In the early April morning of 1915, a light breeze blew from the side of the German positions that opposed the line of defense of the Entente troops twenty kilometers from the city of Ypres (Belgium). Together with him, a dense yellowish-green cloud suddenly appeared in the direction of the Allied trenches. At that moment, few people knew that it was the breath of death, and, in the stingy language of front-line reports, the first use of chemical weapons on Western front.
To be absolutely precise, the use of chemical weapons began in 1914, and the French came up with this disastrous initiative. But then ethyl bromoacetate, which belongs to the group of chemicals of an irritant effect, and not a lethal one, was put into use. They were filled with 26-mm grenades, which fired at the German trenches. When the supply of this gas came to an end, it was replaced with chloroacetone, similar in effect.
In response to this, the Germans, who also did not consider themselves obliged to comply with generally accepted legal regulations, enshrined in the Hague Convention, at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, held in October of the same year, fired at the British with shells filled with a chemical irritant. However, at that time they failed to reach its dangerous concentration.
Thus, in April 1915, there was not the first case of the use of chemical weapons, but, unlike the previous ones, the lethal chlorine gas was used to destroy enemy manpower. The result of the attack was stunning. One hundred and eighty tons of sprayed killed five thousand soldiers of the allied forces and another ten thousand became disabled as a result of the resulting poisoning. By the way, the Germans themselves suffered. The death-bearing cloud touched their position with its edge, the defenders of which were not fully provided with gas masks. In the history of the war, this episode was designated "a black day at Ypres."
Wanting to build on success, the Germans repeated a chemical attack in the Warsaw region a week later, this time against Russian army. And here death got a plentiful harvest - more than a thousand two hundred killed and several thousand left crippled. Naturally, the Entente countries tried to protest against such a gross violation of the principles of international law, but Berlin cynically declared that the 1896 Hague Convention only mentions poisonous projectiles, and not gases per se. To them, to admit, they did not try to object - the war always crosses out the works of diplomats.
As military historians have repeatedly emphasized, in the First world war wide application found a tactic of positional actions, in which solid front lines were clearly marked, distinguished by stability, density of troop concentration and high engineering and technical support.
This largely reduced the effectiveness of offensive operations, since both sides met with resistance from the powerful defense of the enemy. The only way out of the impasse could be an unconventional tactical solution, which was the first use of chemical weapons.
The use of chemical weapons in World War I was a major innovation. The range of its influence on a person was very wide. As can be seen from the episodes of the First World War cited above, it ranged from harmful, which was caused by chloracetone, ethyl bromoacetate and a number of others that had an irritant effect, to deadly - phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas.
Despite the fact that statistics show the relatively limited lethal potential of the gas (of the total number of those affected - only 5% of deaths), the number of dead and maimed was enormous. This gives the right to assert that the first use of chemical weapons opened a new page of war crimes in the history of mankind.
In the later stages of the war, both sides managed to develop and put into use enough effective means protection against enemy chemical attacks. This made the use of poisonous substances less effective, and gradually led to the abandonment of their use. However, it was the period from 1914 to 1918 that went down in history as the "war of chemists", since the first use of chemical weapons in the world took place on its battlefields.
However, let us return to the chronicle of military operations of that period. At the beginning of May 1915, the Germans carried out a target against the Russian units defending the Osovets fortress, located fifty kilometers from Bialystok (present-day Poland). According to eyewitnesses, after a long shelling with deadly substances, among which several types of them were used at once, all living things at a considerable distance were poisoned.
Not only people and animals that fell into the shelling zone died, but all vegetation was destroyed. The leaves of the trees turned yellow and crumbled before our eyes, and the grass turned black and fell to the ground. The picture was truly apocalyptic and did not fit into the consciousness of a normal person.
But, of course, the defenders of the citadel suffered the most. Even those of them who escaped death, for the most part, received severe chemical burns and were terribly mutilated. It is no coincidence that they appearance inspired such horror on the enemy that the counterattack of the Russians, who eventually threw the enemy back from the fortress, entered the history of the war under the name "attack of the dead".
