The Riddle of the Rhine:
V >>
Victor LeFebure >> The Riddle of the Rhine:
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19
Germany Prompted by Production Monopoly.--An important point arises.
The Germans failed to exploit their initial success.
This is not very surprising. Whatever the opinion of the chemists
behind the movement, the German General Staff must have retained
the elements of precaution in its opinion. It could not have
taken for granted the formidable success which the chemists
proved justified in prophesying. This being so, we can fairly
assume that had there been very serious difficulties in carrying
out this huge war experiment it might never have materialised.
Such difficulties might have been found in production.
But as we have seen, the question of production was the most
easily forged link in the chain of events which led to the use
of poison gas by Germany. In other words, this monopoly in ease
of production was an inducement to the Germans to proceed
with their experiment.
The earliest German cloud gas attacks established beyond
a doubt the enormous value of gas against unprotected troops,
in other words, its value as a complete surprise. These conditions
were again approached in the first German use of mustard gas.
The most telling examples will probably be found in the future,
unless the correct precautions are taken. The whole history of
chemical warfare during the war was a struggle for this initiative,
a struggle between gas protection and aggression.
Standard Uses for Gas;--Gas Shell.--But gas found an important
use besides that of strategic surprise. It became a standard
weapon for certain clear and definite tactical purposes.
(For some of these, indeed, the factor of local surprise
was important.) We refer to the specific use of gas shell
for the neutralisation of batteries, roads, and areas, and to
the use of cloud gas, prior to offensives for the production
of casualties, and wearing down of reserves. The Ypres attack
had not by any means established the use of gas for such purposes.
There is no doubt that, from this point of view, the experimental
period carried on for many months. Naturally, in some respects,
there was always an experimental element in the use of gas.
Further German Cloud Attacks.--Two days after the first cloud
gas attack the Germans launched a second against the Canadians,
with similar results. Quoting from official despatches:
"On the early morning of the 24th a violent outburst of gas
against nearly the whole front was varied by heavy shell fire,
and a most determined attack was delivered against our position
east of Ypres. The real attack commenced at 2.45 a.m. A
large proportion of the men were asleep, and the attack was
too sudden to give them time to put on their respirators."
These latter were hurriedly improvised after the first Ypres attack.
Hill 60.--Four more attacks occurred in May, notably in the region of
Hill 60. "On May 1st another attempt to recapture Hill 60 was supported
by great volumes of asphyxiating gas which caused nearly all the men along
a front of about 400 yards to be immediately struck down by its fumes."
"A second and more severe gas attack under much more favourable weather
conditions enabled the enemy to recapture this position on May 5th.
The enemy owes his success in this last attack entirely to the use
of asphyxiating gas." "It was only a few days later that the means which
have since proved so effective of counteracting these methods of making
war were put into practice." (Official despatches, 1915.) The despatch
further described how violent bombardments, the confusion and demoralisation
from the first great gas surprise, and subsequent almost daily gas attacks,
prevented the proper reorganisation of the line in question.
Origin of German Gas Shell.--After May a long period elapsed
during which the Germans confined their war chemical activities
on the front to the use of gas shell. Schwarte's book describes
their origin as follows:--"The main idea which influenced
the FIRST construction of a German projectile containing chemicals
(October, 1914) was that of adding to the charge an irritant substance,
which would be pulverised by the explosion of the projectile,
and would overwhelm the enemy with a cloud of dust.
This cloud would hover in the air and have such an effect
upon the mucous membranes that, for the time being,
the enemy would be unable to fight in such an atmosphere.
By altering the construction of the 10.5 c.m. universal
shell for light field howitzers, the `N.i' projectile
was created in the form of 10.5 c.m. shrapnel, the bullets
of which were embedded in a sternutatory powder (double salts
of dianisidine) well stamped down, instead of an explosive.
By means of the propelling charge and the grinding effect
of the bullets, this powder was pulverised on explosion.
The irritation caused was not very intense, lasted only a short,
time and affected only a limited area and therefore it was of no
importance in the field, but the initial step had been taken.
