On the night of July 12-13, 1917 german army During World War I, she was the first to use the poisonous gas mustard gas (a liquid poisonous substance with a skin blister effect). The Germans used mines, which contained an oily liquid, as a carrier of a poisonous substance. This event took place near the Belgian city of Ypres. The German command planned to disrupt the offensive of the Anglo-French troops with this attack. During the first use of mustard gas, 2,490 servicemen received injuries of varying severity, of which 87 died. UK scientists quite quickly deciphered the formula of this OV. However, it was only in 1918 that the production of a new poisonous substance was launched. As a result, the Entente managed to use mustard gas for military purposes only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice).

Mustard gas has a pronounced local effect: OM affects the organs of vision and respiration, the skin and the gastrointestinal tract. The substance, absorbed into the blood, poisons the entire body. Mustard gas affects the skin of a person when exposed, both in a droplet and in a vapor state. From the impact of mustard gas, the usual summer and winter uniforms of a soldier did not protect, like almost all types of civilian clothing.

From drops and vapors of mustard gas, ordinary summer and winter army uniforms do not protect the skin, like almost any type of civilian clothing. Full-fledged protection of soldiers from mustard gas did not exist in those years, so its use on the battlefield was effective until the very end of the war. The First World War was even called the "War of Chemists", because neither before nor after this war, agents were used in such quantities as in 1915-1918. During this war, the fighting armies used 12,000 tons of mustard gas, which affected up to 400,000 people. In total, during the years of the First World War, more than 150 thousand tons of poisonous substances (irritant and tear gases, skin blister agents) were produced. The leader in the use of OM was the German Empire, which has a first-class chemical industry. In total, more than 69 thousand tons of poisonous substances were produced in Germany. Germany was followed by France (37.3 thousand tons), Great Britain (25.4 thousand tons), USA (5.7 thousand tons), Austria-Hungary (5.5 thousand), Italy (4.2 thousand . tons) and Russia (3.7 thousand tons).

"Attack of the Dead". The Russian army suffered the largest losses among all participants in the war from the effects of OM. The German army was the first to use poison gases as mass destruction on a large scale during the First World War against Russia. On August 6, 1915, the German command used the OV to destroy the garrison of the Osovets fortress. The Germans deployed 30 gas batteries, several thousand cylinders, and on August 6, at 4 am, a dark green fog of a mixture of chlorine and bromine flowed onto the Russian fortifications, reaching the positions in 5-10 minutes. A gas wave 12-15 m high and up to 8 km wide penetrated to a depth of 20 km. The defenders of the Russian fortress did not have any means of protection. All living things were poisoned.

Following the gas wave and the fire shaft (German artillery opened massive fire), 14 Landwehr battalions (about 7 thousand infantrymen) went on the offensive. After a gas attack and an artillery strike, no more than a company of half-dead soldiers, poisoned with OM, remained in the advanced Russian positions. It seemed that Osovets was already in German hands. However, the Russian soldiers showed another miracle. When the German chains approached the trenches, they were attacked by Russian infantry. It was a real “attack of the dead”, the spectacle was terrible: Russian soldiers marched into the bayonet with their faces wrapped in rags, shaking from a terrible cough, literally spitting out pieces of their lungs onto their bloodied uniforms. It was only a few dozen fighters - the remnants of the 13th company of the 226th Zemlyansky Infantry Regiment. The German infantry fell into such horror that they could not withstand the blow and ran. Russian batteries opened fire on the fleeing enemy, which, as it seemed, had already died. It should be noted that the defense of the Osovets fortress is one of the brightest, heroic pages of the First World War. The fortress, despite the brutal shelling from heavy guns and the assaults of the German infantry, held out from September 1914 to August 22, 1915.

Russian empire in the pre-war period was a leader in the field of various "peace initiatives". Therefore, it did not have in its arsenals OV, means of counteracting such types of weapons, did not conduct serious research work in this direction. In 1915, the Chemical Committee had to be urgently established and the issue of developing technologies and large-scale production of poisonous substances was urgently raised. In February 1916, the production of hydrocyanic acid was organized at Tomsk University by local scientists. By the end of 1916, production was also organized in the European part of the empire, and the problem was generally resolved. By April 1917, the industry had produced hundreds of tons of poisonous substances. However, they remained unclaimed in warehouses.

First use cases chemical weapons into World War I

The 1st Hague Conference in 1899, which was convened at the initiative of Russia, adopted a declaration on the non-use of projectiles that spread asphyxiating or harmful gases. However, during the First World War, this document did not prevent the great powers from using the OV, including en masse.

In August 1914, the French were the first to use tear irritants (they did not cause death). The carriers were grenades filled with tear gas (ethyl bromoacetate). Soon his stocks ran out, and the French army began to use chloracetone. In October 1914, German troops used artillery shells partially filled with a chemical irritant against the British positions on the Neuve Chapelle. However, the concentration of OM was so low that the result was barely noticeable.

On April 22, 1915, the German army used chemical agents against the French, spraying 168 tons of chlorine near the river. Ypres. The Entente Powers immediately declared that Berlin had violated the principles of international law, but the German government countered this accusation. The Germans stated that the Hague Convention only prohibited the use of shells with explosive agents, but not gases. After that, attacks using chlorine began to be used regularly. In 1915, French chemists synthesized phosgene (a colorless gas). It has become a more effective agent, having greater toxicity than chlorine. Phosgene was used in pure form and mixed with chlorine to increase gas mobility.

Evgeny Pavlenko, Evgeny Mitkov

Reason for writing this overview resulted in the following publication:
Scientists have established that the ancient Persians were the first to use chemical weapons against their enemies. British archaeologist Simon James of the University of Leicester discovered that the Persian Empire used poison gases during the siege of the ancient Roman city of Dura in eastern Syria in the 3rd century AD. His theory is based on the study of the remains of 20 Roman soldiers found at the base of the city wall. The British archaeologist presented his find at the annual meeting of the American Archaeological Institute.

According to James's theory, in order to capture the city, the Persians dug under the surrounding fortification wall. The Romans dug their own tunnels to counterattack the attackers. When they entered the tunnel, the Persians set fire to bitumen and sulfur crystals, resulting in a thick poisonous gas. After a few seconds, the Romans lost consciousness, after a few minutes they died. The bodies of the dead Romans, the Persians piled one on top of the other, thus creating a protective barricade, and then set fire to the tunnel.

“The results of the archaeological excavations at Dura show that the Persians were no less experienced in the art of siege than the Romans, and used the most brutal methods,” says Dr. James.

Judging by the excavations, the Persians also expected to collapse the fortress wall and watchtowers as a result of the digging. And although they did not succeed, they, in the end, captured the city. However, how they entered Dura remains a mystery - the details of the siege and assault have not been preserved in historical documents. Then the Persians left Dura, and its inhabitants were either killed or driven to Persia. In 1920, the well-preserved ruins of the city were excavated by Indian troops who were digging defensive trenches along the backfilled city wall. Excavations were carried out in the 20s and 30s by French and American archaeologists. According to the BBC, last years they have been re-examined with the use of modern technology.

As a matter of fact, there are a great many versions about priority in the development of OV, probably as many as versions about gunpowder priority. However, the word to the recognized authority on the history of BOV:

DE-LAZARI A.N.

"CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON THE FRONTS OF THE WORLD WAR 1914-1918"

The first chemical weapons to be used were the "Greek fire" consisting of sulfur compounds thrown from pipes during naval battles, first described by Plutarch, as well as hypnotic agents described by the Scottish historian Buchanan, causing continuous diarrhea as described by Greek authors, and a range of drugs, including arsenic-containing compounds and the saliva of rabid dogs, which was described by Leonardo da Vinci. In Indian sources of the 4th century BC. e. there were descriptions of alkaloids and toxins, including abrin (a compound close to ricin, a component of the poison with which the Bulgarian dissident G. Markov was poisoned in 1979). Aconitine, (alkaloid), contained in plants of the genus aconite (aconitium) had ancient history and was used by Indian courtesans for murder. They covered their lips with a special substance, and on top of it, in the form of lipstick, they applied aconitine to their lips, one or more kisses or a bite, which, according to sources, led to a terrible death, the lethal dose was less than 7 milligrams. With the help of one of the poisons mentioned in the ancient "teachings about poisons", describing the effects of their effects, brother Nero Britannicus was killed. Several clinical experimental work was carried out by Madame de "Brinville, who poisoned all her relatives claiming inheritance, she also developed a "powder of inheritance", testing it on patients of clinics in Paris to assess the strength of the drug. In XV and XVII centuries poisonings of this kind were very popular, we should remember the Medici, they were a natural phenomenon, because it was almost impossible to detect the poison after the autopsy. If the poisoners were found, then the punishment was very cruel, they were burned or forced to drink a huge amount of water. Negative attitudes towards poisoners held back the use of chemicals for military purposes until the middle of the 19th century. Until then, assuming that sulfur compounds could be used for military purposes, Admiral Sir Thomas Cochran (10th Earl of Sunderland) used sulfur dioxide as a chemical warfare agent in 1855, which was met with indignation by the British military establishment. During the First World War, chemicals were used in huge quantities: 12,000 tons of mustard gas, which affected about 400,000 people, and a total of 113,000 tons of various substances.

In total, during the years of the First World War, 180 thousand tons of various toxic substances were produced. The total losses from chemical weapons are estimated at 1.3 million people, of which up to 100 thousand were fatal. The use of poisonous substances during the First World War are the first recorded violations of the Hague Declaration of 1899 and 1907. Incidentally, the United States refused to support the 1899 Hague Conference. In 1907 Great Britain acceded to the declaration and accepted its obligations. France agreed to the 1899 Hague Declaration, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. The parties agreed on the non-use of asphyxiating and nerve-paralytic gases for military purposes. Referring to the exact wording of the declaration, on October 27, 1914, Germany used ammunition loaded with shrapnel mixed with an irritating powder, arguing that this use was not the only purpose of this shelling. This also applies to the second half of 1914, when Germany and France used non-lethal tear gases,

German 155 mm howitzer shell ("T-shell") containing xylyl bromide (7 lbs - about 3 kg) and bursting charge (trinitrotoluene) in the nose. Figure from F. R. Sidel et al (1997)

but on April 22, 1915, Germany carried out a massive chlorine attack, as a result of which 15,000 soldiers were defeated, of which 5,000 died. The Germans at the front of 6 km released chlorine from 5730 cylinders. Within 5-8 minutes, 168 tons of chlorine were released. This perfidious use of chemical weapons by Germany was met with a powerful propaganda campaign against Germany, denouncing the use of poisonous substances for military purposes, initiated by Britain. Julian Parry Robinson examined propaganda material released after the Ypres events that drew attention to the description of Allied casualties due to the gas attack, based on information provided by credible sources. The Times published an article on April 30, 1915: "The Complete History of Events: New german weapons ". This is how eyewitnesses described this event: “The faces, hands of people were of a glossy gray-black color, their mouths were open, their eyes were covered with lead glaze, everything around was rushing about, spinning, fighting for life. The sight was frightening, all those terrible blackened faces, moaning and begging for help... The effect of the gas is to fill the lungs with a watery mucous liquid, which gradually fills all the lungs, because of this, suffocation occurs, as a result of which people die within 1 or 2 days ". German propaganda answered its opponents thus: "These shells are no more dangerous than the poisonous substances used during the English unrest (meaning the Luddite explosions, which used explosives based on picric acid)." This first gas attack came as a complete surprise to the Allied troops, but on September 25, 1915, the British troops carried out their trial chlorine attack. In further gas attacks, both chlorine and mixtures of chlorine with phosgene were used. For the first time, a mixture of phosgene and chlorine was first used as an agent by Germany on May 31, 1915, against Russian troops. At the front of 12 km - near Bolimov (Poland), 264 tons of this mixture were produced from 12 thousand cylinders. Despite the lack of means of protection and surprise, the German attack was repulsed. Almost 9 thousand people were put out of action in 2 Russian divisions. Since 1917, the warring countries began to use gas launchers (a prototype of mortars). They were first used by the British. The mines contained from 9 to 28 kg of a poisonous substance, firing from gas guns was carried out mainly with phosgene, liquid diphosgene and chloropicrin. German gas guns were the cause of the “miracle at Caporetto”, when, after shelling from 912 gas guns with mines with phosgene of the Italian battalion, all life was destroyed in the Isonzo river valley. Gas cannons were capable of suddenly creating high concentrations of agents in the target area, so many Italians died even in gas masks. Gas cannons gave impetus to the use of artillery, the use of poisonous substances, from the middle of 1916. The use of artillery increased the effectiveness of gas attacks. So on June 22, 1916, for 7 hours of continuous shelling, German artillery fired 125 thousand shells from 100 thousand liters. suffocating agents. The mass of poisonous substances in cylinders was 50%, in shells only 10%. On May 15, 1916, during artillery shelling, the French used a mixture of phosgene with tin tetrachloride and arsenic trichloride, and on July 1, a mixture of hydrocyanic acid with arsenic trichloride. July 10, 1917 by the Germans on Western front diphenylchlorarsine was first used, causing a strong cough even through a gas mask, which in those years had a poor smoke filter. Therefore, in the future, diphenylchlorarsine was used together with phosgene or diphosgene to defeat enemy manpower. A new stage in the use of chemical weapons began with the use of a persistent blister agent (B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide). Used for the first time by German troops near the Belgian city of Ypres.

On July 12, 1917, within 4 hours, 50 thousand shells containing 125 tons of B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide were fired at the Allied positions. 2,490 people received injuries of varying degrees. The French called the new OM "mustard gas", after the place of first use, and the British "mustard gas" because of the strong specific smell. British scientists quickly deciphered its formula, but they managed to establish the production of a new OM only in 1918, because of which mustard gas was used for military purposes, it was possible only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice). In total, for the period from April 1915 to November 1918, more than 50 gas balloon attacks were carried out by German troops, 150 by the British, 20 by the French.