The first use of chemical weapons revealed significant amount his technical shortcomings, which were eliminated in 1915 by a group of French chemists led by Victor Grignard. The result of their research was a new generation of deadly gas - phosgene.
Absolutely colorless, in contrast to the greenish-yellow chlorine, it betrayed its presence only with a barely perceptible smell of moldy hay, which made it difficult to detect. Compared to its predecessor, the novelty had greater toxicity, but at the same time had certain disadvantages.
Symptoms of poisoning, and even the death of the victims, did not occur immediately, but a day after the gas entered the respiratory tract. This allowed the poisoned and often doomed soldiers to participate in hostilities for a long time. In addition, phosgene was very heavy, and to increase mobility it had to be mixed with the same chlorine. This infernal mixture was called the "White Star" by the Allies, since it was with this sign that the cylinders containing it were marked.
On the night of July 13, 1917, in the area of the Belgian city of Ypres, which had already won notoriety, the Germans made the first use of a chemical weapon of skin-blister action. In the place of its debut, it became known as mustard gas. Its carriers were mines, which sprayed a yellow oily liquid when they exploded.
The use of mustard gas, like the use of chemical weapons in World War I in general, was another diabolical innovation. This "achievement of civilization" was created to damage the skin, as well as the respiratory and digestive organs. Neither soldier's uniforms, nor any types of civilian clothing saved from its impact. It penetrated through any tissue.
In those years, they were not yet issued any reliable means protection from its contact with the body, which made the use of mustard gas quite effective until the end of the war. Already the first use of this substance disabled two and a half thousand enemy soldiers and officers, of whom a significant number died.
German chemists took up the development of mustard gas not by chance. The first use of chemical weapons on the Western Front showed that the substances used - chlorine and phosgene - had a common and very significant drawback. They were heavier than air, and therefore, in atomized form, they fell down, filling trenches and all kinds of depressions. The people who were in them were poisoned, but those who were on the hills at the time of the attack often remained unharmed.
It was necessary to invent a poison gas with a lower specific gravity and capable of hitting its victims at any level. They became mustard gas, which appeared in July 1917. It should be noted that British chemists quickly established its formula, and in 1918 launched a deadly weapon into production, but the truce that followed two months later prevented large-scale use. Europe breathed a sigh of relief - the First World War, which lasted four years, ended. The use of chemical weapons became irrelevant, and their development was temporarily stopped.
The first case of the use of chemical weapons by the Russian army dates back to 1915, when, under the leadership of Lieutenant General V.N. Ipatiev, a program for the production of this type of weapon in Russia was successfully implemented. However, its use was then in the nature of technical tests and did not pursue tactical goals. Only a year later, as a result of work on the introduction into production of developments created in this area, it became possible to use them on the fronts.
The full-scale use of military developments that came out of domestic laboratories began in the summer of 1916 during the famous It is this event that makes it possible to determine the year of the first use of chemical weapons by the Russian army. It is known that during the period of the combat operation, artillery shells were used, filled with asphyxiating gas chloropicrin and poisonous - vensinite and phosgene. As is clear from the report sent to the Main Artillery Directorate, the use of chemical weapons rendered "a great service to the army."
The first use of the chemical was a disastrous precedent. V subsequent years its use not only expanded, but also underwent qualitative changes. Summing up the sad statistics of the four war years, historians state that during this period opposing sides produced at least 180 thousand tons of chemical weapons, of which at least 125 thousand tons were used. On the battlefields, 40 types of various poisonous substances were tested, which brought death and injury to 1,300,000 military personnel and civilians who found themselves in the zone of their application.
Did humanity learn a worthy lesson from the events of those years and did the date of the first use of chemical weapons become a black day in its history? Hardly. And today, despite international legal acts prohibiting the use of toxic substances, the arsenals of most states of the world are full of them. modern developments, and there are more and more press reports of its use in various parts of the world. Humanity is stubbornly moving along the path of self-destruction, ignoring the bitter experience of previous generations.
