THE GAS BRIGADE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 238, 2 July 1919, Page 7

THE GAS BRIGADE

HOW WE RETALIATED ON THE GERMANS A REMARKABLE STORY (By a Correspondent of tho London "Observer.'") One of the. unwritten stories of the war js tho history of a secret unit of the British' Army, a unit which, camouflaged under the badge of another regiment, was wont to appear suddenly upon some critical sector ot the front, strike swiitiy and savagely with its own particular weapons, anil then nfelt away again into tho unknown, until it happened with equal suddenness somewhere else.

Everybody, of course, has heard of the horrors of the first German gas attack at Ypres, in April, 1915, when the Canadians stared 111 blauk' and uncomprehending amazement at the waves of greygreen mist rolling across No Jlan's Land towards their trenches. Some peoplo may be able to visualise, more or less, the . scenes of anguish which followed as/ thousands of men, unprotected and helpless against tho new foe, writhed in their death throes amid tlie poisonous fumes from which there was no escape. Equnlly, everybody now knows that steps *were immediately taken to meet and' counter this new device of the Hun. but few people have any precise knowledge of the methods and conditions of work of our own gasmen. . •

Simultaneously with, the issue of tho first gas masks to the troops in France, the call was sent out through the length and breadth of Britain, first of nil for chemists, and afterwards for professional and • scientifically trained men of _ all classes. A new unit sprang into being, pledged to turn against the Germans tho edge of their own .weapon, but an edge sharpenad ai:d - rendered still more terrible.

The greatest secrecy was preserved in regard to tho new organisation. It wore tho badge of tho Royal Engineers and appeared in various parts of the war zone in France, sometimes as companies of Field Engineers, sometimes •as Mining and Tunnelling Companies, sometimes as companies of something else. But to tho few initiated it was known as the "Special Brigade," and its real weapons wero gas and liquid fire, and a; particularly nasty and vicious type of trench mortar.' As a, military organisation it was prob. ably unique, for every seoond man wrote ..a degree at the end of his name, and many <of its members were kings in their own right in tho world of science. Tho lrnit, however, was self-contained in a military sense, and did its own work, and to the casual observer there was nothing to indicate that a bespectacled "R.E.," perhaps performing some ■ particularly menial task in a back area, was really a Doctor of Science and an expert authority upon the properties of chlorine an<! phosgene.

A Bad Beginning.

Tho first attempt at reprisal by the new arm was made at Loos, in September, 1015. The apparatus, used was hastily contrived and primitive, and the results were rather appalling—for the gasmen, Pipes and connections were burst and cylinders of gas shattered in our own trenches by enemy shell fire, and the Special Brigade paid heavily for its first experience. So, unfortunately, did ths infantry behind it. \ The lesson, however; wa3 learned, and from then onwards improvement wa» great and rapid. The' new -unit grew -quickly until it attained a strength ot over thirty companies,- and for nearly two years it continued to do valuable work with what were known as "cloud gas attacks." In this method of working the gas was discharged from cylinders placed in our own front-line trenches and carried' over to the, German zone by the wind. The disadvantage was that the enemy knew the, modus operandi, and as soon a3 lie received any indication ot an impending gas attack every gun he possessed for miles around was trained on that, forward trench and used inces6antlv in ail endeavour, to..batter ..tW treh'en and 'itii. contents.|to'' fragments'.'. The result, was .that although heavy casu. alties were inflicted upon the foe and he was forced to expend vast quantities ot heavy gun ammunition, the Special Brigade continued to suffer extremely heavy losses to' its personnel.

The "Projector" Attack. In the meantime, however, active brains were grappling with tho problem, and in the winter of 1916-17 several companies of tho Special Brigade retired to secluded regions behind the line to experiment and train in a new method of gas delivery. Under the old system of working the gas, drifting over with the wind, naturally became somewhat disseminated before it reached the' German zone, anu direction was largely a matter of chance and conjecture. ■ The new scheme was designed to deliver the gas at full strength .and, so to speak, in bulk, concentrate; upon any stronghold or particular point in the enemy J s trench system which it was desired to render untenable. It was proposed to effect this by means' of what were known as "projectors." A projector was a plain, metal cylinder about 3ft. Bin. long by Bin. in diameter, closed at one end. These projectors were buried in tho earth in rows of twenty-five, lying at an angle of fortyfive degrees and with the open mouth just level with the ground' surface. Into each projector was dropped a propelling charge, provided with an electric i'uso and a couple of wire leads. Oil top of the charge was loaded the gas bomb— a sort of imrifled shell, containing 401b. of liquid gas and fitted with a timed bursting charge. Tho.wire leads from all the projectors' in each battery of' twenty-five were then coupled together in series so as to form a complete circuit, and into this circuit was introduced au electric magneto, which, when operated by a hand ratchet, sot up an electric current in the wire which burnt out all 1 the fuses in tho propelling charges and so. launched tho, whole twenty-five bombs simultaneously in the direction in which tho projectors wero trained. When it is

remembered that each company of tlio i Special Brigade oould opßrato thirty batteries at once, and that two or three companies could co-operate upon any given sector of tho front, some idea may bs gained of the effect which it was hoped to produced in the enemy zene.

