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

Medical Aspects of Chemical WarfareExhibit 2-6First Projector Attack on the American Expeditionary ForcesThe earliest written account of an attack involving projectors and trench mortar chemical bombs on the American ExpeditionaryForces occurred on February 26, 1918. A projector was a device that lobbed a football-sized gas projectileinto enemy trenches. The objective was to get the gas as far from friendly forces as possible before releasing it. Twoattacks involving trench mortar bombs and projectiles occurred between 1:20 and 1:40 a m. The trench mortar attackconsisted of two salvos of phosgene bombs. The projectiles used were mixtures of phosgene and possibly chloropicrin,based on their odors. General Bullard stated that two volleys, each consisting of 100 18-cm shells, mostly phosgene,crashed “with a loud explosion and bright flare of light.” Rudolf Hanslian and records of the 78th Reserve Division inGermany indicated a much larger gas assault by the 35th Pioneer Battalion, involving 810 projectors loaded with phosgeneflasks and 10 with the new diphenylchloroarsine gas, along with 80 high explosives, to produce casualties withalmost 14 tons of phosgene. This discrepancy in the number of projectiles can be explained from the accounts of twoGerman prisoners, who deserted on March 20. They reported that 900 projectors were employed, “one half of which fellin their own front lines,” keeping them out for 2 days. The 35th Pioneer Regiment never completed the elaborate raid,code-named “Einladung,” that immediately followed the projector attack on the American Expeditionary Forces.Data source: Spencer EW. The History of Gas Attacks Upon the American Expeditionary Forces During the World War, Part I. EdgewoodArsenal, Md: Chemical Warfare Service, US War Department; 1928: 37–51.continuous efforts to spot projector installations andneutralize them.Lys DefensiveGeneral Erich Ludendorff, deputy chief of the generalstaff for Germany, still hoped to destroy the hardhitBritish army before it had a chance to recover fromthe effects of the Somme drive. This was the purposeof a new German attack launched April 9, 1918, ona narrow front along the Lys River in Flanders. TheGermans committed 46 divisions to the assault andquickly scored a breakthrough. Chemical warfare withgas shells was a major component in this German offensive.These “Hutier tactics” involved brief but significantartillery shelling of enemy front and rear lineswith high explosive and chemical weapons, followedby light infantry advancement. The British situationwas desperate for some days, but Ludendorff calledoff the offensive on April 29. About 500 Americansparticipated in the campaign, including members ofthe 16th Engineers, 28th Aero Squadron, and 1st GasRegiment. 34,35 Chemical casualty statistics are poor forthis period; however, AEF divisions suffered higherExhibit 2-7First Airplane Gas Attacks on American ForcesAlthough some historians erroneously state that chemical warfare involving aircraft did not occur in World War I, Germanforces did drop chemical bombs from airplanes during the conflict. The first gas attacks on American ExpeditionaryForces from German planes took place in the village of Seicheprey, part of the 1st Division sector. Up to that point,chemical warfare involving planes had never been described. At Ansauville, a German plane dropped gas balloons,described as balls 18 inches in diameter and filled with liquid mustard, on 1st Division batteries entrenched across Hill246 on March 19, 1918. A second airplane gas attack occurred on March 23, 1918, as part of a series of daily mustardgas attacks on the town from March 21 to March 25. American Expeditionary Forces watched a German airplane dropgas bombs over the Beaumont-Jury road and release gas balloons that exploded in the air, liberating a reddish-bluecloud. It was later reported that neither the gas balloons nor the bombs seem to have caused any casualties.Data source: Cochrane RC. The 1st Division at Ansauville, January–April 1918; study number 9. In: Gas Warfare in World War I. USArmy Chemical Corps Historical Studies. Army Chemical Center, Md: US Army Chemical Corps Historical Office; 1959.26