The Gas Mask

Blistering Agents, like mustard gas, were seen as the most dreadful of all chemical weapons in World War I. Unlike the other gases which attacked the respiratory system, this gas acts on any exposed, moist skin, which makes it extremely dangerous. This includes, but is not limited to, the eyes, lungs, armpits and groin. Obviously, a gas mask that covered one’s face could offer very little to no protection whatsoever. The oily reacting agent would produce large burn-like blisters wherever it came in contact with skin. It also had a way of hanging around in low areas for hours, even days, after being

Having a platoon of a couple hundred men to move through unknown territory is no easy task. Allen wrote, “One of the greatest trials was having to march gassed men when there was nothing else to be done, although sometimes it was fatal. We stirred up a lot of mustard gas getting out, and had the usual trouble of alarms and men getting lost when they put their masks on.” (pg. 57) Being gassed brought to many men the sensation of death, and for some the gas would be their cause of death. To avoid being threatened by the gas it was important for the platoon to keep moving, sitting around tended to make things distressing. Allen wrote, “Halts were the worst. After each one it was harder than ever to get the men on their feet. Some began to gag. Slightly gassed men showed symptoms of giving out, the young boys almost toppled over backward by their packs when they got up.” (pg. 105) The mustard gas was so harsh on the soldiers that it deprived them of their energy. In order to restore that energy the men needed to eat. Eating would eventually become a hardship the closer they got to the front lines, leaving the men to learn how to battle through the pains of hunger.

The health issue had not helped the situation the soldiers the air was not clean in the shafts and was causing trouble breathing. “My Skin and eyes are spoil’d with continual smoke.” (Waldo 151) The clothing was treacherous and the chance of staying warm is only the heat that comes from smoke and bombs is causing us soldiers to become sick. The clothes are worn out don’t fit us or are to small.

This contributed to the high death rates of soldiers. Hypothermia was also a problem due to the lack of proper clothing in order to protect soldiers from the extremely cold conditions. In the painting from the National Archives (Document B), the soldiers that are shown, are sick and have torn clothing and no shoes.

In many ways, this passage from the book All Quiet on the Western Front depicts war in a way that puts you right into the carnage. It is common knowledge that WWI brought with it new and catastrophic levels of violence, with battles that lasted for months on end and amazing advancements in weaponry, such as the machine gun, flamethrower, and poison gas. With the introduction of the poison gas came the need for masks that could be worn over the face to deter inhalation of what would prove to be fatal air. The soldiers still use caution when breathing with the masks since they have seen the horrors that follow if the mustard gas enters their lungs. "These first minutes with the mask decide between life and death: is it tightly woven? I remember

In Four Weeks in the Trenches, Austrian soldiers Fritz Kreisler details how soldiers used trenches to protect themselves from bullets, shells, and shrapnel (Document 3). The use and development of trenches was a major change in warfare throughout WWI. The innovation and use of poison gas in WWI indicated the increasing willingness of nations in the early twentieth-century to achieve victory by killing as many of the enemy as possible. As rifle technology and artillery advancements made killing the enemy easier, nation-states sought further technological development in the art of slaughter. An anonymous account of French soldiers’ first encounter with poison gas while facing the Germans at Ypres, on the western front.

This allows the soldiers to apply pressure without having someone else to assist them. The tourniquets could only be used on wounds that occur on the arms or legs. Fibrin bandages are now used to decrease the loss of blood and the number of deaths. The treatment for a damaged limb at times, for some soldiers, was to amputate at an earlier time because it could later result in a good outcome. Anesthesia was created to prevent a lot of people from suffering pain during the operation. Military and civilian anesthesiology has connections in the treatment of trauma for critical care medicine. A vaccine was created to prevent Smallpox, it helps your body develop an immunity towards

