Chapter I: Front Matter

GAS AND FLAME

MAJOR S. J. M. AULD, M.C.

In order to impress upon the soldier in training the need of care and speed in adjusting the mask in case of gas attack, the poster was printed with this wording:

KEEP YOUR HEAD; HOLD YOUR BREATH,--
BE QUICK!!
AND THIS WON’T HAPPEN TO YOU

That the workers engaged in the manufacture of gas masks might realize the importance of care and flawlessness in their work, the same poster was placed in the factories with a legend reading:

THE FINAL INSPECTOR]

GAS AND FLAME
IN MODERN WARFARE

BY
MAJOR S. J. M. AULD, M.C.
ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT
_Member of the British Military Mission
to the United States_

FRONTISPIECE BY
W. G. THAYER

NEW YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

_Copyright, 1918,
By George H. Doran Company_

_Copyright, 1918,
By The Curtis Publishing Company_

_Copyright, 1918,
By Doubleday, Page & Company_

_Printed in the United States of America_

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Need for the education of vast numbers of men in various branches of Gas Service and those in camps on the position of Gas Warfare at the front, has made imperative the publication of this book, as has also the need of educating the public, owing to the many misleading newspaper reports, sometimes merely misinformative, sometimes distinctly mischievous, appearing from time to time.

Major Auld, chemist and teacher before the war, and as he modestly styled it, “amateur soldier,” volunteered for service at the front as a “Territorial,” at the very outset of the conflict.

Some months after the first gas attack, he was taken into the Gas Service, owing to his training and ability as a chemist, and later became Chief Gas Officer to Sir Julian Byng’s Army. He was awarded the Military Cross after the Battle of the Somme, and was wounded in an expedition into No Man’s Land to observe the effect of a British Gas attack. He has therefore been in touch with gas warfare from the beginning and knows all phases.

As the natural consequence of all this, the Government of the United States welcomed him as the representative of Great Britain in its counsel to America on all aspects of gas warfare. In this official capacity the Major has been engaged here assisting in organization and development of training, research and production aspects of Gas, and lecturing at camps, the War College, and West Point.

The American Gas Service has, for all these reasons, deemed the publication of Major Auld’s experiences very desirable.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE
The first rumours of German gas attacks--Sceptically
received--First attack in 1915--Canadian
pluck under gas--Nernst and Haber the
inventors of German gas--The difficulties of
getting practicable gases--The technic of gas
attacks--A German prisoner’s account 9

CHAPTER II

The first respirators--First-aid devices--The
smoke helmet--Anti-gas sprayers--Their use
and delicacy--The English chemists set to
work--The task of training the whole army 26

CHAPTER III

Popular terror of gas--Necessity for drilling and
early personal experience--Sure defence from
gas possible--The first gas alarms--The prussic
acid scare a myth--The phosgene scare a
reality--The helmet made to combat it--Necessity
for renovating the helmet 42

CHAPTER IV

The attack of Dec. 1915--The Allies’ good training
tells--The casualties analysed--The new
element of surprise--Evidences of the use of
phosgene--The incident of the bulb--Improved
alarms--The Strombos sirens--Accidents
to the horns--The Tear Gas Shell--Its
chemical analysis--Combated by anti-gas
goggles--Tommies scoff at Tear Gas--The
Germans make it formidable 62

CHAPTER V

Summer of 1916 the highwater mark of the German
gas cloud--Their improved methods--The
need of speed and secrecy--Gas as a rat
exterminator--Causes of Allied casualties--Germans
killed with their own gas--Gas
masks for horses and mules--Reduced Allied
casualties--Humorous incidents 88

CHAPTER VI

The last German gas cloud sent over August 1916--Its
intensity--“Delayed” cases of phosgene
gassing--Cigarettes as a test of gassing--Dangers
of carelessness--The sprayer abandoned
for Mrs. Ayrton’s fan--Responsibilities
of the divisional gas office--Russian gas victims--The
day of the gas cloud over 112

CHAPTER VII

The rising importance of the gas shell--The
variety of gases practicable with the shell--The
deadly Green Cross Shell--Risks of
transporting “duds” for chemical analysis--Reduced
Allied casualties--German blunders
in shelling tactics--Importance of universal
discipline 127

CHAPTER VIII

The gas-proof dugout--First-aid methods of
alarm--Von Buelow improves German gas
tactics--Popular errors about gas--Effectiveness
of new British respirators--Vomiting gas--Germans
speed up their manufacture--Gas
as a neutraliser of artillery fire--As a neutraliser
of work behind the trenches--Raw recruits
ashamed to wear the mask--Casualties
resulting 145

CHAPTER IX

Mustard or Yellow Cross gas--Not deadly but a
dangerous pest--Its troublesome persistence--Cleaning
it out by fires--Sneezing of Blue
Cross gas--Another pest--Its violent effect--The
limit of gas shell effectiveness--The need
for constant vigilance and disciplinary training 169

CHAPTER X

Liquid fire--First used by Germans in July 1915--A
great surprise and success--German hopes
from it--Construction of a flame projector--Flammenwerfer
companies--Their perilous
duties and incidents of desertion from them--Improved
types of projectors--Co-operation
of machine-gun fire--Failure of liquid fire--Its
short duration and short range--Ease of
escape from it 185

GAS AND FLAME

GAS AND FLAME