Liquid irritants soon came to the front--xylyl bromide
and xylylene dibromide--a mixture used later under the name
of T. stuff, bromo-acetone and brominated methyl ethyl ketone,
later introduced under the name of B. stuff and Bn. stuff."
During experiments they gave such improved results in intensity,
in power of lasting and of affecting an increased area,
that practical results in the field were ensured.
The use of these liquids in projectiles, however, was contrary
to the accepted idea with regard to artillery, according to which
liquid materials should not be used for ballistic reasons.
Specially arranged shoots were required to prove that the projectiles
in use in the German Army could also be used from the ballistic
point of view when filled with liquids.
In this way the first effective German gas projectile, the T. shell
for heavy field howitzers, was evolved (January, 1915).
Early German Gas Shell.--The first important use of German gas
in shell was that of brominated and chlorinated organic compounds,
T. and K. stuffs. Schwarte's book tells us "the use of these
projectiles was continually hampered by lack of understanding
on the part of the troops which it was difficult to overcome.
In the summer of 1915 it was practically in the Argonne alone that
any considerable results were attained by the new projectiles."
And he describes how the first elements of the new gas tactics
were developed there.
A Successful Experiment.--The development of the gas shell,
the use of which, generally speaking, is independent of,
but co-ordinated with, wind direction, may have received stimulus
from the fact that the prevailing wind, so important for cloud gas,
favoured the Allies. It is clear that this period was an experimental one,
but we know that by August, 1915, German military opinion had
crystallised out to the extent of formulating certain rules, issued as
Falkenhayn's orders for the employment of gas shell. These early orders
defined two types of shell, one persistent, for harassing purposes,
and the other non-persistent, to be used immediately before an attack.
They specified the number of shell to be used for a given task.
But in this they were unsound and it is clear that the Germans had
an exaggerated opinion of what could be achieved with a small number
of shell. They adhered too closely to high explosive practice.
Various documents reveal the fact that the Germans were much more
satisfied with their gas tactics than they would have been had they
possessed information with regard to our losses from their shell.
They attached insufficient importance to the value of surprise
and highly concentrated shoots, and had a mistaken idea of the actual
specific aggressive value of their early types.
Lachrymators at Loos, 1915.--Germany commenced the manufacture
of lachrymators, crude brominated xylene or brominated ketones, early in,
or perhaps before 1915. These substances caused great inconvenience
through temporary blindness by lachrymation, but were not highly toxic.
In June, 1915, however, they began to produce lethal gas for shell.
Falkenhayn's orders for the use of gas shell, mentioned above,
although they represent by no means the best final practice,
were definite evidence that gas had come to stay with the Germans.
The writer has vivid recollections of their use of lachrymators
in the Loos Battle. Batteries in the open, under the crest near
the Lens road, were in position so that the wind direction practically
enfiladed them, sweeping along from the direction of Le Rutoire farm.
Gas from German shell, borne on the wind, was continually
enveloping the line of batteries, but they remained in action.
It was on this occasion while watching the bursting gas shells
from the outskirts of the mining village of Philosophe that
Major-General Wing was killed outright by a high explosive shell.
These gas shells certainly did not achieve the results which
the Germans expected, although they were not without effect.
Demolished villages, the only shelter for troops in a desolate area,
have been rendered uninhabitable for days by a concentrated
lachrymator enemy shoot of less than one hour. Again, walking into
gas "pockets" up a trench one has been stopped as by a fierce blow
across the eyes, the lachrymatory effect was so piercing and sudden.
The great inconvenience which was occasioned to parties engaged
in the routine of trench warfare, on ration or engineering duties,
and the effect on movement in the rear after an assault,
taken cumulatively, represented a big military factor.
The Flammenwerfer.--There can be no doubt that this period marks increasing
German willingness to live up to their "blood and iron" theories of war,
and, in July, 1915, another device with a considerable surprise value
was used against us: the flame projector, or the German flammenwerfer.
Field-Marshal Sir John French signalled the entry of this new weapon
as follows: "Since my last despatch a new device has been adopted by
the enemy for driving burning liquid into our trenches with a strong jet.
