BRITISH WAR GAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1921, Page 3

BRITISH WAR GAS.

TOOK BIG TOLL OF GERMANS.' MADE TO REVENGE LUSITANIA. One of the most interesting secrets of the war was made known recently by the “Daily Graphic” in publishing the story of a British officer, Captain W. 11. Livens, D. 5.0., M.C., who, believing lii.s wife to have, gone down in the Lusitania, determined to avenge her by an invention which should kill at least 1100 Germans for the 1100 persons who lost their lives in the torpedoed liner, llow lie made good tins vow although ns it happened his wife had not lost her life, having sailed from America by another boat, is one of the most remarkable stories of the great conflict. “When the war broke out ‘ 1 went into the signal corps of the Royal Engineers, as there was plenty of interesting work, and I am an engineer by profession.” Captain Livens told a representative of tlie paper, “Mv wife left England at that time, to go to the United States to ho with her sister. 1 imagined that the knowledge that she was far away in safety would be less harrassing for me, and would enable me to Jo my work with my mind free from anxiety.” THOUGHT WIFE WAS ON LUSITANIA.

“But the war went oil, nnci in Hie end she wrote to say that she was coming home in the Lusitania. I received that letter a day before the skip was sunk, and 1 ntaurally assumed that she was oil hoard.

“1 liiadee inquiries, and found that somebody of her name had hooked a passage on the boat, and of course 1 believed that slie must have been drowned.

“I cabled to America. Imt everybody knows what those war-time cables were like, and it was three days before 1 received an answer. But when it came it was to the effect that my wife had not come by the Lusitania, but was coming by a later ship. “You can imagine my joy upon hearing tli news! But before that news came I had made up mv mind that the signal corps, although it was very interesting and useful, did not kill Germans. 1 wanted to kill Germans, 1101) of them (the same number as was killed on the Lusitania), and I changed over to the gas side of the R.E.’s to enable me to do this. Of course, 1100 was only to he tlie minimum—if there were any ’more, all the better. "As soon as 1 liegan, to study what ti.e Huns were doing in their gas attacks, I came to ibo conclusion that they had a lot to learn. They were spraying tlie gas in such a way that it was impossible to ICO it over a widespread line for fear of poisoning their own men. We were in much the same position.

“Then 1 decided to produce a kind of light mortar which would fire a gas shell, -so that I. should he able to place big clouds of gas on a given spot at any given time. That was what my projector was—a light mortar lor propelling gas shells. They were really at first only metal cylinders, strengthened with metal hoops, and the charge was -llh of cordite.

“It was not an ordinary gun which men could take into action. When wo were going to use it we used to lake it (or rather them, for we used many at one time) into No Man’s Land, or wherever we wanted it, and plant it in a long ditch. Electric wire were connected with it, and when the battery was ready no one could possibly detect its whereabouts. Even aeroplanes could not find the batteries, because* they were so cleverly camouflaged. Then at the crucial moment the whole battery was fired electrically from behind the lines, and the gas attack was launched. There was no necessity for any oi our men to be near them. EXAMPLES OK EKEECTIVKNESS. “It will give you some idea cl bow good they were when I tell you that 2(10,000 of them wore used in the war. And the remarkable fact, was that they only cost 30s to make. ••The Germans were very annoyed about this projector, and for a long time thought it was a silent gun, wl e as a matter of fact it was extremely noisy. The Germans mistook them for mines. 1 have seen frantic notes for kelp which the German commanders used to send to divisional headquarter-; when the projectors entile into action. “The first time we used it as an experiment was at lleauiiinut Hamel, where the Germans held a regiment in reserve in deep cellars. We tried !o tret gas into the cellars as well as to shell the place. When we bad taken it we could not find the opening to the cellars, but found a dug-out witTi Li dead Germans, six rats and a cat. Tliev had been killed in less than ten seconds!

“Later on we found the cellars, and in them between 300 and 400 dead Gormans, all killed by my projectors. I bad used 90 of them that day—later wv used 2000 at one time.

“That was the real first kick-off, so to speak, in 191(1, and it was verr.v successful. Later on 1 saw a letter from a German commander complaining that 200 of his men had been killed at another place by the projectors. By the end of 101(1 we were able to give fairly conclusive evidence that we had accounted for over r OO Germans. •At the battle of Alias I used 2'”'! projectors, and from an aeroplane saw the gas drifting from the German front, lines"* to distances twelve miles behind the lilies, at a height of no more than the tops of trees. “Yes, 1 am perfectly satisfied with the projectors, and I am also satisfied that I kept my vow about killing the Germans—in fact, you will probably agree that 1 came out with a little in band. It might interest you to know that at the end of 19K1 we calculated that it cost 16s 4d to kill a German with gas.”