THE GAS YOU CANNOT SEE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 19 December 1916, Page 6

THE GAS YOU CANNOT SEE.

GERMAN FRIGHTFULNESS UP-TO-DATE. The new kind of poison gas which ihe Germans are using is of an even more diabolical character than, the ■vapour which they were the first to introduce in the warfare on the western front. On the Somme the overwhelming superiority of the British artillery has made its use imposiblc; but the Huns 'have recently discharged the fumes at sections of the British trenches farther north. A Tommy on leave from Elandcrs gave a description of it- recently. * ‘ They tried to take us by surprise with this new gas, but we were ready for them,” he said. “The new stuff, although it comes out of the cylinders in visible clouds, becomes invisible by ihe time it reaches our lines; so that we may be right in it and not know it. ‘* One day we were warned by aeroplane that a cloud had been liberated from behind the German trenches opposite us. We could not see anything, but we were ready for the emergency. Some time passed, but we warned not remove our masks, although we had ■ and felt nothing. We were told that the wind had dropped suddenly, and that we were probably immersed in a bath of it. “Some of us made paper fans and agitated the air with them. By this means gradually we dispersed this unseen and deadly enemy. Fortunately our masks effectively protected us from all harm. “But it is a ghastly kind of warfare, when you can’t even see or feel the stuff that is trying to kill you. I have been told that the gas contains the same old ingredients, spiced with something new. “Still, we have got a pretty good gas, better than theirs and we have given it to them hot more than once.” j