Thus supported, an attack was made on the trenches of the Second Army
at Hooge, on the Menin Road, early on 30th July. Most of the infantry
occupying these trenches were driven back, but their retirement was due
far more to the surprise and temporary confusion caused by the burning
liquid than to the actual damage inflicted. Gallant endeavours were made
by repeated counter-attacks to recapture the lost section of trenches.
These, however, proving unsuccessful and costly, a new line of trenches
was consolidated a short distance farther back."
Although this weapon continued to be used right through the campaign,
it did not exert that influence which first acquaintance with it
might have led one to conclude. At the same time, there exists
a mistaken notion that the flame projector was a negligible quantity.
This may be fairly true of the huge non-portable types,
but it is certainly not true of the very efficient portable flame
projector which was the form officially adopted by the German,
and later by the French, armies. On a number of occasions Germany
gained local successes purely owing to the momentary surprise
effect of the flame projector, and the French made some use of it
for clearing out captured trench systems over which successful
waves of assault had passed. Further, the idea of flame projection
is not without certain possibilities for war.
German Phosgene Clouds.--Germany had by no means abandoned
cloud gas, however. She had merely been planning to regain what
the Ypres attacks had lost for her, the cloud gas initiative.
We have seen how phosgene had occupied the attention of the
German research organisation in the first months of the war.
Once alive to its great importance, they must have strained all
efforts to obtain an efficient method of using it at the front.
Phosgene was remarkable for its peculiar "delayed" effect.
Relatively small quantities, inhaled and followed by vigorous
or even normal exercise, led to sudden collapse and fatal
effects sometimes more than twenty-four hours after the attack.
The case of a German prisoner in a First Army raid after
a British gas attack was often quoted on the front.
He passed through the various Intelligence headquarters as far
as the Army, explaining the feeble effect of the British gas
and his own complete recovery. But he died from delayed
action within twenty-four hours of his last interrogation.
This effect imposed strict conditions of discipline, and men
merely suspected of exposure to phosgene were compelled
to report as serious casualties and carried as such even from
the front line.
The successful development of the phosgene cloud probably
arrived too late for the Ypres attacks, and a variety of reasons
must have led to the postponement of its use until such time
as it might once again give Germany the real initiative.
Accordingly, on December 19, 1915, a formidable cloud gas attack
was made on the north-east of the Ypres salient, using a mixture
of phosgene and chlorine in a very high concentration.
Fortunately, by this time we had established an anti-gas
organisation, which had forestalled the production of cloud
phosgene by special modifications in the British respirator.
The conditions were similar to those of April 22nd, 1915.
Instead of the first use of cloud gas, we had the first
use of the new gas in highly concentrated cloud.
In both cases the Germans reckoned on our lack of protection,
correctly in the first case, but incorrectly in the second.
In both cases they were sure that great difficulties
in production would meet our attempts at retaliation.
In general this proved true, but in this case and increasingly
throughout the war, they reckoned without Allied adaptability.
The French development of phosgene manufacture was indeed remarkable.
Very interesting light is thrown on this attack by Major Barley,
D.S.O., Chemical Adviser to the British Second Army. It appears that
in November, 1915, the French captured a prisoner who had attended a gas
school in one of the factories of the I.G. Here lecturers explained
that a new gas was to be used against the British forces, many thousands
of casualties were expected, and an attack would follow, which,
correcting the errors of the effort at Ypres, would lead to the capture
of the Channel ports. Efforts were at once made to obtain information
on gas preparation by the Germans in front of the British sectors.
In this way a sergeant-major was captured on the morning of December 16th,
and he revealed the date and front on which the cylinders were installed.
About 35,000 British troops were found to be in the direct line of the gas,
but owing to the timely warning and to the protection which had recently
been adopted, we experienced very few casualties. The Germans had prepared
a huge infantry attack, and used a new type of gas shell on this occasion.
German troops massing must have received huge casualties owing to our
preparation and the failure of their gas attack.
The last German cloud attack on the British front occurred on August 8, 1916.
There were later attacks against the French, but the Germans were replacing
the cloud method by other methods which they considered more suitable.