By the middle of the spring of 1915, each of the countries participating in the First World War sought to win over the advantage to its side. So Germany, terrorizing its enemies from the sky, from under water and on land, tried to find the optimal, but not quite original solution, thinking to apply against adversaries chemical weapon- chlorine. The Germans borrowed this idea from the French, who at the beginning of 1914 tried to use tear gas as a weapon. At the beginning of 1915, the Germans also tried to do this, who quickly realized that irritating gases on the field were a very ineffective thing.
Therefore, the German army resorted to the help of the future Nobel laureate in chemistry Fritz Haber, who developed methods for using protection against such gases and methods for using them in combat.
Haber was a great patriot of Germany and even converted from Judaism to Christianity to show his love for the country.
For the first time use of poison gas - chlorine - german army decided April 22, 1915 during the battle near the Ypres River. Then the military sprayed about 168 tons of chlorine from 5730 cylinders, each of which weighed about 40 kg. At the same time, Germany violated the Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed in The Hague in 1907, one of the clauses of which stated that against the enemy "it is forbidden to use poison or poisoned weapons." It is worth noting that Germany at that time tended to violate various international agreements and agreements: in 1915, it waged “unlimited submarine warfare” - German submarines sank civilian ships contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions.
“We couldn't believe our eyes. A greenish-gray cloud, descending on them, turned yellow as it spread and scorched everything in its path that it touched, causing the plants to die. Among us, staggering, appeared French soldiers, blinded, coughing, breathing heavily, with faces of a dark purple color, silent from suffering, and behind them, as we learned, hundreds of their dying comrades remained in the gassed trenches, ”recalled what happened one of the British soldiers, who observed the mustard gas attack from the side.
As a result of the gas attack, about 6 thousand people were killed by the French and British. At the same time, the Germans also suffered, on which, due to the changed wind, part of the gas sprayed by them was blown away.
However, it was not possible to achieve the main task and break through the German front line.
Among those who participated in the battle was the young Corporal Adolf Hitler. True, he was 10 km from the place where the gas was sprayed. On this day, he saved his wounded comrade, for which he was subsequently awarded the Iron Cross. At the same time, he was only recently transferred from one regiment to another, which saved him from possible death.
Subsequently, Germany began to use artillery shells with phosgene, a gas for which there is no antidote and which, at the proper concentration, causes death. Fritz Haber continued to actively participate in the development, whose wife committed suicide after receiving news from Ypres: she could not bear the fact that her husband became the architect of so many deaths. Being a chemist by training, she appreciated the nightmare that her husband helped create.
The German scientist did not stop there: under his leadership, the poisonous substance "cyclone B" was created, which was subsequently used to mass murder concentration camp prisoners during World War II.
In 1918, the researcher even received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, although he had a rather controversial reputation. However, he never hid that he was absolutely sure of what he was doing. But Haber's patriotism and his Jewish origin played a cruel joke on the scientist: in 1933 he was forced to flee from Nazi Germany to the UK. A year later, he died of a heart attack.
The First World War was on. On the evening of April 22, 1915, German and French troops opposing each other were near the Belgian city of Ypres. They fought for the city for a long time and to no avail. But this evening the Germans wanted to test a new weapon - poison gas. They brought thousands of cylinders with them, and when the wind blew towards the enemy, they opened the taps, releasing 180 tons of chlorine into the air. A yellowish gas cloud was carried by the wind towards the enemy line.
The panic began. Immersed in a gas cloud, the French soldiers went blind, coughed and suffocated. Three thousand of them died of asphyxiation, another seven thousand were burned.
"At this point, science lost its innocence," says science historian Ernst Peter Fischer. According to him, if before that the goal of scientific research was to alleviate the conditions of people's lives, now science has created conditions that make it easier to kill a person.
"In the war - for the fatherland"
A way to use chlorine for military purposes was developed by the German chemist Fritz Haber. He is considered the first scientist who subordinated scientific knowledge military needs. Fritz Haber discovered that chlorine is an extremely poisonous gas, which, due to its high density, is concentrated low above the ground. He knew that this gas causes severe swelling of the mucous membranes, coughing, suffocation, and ultimately leads to death. In addition, the poison was cheap: chlorine is found in the waste of the chemical industry.