The first anti-chemical masks of the British army:
A - military personnel of the Argyllshire Sutherland Highlander (Highland Scottish) Regiment demonstrate the latest gas protection equipment received on May 3, 1915 - eye protection glasses and a fabric mask;
B - soldiers of the Indian troops are shown in special flannel hoods moistened with a solution of sodium hyposulfite containing glycerin (to prevent its rapid drying) (West E., 2005)

Understanding the danger of using chemical weapons in war was reflected in the decisions of the Hague Convention of 1907, which banned poisonous substances as a means of warfare. But already at the very beginning of the First World War, the command of the German troops began to intensively prepare for the use of chemical weapons. April 22, 1915, when the German army in the small Belgian town of Ypres used a chlorine gas attack against the Anglo-French troops of the Entente, should be considered the official date for the start of the large-scale use of chemical weapons (precisely as weapons of mass destruction). A huge, weighing 180 tons (from 6000 cylinders) poisonous yellow-green cloud of highly toxic chlorine, having reached the advanced positions of the enemy, struck 15 thousand soldiers and officers within minutes; five thousand died immediately after the attack. The survivors either died in hospitals or became disabled for life, having received silicosis of the lungs, severe damage to the organs of vision and many internal organs. The "overwhelming" success of chemical weapons in action stimulated their use. In the same year, 1915, on May 31, on Eastern Front The Germans used an even more highly toxic poisonous substance called "phosgene" (full carbonic acid chloride) against the Russian troops. 9 thousand people died. May 12, 1917 another battle at Ypres. And again, German troops use chemical weapons against the enemy - this time a chemical warfare agent of skin - blistering and general toxic action - 2,2 - dichlorodiethyl sulfide, which later received the name "mustard gas". The small town became (like Hiroshima later) the symbol of one of the greatest crimes against humanity. During the First World War, other poisonous substances were also “tested”: diphosgene (1915), chloropicrin (1916), hydrocyanic acid (1915). Before the end of the war, poisonous substances (OS) based on organoarsenic compounds that have a general toxic and pronounced irritant effect - diphenylchlorarsine, diphenylcyanarsine - receive a "start in life". Some other broad-spectrum agents were also tested in combat conditions. During the years of the First World War, all the belligerent states used 125,000 tons of poisonous substances, including 47,000 tons by Germany. Chemical weapons claimed 800,000 human lives in this war

WAR POISON SUBSTANCES
SHORT REVIEW

History of the use of chemical warfare agents

Until August 6, 1945, chemical warfare agents (CWs) were the deadliest weapons on earth. The name of the Belgian city of Ypres sounded as ominous to people as Hiroshima would later sound. Chemical weapons caused fear even in those who were born after great war. No one doubted that BOV, along with aircraft and tanks, would become the main means of warfare in the future. In many countries, they were preparing for chemical warfare - they built gas shelters, explanatory work was carried out with the population on how to behave in the event of a gas attack. Stockpiles of poisonous substances (OS) were accumulated in the arsenals, capacities for the production of already known types of chemical weapons were increased, and work was actively carried out to create new, more deadly "poisons".

But ... The fate of such a "promising" means of mass murder of people has developed paradoxically. Chemical weapons, as well as later atomic weapons, were destined to turn from military to psychological. And there were several reasons for this.

The most significant reason is its absolute dependence on weather conditions. The effectiveness of the use of RH depends, first of all, on the nature of the movement of air masses. If too strong wind leads to rapid dispersion of the OM, thereby reducing its concentration to safe values, then too weak, on the contrary, leads to the stagnation of the OM cloud in one place. Stagnation does not allow to cover the required area, and if the agent is unstable, it can lead to the loss of its damaging properties.

The inability to accurately predict the direction of the wind at the right moment, to predict its behavior, is a significant threat to those who decide to use chemical weapons. It is impossible to determine absolutely exactly in which direction and with what speed the OM cloud will move and whom it will cover.

The vertical movement of air masses - convection and inversion - also strongly affect the use of RH. During convection, the OM cloud, together with the air heated near the ground, quickly rises above the ground. When the cloud rises above two meters from the ground level - i.e. above human height, the impact of RH is significantly reduced. During the First World War, during a gas attack to speed up convection, the defenders burned fires in front of their positions.

The inversion leads to the fact that the OM cloud remains near the ground. In this case, if the Tivnik soldiers are in the trenches and dugouts, they are most exposed to the effect of OM. But the cold air, which has become heavy, mixed with the OM, leaves the elevated places free, and the troops stationed on them are safe.

In addition to the movement of air masses, chemical weapons are affected by air temperature ( low temperatures sharply reduce the evaporation of OM) and precipitation.

Not only dependence on weather conditions creates difficulties in the use of chemical weapons. The production, transportation and warehousing of munitions filled with explosive agents creates a lot of problems. The manufacture of OV and equipping them with ammunition is very expensive and harmful production. A chemical projectile is deadly and will remain so until disposed of, which is also a very big problem. It is extremely difficult to achieve complete containment of chemical munitions and make them sufficiently safe to handle and store. The influence of weather conditions leads to the need to wait for favorable circumstances for the use of OM, which means that the troops will be forced to maintain vast warehouses of extremely dangerous ammunition to handle, allocate significant units for their protection, and create special conditions for safety.

In addition to these reasons, there is another one, which, if not reduced the effectiveness of the use of OV to zero, then to a large extent reduced it. Means of protection were born almost from the moment of the first chemical attacks. Simultaneously with the advent of gas masks and protective equipment that excludes contact of the body with skin-abscess agents (rubber raincoats and overalls) for people, horses received their protective gear - the main and indispensable draft tool of those years, and even dogs.

A 2-4-fold reduction in a soldier's combat capability due to chemical protection equipment could not have a significant effect in combat. Soldiers of both sides are forced to use means of protection when using OV, which means that the chances are equalized. At that time, in the duel of means of attack and means of defense, the latter won. For one successful attack, there were dozens of unsuccessful ones. Not a single chemical attack in the First World War brought operational success, and tactical successes were rather modest. All more or less successful attacks were carried out against an absolutely unprepared and unprotected enemy.

Already in the First World War, the opposing sides very quickly became disillusioned with the combat qualities of chemical weapons and continued to use them only because they had no other way to bring the war out of a positional impasse.

All subsequent cases of the use of BOVs were either probationary or punitive - against civilians who did not have means of protection and knowledge. The generals, both on the one hand and on the other, were well aware of the inexpediency and futility of using OM, but were forced to reckon with politicians and the military-chemical lobby in their countries. Therefore, for a long time, chemical weapons remained a popular “horror story”.

It remains so even now. The example of Iraq is proof of this. The accusation of Saddam Hussein in the production of OV served as a pretext for the outbreak of war, and turned out to be a strong argument for the "public opinion" of the United States and its allies.

First experiences.

In the texts of the IV century BC. e. an example is given of the use of poisonous gases to combat enemy digging under the walls of a fortress. The defenders pumped smoke from burning mustard and wormwood seeds into the underground passages with the help of furs and terracotta pipes. Toxic gases caused suffocation and even death.

In ancient times, attempts were also made to use OM in the course of hostilities. Toxic fumes were used during the Peloponnesian War of 431-404. BC e. The Spartans placed pitch and sulfur in logs, which were then placed under the city walls and set on fire.

Later, with the advent of gunpowder, they tried to use bombs filled with a mixture of poisons, gunpowder and resin on the battlefield. Released from catapults, they exploded from a burning fuse (the prototype of a modern remote fuse). Exploding, the bombs emitted clouds of poisonous smoke over enemy troops - poisonous gases caused bleeding from the nasopharynx when using arsenic, skin irritation, blisters.

In medieval China, a cardboard bomb filled with sulfur and lime was created. During a naval battle in 1161, these bombs, falling into the water, exploded with a deafening roar, spreading poisonous smoke in the air. The smoke generated from the contact of water with lime and sulfur caused the same effects as modern tear gas.

As components in the creation of mixtures for equipping bombs, the following were used: hooked mountaineer, croton oil, soap tree pods (to generate smoke), arsenic sulfide and oxide, aconite, tung oil, spanish flies.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the inhabitants of Brazil tried to fight the conquistadors by using poisonous smoke obtained from the burning of red pepper against them. This method was later repeatedly used during uprisings in Latin America.

