USING GAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1917, Page 4

USING GAS.

“ The Use of Gas in War ” formed the subject of a lecture delivered by ' Lieutenant-Colonel Cumming at the • Garrison Officers’ Institute at WelI lington. There were, said Lieutenant j Colonel Cumming, three forms of gas 1 attack. There was the cylinder at- ■ tack, the cylinders containing about j 561 bof liquefied gas. The cylinders j were stored in the fire trench in j pairs. j The gas was' icleased through • rubber tabes, and as it was heavier - ! than air it travelled along tlie gronnd. ? Tfc was comparatively easily made : and easily distributed. A very small I portion of the gas was sufficient to , 1 put a man out of action. The gas ; was released by experts, and when i 1 the release was to take place every-

1 one was cleared out of the trenches, j The wind must be blowing towards' ! the enemy trenches if the gas was to j prove effective, and the velocity of 1 the wind must also he taken into i account! Wind blowing at the rate fof three miles an hour was not sufli- { cieiit, but from seven miles to ten ! miles was very favoui’able. Gas bad been known to be effective at 0000 yards, and under very favorable conditions at 26,000 yards—about fifteen miles. The nature of the ground must also be studied, and the most favorable ground was that which sloped upwards towards the enemy. The first intimation or warning that one got that gas was being

released was the noise made by the gss, which could also be seen. There were three kinds of gas used. Chlorine gas affected the lungs, another affected the heart, and these two were generally released together ; the third aas affected the eyes. The second gas, when released by itself, did not affect a man for an hour after he had inhaled it. The tear gas was generally distributed in “ tear shells.” The other two gasses w r ero also sent across in shells, particularly .chlorine eras. Jn addition to gas, frequent rise O . l *i J j ' " d’._ ■I ■ ''! ,1 ’* was made of smoke, and as the two looked alike they were often sandwiched, aud ,it was difficult to distinguish the one from the other. If a man was woixucled during a. gas attack it would |oe found that he was anxious to tear away }iis gas helmet, and it had been necessary on occasion to tie the hands of wounded men to prevent them from doing so.