Smoke and Incendiary Materials
So far nothing has been said in regard to smoke or incendiary materials. This has been due to the fact that their use is not dependent upon weather conditions to anything near the extent that gas is. Second, the smokes, not being poisonous, are not a danger to our own troops, although they may hamper movements and add to the difficulty of taking a position, if used improperly. Of the two classes of materials, smoke and incendiary, smoke materials may be said to be at least a thousand times as important as the incendiary materials. A material that will burst into flame when a shell is opened or that will scatter balls of burning fire appeals to the popular imagination, and yet actual results achieved by such materials on the field of battle have been almost nil. About the only results worth while achieved by incendiary materials have been in occasionally firing ammunition dumps and more frequently, setting fire to warehouses and other storage places. This will undoubtedly continue in the future.
Flame Thrower
Of the incendiary materials the least valuable is the flame thrower. In the Chemical Warfare Service it has been the habit for a long while not to mention the flame thrower at all, unless questions were asked about it. It is mentioned here to forestall the questions. Even the German, who invented it and who, during the two years of trench warfare, had full opportunity for developing its use, finally came to using it largely as a means of executing people that he did not want to shoot himself. Men falling in that class were equipped with flame throwers and sent over the top. The German knew, as did the Allies, that each man with a flame thrower became a target for every rifle and machine gun nearby. The flame thrower is very quickly exhausted and then the one equipped with it has no means of offensive action, and in addition, is saddled with a heavy load, hampering all movements, whether to escape or to advance.
Inflammable Materials
There will probably be some use for materials such as metallic sodium, spontaneously inflammable oils, etc., that will burst into flame and burn when exposed to the air, though white phosphorus is probably equal, and in most cases vastly superior to anything else so far suggested. Phosphorus burns with an unquenchable flame when exposed to the air, whether wet or dry. It is of great value for screening purposes, and for use against the enemy’s troops. The German did not use phosphorus simply because he did not have it, just as he did not use helium in his observation balloons because he did not have it.
The value of phosphorus was just beginning to be realized slightly when the Americans entered the war, while its full value was not appreciated even by the American troops when the war closed.
The work of the First Gas Regiment with phosphorus against machine gun nests proved how valuable it is against the enemy’s troops. It proved also its tremendous value as a screen.
The Chemical Warfare Service was prepared to fill a great number of artillery shell with phosphorus, but due to the failure of our shell program to mature before the Armistice, phosphorus was not used by American artillery to any appreciable extent.
Smoke Used by Everyone
Smoke will be used by every fighting arm of the Service in practically every battle, both by day and by night. If you have ever tried on a target range to shoot at a target that was just beginning to be obscured by a fog, you will recognize the difficulty of hitting anything by firing through an impenetrable smoke screen. It is simply a shot in the dark. Future battles will witness smoke formed by smoke candles that are kept in the trenches or carried by the troops, by smoke from bursting artillery shell and rifle grenades, by smoke from aeroplane bombs and possibly even from what is known as the smoke knapsack. The knapsack produces a very dense white smoke and very economically, but will probably not be much used. This is because, notwithstanding its efficiency, the knapsack cannot be projected to a distance, that is, the smoke screen is generated on the person carrying the knapsack. On the other hand the great value of phosphorus is that it can be fired to great distances in rifle grenades or artillery shell, and dropped from aviation bombs. The smoke screen is thus established in front of the object it is desired to cut off, whether it be a battery of artillery, an advancing wave of infantry, or a lookout station. Thus smoke, for screening purposes alone, will be used to a tremendous extent. It will also be used in conjunction with gas.
Smoky Appearance of Gas Cloud
Due to the smoky appearance of an ordinary gas cloud and to the coming use of poisonous smokes, no one on the field of battle in the future will ever be certain that any given smoke cloud is not also a poisonous cloud until he has actually tested it. And there lies an opportunity for the most intense study and for the greatest use of the proverbial American ingenuity that war has ever furnished.
In the variations that can be played with smoke containing gas, or not containing gas, with smoke hurled long distances by the artillery or dropped from aeroplanes, the possibilities indeed are unlimited. Every officer will need to study the possibilities of smoke, both in its use against him and in his use of it against the enemy. He can probably save more casualties among his own troops by the skillful use of smoke than by any other one thing at his command. On the other hand, the unskilled use of smoke on the part of one side in a battle may lead to very great casualties in proportion to those of the enemy should the latter use his smoke skillfully. This is a subject that deserves deep and constant study.
Protection by Smoke Clouds
Smoke in the future will be the greatest protective device available to the soldier. It shuts out not only the view in daylight, but the searching of ground at night by searchlights, by star bombs or other means for illuminating the battlefield. It has already been used extensively by the Navy and undoubtedly will be used far more extensively in the future.
Shell Markings
Modern artillery shell have distinctive colors for high explosive, for shrapnel, for incendiary materials, and for gases. A grayish color has been adopted as the general color of the paint on all gas shells, bombs and cylinders. In addition a system of colored bands has been adopted. These bands are white to indicate poisonous non-persistent substances, and red—persistent. Yellow is used to indicate smoke. With any given combination of red and white and yellow bands, the artillery-man at the front can tell, at a glance, whether the gas is non-persistent or whether it is persistent, and also whether or not it contains smoke. There will be secondary markings on each shell which, to the trained Chemical Warfare Service officer, will indicate the particular gas or gases in the shell. These markings however, will be inconspicuous and no attempt will be made to give the information to the soldier or even to the average officer firing gas.
These secondary markings are for the purpose of enabling the Chemical Warfare Service officers in charge to use certain gases for particular uses in those comparatively rare cases when sufficient gas is on hand and sufficient time available to enable such a choice to be made.
CHAPTER XXIV
DEFENSE AGAINST GAS
(From the Field Point of View)
The best defense against any implement of war is a vigorous offense with the same implement. This is a military axiom that cannot be too often, or too greatly emphasized, though like other axioms it cannot be applied too literally. It needs a proper interpretation—the interpretation varying with time and circumstances. Thus in gas warfare, a vigorous offense with gas is the best defense against gas. This does not mean that the enemy’s gas can be ignored. Indeed, it is more important to make use of all defensive measures against gas than it is against any other form of attack. Gas being heavier than air, rolls along the ground, filling dugouts, trenches, woods and valleys—just the places that are safest from bullets and high explosives. There it remains for hours after it has blown away in the open, and, since the very air itself is poisoned, it is necessary not only that protection be general but that it be continuous during the whole time the gas is present.