"Haber's motto was "In the world - for humanity, in the war - for the fatherland," Ernst Peter Fischer quotes the then head of the chemical department of the Prussian War Ministry. - Then there were other times. Everyone was trying to find poison gas that they could use in war And only the Germans succeeded."
The Ypres attack was a war crime - as early as 1915. After all, the Hague Convention of 1907 prohibited the use of poison and poisoned weapons for military purposes.
Arms race
The "success" of Fritz Haber's military innovation became contagious, and not only for the Germans. Simultaneously with the war of states, the "war of chemists" also began. Scientists were tasked with creating chemical weapons that would be ready for use as soon as possible. "Abroad, they looked with envy at Haber," says Ernst Peter Fischer, "Many people wanted to have such a scientist in their country." Fritz Haber received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918. True, not for the discovery of poisonous gas, but for his contribution to the implementation of the synthesis of ammonia.
The French and British also experimented with poisonous gases. The use of phosgene and mustard gas, often in combination with each other, became widespread in the war. And yet, poison gases did not play a decisive role in the outcome of the war: these weapons could only be used in favorable weather.
scary mechanism
Nevertheless, a terrible mechanism was launched in the First World War, and Germany became its engine.
The chemist Fritz Haber not only laid the foundation for the use of chlorine for military purposes, but also, thanks to his good industrial connections, helped to mass-produce this chemical weapon. For example, the German chemical concern BASF produced poisonous substances in large quantities during the First World War.
Already after the war with the creation of the IG Farben concern in 1925, Haber joined its supervisory board. Later, during National Socialism, a subsidiary of IG Farben produced the "cyclone B" used in gas chambers concentration camps.
Fritz Haber himself could not have foreseen this. "He's a tragic figure," Fischer says. In 1933, Haber, a Jew by origin, emigrated to England, expelled from his country, in the service of which he placed his scientific knowledge.
Red line
In total, more than 90 thousand soldiers died on the fronts of the First World War from the use of poison gases. Many died of complications a few years after the end of the war. In 1905, the members of the League of Nations, which included Germany, under the Geneva Protocol pledged not to use chemical weapons. Meanwhile Scientific research on the use of poisonous gases were continued, mainly under the guise of developing means to combat harmful insects.
"Cyclone B" - hydrocyanic acid - an insecticidal agent. "Agent orange" - a substance for deleafing plants. The Americans used defoliant during the Vietnam War to thin out local dense vegetation. As a consequence - poisoned soil, numerous diseases and genetic mutations in the population. The latest example of the use of chemical weapons is Syria.
"You can do whatever you want with poisonous gases, but they can't be used as a target weapon," emphasizes science historian Fisher. “Everyone who is nearby becomes a victim.” The fact that the use of poisonous gas is still “a red line that cannot be crossed” is correct, he considers: “Otherwise, the war becomes even more inhuman than it already is.”
The first known case of the use of chemical weapons is the battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915, in which German troops chlorine was very effectively used, but this battle was not the only one and far from the first.
Turning to a positional war, during which, due to the large number of troops opposing each other on both sides, it was impossible to organize an effective breakthrough, the opponents began to look for other ways out of their current situation, one of them was the use of chemical weapons.
For the first time, chemical weapons were used by the French, it was the French who, back in August 1914, used tear gas, the so-called ethyl bromoacenate. By itself, this gas could not lead to a fatal outcome, but caused a strong burning sensation in the enemy soldiers in the eyes and mucous membranes of the mouth and nose, due to which they lost their orientation in space and did not provide effective resistance to the enemy. Before the offensive, French soldiers threw grenades filled with this poisonous substance at the enemy. The only drawback of the ethyl bromoacenate used was its limited amount, so it was soon replaced by chloroacetone.
