chlorine gas was first used in ww1 before 2 january 1915.
chlorine gas was first used in ww1 before 2 january 1915.
when was chlorine gas first used in ww1?
before 2 january 1915
it may appear from a fieldpost letter of major karl von zingler that the first chlorine gas attack by german forces took place before 2 january 1915: "in other war theatres it does not go better and it has been said that our chlorine is very effective. 140 english officers have been killed. this is a horrible weapon ...". this letter must be discounted as evidence for early german use of chlorine, however, because the date "2 january 1915" may have been hastily scribbled instead of the intended "2 january 1916," the sort of common typographical error that everyone makes at the beginning of a new year. the deaths of so many english officers from gas at this time would certainly have been met with outrage, but a recent, extensive study of british reactions to chemical warfare says nothing of this supposed attack. perhaps this letter was referring to the chlorine-phosgene attack on british troops at wieltje near ypres, on 19 december 1915 (see below).
chemical weapons in world war i
chlorine gas, also known as bertholite, was first used as a weapon in world war i by germany on april 22, 1915 in the second battle of ypres. as described by the soldiers, it had the distinctive smell of a mixture of pepper and pineapple. it also tasted metallic and stung the back of the throat and chest. chlorine reacts with water in the mucosa of the lungs to form hydrochloric acid, destructive to living tissue and potentially lethal. human respiratory systems can be protected from chlorine gas by gas masks with activated charcoal or other filters, which makes chlorine gas much less lethal than other chemical weapons. it was pioneered by a german scientist later to be a nobel laureate, fritz haber of the kaiser wilhelm institute in berlin, in collaboration with the german chemical conglomerate ig farben, which developed methods for discharging chlorine gas against an entrenched enemy. after its first use, both sides in the conflict used chlorine as a chemical weapon, but it was soon replaced by the more deadly phosgene and mustard gas.
chlorine