Chemical warfare

by Amos A. Fries; Clarence J. West

Research Division

The American University Experiment Station, established by the Bureau of Mines in April, 1917, became July 1, 1918 the Research Division of the Chemical Warfare Service. For the first five months work was carried out in various laboratories, scattered over the country. In September, 1917, the buildings of the American University became available; a little later portions of the new chemical laboratory of the Catholic University, Washington, were taken over. Branch laboratories were established in many of the laboratories of the Universities and industrial plants, of which Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Yale, Ohio State, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Michigan, Columbia, Cornell, Wisconsin, Clark, Bryn Mawr, Nela Park and the National Carbon Company were active all through the war.

At the time of the signing of the armistice the organization of the Research Division was as follows:

Col. G. A. Burrell	Chief of Research Division
Dr. W. K. Lewis	In Charge of Defense Problems
Dr. E. P. Kohler[5]	In Charge of Offense Problems
Dr. Reid Hunt	Advisor on Pharmacological Problems
Lt. Col. W. D. Bancroft	In Charge of Editorial Work and Catalytic Research
Lt. Col. A. B. Lamb[6]	In Charge of Defense Chemical Research
Dr. L. W. Jones[7]	In Charge of Offense Chemical Research
Major A. C. Fieldner	In Charge of Gas Mask Research
Major G. A. Richter	In Charge of Pyrotechnic Research
Capt. E. K. Marshall[8]	In Charge of Pharmacological Research
Dr. A. S. Loevenhart[9]	In Charge of Toxicological Research
Major R. C. Tolman	In Charge of Dispersoid Research
Major W. S. Rowland[10]	In Charge of Small Scale Manufacture
Major B. B. Fogler[11]	In Charge of Mechanical Research and Development
Captain G. A. Rankin	In Charge of Explosive Research
Major Richmond Levering	In Charge of Administration Section

The chief functions of the Research Division were:

1. To prepare and test compounds which might be of value in gas warfare, determining the properties of these substances and the conditions under which they might be effective in warfare.

2. To develop satisfactory methods of making such compounds as seemed promising (Small Scale).

3. To develop the best methods of utilizing these compounds.

4. To develop materials which should absorb or destroy war gases, studying their properties and determining the conditions under which they might be effective.

5. To develop satisfactory methods of making such absorbents as might seem promising.

6. To develop masks, canisters, protective clothing, etc.

7. To develop incendiaries, smokes, signals, etc., and the best methods of using the same.

Fig. 4.—American University Experiment Station,
showing Small Scale Plants.

8. To co-operate with the manufacturing divisions in regard to difficulties arising during the operations of manufacturing war gases, absorbents, etc.

9. To co-operate with other branches of the Government, civil and military, in regard to war problems.

10. To collect and make available to the Director of the Chemical Warfare Service all information in regard to the chemistry of gas warfare.

The relation of the various sections may best be shown by outlining the general procedure used when a new toxic substance was developed.

The substance in question may have been used by the Germans or the Allies; it may have been suggested by someone outside the station; or the staff may have thought of it from a search of the literature, from analogy or from pure inspiration. The Offense Research Section made the substance. If it was a solid it was sent to the Dispersoid Section, where methods of dispersing it were worked out. When this had been done, or, at once, if the compound was a liquid or vapor, it was sent to the Toxicological Section to be tested for toxicity, lachrymatory power, vesicant action, or other special properties. If these tests proved the compound to have a high toxicity or a peculiar physiological behavior, it was then turned over to a number of different sections.

The Offense Research Section tried to improve the method of preparation. When a satisfactory method had been found, the Chemical Production or Small Scale Manufacturing Section endeavored to make it on a large scale (50 pounds to a ton) and worked out the manufacturing difficulties. If further tests showed that the substance was valuable, the manufacture was then given to the Development Division or the Gas Offense Production Division for large scale production.

Meanwhile the Analytical Section had been working on a method for testing the purity of the material and for analyzing air mixtures, and the Gas Mask Section had run tests against it with the standard canisters. If the protection afforded did not seem sufficient, the Defense Chemical Section studied changes in the ingredients of the canister or even developed a new absorbent or mixture of absorbents to meet the emergency. If a change in the mechanical construction of the canister was necessary, this was referred to the Mechanical Research Section; this work was especially important in case the material was to be used as a toxic smoke.