These will be discussed later on, when considering our own reaction against
the chemical offensive.
Gas and the Eastern Theatre.--The German surprise was not
limited to activities on the Western front. In fact, apart from
the first Ypres attack, cloud gas probably reaped more casualties
in the East against Russia. We learn from Schwarte's book:
"From reliable descriptions we know that our gas troops caused
an unusual amount of damage to the enemy--especially in the East--
with very little expenditure of effort. The special battalion
formed by Austria-Hungary was, unfortunately, of no special
importance for various reasons."
Had the nature of the Russian campaign been different, with a
smaller front, and nearer critical objectives to the front of attack,
we have no doubt that gas would have assumed enormous importance
in the East. Russia, even more feebly organised for production
than ourselves, would have been at a tremendous disadvantage,
both from the point of view of protection and of the retention
of satisfactory morale by retaliation.
Conclusion.--This, then, was the period of the German surprise,
during which the first big shock occurred, and which promised most
success for further attempts owing to the lack of comprehensive
protection by the Allies. Looking at the matter in a very broad way,
ignoring the moral and legal aspects of the case, we can describe
this period as an example of brilliant chemical opportunism.
According to plan or otherwise, conditions for this experiment
were ripe in Germany as in no other country. Overcoming whatever
prejudices may have existed, the German authorities realised this,
seized the opportunity, and very nearly succeeded.
CHAPTER III
THE ALLIED REACTION
Loos, September, 1915, to Ypres, July, 1917.
The Need of Retaliation.--The conclusive sign of the Allied
reaction to the German poison gas attack appeared at the battle
of Loos. "Owing to the repeated use by the enemy of asphyxiating
gas in their attacks on our positions," says Field-Marshal French
in his despatch of October 15, 1915, "I have been compelled to resort
to similar methods, and a detachment was organised for this purpose,
which took part in the operations commencing on the 25th September
for the first time." Five months thus elapsed before retaliation.
From a military point of view their can be no doubt as to
the wisdom, in fact the absolute necessity, of using gas
in order to reply to the many German attacks of this nature.
The question of morale was bound up in this retaliation.
Had the Germans continued their chemical attacks in variety
and extent as they did, and had it been realised that for some
reason or other we were not able to retaliate in kind, none but
the gravest consequences could have resulted with regard to morale.
It must be remembered that the earlier use of cloud and shell gas
by the Germans was of local incidence, when compared with its
tremendous use along the whole of the front in the later stages
of the war.
First Signs.--Our preparatory period was one of feverish, if somewhat
unco-ordinated, activity. The production of a protective appliance,
the gas mask, was vital. This development will be considered later.
Allied chemical warfare organisations arose, to become an important
factor in the later stages of the war. The history of Allied gas
organisation is one of the gradual recognition that chemical warfare
represented a new weapon with new possibilities, new specific uses,
and new requirements from the rear. Its beginnings are seen
in the English and French Scientific Advisory Committees
appointed to examine the new German method. One could always
trace an element of reluctance, however, in Allied development,
signs that each move was forced upon us by some new German surprise.
We find the other extreme, the logical outcome of war experience,
in the completely independent Chemical Warfare Service now actually
adopted in the United States of America. This is dealt with in
a separate chapter.
The decision to retaliate once made, our difficulties commenced.
We required gas, weapons, and methods for its use, trained personnel,
and the association of certain scientific with military standards
without losing the field efficiency of the latter. The German
staff found this in their co-operation with eminent scientists,
notably Professor Haber. Without drawing invidious distinctions
between pre-war military and public appreciation of chemical science
in England and Germany, it would be merely untrue to state that
the Germans were not in a position of advantage in this respect.
However, chemical mobilisation and co-operation proceeded sufficiently
rapidly to provide us with personnel and material for the Loos attack.
The assembly and organisation of personnel occurred in
three directions. In the first place the Royal Society had already
begun to mobilise prominent scientists for other war purposes.
In the second place, different formations in the field,
realising the need for specialist treatment of the gas question,
after the first German attack, created staff appointments
for certain chemists chosen from infantry regiments and other
formations on the front. Thirdly, men were collected at a depot
in France to form the nucleus of the offensive gas troops.
