The first German cloud gas attack was the second attempt to gain the decisive initiative, by the unauthorised use of a surprise of an entirely different nature.
Modern writers are at great pains to establish how the world war, although leaving the final function of the infantry unchanged, rendered them and their staff subservient to mass munition production. Mr. H. G. Wells explains this to the Kaiser in a delightful imaginary interview between that august person and an hypothetical manufacturer.[1] Professor Pollard tells us how, when the first German surprise had failed, the war became "a test of endurance rather than generalship." We will leave a clear field for any military challenge to such a point of view. Our objection is that it is not fully developed. The war was still a test of generalship, that of directed production. This war has shown, and future wars may unfortunately confirm, that the type and secrecy of production is as important as its volume. There will still be the purely military surprise and manoeuvre, but superimposed, co-ordinated, and sometimes predominant will appear the technical surprise, the result of the generalship of production.
[1] War and the Future. Cassel, 1917.
Such a surprise is achieved by the sudden introduction on a large scale of some entirely new war weapon, capable of achieving a strategic or tactical objective in an unsuspected manner.
Although the general idea of this second type of surprise existed before the war, particularly in naval warfare, it required the coincidence of the Great European War and modern scientific development to demonstrate its great importance on land.
Thus the first German gas attack found the opposing troops entirely unprotected, not merely through the absence of a mask, but in training and technical discipline. The case is quoted of an indignant gassed soldier who, in an early gas attack, when reproached for not protecting himself, thereupon opened his tunic and revealed a mask firmly tied round his chest! It is a far cry from such a case to the inculcation of strict gas discipline into an army of millions. The attack reaped the corresponding results in casualties and morale. It found the opposing medical services unequipped, not only to treat the new type of casualty, but even to determine its nature rapidly and efficiently. In short, it found the enemy utterly unprepared, either in theory or practice, to counter its effect. The importance of this second type of surprise lies in its peculiar potentialities. It may affect a given military result with an extraordinarily small expenditure of material, energy, and eventually human life, when compared with the older military weapons. Chemical warfare is a weapon, par excellence, to achieve this second type of surprise. Therein lies its chief importance.
As a result, the history of chemical warfare becomes one of continual attempts, on both sides, to achieve surprise and to counter it by some accurate forecast in protective methods. It is a struggle for the initiative.
More than this, as the use of chemical warfare becomes an organic part of operations, as it did during the war, these operations become correspondingly dependent upon conditions imposed by the chemical campaign. One can imagine the case of an army unprotected against a new gas, aware that the enemy is ready to employ the latter, compelled to postpone some huge offensive until its protective methods were equal to countering the new chemical. General Fries, the American authority, states, in reference to mustard gas, and the Northern offensives in 1917: "It is no disparagement of the British, nor of any one else, to say that they held up the date of their attack for two weeks pending further investigations into the effects of this new gas." Ludendorff, referring to the German offensive in March, 1918, tells us, "Our artillery relied on gas for its effect. Up till the morning of the 20th strength and direction (of the wind) were by no means favourable, and it seemed almost necessary to put off the attack." Such a point becomes of greater importance as the influence of other arms decreases. If we assume international arrangements for the limitation of other types of armament in the future, chemical warfare at once stands out as decisive.
Controlling Factors;—Rapid Manufacture.—Certain well-defined factors hold a controlling position in the chemical initiative. Before any chemical discovery can be used for surprise on the front a second step must occur; this is large scale manufacture. This period is vital to surprise. Success in chemical warfare is largely dependent on secrecy, which means achieving production in the shortest possible time, and this is particularly important at the commencement of hostilities. Throughout the war the Germans possessed this advantage and, in the future, unless certain steps are taken, it will be theirs again. A very simple example will suffice to show the importance of the combination of these two factors. Let us assume the not remote possibility that Germany had refrained from using poison gas until she had reached the stage of development which existed at the time of her 1918 offensive. There is little room for doubt that the big scale use of cloud attacks which would then have been available, and of shell gas, in particular mustard gas, would have achieved decisive success. The Allies would have been totally unprotected, the moral effect would have been enormous, and, even if we ignore the latter, the number of casualties would have produced a gap the size of which was only dependent on German wishes.
Rapid Identification Essential.—It is important to remember, however, that once a chemical campaign has commenced, certain factors may militate against any lengthy retention of the initiative by either party. Organisations develop whose function is to ascertain the nature of new enemy chemical devices so that protective research and production can commence with the minimum delay. This assumes the existence of a protective appliance and organisation. The very efficient collaboration of the British Central Laboratory in France for the examination of new gas shell with the French organisation centred in Paris provides numerous examples of the functioning of this safeguard. No time was lost in identifying the nature of the various chemicals employed by Germany in her shell fillings. Speed was vital. The use of a new type of chemical in shell, bomb, or other contrivance, in any sector of the front, on whatever scale, however small, was reported without delay. Then followed instantaneous collection and examination, after which all front line formations, other formations, allies, and rear organisations were expeditiously warned. The harmless trial flight of the few shell of a new type might be followed by the use of hundreds of thousands in a deadly attack one hundred miles away or on another allied front. Not only were captured offensive contrivances of value for this purpose, but the rapid examination of new enemy masks was of prime importance, for it could be assumed that the enemy would be protected against his own surprises in store for others.