In the Middle Ages and later, chemical agents continued to attract attention for solving military problems. So, in 1456 the city of Belgrade was protected from the Turks by influencing the attackers with a poisonous cloud. This cloud arose from the combustion of a toxic powder with which the inhabitants of the city sprinkled rats, set them on fire and released them towards the besiegers.

A range of preparations, including those containing arsenic compounds and the saliva of rabid dogs, were described by Leonardo da Vinci.

In 1855, during the Crimean campaign, the English admiral Lord Dandonald developed the idea of ​​fighting the enemy by using a gas attack. In his memorandum dated August 7, 1855, Dandonald proposed to the British government a project to take Sevastopol with the help of sulfur vapor. Lord Dandonald's memorandum, together with explanatory notes, was transmitted by the English government of the time to a committee in which leading role played by Lord Playfar. The committee, having seen all the details of Lord Dandonald's project, was of the opinion that the project was quite feasible, and the results promised by it could certainly be achieved - but in themselves the results are so terrible that no honest enemy should take advantage of this method. Therefore, the committee decided that the project could not be accepted, and Lord Dandonald's note should be destroyed.

The project proposed by Dandonald was not rejected at all because "no honest enemy should use this method." From the correspondence between Lord Palmerston, the head of the English government at the time of the war with Russia, and Lord Panmur, it follows that the success of the method proposed by Dandonald raised the strongest doubts, and Lord Palmerston, together with Lord Panmur, were afraid to get into a ridiculous position in case of failure of the experiment they sanctioned.

If we take into account the level of the soldiers of that time, there is no doubt that the failure of the attempt to smoke the Russians out of their fortifications with the help of sulfuric smoke would not only make the Russian soldiers laugh and raise the spirits, but would even more discredit the British command in the eyes of the allied troops (the French , Turks and Sardinians).

The negative attitude towards poisoners and the underestimation of this type of weapon by the military (or rather, the lack of need for a new, more deadly weapon) restrained the use of chemicals for military purposes until the middle of the 19th century.

The first tests of chemical weapons in Russia were carried out at the end of the 50s. XIX century on the Volkovo field. Shells filled with cyanide cacodyl were blown up in open log cabins where there were 12 cats. All cats survived. The report of Adjutant General Barantsev, in which incorrect conclusions were drawn about the low effectiveness of the OV, led to a deplorable result. Work on testing shells filled with explosive agents was stopped and resumed only in 1915.

The cases of the use of OV during the First World War are the first recorded violations of the Hague Declaration of 1899 and 1907. The declarations forbade "the use of projectiles whose sole purpose is to spread asphyxiating or harmful gases." France agreed to the Hague Declaration of 1899, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. The parties agreed on the non-use of asphyxiating and poisonous gases for military purposes. The USA refused to support the decision of the Hague Conference in 1899. In 1907 Great Britain joined the declaration and accepted its obligations.

The initiative in the application of CWA on a large scale belongs to Germany. Already in the September battles of 1914 on the Marne and on the River Ain, both belligerents felt great difficulties in supplying their armies with shells. With the transition to positional warfare in October-November, there was no hope, especially for Germany, of overpowering the enemy covered by trenches with ordinary artillery shells. In contrast, OVs have the property of hitting a living enemy in places that are not accessible to the action of the most powerful projectiles. And Germany was the first to embark on the path of using CWA, having the most developed chemical industry.

Referring to the exact wording of the declaration, Germany and France in 1914 used non-lethal "tear" gases, and it should be noted that the French army did this first, using xylyl bromide grenades in August 1914.

Immediately after the declaration of war, Germany began to experiment (at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute) with cacodyl oxide and phosgene in order to be able to use them militarily.

In Berlin, the Military Gas School was opened, in which numerous depots of materials were concentrated. A special inspection was also located there. In addition, a special chemical inspection A-10 was formed under the Ministry of War, specifically dealing with issues of chemical warfare.

The end of 1914 marked the beginning research activities in Germany to find BOV, mainly for artillery ammunition. These were the first attempts to equip BOV shells. The first experiments on the use of BOV in the form of the so-called "N2 projectile" (105-mm shrapnel with the replacement of bullet equipment in it with dianisidine chlorosulfate) were made by the Germans in October 1914.

On October 27, 3,000 of these shells were used on the Western Front in an attack on Neuve Chapelle. Although the irritating effect of the shells turned out to be small, but, according to German data, their use facilitated the capture of Neuve Chapelle. At the end of January 1915, the Germans in the Bolimov region used 15-cm artillery grenades (“T” grenades) with a strong blasting effect and an irritating chemical substance (xylyl bromide) when shelling Russian positions. The result was more than modest - due to the low temperature and insufficiently massive fire. In March, the French first used chemical 26-mm rifle grenades equipped with ethyl bromoacetone, and similar chemical hand grenades. Both those and others without any noticeable results.

In April of the same year, at Nieuport in Flanders, the Germans first tested the effect of their "T" grenades, which contained a mixture of benzyl bromide and xylyl, as well as brominated ketones. German propaganda claimed that such projectiles were no more dangerous than picric acid explosives. Picric acid - another name for it is melinite - was not a BOV. It was an explosive, during the explosion of which asphyxiating gases were released. There were cases of death from suffocation of soldiers who were in shelters after the explosion of a shell filled with melinite.

But at that time there was a crisis in the production of such shells and they were withdrawn from service, and in addition, the high command doubted the possibility of obtaining a mass effect in the manufacture of chemical shells. Then Professor Fritz Haber suggested using OM in the form of a gas cloud.

Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber (1868-1934). He was awarded in 1918 the title of laureate Nobel Prize in chemistry for the synthesis in 1908 of liquid ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen on an osmium catalyst. During the war, he led the chemical service of the German troops. After the Nazis came to power, he was forced to leave in 1933 from the post of director of the Berlin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry (he took it in 1911) and emigrate - first to England and then to Switzerland. He died in Basel on January 29, 1934.

First use of BOV
Leverkusen became the center of BWA production, where a large number of materials were produced, and where in 1915 the Military Chemistry School was transferred from Berlin - it had 1,500 technical and command personnel and several thousand workers employed in production. 300 chemists worked non-stop in her laboratory in Gust. Orders for OV were distributed among various factories.

The first attempts to use CWAs were carried out on such a small scale and with such insignificant effect that no measures were taken by the allies in the line of anti-chemical protection.

On April 22, 1915, Germany carried out a massive chlorine attack on the Western Front in Belgium near the city of Ypres, releasing chlorine from 5,730 cylinders from their positions between Biksshute and Langemark at 17 o'clock.

The world's first gas balloon attack was prepared very carefully. Initially, a section of the front of the XV Corps was chosen for it, which occupied a position against the southwestern part of the Ypres salient. The burying of gas cylinders in the front sector of the XV Corps was completed in mid-February. The sector was then somewhat increased in width, so that by March 10 the entire front of the XV Corps was prepared for a gas attack. But the dependence of the new weapon on weather conditions affected. The time of the attack was constantly delayed, because the necessary south and south-west winds did not blow. Due to the forced delay, the chlorine cylinders, although buried, were damaged by accidental hits from artillery shells

On March 25, the commander of the 4th Army decided to postpone preparations for a gas attack on the Ypres salient, choosing a new sector at the location of 46 rez. divisions and XXVI res. corps - Pelkappele-Steenstraat. On the 6-km section of the attack front, gas-cylinder batteries were installed, 20 cylinders each, which required 180 tons of chlorine to fill. A total of 6,000 cylinders were prepared, of which half were requisitioned commercial cylinders. In addition to these, 24,000 new half-volume cylinders were prepared. The installation of the cylinders was completed on April 11, but we had to wait for a favorable wind.

