Gas and Flame in Modern Warfare - Samuel James Manson Auld

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV The attack of December, 1915--The Allies' good training tells--The casualties analysed--The new element of surprise--Evidences of the use of phosgene--The incident of the bulb--Improved alarms--The Strombos sirens--Accidents to the horns--The Tear Gas Shell--Its chemical analysis--Combated by antigas goggles--Tommies scoff at Tear Gas.--The Germans make it formidable. The expected German gas attack was actually made on December 19, 1915, at about 5:15 A. M., just before "Stand to" in the morning, the venue being the north of the Ypres salient, from the canal bank at Boesinghe down to Wieltje, a distance of three miles. It was preceded by the appearance of parachute lights of an unusual kind and by a number of red rocket flares. Almost immediately afterward gas was smelt in the front trenches. In some cases a hissing sound made by the gas's leaving the cylinders was heard and was taken as a warning by the soldiers in the trenches. In other cases the noise seems to have been deadened by rifle fire. Taking it altogether, however, there was very little warning, as the wind was favourable and the gas traveled surprisingly quickly. There was absolutely no confusion, and the men put on their helmets at once and lined the parapets within a minute. Where the trenches were close together the men had some difficulty in getting on their helmets in time. This was particularly the case in listening posts where we had patrols out quite close to the German wire. In the support and reserve trenches the arrangements for spreading the warning were not so good as those in the front line, and a number of men were caught by the gas before they had their helmets on. Indeed in a number of cases, especially in batteries, the gas was smelt before the...