux, 25 April 1918, aged 28.

MUSTARD GAS

Mustard gas is really a liquid and is not likely to change into a gas immediately if it is released at ordinary temperatures. As a pure liquid, it is colorless and odorless, but when mixed with other chemicals, it looks brown and has a garlic-like smell.

Mustard gas was used in chemical warfare and was made in large amounts during World Wars I and II. It was reportedly used in the Iran-Iraq war in 1984-1988. It's presently used in the United States for research purposes. The U.S. Secretary of Defense was instructed to destroy all remaining stocks of lethal military chemical agents, including mustard gas, by 1997.

Mustard gas has been a favorite chemical weapon in wars because it can be fairly easily delivered via conventional bombs, rockets and artillery shells and because mustard gas contamination can render an area unusable by enemy forces.

Mustard gas was produced in 1822 and was first used as a chemical warfare agent in WWI.  Iraq also used large amounts of mustard gas in the war against Iran from 1979-1988. 

Symptoms are usually delayed between two and 24 hours resulting in severe cell damage before the patient may even know they have been exposed. Mild toxicity will result in symptoms such as eye pain, lacrimation, irritation of the mucous membranes, inflammation of the skin, hoarseness, coughing and sneezing.  Severe toxicity may result in blistering, blindness, nausea, vomiting and respiratory complications.  The leading cause of death after mustard agent exposure is lung injury.

Lung injuries start with mild symptoms and gradually increase and ultimately result in chemical pneumonia and pulmonary edema. A drastic reduction in the number of white blood cells is seen approximately 5-10 days after a large exposure and it’s effects on the bone marrow and lymphatic tissue look similar to radiation exposure.  This leaves the patient at significant risk of infection. 

Decontamination is the most important treatment that can be done for a mustard exposed patient.  Removal of clothing, bathing, flushing of the eyes, and washing of the hair are key initial management steps.  Some people go as far as to say you should shave hair completely off if it has been exposed.  Treatment beyond this is primarily supportive and includes antibiotics and pain medication.

• Massive burns to the arms, hands and crotch area of a soldier in WW1 when the mustard gas/liquid has burned through the clothing.

Gas in WW2

I believe stocks of these were retained by chemists for distribution to the public should the need arise. This is the only one I have ever seen or heard about. 

It was officially prepared for the DIRECTOR of ARP (Air Raid Precautions) by A.M Bickford and Sons Adelaide and Brisbane.

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