The gas attack lasted 5-8 minutes. Of the total number of prepared cylinders with chlorine, 30% was used, which amounted to 168 to 180 tons of chlorine. Actions on the flanks were strengthened by fire with chemical shells.

The result of the battle at Ypres, which began with a gas balloon attack on April 22 and lasted until mid-May, was the consistent cleansing of a significant part of the territory of the Ypres ledge by the Allies. The Allies suffered significant losses - 15 thousand soldiers were defeated, of which 5 thousand died.

Newspapers of that time wrote about the effect of chlorine on human body: "the filling of the lungs with a watery mucous liquid, which gradually fills all the lungs, because of this, suffocation occurs, as a result of which people die within 1 or 2 days." Those who were “lucky” to survive, from the brave soldiers who were expected with victory at home, turned into blind cripples with burned lungs.

But the success of the Germans was limited only to such tactical achievements. This is explained by the uncertainty of the command as a result of the impact of chemical weapons, which did not back up the offensive with any significant reserves. The first echelon of German infantry, cautiously advancing at a considerable distance behind the cloud of chlorine, was late for the development of success, thus allowing the British to close the gap with reserves.

In addition to the above reasons, both the lack of reliable protective equipment and the chemical training of the army in general and specially trained personnel in particular played a deterrent role. Chemical warfare is impossible without the protective equipment of their troops. However, at the beginning of 1915, the German army had primitive protection against gases in the form of tow pads soaked in a hyposulfite solution. Prisoners captured by the British during the next few days after the gas attack testified that they did not have masks or any other protective devices, and that the gas caused sharp pain to their eyes. They also claimed that the troops were afraid to advance for fear of suffering from the poor performance of gas masks.

This gas attack came as a complete surprise to the Allied troops, but already on September 25, 1915, the British troops carried out their test chlorine attack.

Subsequently, both chlorine and mixtures of chlorine with phosgene were used in gas balloon attacks. The mixtures usually contained 25% phosgene, but sometimes in the summer the proportion of phosgene reached 75%.

For the first time, a mixture of phosgene and chlorine was used on May 31, 1915 at Wola Shidlovskaya near Bolimov (Poland) against Russian troops. 4 gas battalions were transferred there, reduced after Ypres to 2 regiments. Parts of the 2nd Russian Army were chosen as the object for the gas attack, which, with its stubborn defense, blocked the path to Warsaw of the 9th Army of General Mackensen in December 1914. Between May 17 and 21, the Germans installed gas batteries in advanced trenches for 12 km, each consisting of 10-12 cylinders filled with liquefied chlorine - a total of 12 thousand cylinders (cylinder height 1 m, diameter 15 cm). There were up to 10 such batteries on a 240-meter section of the front. However, after the completion of the deployment of gas batteries, the Germans were forced to wait for 10 days for favorable meteorological conditions. This time was spent explaining the upcoming operation to the soldiers - they were inspired that the Russian fire would be completely paralyzed by gases and that the gas itself was not fatal, but only caused a temporary loss of consciousness. Propaganda among the soldiers of the new "wonder weapon" was not successful. The reason was that many did not believe this and even had a negative attitude towards the very fact of the use of gases.

The Russian army had information received from defectors about the preparation of a gas attack, but they were ignored and were not brought to the attention of the troops. Meanwhile, the command of the VI Siberian Corps and the 55th Infantry Division, defending the sector of the front that had been attacked by a gas balloon, knew about the results of the attack at Ypres and even ordered gas masks in Moscow. Ironically, the gas mask was delivered on May 31 in the evening, after the attack.

On that day, at 3:20, after a short artillery preparation, the Germans fired 264 tons of a mixture of phosgene and chlorine. Mistaking the cloud of gas for a camouflage attack, the Russian troops reinforced the forward trenches and pulled up reserves. The complete surprise and unpreparedness on the part of the Russian troops led the soldiers to show more surprise and curiosity about the appearance of a gas cloud than alarm.

Soon the trenches, which were here a maze of solid lines, were filled with the dead and dying. Losses from the gas balloon attack amounted to 9,146 people, of which 1,183 died from gases.

Despite this, the result of the attack was very modest. Having carried out a huge preparatory work (installation of cylinders on a front section 12 km long), the German command achieved only tactical success, which consisted in inflicting losses on the Russian troops - 75% in the 1st defensive zone. As well as near Ypres, the Germans did not ensure the development of the attack to the size of a breakthrough on an operational scale by concentrating powerful reserves. The offensive was stopped by the stubborn resistance of the Russian troops, who managed to close the breakthrough that had begun to form. Apparently, the German army still continued to make experiments in the field of organizing gas balloon attacks.

September 25 was followed by a German gas balloon attack in the Ikskul area on the Dvina River, and on September 24 the same attack south of the Baranovichi station. In December, Russian troops were subjected to a gas balloon attack on the Northern Front in the Riga region. In total, from April 1915 to November 1918, more than 50 gas-balloon attacks were carried out by German troops, 150 by the British, and 20 by the French. Since 1917, the warring countries began to use gas guns (a prototype of mortars).

They were first used by the British in 1917. The gas gun consisted of a steel pipe, tightly closed from the breech, and a steel plate (pallet) used as a base. The gas cannon was buried in the ground almost to the very muzzle, while the axis of its channel made an angle of 45 degrees with the horizon. Gas throwers were loaded with conventional gas cylinders that had head fuses. The weight of the balloon was about 60 kg. The cylinder contained from 9 to 28 kg of agents, mainly of asphyxiating action - phosgene, liquid diphosgene and chloropicrin. The shot was fired with an electric fuse. The gas throwers were connected by electric wires into batteries of 100 pieces. The salvo of the entire battery was carried out simultaneously. The most effective was considered the use of 1,000 to 2,000 gas cannons.

The first British gas guns had a firing range of 1-2 km. The German army received 180-mm and 160-mm rifled gas launchers with a firing range of up to 1.6 and 3 km, respectively.

German gas cannons were the cause of the "Miracle at Caporetto". The massive use of gas guns by the Kraus group advancing in the Isonzo valley led to a rapid breakthrough of the Italian front. The Kraus group consisted of selected Austro-Hungarian divisions prepared for war in the mountains. Since they had to operate in highlands, the command allocated relatively less artillery to support the divisions than the rest of the groups. But they had 1,000 gas guns, with which the Italians were not familiar.

The effect of surprise was also greatly exacerbated by the use of explosive weapons, which until then had been very rarely used on the Austrian front.

In the Plezzo basin, the chemical attack had a lightning-fast effect: in only one of the ravines, southwest of the town of Plezzo, about 600 corpses were counted without gas masks.

Between December 1917 and May 1918, German troops made 16 attacks on the British using gas cannons. However, their result, due to the development of anti-chemical protection, was no longer so significant.

The combination of gas cannons with artillery fire increased the effectiveness of gas attacks. Initially, the use of OV by artillery was ineffective. Great difficulties were presented by the equipment of artillery shells of the OV. For a long time it was not possible to achieve uniform filling of ammunition, which affected their ballistics and firing accuracy. The share of the mass of OM in cylinders was 50%, and in shells - only 10%. The improvement of guns and chemical munitions by 1916 made it possible to increase the range and accuracy of artillery fire. From the middle of 1916, the belligerents began to widely use artillery weapons. This made it possible to drastically reduce the preparation time for a chemical attack, made it less dependent on meteorological conditions, and made it possible to use agents in any state of aggregation: in the form of gases, liquids, and solids. In addition, it became possible to hit the rear of the enemy.

