Chapter XXII: Poisons Used in Warfare

The use of poison as a weapon in warfare is not by any means a modern practice. It may be traced back to the use of poisoned arrows and spears, and from the time of the discovery of gunpowder, when surgeons believed that a bullet formed a septic wound.

François Bernier, who died in Paris in 1688, served in the capacity of physician to Aurungzebe, the Grand Mogul. In describing a battle fought at Agra against the Mogul, he states that the Rajputa, a hereditary race of warriors, were great opium eaters and consumed it in large quantities, and when going into battle they always doubled the dose to their soldiers, which had the effect of rendering them insensible to danger. “They threw themselves,” he states, “into combat like wild beasts, knowing no retreat, and died at their Rajah’s feet if he would keep his post.”

It was on April 22, 1915, that the French and Canadian troops in the front line in the neighbourhood of Langemarck saw what appeared to be a wave of curious green mist approaching them which soon caused them to choke and gasp and seemed to seize them in a deadly grip from which they could not escape. A gap was made in the line in that sector, but the results of this first use of poison gas in the Great War, although serious, were not disastrous.

A thrill of horror went up from the Allied nations against this fiendish manœuvre, which was regarded as a crime against humanity and will never be forgotten. The gas first used was chlorine, the effects of which are well known, and was liberated by the enemy from cylinders concentrated on a front of six hundred yards. The first attack was evidently made as an experiment, and in the interval, owing to the activity of our chemists, our men were supplied with a temporary respirator as a defence from this new peril.

During the following months of May and June, several other gas attacks were made by the Germans, but not on a very large scale, as for some time the prevailing winds had been in favour of the Allies, which would be likely to blow the deadly cloud back into the enemy’s lines.

On December 19, 1915, a much more important attack with poison gas was made on the British front in the Ypres salient, on a front of three and a half miles. Gas was released continuously for an hour, but thanks to the protective measures which had been adopted by this time, although 25,000 troops are stated to have been in the area of attack, the casualties were small.

Disappointed in the effects of their first essay with this form of weapon, the Germans next introduced phosgene, a very deadly vapour, and one against which the respirators then used were no protection. A new type of respirator, however, was speedily devised, and proved effective against the danger. The gas helmet with its special filter, invented by Lieut.-Colonel Harrison, came into use, and our men became very quick in placing it in position.

In August 1916 they launched a highly concentrated phosgene attack against the Allied lines, on a hot and stifling day, the effects of which were felt as far as nine miles behind the lines.

The uncertainty of the atmospheric conditions led the Germans to adopt later another vile method of disseminating poisonous vapours, and they introduced the gas shell, of which numerous varieties were eventually made. The contents of these shells were distinguished by the Germans by special marks in the form of coloured bands on the shell cases; the so-called “blue cross” contained diphenyl chlorasine, a substance which when scattered as a fine powder caused intense sneezing to those in the neighbourhood of it. Two-thirds of the shell were filled with high explosive, and the intention was to produce uncontrollable sneezing, so that the wearing of a respirator was made impossible.

Other gas shells were filled with di-phosgene (trichlor methyl chlorformate), which formed a vapour of a very deadly character immediately the shell burst and produced most serious consequences. Another type contained in addition to di-phosgene a quantity of chlorpicrin, which was not only deadly, but produced extreme running at the eyes and nose.

These vapours, however, were succeeded in July 1917, in the neighbourhood of Ypres, by the use of di-chlorethyl sulphide, called “mustard gas.” Mustard gas is undoubtedly one of the most terrible and deadly of the gas poisons used. It not only blistered the skin and turned it brown, but caused intense inflammation, of the eyes and lids, the throat and nose, often causing permanent blindness and loss of voice, and eventually producing septic bronchopneumonia, frequently ending in death.

In the autumn of that year it was used on a large scale against the Italians, and largely assisted the Austro-German armies in the break-through at Caporetto.

Clothing, boots, soil or other things which came in contact with it were liable to affect seriously those brought near them, days after the articles had been contaminated, but even against this terrible weapon our gas masks were made effective, if put on with sufficient quickness and the men could be warned in time.

In spite, however, of this fiendish weapon, the Allies held their own, and were enabled by scientific and other means to combat these attacks. It is satisfactory to note that, however deadly were the gases employed, some means was soon found to counteract them effectively.

The use of poison as a lethal weapon in the Great War was by no means confined to deadly gases. Numerous instances, many of which are undoubtedly authentic, were recorded from 1914 to the time of the Armistice of poisoned sweetmeats and disease organisms that were dropped from enemy aeroplanes in France and other countries.

On November 4, 1916, it was reported by cable that Prince Mercier, the youngest child of King Ferdinand of Rumania, who was only five years old, had died of typhoid.

According to Helen Vacarescu, the Rumanian poetess, the Prince was the victim of poisoned sweets which were dropped by German airmen into the streets of Bukarest and other cities of Rumania. Some of these sweets are said to have fallen into the garden of the Royal Palace, and the little Prince while playing there took some up and ate them. According to Miss Vacarescu, he fell sick almost immediately, and when he told about the sweets he had eaten, a search was instituted, and some of them were found in the garden. On a scientific investigation being made of these, they were found to be impregnated with typhoid bacilli. According to _Le Temps_ it is said that all the families who ate the sweets died.

According to _The Times_ of October 31, 1916, an aeroplane coming from Transylvania scattered about boxes of poisoned sweetmeats for the purpose of murdering children, and this excited the greatest indignation in the district. According to further reports, several of the sweets contained the microorganisms of various infectious diseases.

On October 12, 1916, a report was received from Petrograd of an enemy air squadron which dropped bombs on Constanza, the Rumanian Black Sea port, as well as darts and poisoned sweets saturated with cholera bacilli.