A Vimy Ridge Failure.

The first attempt at a projector attach upon a large scale was made in llarch, 1918, as part of the preliminary bombardment of several days'' duration which preceded the Canadians' gallant •, feat at V imy Ridge. The attempt was a dismal failure. Under tha now scheme, the Special-Brigade was obliged to work oj l top' instead of in the trenchcs as hitherto. This meant that the work ot carrying up the projectors and bombs and digging them into the ground could only bo performed under cover of darkness. Despite tho utmost precautions, .the enemy observed tho men ut work and though, of course, ho tbuld have no - I ? *'hat was in hand, ho managed to get the selected battery positions rccurately "spotted," arid turned his lieavv artillery on them. As a result, the great majority of the gas batteries wero utterly wreoked beyond all hope of repair long before they could lie used. From this fiasco thero omerged one salient and pleasing fact. The gus bombs, each oncaaed- in its own projector, and buried in the.ground, proved to bo extremely well protected, and, despite the torrific 6holling to which they were subjected, insufficient gas was liberated in our own lines to do any real damago. From this time onwards projector ats tacks were made continually upon various carefully-selected points of tlioAGorman jlinc, and with ever-increasing success. Captured enemy orders soon began 10 reveal the widespread consternation and havoc caused by the new method. All fresh drafts arriving on the German i'voiit woro given elaborately detailed instructions' as to how they wero to comport themsolves in face of the dreaded ''gas minos," as they termed tho projector batteries, together with endless gasmask drill. But all to no purpose. Useless Precautions.

The German sentry, standing his lone- , ly watch upon the first step at dead of M ni"ht, would be suddenly startled into : :ij alertness by a shattering explosion .and a long sheet of vivid flame immediately behind the British trench in front of him ' Even if he recognised the portent, he Lad short time to act. The sudden report would bo followed by the drone

of the approaching missiles, and exactly nine seconds after tho first' flash a thou T sand bombs would be bursting and splitting in the German system. At once tho trenches would be flooded with the creeping poisonous vapour, which would sink into tho dugouts ana penetrate all and every shelter, where the sleeping men, awakened gasping and choking, would realise all too Into that they had inhaled the breath of death. Useless,, then, to spangle the heavens with coloured alarm rockets and S.O.S. signals for artillery fire. Only the men in the remoter parts of the zone coukl be warned before the swirling death- fumes crept down upon them. . Eight: up to the dalo of the armistice i£ is doubtful whether, the German .Higher Command had l.een ablo to identify tho troop* who inflicted such terrible losses upon their advanced systems, and evon in our own armies there were many soldiers who had only the vaguest idea as to tho personality of tho men who Appeared in tho line by night with their strange apparatus and unknown methods. It waS only when tho infantry were withdrawn from the front trench for fear of accident and orders issued fot' Kfi& masks to bo kept "ready" throughout tho Trhole zone that they realised the "poison morchants were among them. With the first streaks of dawn tho "poison merchants, their work accomplished, departed in crowded niotor lorries for some j „ the back, where they lived as R.E. s (ill their services were called for elsewhere. ' A Terrible Vengeance. ■ British official statistics, compiled since the conclusion of the armistice, cstimato the German casualties from gas as thirty-five to every mah of the Special Brigade. Even should this figure be considerably on the high side, it still represents a terrible vengeance wreaked by the scientific men of Britain upon the enemy for his diabolical cruelty m introducing poison' gas as a weapon or "'Only once have the gas men received any public recognition. Sir Douglas Haig, in a special order of the day, issued shortly after the checking of the last great German drive in April, 1918, expressed his thanks to and appreciation of the Special Brigade when it was sent forward to take the place of infar,try. and hold the line against the advancing foe. This duty, said the FieldMnrshnl, the Snecittt Brigade liad discharged with all the cool disciplmo _and excellent fighting qualities which characterised their execution of their own dangerous work.