The Hague Treaty of 1899
had specifically banned the use of poisonous gas in warfare. Despite this the
weapon was to be used by both sides during the First World War, usually with
horrific results for those struck but for little actual battlefield gain.
Signed in 1899 by most European nations, the Hague Convention laid
down many rules for the conduct of war, treatment of prisoners and other
matters. At the time it was widely believed that poisonous gas of all types had
been banned. However, the actual wording of the relevant clause stated “The
Contracting Powers agree to abstain from the use of projectiles the object of
which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases.” That wording
would come to be important as soon as the First World War broke out.
It was the French who first used gas. In the fighting that took
place in Alsace in August 1914, the French preceded their attacks on prepared
German defenses with hand grenades containing an ethyl-based tear gas. The
grenades proved to be so ineffective that the Germans did not even notice them.
The use of the gas was renewed in November with only slightly better results.
The Germans retaliated in October against British positions near Ypres, but
again the gas had little effect.
The Germans believed that the tear gas had not worked as it had been
used in small quantities. On 31 January 1915 a total of 18,000 shells
containing tear gas were fired at Russian lines near Warsaw. This huge
concentration failed to have any effect as the weather was so cold that the gas
froze solid in puddles on the ground.
Meanwhile the Germans had been stockpiling deadly chlorine gas. On
22 April 1915 a total of 150 tons of chlorine gas in 5,700 cylinders was
distributed to German units along the trenches facing Ypres. Starting at 5pm
the Germans with the cylinders opened the valves and pushed the cylinders over
the top of their trenches into no man’s land. The grey-green gas spurted out,
formed a large cloud and was carried toward the Allied lines by a gentle east
breeze.
First to be struck by the gas was a division of French Algerian
troops. As men began to fall dead and others began clawing at their throats in
agony the rest turned and fled. They were swiftly followed by a Senegalese unit
and regular French regiments. A stretch of trenches over 8,000 yards wide was
simply abandoned as the men fled the gas. To the north a Canadian division was
struck by the edges of the deadly cloud. Some men fled, others ran only so far
as nearby trenches where the gas did not reach. Confusion spread.
At 5.50 the fleeing men reached the town of Ypres, ten minutes later
the gas followed them. By now the gas was dissipating, but it could still be
fatal. An officer in the Durham Light Infantry who had been a chemist before
the war recognized the smell and ordered his men to urinated into handkerchiefs
and wrap them around their faces – the ammonia in the urine blocked the
chlorine. He led his men forward into the gas to find the trenches empty.
Meanwhile, the German infantry were refusing to advance until the
foul, deadly gas had dissipated. Chlorine gas is heavier than air, so it lurked
in the abandoned French trenches long after it was blown away on the surface.
The Canadians were meanwhile hurrying south to take over machine guns abandoned
by the French and to jump into the trenches that were clear of gas. By the time
a German attack was sent in, it was too late.
Photo shows :
British infantry advancing through gas at Loos, 25 September 1915
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