The compound was also sent to the Pyrotechnic Section, which studied its behavior when fired from a shell, or, if suitable, when used in a cylinder. If it proved stable on detonation, large field tests were then made by the Proving Division, in connection with the Pyrotechnic and Toxicological Sections of the Research Division, to learn the effect when shell loaded with the compound were fired from guns on a range, with animals placed suitably in or near the trenches. The Analytical Section worked out methods of detecting the gas in the field, wherever possible.

The Medical Division, working with the Toxicological and Pharmacological Sections, studied pathological details, methods of treating gassed cases, the effect of the gas on the body, and in some cases even considered other questions, such as the susceptibility of different men.

If the question of an ointment or clothing entered into the matter of protection, these were usually attacked by several Sections from different points of view.

Out of the 250 gases prepared by the Offense Chemical Research Section, very few were sufficiently valuable to pass all of these tests and thus the number of gases actually put into large scale production were less than a dozen. This had its advantages, for it made unnecessary a large number of factories and the training of men in the manufacturing details of many gases. As one British report stated, “The ultimate object of chemical warfare should be to produce two substances only; one persistent and the other non-persistent; both should be lethal and both should be penetrants.” They might well have added that both should be instantly and powerfully lachrymatory.

Since most of the work of the Research Division will be covered in detail in later chapters, only a brief summary of the principal problems will be given here.

The first and most important problem was the development of a gas mask. This was before Sections had been organized and was the work of the entire Division. After comparing the existing types of masks it was decided that the Standard Box Respirator of the British was the best one to copy. Because we were entirely new at the game that meant work on charcoal, soda-lime, and the various mechanical parts of the mask, such as the facepiece, elastics, eyepieces, mouthpiece, noseclip, hose, can, valves, etc. The story of the “first twenty thousand” is very well told by Colonel Burrell.[12]

“The First Twenty Thousand

“About the first of May, 1917, Major L. P. Williamson, acting as liaison officer between the Bureau of Mines and the War Department, put the last ounce of ‘pep’ into the organization by asking us to build 20,000 gas masks for shipment overseas. 20,000 masks did not seem like a very large order. We did not fully appreciate all the conditions which a war gas mask had to encounter, so we readily and willingly accepted the order. Then began a struggle with can manufacturers, buckle makers, manufacturers of straps, rubber facepieces, eyepieces, knapsacks, etc. The country was canvassed from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River for manufacturers who could turn out the different parts acceptably and in a hurry.

“Charcoal was made from red cedar by the Day Chemical Co. of Westline, Pennsylvania; soda-lime permanganate was manufactured by the General Chemical Company; knapsacks by the Simmons Hardware Company in St. Louis; facepieces by the Goodrich and Goodyear Rubber Companies at Akron; canisters by the American Can Company; and the assembly made at one of the plants of the American Can Company in Long Island City.

“The writer cannot recall all the doubts, fears, optimism, and enthusiasm felt in turn by different members of the organization during the fabrication of those first 20,000 masks. We were performing an important task for the War Department. Night became day. Dewey, Lewis, Henderson, Gibbs, and others stepped from one train to another, and we used the telephone between Washington and St. Louis or Boston as freely as we used the local Washington telephone.

“We thought we could improve on the English box respirator on various points. We made the canister larger, and have been glad ever since that we did. We thought the English mouthpiece was too flexible and too small, and made ours stiff and larger, and were sorry we made the change. We tested the fillings against chlorine, phosgene, prussic acid, etc., and had a canister that was all that was desired for absorbing these gases. But, alas, we did not know that chloropicrin was destined to be one of the most important war gases used by the various belligerents. Further, it was not fully appreciated that the rubberized cloth used in making the facepiece had to be highly impermeable against gases, that hardness as much as anything else was desired in the make-up of the soda-lime granules in order to withstand rough jolting so that the fines would not clog the canister, and raise the resistance to breathing to a prohibitive figure. Neither was it appreciated at that time by any of the allies, that the gas mask really should be a be a fighting instrument, one that men could work hard in, run in, and wear for hours, without too serious discomfort.

