Medical Aspects of Chemical Warfare (2008) - The Black Vault

History of the Chemical ThreatFig. 4-2. Filling 75-mm artillery shells with mustard agentat Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. Facilities designed to fillshells with chemical agents were notoriously hazardous.Anecdotal reports from mustard shell-filling plants indicatedthat over several months, the entire labor force could beexpected to become ill.Photograph: Courtesy of Chemical and Biological DefenseCommand Historical Research and Response Team, AberdeenProving Ground, Maryland.Despretz in 1822, by Alfred Riche in 1854, and finallyfully identified in 1886 by a German chemist, VictorMeyer. In 1848 chloropicrin (PS) was synthesized by aScottish chemist and inventor, John Stenhouse. 1Numerous chemical weapons were used or proposedfor use during campaigns and battles priorto World War I (see Chapters 2 and 3). In 1887 Germanyapparently considered using lachrymators (tearagents) for military purposes. The French also began arudimentary chemical weapons program, developinga tear gas grenade containing ethylbromoacetate andproposing to fill artillery shells with chloropicrin. 2,3and four chemical agent production plants. The firstshell-filling plant filled 75-mm shells with a mixtureof chloropicrin and stannic chloride (designatedNC) and Livens projectiles with phosgene. A secondplant filled 75-mm shells with mustard agent. Twoadditional shell-filling plants were started but notcompleted before the end of the war.The four agent production plants made the agentsthought to be the highest priority for use on the westernfront in 1917. These were chlorine, chloropicrin, phosgene,and mustard agent. By 1918 the first two were nolonger considered critical agents, although chlorine wasused in phosgene production. Over 935 tons of phosgeneand 711 tons of mustard agent were produced at thearsenal by the end of the war. Government contractorsalso produced these four agents and lewisite, named afterCaptain W Lee Lewis, a member of the CWS ResearchDivision. Lewisite, however, never reached the front andwas disposed of in the Atlantic after the armistice. 4,5Chemical WeaponsThe CWS used foreign technology during the warfor offensive weapons (see Chapters 2 and 3). The initialmode of offensive chemical attack was the portablechemical cylinder, designed to hold 30 to 70 lb of agent.To release the agent from the cylinders, soldiers openeda valve and relied on the wind to carry the agent in thecorrect direction. The resulting cloud could drift manymiles behind enemy lines or, if the wind changed,contaminate friendly troops. The British improved onWorld War IChemical Agent ProductionShortly after entering World War I in April 1917,the United States initiated a large-scale chemicalweapons program. Chemical agent production andchemical shell filling were initially assigned to the USArmy Ordnance Department, and then to the ChemicalWarfare Service (CWS) when it was organized inJune 1918. The primary facility for production andfilling was Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, erected inthe winter of 1917–1918 (Figures 4-2 and 4-3). Thefacility was designed to have four shell-filling plantsFig. 4-3. Interior view of the mustard agent production plantat Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland. Photograph: Courtesy ofResearch, Development and Engineering Command HistoricalResearch and Response Team, Aberdeen ProvingGround, Maryland.117