So, already on June 22, 1916, near Verdun, for 7 hours of continuous shelling, German artillery fired 125 thousand shells from 100 thousand liters of suffocating agents.

On May 15, 1916, during artillery shelling, the French used a mixture of phosgene with tin tetrachloride and arsenic trichloride, and on July 1, a mixture of hydrocyanic acid with arsenic trichloride.

On July 10, 1917, the Germans on the Western Front used diphenylchlorarsine for the first time, causing a strong cough even through a gas mask, which in those years had a poor smoke filter. Exposed to the action of the new OV, it turned out to be forced to drop the gas mask. Therefore, in the future, to defeat enemy manpower, diphenylchlorarsine began to be used together with a suffocating agent - phosgene or diphosgene. For example, a solution of diphenylchlorarsine in a mixture of phosgene and diphosgene (in a ratio of 10:60:30) was placed in the projectiles.

A new stage in the use of chemical weapons began with the use of persistent agents of the blistering action of B, B "-dichlorodiethyl sulfide (here "B" is the Greek letter beta), first tested by German troops near the Belgian city of Ypres. July 12, 1917 for 4 hours on Allied positions were fired 60 thousand shells containing 125 tons of B, B "-dichlorodiethyl sulfide. 2,490 people received injuries of varying degrees. The offensive of the Anglo-French troops on this sector of the front was thwarted and was able to resume only three weeks later.

Human exposure to blister agents.

The French called the new agent "mustard gas", after the place of first use, and the British - "mustard gas" because of the strong specific smell. British scientists quickly deciphered its formula, but it was only in 1918 that it was possible to establish the production of a new OM, which is why it was possible to use mustard gas for military purposes only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice). In total, for 1917-1918. the warring parties used 12 thousand tons of mustard gas, which affected about 400 thousand people.

Chemical weapons in Russia.

In the Russian army, the high command was negative about the use of OV. However, under the influence of the gas attack carried out by the Germans in the Ypres region, as well as in May on the Eastern Front, it was forced to change its views.

On August 3, 1915, an order appeared on the formation of a special commission "for the preparation of asphyxiants" under the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU). As a result of the work of the GAU commission in Russia, first of all, the production of liquid chlorine was established, which was imported from abroad before the war.

In August 1915, chlorine was produced for the first time. In October of the same year, phosgene production began. Since October 1915, special chemical teams began to form in Russia to carry out gas balloon attacks.

In April 1916, a Chemical Committee was formed at the State Agrarian University, which included a commission for the "procurement of suffocating agents." Thanks to the energetic actions of the Chemical Committee, an extensive network of chemical plants (about 200) was created in Russia. Including a number of factories for the manufacture of OV.

New OM plants were put into operation in the spring of 1916. By November, the amount of OM produced reached 3,180 tons (in October, about 345 tons were produced), and the program of 1917 planned to increase the monthly output to 600 tons in January and to 1,300 tons in May.

The first gas-balloon attack was carried out by Russian troops on September 6, 1916 at 03:30. near Smorgon. 1,700 small and 500 large cylinders were installed on a 1,100 m front section. The number of OVs was calculated for a 40-minute attack. In total, 13 tons of chlorine were produced from 977 small and 65 large cylinders. Russian positions were also partially affected by chlorine vapor due to a change in wind direction. In addition, several cylinders were broken by return artillery fire.

On October 25, north of Baranovichi, in the Skrobov area, another gas-balloon attack was carried out by Russian troops. Damage to cylinders and hoses allowed during the preparation of the attack led to significant losses - only 115 people died. All the poisoned were without masks. By the end of 1916, a tendency emerged to shift the center of gravity of chemical warfare from gas-balloon attacks to chemical projectiles.

Russia has taken the path of using chemical shells in artillery since 1916, manufacturing 76-mm chemical grenades of two types: asphyxiating, equipped with a mixture of chloropicrin with sulfuryl chloride, and general toxic action - phosgene with stannous chloride (or vensinite, consisting of hydrocyanic acid, chloroform , chloride arsenic and tin). The action of the latter caused damage to the body and in severe cases led to death.

By the autumn of 1916, the army's requirements for 76-mm chemical shells were fully satisfied: the army received 15,000 shells per month, (the ratio of poisonous and asphyxiating shells was 1:4). The supply of the Russian army with large-caliber chemical projectiles was hampered by the lack of shell cases, which were completely intended for explosive equipment. Russian artillery began to receive chemical mines for mortars in the spring of 1917.

As for gas cannons, which were successfully used as a new means of chemical attack on the French and Italian fronts from the beginning of 1917, Russia, which withdrew from the war in the same year, did not have gas cannons. In the mortar artillery school, formed in September 1917, it was only supposed to begin experiments on the use of gas throwers.

Russian artillery was not rich enough in chemical shells to use mass shooting, as was the case with Russia's allies and opponents. She used 76 mm chemical grenades almost exclusively in a positional warfare situation, as an auxiliary tool along with firing ordinary projectiles. In addition to shelling enemy trenches immediately before an attack, firing chemical projectiles was used with particular success to temporarily stop the fire of enemy batteries, trench guns and machine guns, to assist their gas attack - by shelling those targets that were not captured by a gas wave. Shells filled with explosive agents were used against enemy troops accumulated in a forest or in another sheltered place, his observation and command posts, covered communication passages.

At the end of 1916, the GAU sent 9,500 hand-held glass grenades with asphyxiant liquids to the active army for combat testing, and in the spring of 1917, 100,000 hand-held chemical grenades. Those and others hand grenades rushed to 20 - 30 m and were useful in defense and especially during retreat, in order to prevent the pursuit of the enemy.

During the Brusilov breakthrough in May-June 1916, the Russian army got some front-line stocks of German OM as trophies - shells and containers with mustard gas and phosgene. Although the Russian troops were subjected to German gas attacks several times, these weapons themselves were rarely used - either due to the fact that chemical munitions from the allies arrived too late, or due to the lack of specialists. And at that time, the Russian military did not have any concept of using OV.

During the First World War, chemicals were used in huge quantities. In total, 180 thousand tons of chemical munitions of various types were produced, of which 125 thousand tons were used on the battlefield, including 47 thousand tons by Germany. More than 40 types of OV have passed combat testing. Among them, 4 are blistering, asphyxiating, and at least 27 are irritating. The total losses from chemical weapons are estimated at 1.3 million people. Of these, up to 100 thousand are fatal. At the end of the war, the list of potentially promising and already tested agents included chloracetophenone (a lachrymator with a strong irritant effect) and a-lewisite (2-chlorovinyldichloroarsine). Lewisite immediately attracted close attention as one of the most promising BOVs. Its industrial production began in the United States even before the end of the World War. Our country began to produce and accumulate lewisite reserves already in the first years after the formation of the USSR.

All the arsenals with chemical weapons of the old Russian army at the beginning of 1918 were in the hands of the new government. In the years civil war chemical weapons were used in small quantities by the White Army and the British occupation forces in 1919. The Red Army used chemical weapons in the suppression of peasant uprisings. Probably the first time Soviet authority tried to use OV in the suppression of the uprising in Yaroslavl in 1918.

