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Fritz sent over gas shells night and day, hampering rationing parties, and enforcing prolonged agony inside the hot respirators. Gas, heavier than air, hangs low over the ground, follows inundations up and down, and slinks across water: hanging for days over damp soil, and permeating water with a sickly colour an obvious danger to troops drinking this liquid.
'Did they start before every mess had its proper share of extra teaspoons in case of accident, and a double supply of patent respirators for the drummer-boys, and of snow-shoes for the Canadian boatmen in case the climate proved uncertain?
Within a few days the first primitive respirators arrived and were issued; they were nothing but a pad of wool and some gauze, and would have been little use; fortunately we did not know this, and our confidence in them was quite complete. On the 10th May, just before we left the sector, we had a little excitement in the front line.
We found the streets full of ambulances, most of them being gas cases from around Hill 60, and, in spite of the respirators, most of them pretty bad cases. Being somewhat of a chemist, I managed to see some of these cases a few days later.
Here the men were shelled at intervals, particularly on the 13th, and spent the nights on working parties. It was whilst in this area that the new gas respirators, consisting of a pad of cotton wool and a strip of muslin, were issued on a scale of one to every twelve men. On the 19th May Major W.E. Taylor, York and Lancaster Regiment, arrived and took over command from Capt. Jeffreys.
The fact that such a cloud of chlorine would have passed the 1918 armies untouched behind their modern respirators, could not be known to, nor appreciated by the relatives of the 1915 casualties. But the emotion and indignation called forth by the first use of gas has survived a period of years, at the end of which the technical facts would no longer, of themselves, justify such feeling.
The residue of carbon and thorium on the blast tube walls was stubborn, dirty, and penetrating. It was caked on in a solid sheet, but when scraped, it broke up into fine powder. The Planeteers wore coveralls, gloves, and face masks with respirators, but that didn’t prevent the stuff from sifting through onto their bodies.
Throughout the plant at frequent intervals were first-aid stations with kits for all sorts of accidents, including respirators, for workmen were often overcome by ether or alcohol fumes. Everything was done to minimize the hazard, yet one could not escape the conviction that human life and limb were as much a cost of production in this industry as fuel and raw material.
I can see two cylinders directly under me. They’re manning the nozzles! Every man is masking at his post! Anybody on the stairs! Any sound?" "None." "Are you certain?" "It is as still as death below." "Try the dust. The wind’s changing, I think. Quick! Which way?" "West." "Oh, glory! Glory to God! They feel it below! They know. The wind has changed. Off came their respirators.
I never went through such a disagreeable experience in my life before. Then, to crown all, gas shells began to be mixed with the others. There was soon a regular stink of gas; I smelt it this time all right. We got our respirators on, which added to our discomfort. This went on for quite a long time. Then it also began to pour with rain and we were all drenched. The night was pitch dark.
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