On April 24, I managed to drift off to sleep, but a scream awoke me. Ahead of us, an unbroken wall of gas crawled towards the trenches at ground level. Someone down the line had fallen, clutching his chest. Bullets whizzed, shells roared and soldiers fell. Screams were cut off as the gas sucked the life out of the victims. They struggled to suck oxygen into their corrupt lungs. Attacking their bronchial tubes, the chlorine leaked fluid into their bloodstreams. The victims suffocated, drowning in their own fluids. The Algerians' eyeballs were white, coughing until glue came out from their mouths. The gas roamed the ground, giving the German snipers and machine gunners a clear aim at the sprinting soldiers. While the alley men opened fire at our backs, I bolted away from that hell containing abyss. I dragged myself off the muddy battlefield. My lungs burned with chlorine and my hip was torn by shrapnel. To neutralize and protect me from the gas, I urinated on my handkerchief and shielded it to my face. This is not civilization, it is madness.

This caused many men to have shell shock. The Germans in 2nd battle of Ypres first used the gas. Many men died from gas attacks, the gas would fill their lungs with fluid until they slowly drowned in the fluid. Over the top attacks were even worse soldiers would fix bayonets and wait for the whistle from officers, aware that minutes later they stood a good chance of being killed. At the whistle, they would climb over the trenches and advance into no-man's land facing a hail of machine gun fire and shells.

Enabling to survive in war is a severe task, especially being in a group of men who in which everyone lives are at each other hands. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and his comrades are put at risk by being stationed in the front of No Man’s Land in which various lives have been lost. In chapter four, a bombardment occurs and Paul helps his comrades by telling them about the gas and helps a recruit with his gas mask, “I pull out mine, too, my helmet falls to one side, it slips over my face, I reach the man, his satchel is on the side nearest me, I seize the mask, pull it over his head, he understands, I let go and with a jump drop into the shell-hole” (Remarque 68). This shows how Paul enabled the survival for another recruit in which shows comradeship by making sure this recruit will survive the gas. Another textual evidence would be, “Beside us lies a fair-headed recruit in utter terror. He has buried his face in his hands, his helmet has fallen off. I fish hold of it and try to put it back on his head. He looks up, pushes the helmet and like a child creeps under my arm, his head close

Arthur Hart, a runner for the New York Stock Exchange before he enlisted, was in the 7th Regiment out of New York, also called the “silk stocking regiment”, which served in the trenches in Europe. Out of 25,000 soldiers of the 7th Regiment that went to battle, 25 survived. His division fought in two of the bloodiest battles and was gassed with mustard gas, twice. Hart survived the mustard gas attacks with lung damage and subsequently received the Purple Heart. His return home was made in very poor health: both physically and psychologically. Doctors suggested that he work long hours outside in fresh air to improve his lungs; this plan worked. However, he still suffered from shell shock; this hindered “normal” life events. For example, Hart

A lot of things happened to the soldiers during the war. Sometimes they would lose their eyes from poisonous gases that went through the trenches.

Death by gas was a horrible thing. We learned this in class from the book that we heard about the effects of gas. You maintain consciousness until the very last five minutes in your life. You suffocate yourself for weeks on end with it getting harder and harder to breathe as the time passes. There was also lots of rain which caused lots of mud which soldiers would occasionally drown in.

This story can be related to the difference between WW1 and WW2. During WW1 trench warfare was used. Trench warfare is a ditch dug out of the ground to give troops protection from the enemies. The soldiers used machine guns, mustard and chlorine gases and smokeless gunpowder to ward off the enemy. Machine guns were the main weapons used by soldiers. However “they needed 4-6 men to man them” (Tasker, 2012) and had to be positioned on a flat surfaces. When the mustard and chlorine gases were released the soldiers had to take great precaution to not breathe it in because the result is immediate death. These trenches also carried many diseases and rats making it a harsh condition for soldiers. By the time of WW2 also known as the “Cold War” the atomic bomb was invented. The atomic bomb has the ability to take out an entire city. Russia and the U.S. achieve nuclear equality

cruel and inhuman ways to detect harmful gases. One of these ways was the use of