After analyzing the success of the French, which followed from their use of chemical weapons, the German command already in October of the same year fired at the positions of the British in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, but missed the gas concentration and did not get the expected effect. There was too little gas, and it did not have the proper effect on the enemy soldiers. Nevertheless, the experiment was repeated already in January in the battle of Bolimov against the Russian army, this attack was practically successful for the Germans, and therefore the use of poisonous substances, despite the statement that Germany had violated the norms of international law, received from the UK, it was decided to continue.
Basically, the Germans used chlorine against enemy units - a gas with an almost instantaneous lethal effect. The only disadvantage of using chlorine was its saturated green color, because of which it was possible to make an unexpected attack only in the already mentioned battle of Ypres, in the future, the Entente armies stocked up enough means of protection against the effects of chlorine and more could not be afraid of it. Fritz Haber personally supervised the production of chlorine - a man who later became well known in Germany as the father of chemical weapons.
Having used chlorine in the Battle of Ypres, the Germans did not stop there, but used it at least three more times, including against the Russian fortress of Osovets, where in May 1915 about 90 soldiers died instantly, more than 40 died in hospital wards . But despite the frightening effect that followed from the use of gas, the Germans did not succeed in taking the fortress. The gas practically destroyed all life in the district, plants and many animals died, most of the food supply was destroyed, while Russian soldiers received a frightening type of injury, those who were lucky enough to survive had to remain disabled for life.
Such large-scale actions led to the fact that the German army soon began to feel an acute shortage of chlorine, because it was replaced by phosgene, a gas without color and pungent odor. Due to the fact that phosgene exuded the smell of moldy hay, it was not at all easy to detect it, since the symptoms of poisoning did not appear immediately, but only a day after application. Poisoned enemy soldiers for some time successfully led fighting, but not receiving timely treatment, due to elementary ignorance of their condition, they died the very next day in tens and hundreds. Phosgene was a more toxic substance, so it was much more profitable to use it than chlorine.
In 1917, all near the same town of Ypres, German soldiers used another poisonous substance - mustard gas, also called mustard gas. In the composition of mustard gas, in addition to chlorine, substances were used that, when they got on the skin of a person, not only caused poisoning in him, but also served to form numerous abscesses. Outwardly, mustard gas looked like an oily liquid without color. It was possible to determine the presence of mustard gas only by its characteristic smell of garlic, or mustard, hence the name - mustard gas. Contact with mustard gas in the eyes led to instant blindness, concentration of mustard gas in the stomach led to immediate nausea, bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. When the mucous membrane of the throat was affected by mustard gas, the victims experienced an immediate development of edema, which subsequently developed into a purulent formation. A strong concentration of mustard gas in the lungs led to the development of their inflammation and death from suffocation on the 3rd day after poisoning.
The practice of using mustard gas has shown that of all chemical substances, used in the First World War, it was this liquid, synthesized by the French scientist Cesar Despres and the Englishman Frederic Guthrie in 1822 and 1860 independently of each other, that was the most dangerous, since there were no measures to combat poisoning with it. The only thing the doctor could do was to advise the patient to wash the mucous membranes affected by the substance and wipe the skin areas that were in contact with mustard gas with napkins abundantly moistened with water.
In the fight against mustard gas, which, when it comes into contact with the surface of the skin or clothing, can be converted into other equally dangerous substances, even a gas mask could not provide significant assistance, be in the mustard zone, the soldiers were recommended no more than 40 minutes, after which the poison began to penetrate through the means of protection.
Despite the obvious fact that the use of any of the poisonous substances, whether it be the practically harmless ethyl bromoacenate, or such a dangerous substance as mustard gas, is a violation not only of the laws of warfare, but also of civil rights and freedoms, following the Germans, the British and French began to use chemical weapons. and even Russians. Convinced of high efficiency mustard gas, the British and French quickly set up its production, and soon it was several times larger than the German one in scale.
In Russia, the production and use of chemical weapons first began before the planned Brusilov breakthrough in 1916. Ahead of the advancing Russian army, shells with chloropicrin and vensinite were scattered, which had a suffocating and poisoning effect. The use of chemicals gave the Russian army a noticeable advantage, the enemy left the trenches in droves and became easy prey for artillery.
