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

History of Chemical WarfareFig. 2-4. Detailed map of Ypres, depicting the German, British, Canadian, and French fronts along the outskirts of town. Thiswas the location of each major division prior to the release of chlorine shells on April 22, 1915.Map: Courtesy of Dr Corey J Hilmas, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense.away. No one felt in the slightest degree uneasy, andthe terrible effect of the gas came to us as a greatsurprise. 22(p3)Another observer, however, realized a profoundchange had occurred: “The most stupendous changein warfare since gunpowder was invented had come,and come to stay. Let us not forget that.” 23(p3)Although chlorine had its disadvantages and theGerman attack against Ypres halted short of its objective,chemical warfare became a mainstay of Germanassaults and Allied counterattacks on the Ypres salientthroughout the rest of the war (Figure 2-5). The Ypressector became an experimental stage for the Germansto develop and test new gases on other battlefronts.A third battle occurred at Ypres in 1917 (at which theyoung Adolf Hitler was seriously wounded during anAllied chlorine gas attack).After the success at Ypres, Haber turned Germanattention back to the eastern front to atone for thefailure of xylyl bromide T-shells. In May 1915 Germantroops again attacked Russians at Bolimov, releasing263 tons of chlorine gas from 12,000 cylinders along a7.5-mile line, killing 6,000 Russian soldiers. Two moregas cloud attacks on the same positions caused 25,000more Russian casualties. 15 The Russians had initiallydevoted few resources to the development of chemicalprotective equipment. Consequently, they were morevulnerable to gas attacks than the British and Frenchand suffered the greatest number of chemical casualtiesin World War I.All of the first chemical attacks of World War Iwere in the form of chemical vapor clouds projectedfrom cylinders, totaling nearly 200 by the end of the17