According to an official report, on October 9, 1916, a squadron of eight German aeroplanes flew over Bukarest at eleven o’clock one morning and dropped bombs in the neighbourhood of some linen warehouses. The damage done was insignificant, but an investigation of the German Legation led to the discovery of numerous cases of high explosive buried in the garden, as well as phials labelled Virus Morbi Glanders, which are supposed to have been sent to propagate an epidemic against cattle and horses in the country. The discovery is vouched for by a representative of the United States Legation.

In May 1917 it was reported from Rome that during an Austrian air-raid over Codigaro, near Ferrara, sweets were thrown out which were found to contain cholera bacilli. The local authorities issued an order directing that all wells thereafter should be kept covered.

On December 17, 1917, an account is reported of an air-raid on Calais, where the Germans dropped a number of small boxes bearing instructions in English to the effect that they contained soup-powder. Directions were given to dissolve the powder in water and to add to it a pint of boiling liquid. Several deaths resulted from using these packets, and an analysis proved that they contained an extremely virulent poison.

On February 20, 1918, if was reported from Southend that when a raiding Gotha passed over the town the previous Monday night, a curious patter was heard on the roofs of some houses in the district. In the morning a number of sweets about the size of small eggs were found in the roadway and gardens, believed to have been dropped from the enemy aeroplane. They were handed to the medical officer of health for Southend, who reported that he had discovered traces of arsenic in the sweets found on the public footpath.

On July 29, 1917, a sensation was caused in America by an announcement made by the Attorney-General, that expert examination had disclosed the presence of tetanus germs in court plaster which was believed to have been distributed by German agents, and he essayed to warn the public to avoid using plaster of that description. The New York State Health Department published a statement that specimens of such plaster sold by pedlars had been sent to the State laboratory for examination. Despatches had been received from Western and Southern areas of the United States, reporting epidemics of anthrax in herds in the same region, after the use of such plaster recommended for cuts and other injuries to cattle.

Poison was used extensively in various ways by the German forces, although frequently where wells were said to have been poisoned, our men drank from them freely without any bad results. On the other hand it was not uncommon in some cases to find, left behind in trenches, large tins of cocoa and other tempting commodities which on analysis proved to be contaminated.

The use of bacteriological methods was also not neglected by the enemy, and it was stated in a despatch from Washington on July 9, 1917, that the Germans, before evacuating the territory west of St. Quentin, inoculated the French inhabitants, men, women and children, with tuberculosis bacilli. The _New York World_ commissioned Dr. Theodore C. Beebe, a pathologist, of Boston, in charge of the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly, to make an independent investigation of this matter. Dr. Beebe, in his report, states that while there was no way to obtain indubitable proof of the allegation, the evidence pointed to the belief that the Germans made a deliberate attempt to spread tuberculosis throughout France under the pretence of vaccinating the inhabitants to protect them from smallpox which they said was sweeping over the country. Dr. Beebe pointed out that only those persons vaccinated developed tuberculosis, while unvaccinated children and older persons, although suffering from pneumonia and other diseases, showed no trace of it. He found these inoculations were never made until a month or six weeks before the Germans were evacuating the place; in other words, when it became apparent to the Germans that they were forced to retreat. Of course only an examination of the serum at the time of the inoculation would determine whether it contained tuberculosis bacilli or not; that of course was impossible, but the investigator concluded that the facts he had ascertained led him to the belief that the charge brought against Germany of having committed this most horrible crime was true.

On March 30, 1917, it was reported that a discovery had been made of a plot to kill the cavalry horses within the British lines. This was to have been done by bacteriological cultures introduced into the food or by making a wound inside the horse’s nostril with a contaminated wire. This plot, which was discovered in time, was part of the German plan of retirement, but was fortunately found out and frustrated before any casualties occurred.

In the latter part of June 1918 some sensation was caused in London by a story that was circulated of a mysterious man who was distributing chocolate sweets broadcast. At that time most of the conductors of omnibuses were women. Suspicions were aroused when two of these women, after accepting chocolates from a male passenger, who was said to have been well dressed, became ill. Two omnibus girls and a tramway girl who accepted some sweets in the same way, handed them over to the Metropolitan Police, and the authorities were placed on the watch; in almost every case the sweets were offered by the man when he was in the act of descending.

At Cedar’s Road, Clapham, the same man gave a tramway conductress a box containing five chocolates. The man is reported to have said, “You won’t taste any more like this for years to come.” The girl, having been warned by a police notice posted in the tramway depot, did not eat any of them. Several cases were reported from the East End, and several chocolates were found on omnibus seats after passengers had left. The object of the mysterious individual not having achieved its effect, his operations eventually ceased, and nothing further was heard of the matter.

Probably the only case on record of the use of a poison gas in an attempt to murder, was reported from Germany in November 1922, when two men were charged at Leipzig with attempting to kill a man called Scheidemann at Cassel on Whit-Sunday. They carefully charged glass syringes with cyanogen gas, and secreting them in their pockets, they awaited the coming of their victim, and discharged the poison gas in his face. Scheidemann eventually recovered, and the two men were convicted of an attempt to kill him.

During the Napoleonic Wars the curious suggestion was made by Perceval that the Allies could bring the French to their knees by prohibiting the importation to the Continent of cinchona bark and other valuable drugs. “The suggestion,” says a writer of the time, “is well worthy of the statesman. To bring the French to reason by keeping them without rhubarb, and exhibiting to mankind the awful spectacle of a nation deprived of natural salts! Without castor oil they might for some months be able to carry on a lingering war, but could they do without bark? Will the people live under a Government where antimony cannot be procured? Will they bear the loss of mercury? Depend upon it they will soon be brought to their senses, and the cry of ‘Bourbon and Bolus’ be raised from the Baltic to the Mediterranean!”