50 auld: methods of gas warfare 



would think it was all over, but ten minutes or half an hour 

 later there would come another cloud on exactly the same front. 

 These tactics were very successful in at least one case, namely, 

 the attack near Hulluch in 1916. Some of the troops discarded 

 their helmets after the first wave and were caught on the sec- 

 ond, which was very much stronger than the first. 



Efforts were also made to effect surprise by silencing the gas. 

 But silencers reduced the rate of escape so greatly that the 

 loss of efficiency from low concentration more than made up for 

 the gain in suddenness. Another method was to mix the gas 

 up with smoke, or to alternate gas and smoke, so that it would 

 be difficult to tell where the gas began and the smoke ended. 



The last attack made on the British by this means was in 

 August, 1916. Since that time the Germans have used gas 

 three times on the West Front against the French, and have also 

 used it against the Italians and the Russians. It has been 

 practically given up against the British, although the method is 

 by no means dead. 



The last attack was a slight set-back in the progress of gas 

 defense. The casualties had been brought down to a minimum, 

 and, as shown by the fact that the percentage of deaths was 

 high, protection was complete in all cases where used, casualties 

 being due to unpreparedness in some form. The attack in 

 question was brought on under difficult conditions for the de- 

 fenders, as it was made on new troops during a relief when twice 

 as many men were in the trenches as normally. Furthermore, 

 they had to wear helmets while carrying their complete outfit 

 for the relief. This was the second time the Germans caught 

 us in a relief, whether through information or luck we cannot 

 say. 



The protection that had been devised against phosgene proved 

 effective at the time, but provision was made to meet increased 

 concentration of phosgene. We never had any actual evidence 

 during the attack that phosgene was being used, as no samples 

 were actually taken from the cloud, but cylinders of phosgene 

 were captured later. Glass vacuum tubes, about 10 by 30 cm., 

 with a tip that could be broken off and then closed by a plasti- 



