Effectiveness of Gas
Chemical warfare materials were used during the war by Chemical Warfare Service troops, by the Artillery and by the Infantry. In the future the Air Service and Navy will be added to the above list. Chemical warfare, even under the inelastic methods of the Germans, proved one of the most powerful means of offense with which the American troops had to contend. To realize its effectiveness we need only remember that more than 27 out of every 100 casualties on the field of battle were from gas alone. Unquestionably many of those who died on the battlefield from other causes suffered also from gas. No other single element of war, unless you call powder a basic element, accounted for so many casualties among the American troops. Indeed, it is believed that a greater number of casualties was not inflicted by any other arm of the Service, unless possibly the Infantry, and even in that case it would be necessary to account for all injured by bullets, the bayonet, machine guns and hand grenades. This is true, in spite of the fact that the German was so nearly completely out of gas when the Americans began their offensive at St. Mihiel and the Argonne, that practically no gas casualties occurred during the St. Mihiel offensive, and only a very few until after a week of the Argonne fighting. Furthermore, the Germans knew that an extensive use of mustard gas against the American lines on the day the attack was made, and also on the line that marked the end of the first advance a few days later, would have produced tremendous casualties. Judging from the results achieved at other times by an extensive use of mustard gas, it is believed that had the German possessed this gas and used it as he had used it a few other times, American casualties in the Argonne would have been doubled. In fact, the advance might even have been entirely stopped, thus prolonging the war into the year 1919.