Interestingly, after the First World War, the use of any of the means of chemical action on the human body was not only prohibited, but also imputed to Germany as the main crime against human rights, despite the fact that almost all poisonous elements entered mass production and were very effectively used by both opposing sides.
The First World War was rich in technical innovations, but, perhaps, none of them acquired such an ominous halo as a gas weapon. Poisonous substances have become a symbol of senseless slaughter, and all those who have been under chemical attack will forever remember the horror of the deadly clouds creeping into the trenches. The First World War became a real benefit of gas weapons: they managed to use 40 different types poisonous substances, from which 1.2 million people suffered and up to a hundred thousand more died.
By the beginning of the World War, chemical weapons were almost non-existent in service. The French and the British had already experimented with tear gas rifle grenades, the Germans had filled 105-mm howitzer shells with tear gas, but these innovations had no effect. Gas from German shells, and even more so from French grenades, instantly dissipated in the open air. The first chemical attacks of the First World War were not widely known, but soon combat chemistry had to be taken much more seriously.
At the end of March 1915, German soldiers captured by the French began to report: gas cylinders were delivered to the positions. One of them even had a respirator captured. The reaction to this information was surprisingly nonchalant. The command just shrugged and did nothing to protect the troops. Moreover, the French general Edmond Ferry, who had warned his neighbors about the threat and dispersed his subordinates, lost his post for panic. Meanwhile, the threat of chemical attacks grew ever more real. The Germans were ahead of other countries in the development of a new type of weapon. After experimenting with projectiles, the idea arose to use cylinders. The Germans planned a private offensive in the area of the city of Ypres. The commander of the corps, to whose front the cylinders were delivered, was honestly informed that he should "exclusively test the new weapon." The German command did not particularly believe in the serious effect of gas attacks. The attack was postponed several times: the wind stubbornly did not blow in the right direction.
On April 22, 1915, at 17:00, the Germans released chlorine from 5,700 cylinders at once. Observers saw two curious yellow-green clouds, which were pushed by a light wind towards the Entente trenches. The German infantry moved behind the clouds. Soon the gas began to flow into the French trenches.
The effect of gas poisoning was terrifying. Chlorine affects the respiratory tract and mucous membranes, causes burns to the eyes and, if inhaled heavily, leads to death by suffocation. However, the most powerful was the psychological impact. French colonial troops, hit by a blow, fled in droves.
Within a short time, more than 15 thousand people were out of action, of which 5 thousand lost their lives. The Germans, however, did not take full advantage of the devastating effect of the new weapons. For them, it was just an experiment, and they were not preparing for a real breakthrough. In addition, the advancing German infantrymen themselves received poisoning. Finally, the resistance was never broken: the arriving Canadians soaked handkerchiefs, scarves, blankets in puddles - and breathed through them. If there was no puddle, they urinated themselves. The action of chlorine was thus greatly weakened. Nevertheless, the Germans made significant progress on this sector of the front - despite the fact that in a positional war, each step was usually given with huge blood and great labors. In May, the French had already received the first respirators, and the effectiveness of gas attacks decreased.
Soon chlorine was also used on the Russian front near Bolimov. Here, too, events developed dramatically. Despite the chlorine flowing into the trenches, the Russians did not run, and although almost 300 people died from the gas right on the position, and more than two thousand received poisoning of varying severity after the first attack, the German offensive ran into stiff resistance and broke. A cruel twist of fate: gas masks were ordered from Moscow and arrived at the positions just a few hours after the battle.
Soon a real "gas race" began: the parties constantly increased the number of chemical attacks and their power: they experimented with a variety of suspensions and methods of their application. At the same time, the mass introduction of gas masks into the troops began. The first gas masks were extremely imperfect: it was difficult to breathe in them, especially on the run, and the glasses quickly fogged up. Nevertheless, even under such conditions, even in clouds of gas with an additionally limited view, hand-to-hand combat occurred. One of the British soldiers managed to kill or seriously injure dozens in turn in a gas cloud. German soldiers, making his way into the trench. He approached them from the side or from behind, and the Germans simply did not see the attacker until the butt fell on their heads.
