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

History of Chemical Warfarehave been funneled through American field hospitals.Cambrai represented the first participation by the AEFin active fighting.Sommervillier and AnsauvillePershing sought an area near Lorraine where theAEF could concentrate, train in gas warfare with helpfrom the French (Figures 2-9, 2-10, and 2-11), andeventually fight. The 1st Division trained in gas defenseexercises from September 1917 to January 1918,and a preliminary gas organization was set up in thedivision in December 1917. 30,31 As it began training inthe practice trenches at Gondrecourt, the division wasissued both the French M-2 gas mask and the Britishsmall box respirator (Figure 2-12). The French warnedthe Americans about Germany’s use of mustard gasand the importance of using their respirators. Afteradditional training in the Sommervillier section inLorraine with units of the 18th French Division, the1st Division relieved part of the 1st Moroccan Divisionin the Ansauville sector, where it experienced the firstreported gas attack on the AEF.The attack took place on February 26, 1918, between1:20 and 1:30 a m, when the Germans fired some 150to 250 phosgene and chloropicrin projectiles againstthe Americans near Bois de Remieres, France (Exhibit2-6). Some projectiles exploded in the air, others onthe ground. A second, similar attack occurred aboutan hour later. However, a discrepancy appears in theliterature over the type and number of projectors andtrench mortar bombs involved. Sources state that phosgeneand chlorine were employed, but contain varyingaccounts of the number of projectors involved. 30Although the 1st Division received the most rigorouscombat and gas training of any American division,inexperience still led to mistakes. Major General RobertBullard, head of the 1st Division, remarked on the gastraining his division received at Ansauville:Gas is such an intangible thing that men are onlywith great difficulty made to guard themselvesagainst it. A state of instruction adequate againstthe danger is extremely hard to obtain. . . . Our gasofficers were almost hysterical in their efforts toteach and impress our new troops; but knowledgeand real efficient training came only after hardexperience. 32(p5)Fig. 2-12. Early American Expeditionary Forces training in1917. American Expeditionary Forces soldier training witha bayonet while wearing the British small box respirator. USSignal Corps photograph.Photograph: Courtesy of US Army Military History Institute,Carlisle, Pa.The Americans suffered 85 casualties, includingeight deaths—approximately a third of their battalion—inthe aftermath of the attack. Although reportsstated that from the time the bright lights of the crashingprojectiles hit to the elaboration of gas, soldiershad no time to don either the M2 or British small boxrespirator, the majority of the casualties were preventablethrough better discipline. The lack of disciplinewas the result of four factors. First, some soldierscould not find their gas masks in time (Exhibit 2-7).Second, some noncommissioned officers let soldiersremove their masks too quickly, only a half hour afterthe last shell fell. Third, other soldiers switched fromthe effective but uncomfortable small box respiratorto the more comfortable but less effective French M2,receiving gas in the process. Fourth, soldiers continuedto work unmasked in the woods as late as 48 hoursafter the attack, despite the odor of phosgene in theair. 33 Determined not to be caught by such an attackagain in the Ansauville sector, the 1st Division made25