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

History of Chemical WarfareFig. 2-13. Members of the 26th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1stDivision, leaving a trench to go over the top during Battle ofCantigny, May 1918. US Signal Corps photograph.Photograph: Courtesy of US Army Military History Institute,Carlisle, Pa.chemical casualties in the early months of the warcompared to the later months.First American Victory: the Battle of CantignyThe first sustained American offensive of the war,although a minor action, was fought between May 3and June 8, 1918, by the AEF 1st Division under MajorGeneral Bullard. The Battle of Cantigny was part ofthe Third Battle of the Aisne, a large-scale Germanoffensive to win the war before the full build-up ofUS troops in France. Chemical attacks inflicted majorcasualties on the AEF 1st Division’s assault and repulsionof numerous German counterattacks (Figure2-13). Pershing initially tasked the 18th Infantry to takeCantigny, but it was so decimated by mustard shells(around 15,000) at Villers-Tournelle between May 3 andFig. 2-14. US gas casualties from the 1st Division evacuatedafter the Battle of Cantigny, May 29, 1918. US Signal Corpsphotograph.Photograph: Courtesy of US Army Military History Institute,Carlisle, Pa.4 (when the 1st Division suffered close to 900 chemicalcasualties among its ranks, predominantly in the 18thInfantry, in a single night) that it was unable to carryout the mission. Consequently, Pershing charged the28th Infantry to take Cantigny instead. 36 On May 28 the1st Division captured the village of Cantigny, held bythe German 18th Army and commanded and stronglyfortified as a German advance observation point byGeneral Oskar von Hutier.Rexmond Cochrane summarizes there was a totalof between 2,199 and 2,708 chemical casualties atCantigny (Figure 2-14). 36 Chemical warfare played asignificant role in the prelude to battle, capture, anddefense of Cantigny. The number of high explosiveExhibit 2-8An Attack on a Platoon of the 28th DivisionAn entire platoon of infantry in the 28th Division became gas casualties before reaching the front. While movingforward toward Chateau-Thierry, the soldiers stopped to rest in shallow shell craters near the road, a common occurrence,before decontaminating them. The obvious garlic smell, emanating from holes made by yellow cross shells, wasdiluted from recent rains. Unbeknownst to them, the holes were contaminated by mustard. The soldiers awoke withbacks and buttocks so badly burned that the skin appeared to be flayed.Data sources: (1) Spencer EW. The History of Gas Attacks Upon the American Expeditionary Forces During the World War, Parts I-III. EdgewoodArsenal, Md: Chemical Warfare Service, US War Department; 1928. (2) Cochrane RC. The 3rd Division at Chateau Thierry, July1918; study number 14. In: Gas Warfare in World War I. U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Studies. Army Chemical Center, Md: USArmy Chemical Corps Historical Office; 1959: 1–4, 84, 86.27