The gas mask has become one of the key items of equipment. When leaving, he was thrown last. True, this did not always help either: sometimes the concentration of the gas turned out to be too high and people died even in gas masks.
But unusual effective way fires turned out to be a protection: waves of hot air dissipated clouds of gas quite successfully. In September 1916, during a German gas attack, a Russian colonel took off his mask to give orders by telephone and lit a fire right at the entrance to his own dugout. In the end, he spent the entire fight yelling commands, at the cost of only a slight poisoning.
The method of gas attack was most often quite simple. Liquid poison was sprayed through hoses from cylinders, turned into a gaseous state in the open air and, driven by the wind, crawled to enemy positions. Troubles occurred regularly: when the wind changed, their own soldiers were poisoned.
Often the gas attack was combined with conventional shelling. For example, during the Brusilov Offensive, the Russians silenced the Austrian batteries with a combination of chemical and conventional shells. From time to time, attempts were even made to attack with several gases at once: one was supposed to cause irritation through a gas mask and force the affected enemy to tear off the mask and expose himself to another cloud - suffocating.
Chlorine, phosgene, and other asphyxiating gases had one fatal flaw as weapons: they required the enemy to inhale them.
In the summer of 1917, under the long-suffering Ypres, a gas was used, which was named after this city - mustard gas. Its feature was the effect on the skin bypassing the gas mask. When exposed to unprotected skin, mustard gas caused severe chemical burns, necrosis, and traces of it remained for life. For the first time, the Germans fired shells with mustard gas on the British military who had concentrated before the attack. Thousands of people received terrible burns, and many soldiers did not even have gas masks. In addition, the gas proved to be very stable and continued to poison anyone who entered its area of action for several days. Fortunately, the Germans did not have sufficient supplies of this gas, as well as protective clothing, to attack through the poisoned zone. During the attack on the city of Armantere, the Germans filled it with mustard gas so that the gas literally flowed through the streets in rivers. The British retreated without a fight, but the Germans were unable to enter the town.
The Russian army marched in line: immediately after the first cases of the use of gas, the development of protective equipment began. At first, protective equipment did not shine with variety: gauze, rags soaked in a hyposulfite solution.
However, already in June 1915, Nikolai Zelinsky developed a very successful gas mask based on activated carbon. Already in August, Zelinsky presented his invention - a full-fledged gas mask, complemented by a rubber helmet designed by Edmond Kummant. The gas mask protected the entire face and was made from a single piece of high-quality rubber. In March 1916, its production began. Zelinsky's gas mask protected not only the respiratory tract from poisonous substances, but also the eyes and face.
The most famous incident involving the use of military gases on the Russian front refers precisely to the situation when Russian soldiers did not have gas masks. This, of course, is about the battle on August 6, 1915 in the Osovets fortress. During this period, Zelensky's gas mask was still being tested, and the gases themselves were a fairly new type of weapon. Osovets was attacked already in September 1914, however, despite the fact that this fortress is small and not the most perfect, it stubbornly resisted. On August 6, the Germans used shells with chlorine from gas-balloon batteries. A two-kilometer wall of gas first killed the forward posts, then the cloud began to cover the main positions. The garrison received poisoning of varying severity almost without exception.
But then something happened that no one could have expected. First, the attacking German infantry was partially poisoned by their own cloud, and then already dying people began to resist. One of the machine gunners, already swallowing gas, fired several tapes at the attackers before dying. The culmination of the battle was a bayonet counterattack by a detachment of the Zemlyansky regiment. This group was not at the epicenter of the gas cloud, but everyone got poisoned. The Germans did not flee immediately, but they were psychologically unprepared to fight at a moment when all their opponents, it would seem, should have already died under a gas attack. "Attack of the Dead" demonstrated that even in the absence of full-fledged protection, gas does not always give the expected effect.
As a means of killing gas had obvious benefits, however, by the end of World War I, it did not look like such a formidable weapon. modern armies already at the end of the war, losses from chemical attacks were seriously reduced, often reducing them to almost zero. As a result, already in World War II, gases became exotic.
