The Soldier at the Western Front – The Use of Poisonous Gas

“Gas as a weapon is not in the least more cruel than flying pieces of metal, to the contrary the partition of fatal diseases is comparable small, there are no mutilations and concerning the illnesses that might occur afterwards naturally statistical material can’t be provided yet, but nothing is known to us that would indicate a high frequency. Based on these objective arguments one would not easily ban gas warfare.” (source 1: Fritz Haber)

In the course of the First World War poisonous gas was used for the first time as a weapon. The prime mover behind this was the German chemist Fritz Haber who as the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem researched on this field together with a special troop that was formed for gas warfare. Later Haber advanced and was responsible for the whole department of gas warfare when he became head of that department inside the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (source 1). The first attempt to use irritant gas on the eastern front, with the so called T-Grenades, failed due to the unfavorable weather conditions in January 1915. On the 22nd of April 1915 150 t of chlorine gas were set free under the personal command of Haber in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to the procedure named after its inventor – the Haber Blow procedure – the gas was released from dug in containers and the wind carried the poisonous cloud over the trenches. The target was to disable the enemy permanently (source 2). This first large-scale use of poisonous gas on the western front destined the advent of a new weapon of mass destruction.

Even though the use of “poison or poisoned weapons” was banned in the Hague Convention – an indisputable ban of poisonous gas wasn’t pronounced before the Geneva Protocol of 1925 – also many allied scientist devoted their research to efficiency of warfare agents and soon they were able to prepare comparable attacks against German troops (source 3).

John Singer Sargent: Gassed (1919)

On the German side the later chairman of the board of the IG Farben Carl Duisberg (1861-1935) was responsible for the technological and industrial aspects of the project, and further famous scientist and Noble laureates like Walther Nernst (1864-1941), James Franck (1882-1964), Otto Hahn (1879-1968) and Gustav Hertz (1887-1975) worked on the realization of gas warfare. Soon the colour-marked gas grenades contained apart from chlorine gas and carbonyl chloride (green cross) irritant chemical payload affecting the eyes and mucous membranes (white cross), further poisonous substances that effected the nose and throat (blue cross) or such irritant agents that directly affected the skin (yellow cross). The later – also known as LOST after the names of its inventers – had been co-developed by the chemist Wilhelm Steinkopf, who later became professor at the Technische Hochschule Dresden.

Additional layers of filters helped against green cross bombardment, since late 1915 they had been produced in Germany. Since 1917 both sides practiced the perfidious multi colored shooting that also based on an idea of Haber. Non-lethal but highly irritant blue cross was mixed with deadly green cross. The gasmask was of no use against the irritant, the soldiers were forced to take down their masks and chlorine and carbonyl chlorine could do their deadly work.

Within the protection from gas inter alia knowledge from mining could be applied. To save gas poisoned soldier the medics have been equipped with so called “pit-savers” („Grubenretter”) by the company Dräger, that originally had been designed for underground applications. Gas protection was more and more adapted to routine. Within so called stink-boxes („Stinkräume”) the tightness of Gas masks was tested. In the trenches bells were used to give an acoustic signal in case of an gas assault (source 4).

The dominant west wind at the French frontline prevented an even more excessive use of warfare agents by German troops. Altogether approximately 90,000 humans died from poisonous gas and this means less than one percent of the causalities of the First World War. Even though one million soldiers had been injured, who suffered from blindness, skin burns and lung damages. The army doctors had to deal with so far unseen forms of injuries caused by gas. (source 5).

Altogether the gas warfare was less successful than expected. Its effect was limited to the spread of fear and loathing among enemy forces, and by binding enemy resources with the attendance the wounded needed. Nevertheless it was interpreted as a supreme German weapon by the soldiers in the trenches and in spite of all horrors it still could be caricatured (source 6).

Christopher Georgi, Dresden 2015

Bibliography

Gerhard Kaiser: Wie die Kultur einbrach. Giftgas und Wissenschaftsethos im Ersten Weltkrieg, in: Merkur 56 (2002), S. 210-220.
Dieter Martinetz: Der Gaskrieg 1914–18. Entwicklung, Herstellung und Einsatz chemischer Kampfstoffe. Das Zusammenwirken von militärischer Führung, Wissenschaft und Industrie, Bonn 1996.
Margit Szöllösi-Janze: Fritz Haber 1868–1934. Eine Biographie, München 1998.