Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Wars and ConflictsΒ  permalink

Mustard Gas - How was it used?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by legion_dwarf (U1981200) on Monday, 5th September 2005

  What were the effects of mustard gas and add link if possible. Oh and if mrs.wallace of larbert high school is on this leave a message saying its you thanks

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Tuesday, 6th September 2005

  Extract from
  
  Mustard Gas (Yperite) was first used by the German Army in September 1917. The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it was almost odourless and took twelve hours to take effect. Yperite was so powerful that only small amounts had to be added to high explosive shells to be effective. Once in the soil, mustard gas remained active for several weeks.
  
  The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful and most soldiers had to be strapped to their beds. It usually took a person four or five weeks to die of mustard gas poisoning. One nurse, Vera Brittain, wrote: "I wish those people who talk about going on with this war whatever it costs could see the soldiers suffering from mustard gas poisoning. Great mustard-coloured blisters, blind eyes, all sticky and stuck together, always fighting for breath, with voices a mere whisper, saying that their throats are closing and they know they will choke."
  
  
  
  I have to say that I thought it was first used in 1915 at Ypres and was released from containers, relying on the wind to blow the gas over the British trenches. Perhaps that was a different kind of gas. The implication from the quote above is that it was used in artillery shells.
  
  

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by John Heseltine (U1755615) on Wednesday, 7th September 2005

  Hi Tony,
  
  "I have to say that I thought it was first used in 1915 at Ypres and was released from containers, relying on the wind to blow the gas over the British trenches. Perhaps that was a different kind of gas. The implication from the quote above is that it was used in artillery shells".
  
  You are thinking of chlorine gas, which was first used on the Western Front on April 22, 1915 by German artillary against French and Algerian troops near Langemark. They repeated the same against the Canadian Army two days later. Tear gas had earlier been used by the Germans on the Eastern Front in January, 1915.
  
  Cheers, John.
  
  

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by DL (U1683040) on Thursday, 8th September 2005

  Hi legion dwarf,
  
  Speaking technically, mustard gas is categorised as a Blister Agent. To add the military element to it, it is intended as an incapacitant, meaning that it is meant to cause massive numbers of wounded casualties rather than to kill.
  
  Mustard gas is not really a gas, but a liquid, and the earlier post describes the details of the effects when inhaled, and the effect on eyes, but the main intended effect is on the skin. Only a very small quantity on the skin can cause massive blisters, similar to burns. It is a highly persistant chemical, and very stable so doesn't degrade in the environment easily. I think I read somewhere (I forget where) that there was a case of a farmer in the Ypres region back in the 1970s, who had cut down a tree and the sat on the stump who received severe mustard gas burns to his behind from the liquid which had been trapped in the wood of the tree since World War One.
  
  Hope this is of use to you,
  
  Cheers
  DL

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message4

• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by John Heseltine (U1755615) on Thursday, 8th September 2005

  DL,
  
  That story of the Belgian farmer sounds true. Shells of all descriptions are constantly being dug up around Ieper and the disposal guys make regular pick ups still.
  
  Some farmers have fields which they rarely plough because of the cost of broken plough blades etc.
  
  Cheers, John.

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message5

• Message 6

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by John Heseltine (U1755615) on Thursday, 8th September 2005

  Hi Tony,
  
  Just as a postscipt to the first gas attack (chlorine that is), there is a memorial at the place of the initial attack, the "Carrefour des Roses" at Boezinge near Ieper. It names the French regiments involved, mostly Breton territorials. A 16th Century Breton cross dominates the site.
  
  Cheers, John.
  
  

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message6

• Message 7

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Thursday, 8th September 2005

  Thanks, Hes,
  
  You are correct. It was chlorine gas I was thinking of.
  
  Farming doesn't sound like fun in Belgium.
  
  

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message7

• Message 8

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by John Heseltine (U1755615) on Thursday, 8th September 2005

  Certainly around Ieper!
  
  Cheers, John.

  Link to this forum: Mustard Gas - How was it used?

  Report message8

Back to top