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

History of Chemical WarfareExhibit 2-1War of the ChemistsDuring World War I, chemists on both sides investigated over 3,000 chemical substances for potential use as weapons.The war between the nations was just as much a war between the chemists. Germany had two future Nobel Laureatesin chemistry on their side, and France had one as well. The adoption of poison gas by the Germans in World War I isattributed to Professor Walther Hermann Nernst, a well-known physical chemist in Berlin. In recognition for his servicesto the German Empire, he was made a count late in the war. However, World War I was the setting for a strategic matchbetween rival chemists, with Germany’s Fritz Haber pitted against his French counterpart, Victor Grignard.Fritz Haber played a major role in the development of chemical warfare in World War I. He developed early gas maskswith absorbent filters and masterminded the first chlorine attacks at Ypres, Belgium. In his studies of the effects ofpoison gas, Haber discovered a simple mathematical relationship between the concentration (C) of the gas and theamount of time (t) it was breathed in, expressed as C × t = k, where k is a constant. In other words, exposure to a lowlevel of gas for a long time can cause the same result (eg death) as exposure to a high concentration for a short time.This relationship is known as “Haber’s rule.”Haber’s rival was Francois Auguste Victor Grignard, a French chemist and professor at the University of Nancy. DuringWorld War I, he was transferred to the new field of chemical warfare and worked on the manufacture of phosgeneand the detection of mustard gas. His Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for devising a new method for creatingcarbon-carbon bonds in organic synthesis termed ”the Grignard reaction,” which allowed the means of synthesizinglarger organic compounds from smaller starting materials.Haber’s wife opposed his work on poison gas and committed suicide with his service weapon after he personallyoversaw the first use of chlorine in Ypres, Belgium. Haber defended gas warfare against accusations that it was inhumane,saying that death was death, by whatever means it was inflicted. In the 1920s he developed the cyanide gasformulation Zyklon B, which was used as an insecticide, especially as a fumigant in grain stores. The Nazis later usedZyklon B (hydrogen cyanide) gas chambers disguised as shower stalls beginning with the first and longest runningSchutzstaffel camp at Dachau. In 1934, the Nazis forced Haber, a German Jew, to emigrate. Haber was a patriotic Germanwho was proud of his service in World War I, for which he was decorated. He struggled to cope with the new realitythat his enormous contributions to German industry were disregarded during his vilification by the Nazi regime. Hedied in exile in Basel after a grave illness.Data sources: (1) Haber LF. The Poisonous Cloud: Chemical Warfare in the First World War. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press; 1986:15–40. (2) Heller CE. No. 10 chemical warfare in World War I: the American experience, 1917–1918. In: The Leavenworth Papers. FortLeavenworth, Kan: Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College; 1984: 6–7. (3) Szöllösi-Janze M. Pesticidesand war: the case of Fritz Haber. Eur Rev. 2001;9:97–108. (4) Harris R, Paxman J. A Higher Form of Killing: the Secret History of Chemicaland Biological Warfare. New York, NY: Random House; 2002.when the weather and wind patterns were ideal fora toxic cloud (Figure 2-4).The Allies claimed that 5,000 troops fell victimto the chlorine cloud (although this number wasprobably inflated for propaganda purposes). 9,20 Thegas attack was successful, but the Germans grosslyunderestimated the chlorine’s effects and, lackingsufficient supplies and reserves for an assault, failedto capitalize on the retreating Allied positions. 14,15,17,19Any further possible German advance was stopped byCanadian troops at Kitchener’s Wood while the Britishand French hastily organized a defensive front duringthe next 48 hours. 9Two days later, Germans conducted a second chlorinegas attack against the Canadian First Divisionnortheast of Ypres, near Saint Julien, and four morecylinder gas attacks during May in the Ypres sector.The German gas-aided capture of Hill 60 on May 5was a significant blow to the Allies.Although the Allies expressed great indignationabout this inhumane and unfair weapon (despite theirown development of chemical weapons), the Germansbelieved their use of nonprojectile shells to form gasclouds was within the guidelines of the Hague ban.The comments of General von Deimling, commandinggeneral of the German Fifteenth Corps at Ypres,written sometime after the war, reflected the reasonfor initiating chemical warfare:I must confess that the commission for poisoning theenemy, just as one poisons rats, struck me as it mustany straight-forward soldier: it was repulsive to me.If, however, these poison gases would lead to thefall of Ypres, we would perhaps win a victory which15