For this purpose chemists were specially enrolled and chosen
men from infantry and other front line units were added.
Early gas attacks and gas organisation did not appear to justify
the immobilisation of so much chemical talent in the offensive
gas troops, when chemists were needed all over England for
munition production so vital to war. But later events justified
the mobilisation and military training of these specialists.
The expansion of the advisory and offensive organisations
at the front necessitated a large number of officers,
whose chemical training was of great value. It is difficult
to see where they would have been found had they not been
mobilised with the Special Companies. Moreover, their offensive
and battle experience gained with the latter was of great value.
Six or seven weeks' training witnessed the conversion of a few
hundred men of the above type into one or two so called
Special Companies. The spirit and work of these men in the Loos
attack cannot be spoken of too highly.
The Loos Attack, September, 1915.--The Field-Marshal bears testimony
to its success as follows: "Although the enemy was known to have been
prepared for such reprisals, our gas attack met with marked success,
and produced a demoralising effect in some of the opposing units,
of which ample evidence was forthcoming in the captured trenches.
The men who undertook this work carried out their unfamiliar duties
during a heavy bombardment with conspicuous gallantry and coolness;
and I feel confident in their ability to more than hold their own
should the enemy again resort to this method of warfare."
There is evidence, however, that this early attack, inefficient as it
appeared to be to participants, met with considerable success.
Schwarte's book tells us: "The English succeeded in releasing gas
clouds on a large scale. Their success on this occasion was due
to the fact that they took us by surprise. Our troops refused
to believe in the danger and were not sufficiently adept in the use
of defensive measures as prescribed by G.H.Q."
On the occasion of a cloud attack a few weeks later, at the
storming of the Hohenzollern redoubt, Sergeant-Major Dawson,
in charge of a sector of gas emplacements in the front
line trench, won the Victoria Cross. The German reply
to our bombardment was very severe and under stress of it
a battery of our cylinders, either through a direct hit or
faulty connections, began to pour gas into our own trenches.
In order to prevent panic and casualties among our own troops
at this critical time, a few minutes before zero, the moment
of assault, Sergeant-Major Dawson climbed on to the parapet under
a hail of shell, rifle, and machine-gun fire, and, hauling up
the cylinders in question, carried them to a safe distance
into the poisoned atmosphere of No Man's Land and ensured
their complete discharge by boring them with a rifle bullet.
In addition to the Hohenzollern attack cloud gas was used
in December, 1915, in the region of Givenchy.
The Somme Battle, 1916.--My impression as an eyewitness
and participator, however, was that the real British gas
offensive began after, and as a result of, the Loos experience.
Material, organisation, and numbers of personnel, both at
the front and at home, co-operation with staffs and tactical
conceptions all improved vastly in time to contribute largely
to the efficiency of preparations for the Somme offensive
in July, 1916. During the early months of 1916, a Special Brigade
was created by expanding the four Special Companies,
and the 4-inch Stokes mortar was adopted, training being
vigorously pursued. As many as 110 cloud gas discharges,
mainly of a phosgene mixture, occurred during the Somme battle,
and evidence of their success is seen in German reports.
These successes were due not only to the magnitude of our operations,
but to the carefully developed cloud attack tactics which
aimed at obtaining maximum results from the gas employed.
The factor of surprise governed all other considerations.
Attacks occurred at night and depended for success upon
the concentration of the maximum amount of gas in the given sector
for a short, sharp discharge under the best wind conditions.
There is abundant evidence of our success in these attacks.
Probably the most marked feature of the captured documents or
of prisoners' statements during the later stages of the Somme battle
was the continual reference to the deadly effect of British cloud gas.
The captured letter of a German soldier writing home stated:
"Since the beginning of July an unparalleled slaughter has
been going on. Not a day passes but the English let off
their gas waves at one place or another. I will give you
only one instance of this gas; men 7 and 8 kilometres behind
the front line became unconscious from the tail of the gas cloud,
and its effects are felt 12 kilometres behind the front.
It is deadly stuff."
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19