In March 1919, another uprising broke out in the Upper Don. On March 18, the artillery of the Zaamursky regiment fired on the rebels with chemical shells (most likely with phosgene).

The massive use of chemical weapons by the Red Army dates back to 1921. Then, under the command of Tukhachevsky, a large-scale punitive operation was launched in the Tambov province against Antonov's rebel army. In addition to punitive actions - the execution of hostages, the creation of concentration camps, the burning of entire villages, chemical weapons were used in large quantities (artillery shells and gas cylinders). We can definitely talk about the use of chlorine and phosgene, but, possibly, mustard gas.

On June 12, 1921, Tukhachevsky signed order number 0116, which read:
For immediate clearing of scaffolding, I ORDER:
1. The forests where the bandits are hiding should be cleared with poisonous gases, accurately calculated so that the cloud of suffocating gases spreads completely throughout the forest, destroying everything that was hiding in it.
2. The Artillery Inspector shall immediately submit the required number of poisonous gas cylinders and the necessary specialists to the field.
3. To the chiefs of combat sections to persistently and energetically carry out this order.
4. Report on the measures taken.

Technical preparations were made to carry out the gas attack. On June 24, the head of the operational department of the headquarters of the troops of Tukhachevsky handed over to the head of the 6th combat section (near the village of Inzhavino in the valley of the Vorona River) A.V. Pavlov the order of the commander "to check the ability of the chemical company to act with suffocating gases." At the same time, the artillery inspector of the Tambov army, S. Kasinov, reported to Tukhachevsky: “Regarding the use of gases in Moscow, I found out the following: an order for 2,000 chemical shells has been given, and these days they should arrive in Tambov. Distribution by sections: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th 200 each, 6th - 100”.

On July 1, gas engineer Puskov reported on his inspection of gas cylinders and gas equipment delivered to the Tambov artillery depot: “... cylinders with chlorine grade E 56 are in good condition, there is no gas leakage, there are spare caps for the cylinders. Technical accessories, such as: wrenches, hoses, lead pipes, washers and other equipment - in good condition, in excess quantity ... "

The troops were instructed how to use chemical munitions, but a serious problem arose - the personnel of the batteries were not provided with gas masks. Because of the delay this caused, the first gas attack did not take place until 13 July. On this day, the artillery battalion of the brigade of the Zavolzhsky Military District used up 47 chemical shells.

On August 2, a battery of Belgorod artillery courses fired 59 chemical shells at an island on a lake near the village of Kipets.

By the time the operation was carried out with the use of explosive agents in the Tambov forests, the uprising had actually already been suppressed and there was no need for such a cruel punitive action. It seems that it was carried out with the aim of training troops in chemical warfare. Tukhachevsky considered OV to be a very promising tool in a future war.

In his military-theoretical work "New Questions of War" he noted:

The rapid development of chemical means of struggle makes it possible to suddenly use more and more new means against which the old gas masks and other anti-chemical means are ineffective. And at the same time, these new chemical agents do not require any alteration or recalculation of the material part at all or almost.

New inventions in the field of warfare technology can be immediately applied on the battlefield and, as a means of combat, can be the most sudden and demoralizing innovation for the enemy. Aviation is the most advantageous means for spraying agents. OV will be widely used by tanks and artillery.

Since 1922, attempts have been made to establish their own production of chemical weapons in Soviet Russia with the help of the Germans. Bypassing the Versailles agreements, on May 14, 1923, the Soviet and German sides sign an agreement on the construction of a plant for the production of organic matter. Technological assistance in the construction of this plant was provided by the Stolzenberg concern within the framework of the Bersol joint stock company. They decided to deploy production in Ivashchenkovo ​​(later Chapaevsk). But for three years, nothing really was done - the Germans were clearly not eager to share technology and were playing for time.

Industrial production of OM (mustard gas) was first established in Moscow at the Aniltrest experimental plant. Moscow experimental plant "Aniltresta" from August 30 to September 3, 1924 issued the first industrial batch of mustard gas - 18 pounds (288 kg). And in October of the same year, the first thousand chemical shells were already equipped with domestic mustard gas. Later, on the basis of this production, a research institute for the development of optical agents with a pilot plant was established.

One of the main centers for the production of chemical weapons since the mid-1920s. becomes a chemical plant in the city of Chapaevsk, which produced BOV until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Research in the field of improving the means of chemical attack and defense in our country was carried out in the open July 18, 1928 "Institute of Chemical Defense. Osoaviakhima". The head of the military-chemical department of the Red Army Ya.M. Fishman, and his deputy for science - N.P. Korolev. Academicians N.D. Zelinsky, T.V. Khlopin, professor N.A. Shilov, A.N. Ginzburg

Yakov Moiseevich Fishman. (1887-1961). Since August 1925, Head of the Military Chemical Directorate of the Red Army, concurrently Head of the Institute of Chemical Defense (since March 1928). In 1935 he was awarded the title of Corps Engineer. Doctor of Chemical Sciences since 1936. Arrested on June 5, 1937. Sentenced on May 29, 1940 to 10 years in labor camp. Died July 16, 1961 in Moscow

The result of the work of the departments involved in the development of means of individual and collective protection against explosive agents was the adoption by the Red Army for the period from 1928 to 1941. 18 new samples of protective equipment.

In 1930, for the first time in the USSR, S.V. Korotkov drew up a project for sealing the tank and equipping it with a FVU (filter-ventilation unit). In 1934-1935. successfully implemented two projects on anti-chemical equipment of mobile objects - FVU equipped an ambulance based on a Ford-AA car and a saloon car. In the "Institute of Chemical Defense" intensive work was carried out to find modes of degassing uniforms, developed machine methods for processing weapons and military equipment. In 1928, a department for the synthesis and analysis of OM was formed, on the basis of which the departments of radiation, chemical and biological intelligence were subsequently created.

Thanks to the activities of the Institute of Chemical Defense. Osoaviakhim, later renamed NIHI RKKA, by the beginning of World War II, the troops were equipped with anti-chemical protection equipment and had clear instructions for their combat use.

By the mid-1930s. in the Red Army, a concept was formed for the use of chemical weapons during the war. The theory of chemical warfare was worked out in numerous exercises in the mid-30s.

At the heart of the Soviet chemical doctrine lay the concept of "reciprocal chemical strike". The exclusive orientation of the USSR to a retaliatory chemical strike was enshrined in both international treaties(The Geneva Agreement of 1925 was ratified by the USSR in 1928), and in the "System of Chemical Weapons of the Red Army". In peacetime, the production of OV was carried out only for testing and combat training of troops. Stockpiles of military importance were not created in peacetime, which is why almost all the capacities for the production of warheads were mothballed and required a long period of production deployment.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the stocks of OM were sufficient for 1-2 days of active combat operations by aviation and chemical troops (for example, during the period of cover for mobilization and strategic deployment), then one should expect the deployment of OM production and their delivery to the troops.

During the 1930s. the production of BOV and the supply of ammunition by them was deployed in Perm, Berezniki (Perm region), Bobriky (later Stalinogorsk), Dzerzhinsk, Kineshma, Stalingrad, Kemerovo, Shchelkovo, Voskresensk, Chelyabinsk.

For 1940-1945 More than 120 thousand tons of organic matter were produced, including 77.4 thousand tons of mustard gas, 20.6 thousand tons of lewisite, 11.1 thousand tons of hydrocyanic acid, 8.3 thousand tons of phosgene and 6.1 thousand tons of adamsite.

With the end of the Second World War, the threat of the use of warheads did not disappear, and in the USSR, research in this area continued until the final ban on the production of warfare agents and their means of delivery in 1987.