“The first 20,000 masks sent over to England were completed by the Research Division in record time. As compared with the French masks, they were far superior, giving greater protection against chlorine, phosgene, superpalite, prussic acid, xylyl bromide, etc. The French mask was of the cloth type, conforming to the face, and consisting of twenty layers of cheesecloth impregnated with sodium phenate and hexamethylenetetramine. Chloropicrin went through this like a shot. Just before the masks were sent abroad, we received disturbing rumors of the contemplated use of large quantities of chloropicrin. The French, apparently, had no intention of changing the design of their mask, and did not do so for months to come. We therefore released the masks, they were sent abroad, and an anxious research group on this side of the water waited expectantly for the verdict. It came. A brief cablegram told us what our English cousins thought of us. It was a subject they had been wrestling with for two years and a half. They had had battlefield experience; they had gone through the grief of developing poor masks into better ones, knew the story better than we did, and after a thorough test ‘hammered’ the American design unmercifully.

“This experience put the Research Division on its mettle. Our first attempt had given us the necessary preliminary experience; cablegrams and reports traveled back and forth; an expert or two eventually came to this country from England in response to previous appeals for assistance, and we turned with adequate information to the development of a real mask.”

The story of mustard gas is given later. It probably occupied more time and thought on the part of the Research Division, as well as that of Edgewood Arsenal and the Development Division, than any other gas.

Diphenylchloroarsine led to the preparation of a series of arsenic compounds, some more easily prepared and more or less effective.

Cyanogen chloride and cyanogen bromide, reported by the Italians as having been used by the Germans, were extensively studied.

The Inorganic Section was early interested in special incendiary materials which were developed for bombs, shells, darts and grenades, and which were later taken over by the Pyrotechnic Section, and finally adopted by the Ordnance Department.

In discussing the work one can very well start with the Offense Section. This Section had two aims in view always, to develop methods of making the gases used by the Germans more economically than they were making them, and to develop better gases if possible. When we entered the war, chlorine, phosgene and chloropicrin were the lethal gases used, while bromoacetone and xylyl bromide were the lachrymators. It was not a difficult matter to prepare these. But the introduction of mustard gas in the summer of 1917 and of diphenylchloroarsine in the autumn of the same year, not only made our chemists ponder over a manufacturing method, but also so revised our notions of warfare that the possibility of using other substances created the need for extensive research. The development of bromobenzylcyanide by the French likewise opened a new field among lachrymatory substances.

Colored rockets and smokes were developed for the Navy and Army. The smoke box was also studied but the work was taken over by the Pyrotechnic Section.

A large amount of pure inorganic research on arsine and arsenides, fluorine, hydrofluoric acid and fluorides, cyanides, cyanogen sulfide and nitrogen tetroxide was carried out, sometimes successfully and at other times with little or no success.

The Analytical Section not only carried out all routine analyses but developed methods for many new gases.

The Offense Section worked in very close contact with the Small Scale Manufacturing Section (Chemical Production Section). Often it happened that a method, apparently successful in the laboratory, was of no value in the plant. Small scale plants were developed for mustard gas, hydrocyanic acid, cyanogen chloride, arsenic trichloride, arsenic trifluoride, magnesium arsenide, superpalite and bromobenzylcyanide.

The Chemical Defense Section, organized January, 1918, was occupied with problems relating to protection, such as charcoal, soda-lime, and special absorbents, eyepieces, smoke filters, efficiency of absorbents, and special work with mustard gas.

Charcoal demanded extensive research. Raw materials required a world-wide search, carbonizing methods had to be developed, and impregnating agents were thoroughly studied. This story is told in [Chapter XIII].

Soda-lime was likewise a difficult problem. Starting with the British formula, the influence of the various factors was studied and a balance between a number of desirable qualities, absorptive activity, capacity, hardness, resistance to abrasion, chemical stability, etc., obtained. The final product consisted of a mixture of lime, cement, kieselguhr, sodium permanganate and sodium hydroxide.

