The use of gas by aeroplanes will not differ from its use in artillery or by Chemical Warfare Troops. Non-persistent gases may be dropped on the field of battle, upon concentration points, in rest areas, or other troop encampments to produce immediate casualties. Persistent gases will be dropped particularly around cross-roads, railroad yards, concentration points and encampments that cannot be reached by the artillery. The sprinkling of persistent gases will be one of the best ways for aeroplanes to distribute gas.
It might be said here that the aviation gas bomb will be highly efficient, inasmuch as it has to be only strong enough to withstand the low pressure of the gas and ordinary handling, whereas artillery shell must be strong enough to withstand the shock of discharge in the gun.
Infantry and Gas Warfare
When one suggests the possibility of the infantry handling gas, it is at once argued that the infantry is already overloaded. That is true, but in the future, as in the past, the infantryman will increase or decrease his load of a given material just as its efficiency warrants. If he finds that gas will get casualties and help him win victories more readily than an equal weight of any other material, he will carry gas material. A study of the articles of equipment abandoned by 10,000 stragglers in the British Army picked up during the great German drive towards Amiens in March, 1918, illustrates this very clearly. Of the equipment carried by these stragglers, more than 6,000 had discarded their rifles. The helmets were thrown away to a somewhat less extent, but the gas mask had been thrown away by only 800 out of the 10,000. Now the gas mask is not a particularly easy thing to carry, nor was the English type comfortable to wear, but the English soldier had learned that in a gas attack he had no chance whatever of escape if his gas mask failed him. Accordingly, he hung on to the mask when he had discarded nearly everything else in his possession. The same thing will be true of any gas equipment if it proves its worth.
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.