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Next moment gongs were clanging up and down the trench, and men were tearing open the satchels which contained their anti-gas helmets. Major Wagstaffe, who had been sent up from Battalion Headquarters to take general charge of affairs in the firing-trench, buttoned the bottom edge of his helmet well inside his collar and clambered up on the firing-step to take stock of the position.
It does not matter if several false alarms are given. Masks must not be taken off without orders from an officer. Men affected, even if apparently only slightly, must be treated as serious cases, laid flat, kept still, and taken back as soon as possible for medical treatment. Anti-gas officers and Company Commanders will go through a fresh course of training on the above principles."
And many who have not yet reported sick are feeling bad. So much so that the Brigade-Major has agreed that all our working parties, but one small one under Allen, shall be cancelled for to-night. I feel all right. I must have a strong anti-gas constitution. This is a new kind of gas; the effects are delayed; but I do not think I am likely to get it now since I have hardly smelt any yet.
The helmet type of respirator made of flannel was first tested in the Anti-Gas laboratories on May 10th, 1915, and was a great success compared with previously suggested types. Arrangements for its manufacture were accordingly made, and this began in June, 1915. This protective device consisted of a flannel helmet with a celluloid film eyepiece, and was called the hypo helmet.
This had been recognised in French organisation as early as 1915, yet we did not reach the ideal solution even at the end of the war. The Anti-Gas Department. We have mentioned the origin of the Anti-Gas Department.
Each man had two anti-gas helmets one with a mica window, and the other with glass eyepieces and a tube through which to breathe out, and which was known later as a P.H. helmet. There were Vermorel Sprayers here and there in the trench, which were entrusted to the care of the sanitary men.
They went without enthusiasm, but when they found they could move about with impunity the confidence of the entire command in the anti-gas masks was absolute. The colonel was very vigilant against these gas attacks. He had equipped the only shelter I have seen devoted solely to the preparation of defenses against them. We learned several new facts concerning this hideous form of warfare.
Accordingly, on December 19, 1915, a formidable cloud gas attack was made on the north-east of the Ypres salient, using a mixture of phosgene and chlorine in a very high concentration. Fortunately, by this time we had established an anti-gas organisation, which had forestalled the production of cloud phosgene by special modifications in the British respirator.
All the modern mechanical types of war appliances are characterised by their great structural intricacy, witness the Lewis gun with its innumerable complicated parts, the heavy and field guns with their wonderful mechanism, and the future tank with its anti-gas, anti-water, and general anti devices.
Unbreakable types were not in general use at that time and all types were difficult to obtain. I got over this by using a draughtsman's ink spring-bows to which a snapped portion of a razor blade had been attached. Circles were scribed out on the transparent material of goggles anti-gas and then broken out.
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