Chemical warfare

by Amos A. Fries; Clarence J. West

Grant and Jackson. Grant at Vicksburg and Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley and at Chancellorsville, achieved the same results in different ways. In every case the fundamental principle of concentrating the greatest force at the decisive point at the vital moment in the battle remained the same. The methods for achieving that end change with every age, and every commander of world-wide renown developed something new or used an old method in a new way. And that is the fundamental requirement for a successful general. Hannibal, Hasdrubal, Cæsar, Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Scott, Grant, and Jackson were all independent thinkers. Each and every one dared to do something that every other general and statesman of his time told him could not be done or that would bring about disaster. They had the courage of their convictions. They had the courage to think out new ideas and to develop them, and then they had the courage to carry through those convictions, not alone against the opposition of the enemy, but against the opposition of their own people, both in the field and at home. And we may be perfectly sure that in each case had these men not done the things they did, they would have gone down to oblivion just as has been the case with millions of others who tried the usual methods in the usual way.

Chemical Warfare Latest Development. Chemical Warfare is the latest development of war. So far as the United States is concerned, it is considerably less than four years old. It is the most scientific of all methods of fighting and also the most universally applicable to all other methods of making war. The use of poisonous and irritating gases in war is just as fundamental as the introduction of gunpowder. In fact, they have an even wider application to war than powder itself.

Necessity for New Methods. The idea that has been expressed above is that the General Staff and the Army commander who sticks to old and tried methods and who is unwilling to try with all his might new developments, will never achieve any first class success. The General Staffs and the generals of the future that win wars will be the ones who make the most vigorous and efficient use of Chemical Warfare materials. They cannot confine this use to the artillery, to Aviation, to Special Gas Troops, or to any other single branch of the war machine. They must make use of it in every way.

What Is Meant by Gas. It must be understood that by gases we refer to materials that injure by being carried to the victim in the air. The word “gas” has nothing whatever to do with the condition of the material when in the shell, or the bombs, or the cylinders before released. In every case, the gases are liquids or solids. When the containers are broken open the liquids are volatilized either by the gas pressure or by the force of the explosion of the bomb.

Groups of Gases. Chemical Warfare gases are divided into three great groups. So far as their actual tactical use on the field of battle is concerned, there are only two groups—persistent and non-persistent. The third is the irritant group. This group affects the eyes and the lungs so as to make the victim very uncomfortable if not completely incapable of action in quantities so small as to cause no injury that lasts more than a few hours. The quantities of such gases needed to force the wearing of the mask is ¹/₁₀₀₀ that needed to cause the same discomfort by the really poisonous gases, such as phosgene. They, therefore, have a very great economic value in harassing the enemy by forcing him to wear masks and to take other precautions against gas. And no matter how perfect gas masks and gas-proof clothing become, their long-continued use will cut down physical vigor in an ever increasing ratio until in two or three days an army may be totally incapacitated.

Smoke. In Chemical Warfare materials we have another great group which will probably be equal in the future to the three groups just mentioned. That is common smoke. Smoke has a variety of uses. By the simple term “smoke” is meant smokes that are not poisonous or irritating. Such smokes offer a perfect screen against enemy vision, whether it is the man who sights the machine gun, the observer in the lookout station, the cannoneer or even the aeroplane observer. Every shot through impenetrable smoke is a shot in the dark and has a tenth or even less chance of hitting its mark. Smoke affords a means of decreasing the accuracy of firing, much the same as night decreases it, without the inherent difficulties of night action.

Peace Strategy. The strategy of successful war involves the strategy of peace. This has been true from the days when David with his sling-shot slew Goliath, down to the present moment. We don’t always think of it in connection with war, but back of every successful war has been preparation during peace. It may have been incidental preparation such as the training of men in fighting Indians, and in creating public sentiment favorable to an independent nation that preceded the Revolutionary War. It may, on the other hand, have been a deeply studied policy such as that of the Germans prior to the World War. They tried and generally quite successfully, to coördinate all peace activities toward the day when a war should come that would decide the future destiny of the German Empire, and it was only because of that study in peace that Germany almost single-handed was able to stand out for more than four years against the world. The Allies came near losing that war because they did not appreciate that the strategy of efficient war had to be preceded by the strategy of peace.

Chemical Warfare an Example. Chemical warfare is a particularly good example of this fact. Prior to the World War we had acknowledged, and without any misgivings, that Germany led the world in chemistry, that it produced most of the dyes in the world, and to a large extent the medicines of the world. We felt that when American needs showed it to be advisable we could take up chemistry and chemical production and soon excel the Germans. We had not reckoned on the suddenness of war.

We were just getting ready with chemicals, and that included powders and high explosives, when the war closed. And yet we had had not only eighteen months’ intensive preparation after our own entry into the World War, but also the preparation of great steel institutions and powder factories for nearly three years in manufacturing supplies for the Allies who preceded us in the war.

Coal Tar. The World War opened the eyes of England, France and Japan as well as the United States. Each of them today is struggling to build up a great chemical industry as the very foundation of successful war. Few of us realized prior to the World War that in the black, sticky mess called coal tar from the coking of coal or the manufacture of gas from coal and oil, was stored up most of the high explosives used in war, the majority of the poison gases, a great deal of the medicines of the world, and nearly all the dyes of the world. The Germans realized it and in their control over methods of using this material, together with the great commercial plants developed to manufacture it, as well as with the trained personnel that must go with such plants, were enabled, when blockaded on land and sea, to furnish the munitions, the clothing and the food needed for four and one-half years of war.