Equally valuable work was performed in the perfection of two carbon monoxide absorbents for the Navy. The better of these consisted of a mixture of suitably prepared oxides which acts catalytically under certain conditions, and causes the carbon monoxide to react with the oxygen of the air. Since there are color changes connected with the iodine pentoxide reaction (the first absorbent) it has been possible to develop this so as to serve as a very sensitive detector for the presence of carbon monoxide in air.

While the question of smoke filters was so important that it occupied the attention of several Sections, the Defense Section developed, as a part of its work, a standard method of testing and comparing filters, and did a great deal of work on the preparation of paper for this purpose.

Various problems related to mustard gas were also studied. The question of a protective ointment was solved as successfully as possible under the circumstances, but was dropped when it appeared doubtful if under battlefield conditions of concentration and length of exposure, any ointment offered sufficient protection to pay for the trouble of applying it. The removal of mustard gas from clothing was investigated, especially by the accelerating effect of turkey red oil. Another phase of the work concerned the destruction of mustard gas on the ground, while a fourth phase related to the persistency of mustard (and other gases) on the field of battle.

The Gas Mask Research Section concerned itself largely with developing methods of testing canisters and with routine tests. When one considers the number of gases studied experimentally, the large number of experimental canisters developed, all of which were tested against two or more gases, and further that the Section assisted in the control of the production at Long Island City, it is seen that this was no small job. In addition, the effect of various conditions, such as temperature, humidity, ageing, size of particles, were studied in their relation to the life of absorbents and canisters. Man tests and mechanical tests will be discussed in a later chapter. Other studies were concerned with weathering tests of gas mask fabrics, mustard gas detector, and covering for dugout entrances (dugout blankets), which were impregnated with a mixture of mineral and vegetable oils. In studying the course of gases through a canister the “wave front” method was of great value in detecting defects in canister design and filling.

The Pyrotechnic Section was composed of a number of units, each with its own problem. The gas shell was studied, with special reference to the stability of gases and toxic solids, both on storage and on detonation. Extensive work was carried out on smoke screens—a Navy funnel, an Army portable smoke apparatus, using silicon tetrachloride, a grenade, a Livens, and various shell being developed for that purpose. The smoke screen was adapted to the tank and the airplane as well as to the funnel of a ship. Several types of incendiary bombs and darts were perfected. The liquid fire gun was studied but the results were never utilized because of the abandonment as useless of that form of warfare. Various forms of signal lights, flares, rockets and colored smokes were studied and in most cases specifications were written. Extensive studies were also carried out on gas shell linings, from which a lead and an enamel lining were evolved. Many physical properties of war gases and their mixtures were determined.

The Dispersoid Section studied the production of smokes or mists from various solid and liquid substances. Apparatus were developed to study the concentration of smoke clouds and their rate of settling. The efficiency of various filters and canisters was determined, and among other things, a new smoke candle was perfected.

Mechanical research at first was related to design and construction of a canister and mask, based on the English type. During the latter part of 1917 the Tissot type of mask was studied and then turned over to the Gas Defense Division. A Navy Head Mask and canister was perfected. The horse mask was developed along the lines of the British type, and also a dog mask of the same general nature. Horse boots were also constructed, though they never were used at the front. Many Ordnance and Pyrotechnic problems were also successfully completed, not the least of which was a noiseless gas cylinder. This section developed the first special poison gas suit, composed of an oilcloth suit, a mask and helmet and a special canister.

The Manufacturing Development Section had general charge of the defense problems, and really acted as an emergency section, filling in as occasion demanded. They developed mustard gas clothing and a horse mask. They constructed a hydrogen plant at Langley Field, assisted in solving the difficulties relating to Batchite charcoal at Springfield, Mass., and co-operated in the study of paper and felt as filtering materials for smokes. Towards the close of the war the Section was interested in the application of the gas mask to the industries.

The Physiological work is discussed under the Medical Division.

The Editorial Section received reports from all the other Sections, from which a semi-monthly report was written, and distributed to authorized representatives of the Army and Navy and to our Allies. Reports were also received from abroad and the information thus received was made available to the Research Division. As the number of reports increased the work was collected together into monographs on the various war gases, absorbents, smokes, etc. After the signing of the armistice these were revised and increased in number, so that about fifty were finally turned over to the Director of the Chemical Warfare Service.