Inventions of the Great War

le of th

h in that direction, but they did draw up certain rules of warfare which they agreed to abide by. There were some practices which were considered too horrible for

Professor Nernst, the inventor of a well-known electric lamp and a man who had always violently hated the British. His plan was to drown out the British with a flood of poisonous gas. To be sure, there was the pledge taken at The Hague Conference, but why should that stand in Germany's way? What cared the Germans for promises now? Already they had broken a pledge in their violation of Belgium.

GAS LI

t could be carried in containers that were not too bulky; it must vaporize when the pressure was released; and it must be heavier than air, so that it would not be diluted by the atmosphere but would hug the ground. You can pour gas just as you pour water, if it is heavier than air. A heavy gas will stay in the bottom of an unstoppered bottle and ca

recy. Just under the parapet of the trenches deep pits were dug, about a yard apart on a front of fifteen miles, or over twenty-five thousand pits. In these pits were placed the chlorine tanks, each weighing about ninety pounds. Each pit was then closed with a plank and t

uid boils violently and big clouds of gas are produced. If the gas were tapped off from the top of the cylinder, it would freeze on pouring out, because any liquid that turns into a gas has to draw heat from its surroundings. T

bottom in small leaden tubes which passed up through the liquid in the tank and were kept as warm as the surrounding liquid. In fact, it was n

G FOR

rtion of the line was manned by Turcos, or Algerians, who would be likely to think there was something supernatural about a death-dealing cloud. On the left of the Africans was a division of Canadians, but the main brunt of the gas was designed to fall upon the Turcos. Several times the attack was about to be made, but was aband

pouring down into shell-holes and flowing over into the trenches as if it were a liquid. They were seized with superstitious fear, particularly when the gas overc

no opposition except in the sector held by the Canadians. Here, on the fringe of the gas cloud, so determined a fight was put

have kept them from breaking through to Calais. The valiant Canadians who struggled and fought without protection in the stifling clouds of chlorine, were almost wiped o

France as well, women were busy sewing the masks. These were very simple affairs-merely a pad of cotton soaked in washing-soda and arranged to be tied over the mouth and nose. B

ire summer and autumn of 1915, the winds refused to favor them, and no gas attacks were staged from June to December. This gave the Briti

del &

ng from Fixed Flame

PLAYED A TRICK

uld swirl the gas around and dissipate it before it did much harm to the opposing fighters. If the wind were light, there were other dangers. On one occasion in 1916 a cloud of gas was released upon an Irish regiment. The wind was rather fickle. It carried the gas toward the British trenches, but before reaching them the cloud hesitat

"Scientifi

Dugout with th

ich would keep out not only the fumes of chlorine but also the more poisonous phosgene. In one of their sorties the British succeeded in capturing some valuable notes on gas attacks, belonging to a German general, which showed that the Germans were actually preparing to use phosgene. This de

BRITISH TREN

chlorine and phosgene came over No Man's Land, they were prepared, and, except for casualties among men whose masks proved defective, the soldiers in the trenches came through with very few losses. All animal life, however, was destroyed. This was a blessing to the British Tommy, whose trenches had been overrun with

e shell. They could be thrown exactly where it was desired that they should fall, without the help of the fickle winds. When the shell landed and burst, the full effect of its contents was expended upon the enemy. A gas cloud would rise over a wood, but with shell the wood could be filled with gas, which, once there, would lurk among the trees fo

T MADE

orized very slowly and so its effect would last a long time. However, the vapor did not permanently injure the eyes; it merely filled them with tears to such an extent that

ree types of gas shell-one known as the "Green Cross," another as the "Yellow Cross," and the third as the "Blue Cross." The Green Cross shell was filled with diphosgene, or a particularly dangerous combination of phosgene in liquid form, which would remain in pools on the ground or soak into the ground and would vapo

except by men in gas-masks. The infected part of the trench, however, was cut off from the rest of the trench by means of gas-locks. In other words, blankets were used to keep the gas out, and usually two blankets were hung so that a

he discomfort of the Allies. For instance, to some of their di

thing like garlic, and its fumes would burn the flesh wherever it was exposed to them, producing great blisters and sores that were most distressing. The material in the shell was a liquid which was very hard to get ri

EEZING

d a violent sneezing. The material, however, was not poisonous and did not produce any casualties to speak of, although it was most unpleasant. A storm of Blue Cross shell could be followed al

-MA

y of rubber in Germany for the manufacture of masks. When it was found that phosgene was going to be used, the simple cotton-wad masks had to give way to more elaborate affairs with chemicals that would neutralize this deadly gas. And later when the mustard gas was used which attacked the eyes, and the sneezing-gas that attacked the nose, it was found necessary to cover the face completely, particularly the eyes;

T WILL NO

ly fumes and gassing the wearer. Experiments were made with celluloid and similar materials, but the finest gas-masks produced in the war were those made for our own soldiers, in which the goggles

f. The French hit upon a clever scheme of having the inhaled air strike the glasses in a jet which would dry off the moisture and keep the glasses clear. Before

sh and French chemists began to pay back the Hun in kind. More attention was paid to the shell than the cloud attack, and soon gas shell bega

ur chemists were not afraid to be pitted against the German chemists and the factories of the Allies were more than a match for those of the Central Powers. When the Germans first started the use of gas, apparen

d. As it was, they were getting far more gas than they could possibly produce in their own factories and they had plenty of reason to regret their rash disregard of their contract at The Hague Conference. One gas we w

WITH LI

d protect himself against gas by using a suitable mask and clothing, but what could he do against fire? It looked as if trench defenders would have to give up if a

ches near enough for flaming oil to be thrown across the intervening gap. For this reason portable apparatus was chiefly used, with which a man could send out a stream for from a hundred to a hundred and fift

eached the desired range. Some way had to be found of igniting the oil stream far from the nozzle or as near the limit of its range as possible. And so two nozzles were used, one with a small opening so that it would send out a fine jet of long range, while the main stream of oil issued from the second nozzle. The first nozzle was movable with respect to the second and the two streams could be regulated to come together at any desired distan

atus was buried under bags of sand, but the man who carried flame-throwing apparatus on his back had to take his chances, not knowing at what instant the oil he carried might be set ablaze, turning him into a

FIRE

idden recesses they could pour out a deadly machine-gun fire. The only way of dislodging them was to use the "fire broom." In other words, a stream of liquid fire was poured into the dugout, burning out the men trapped in it. If there were a second exit, they woul