On the eve of the conclusion of the Chemical Weapons Convention, in 1990-1992, 40,000 tons of chemical agents were presented by our country for control and destruction.

Between two wars.

After the First World War and up to the Second World War, public opinion in Europe was opposed to the use of chemical weapons, but among the industrialists of Europe, who ensured the defense of their countries, the opinion prevailed that chemical weapons should be an indispensable attribute of warfare.

At the same time, through the efforts of the League of Nations, a number of conferences and rallies were held to promote the prohibition of the use of weapons for military purposes and talk about the consequences of this. The International Committee of the Red Cross supported the events that took place in the 1920s. conferences condemning the use of chemical warfare.

In 1921, the Washington Conference on Arms Limitation was convened, at which chemical weapons became the subject of discussion by a specially created subcommittee. The Subcommittee had information about the use of chemical weapons during the First World War and intended to propose a ban on the use of chemical weapons.

He ruled: "The use of chemical weapons against the enemy on land and on water cannot be allowed."

The treaty has been ratified by most countries, including the US and the UK. In Geneva, on June 17, 1925, the “Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous and Other Similar Gases and Bacteriological Agents” was signed. This document was subsequently ratified by more than 100 states.

However, at the same time, the United States began to expand the Edgewood arsenal. In the UK, many perceived the possibility of using chemical weapons as a fait accompli, fearing that they would be in a disadvantageous situation similar to that which developed in 1915.

The consequence of this was further work on chemical weapons, using propaganda for the use of chemical agents. To the old, tested back in the First World War, the means of using OM were added new ones - pouring aircraft devices (VAP), chemical bombs (AB) and military chemical vehicles (BKhM) based on trucks and tanks.

VAPs were intended to destroy manpower, contaminate the terrain and objects on it with aerosols or drop-liquid agents. With their help, the rapid creation of aerosols, drops and vapors of OM over a large area was carried out, which made it possible to achieve a massive and sudden use of OM. A variety of mustard gas formulations have been used to equip the VAP, such as a mixture of mustard gas with lewisite, viscous mustard gas, as well as diphosgene and hydrocyanic acid.

The advantage of VAP was the low cost of their use, since only OV was used without additional costs for the shell and equipment. The VAP was refueled immediately before the aircraft took off. The disadvantage of using VAPs was that they were mounted only on the external sling of the aircraft, and the need to return with them after completing the task, which reduced the maneuverability and speed of the aircraft, increasing the likelihood of its destruction.

There were several types of chemical ABs. The first type included ammunition equipped with irritating agents (irritants). Fragmentation-chemical AB was equipped with conventional explosives with the addition of adamsite. Smoking ABs, similar in their action to smoke bombs, were equipped with a mixture of gunpowder with adamsite or chloroacetophenone.

The use of irritants forced the enemy's manpower to use protective equipment, and when favorable conditions allowed to temporarily disable it.

Another type included AB caliber from 25 to 500 kg, equipped with resistant and unstable formulations of agents - mustard gas (winter mustard gas, a mixture of mustard gas with lewisite), phosgene, diphosgene, hydrocyanic acid. For detonation, both a conventional contact fuse and a remote tube were used, which ensured detonation of ammunition at a given height.

When AB was equipped with mustard gas, detonation at a given height ensured the dispersion of OM droplets over an area of ​​2-3 hectares. The rupture of an AB with diphosgene and hydrocyanic acid created a cloud of OM vapors that spread along the wind and created a lethal concentration zone 100-200 m deep. OV action.

BKhM were intended for contamination of the area with persistent agents, degassing the area with a liquid degasser and setting up a smoke screen. Reservoirs with a capacity of 300 to 800 liters were installed on tanks or trucks, which made it possible to create an infection zone up to 25 m wide when using tank-based BCM

German medium machine for chemical contamination of the area. The drawing was made based on the materials of the textbook "Means of chemical weapons of Nazi Germany", the fortieth year of publication. A fragment from the album of the head of the chemical service of the division (forties) - means of chemical weapons of Nazi Germany.

Combat chemical car BHM-1 on GAZ-AAA for infections terrain OV

Chemical weapons were used in large quantities in the "local conflicts" of the 1920-1930s: Spain in Morocco in 1925, Italy in Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 1935-1936, Japanese troops against Chinese soldiers and civilians from 1937 to 1943

The study of OM in Japan began, with the help of Germany, from 1923, and by the beginning of the 30s. the production of the most effective agents was organized in the arsenals of Tadonuimi and Sagani. Approximately 25% of the set of artillery and 30% of the aviation ammunition of the Japanese army was in chemical equipment.

Type 94 "Kanda" - car for spraying poisonous substances.
In the Kwantung Army, "Manchurian Detachment 100" in addition to creating bacteriological weapons, carried out work on the research and production of chemical agents (the 6th section of the "detachment"). The infamous "Detachment 731" conducted joint experiments with the chemical "Detachment 531", using people as living indicators of the degree of contamination of the area with OM.

In 1937, on August 12, in the battles for the city of Nankou and on August 22, in the battles for the Beijing-Suyuan railway, the Japanese army used shells filled with OM. The Japanese continued to widely use OM in the territory of China and Manchuria. The losses of Chinese troops from the OV amounted to 10% of the total.

Italy used chemical weapons in Ethiopia, where almost all fighting Italian units were supported by a chemical attack with the help of aircraft and artillery. Mustard gas was used with great efficiency by the Italians, despite the fact that they joined the Geneva Protocol in 1925. 415 tons of blister agents and 263 tons of asphyxiants were sent to Ethiopia. In addition to chemical ABs, VAPs were used.

In the period from December 1935 to April 1936, Italian aviation carried out 19 large-scale chemical raids on the cities and towns of Abyssinia, while consuming 15,000 chemical ABs. OV was used to tie down the Ethiopian troops - aviation created chemical barriers in the most important mountain passes and at crossings. Widespread use of OV was found in air strikes both against the advancing Negus troops (during a suicidal offensive near Mai-Chio and Lake Ashangi), and in the pursuit of retreating Abyssinians. E. Tatarchenko in his book “ air force in the Italo-Abyssinian war" states: "It is unlikely that the successes of aviation would have been so great if it had limited itself to machine-gun fire and bombardment. In this pursuit from the air, undoubtedly, the ruthless use of OV by the Italians played a decisive role. Of the total losses of the Ethiopian army of 750 thousand people, about a third were losses from chemical weapons. A large number of civilians also suffered.

In addition to large material losses, the use of OV resulted in a "strong, corrupting moral impression." Tatarchenko writes: “The masses did not know how bleed substances work, why so mysteriously, for no apparent reason, terrible torment suddenly begins and death occurs. In addition, the Abyssinian armies had many mules, donkeys, camels, horses, which died in large numbers by eating contaminated grass, thereby further strengthening the depressed, hopeless mood of the mass of soldiers and officers. Many of them had their own pack animals in the convoy.”

After the conquest of Abyssinia, the Italian occupying forces were repeatedly forced to carry out punitive actions against partisan detachments and the population supporting them. With these repressions, OVs were launched.

Specialists of the I.G. Farbenindustry. In the concern "I.G. Farben”, created for complete dominance in the markets of dyes and organic chemistry, merged six of the largest chemical companies in Germany. British and American industrialists saw the concern as a Krupp-like empire, considering it a serious threat, and made efforts to break it up after World War II.

An indisputable fact is the superiority of Germany in the production of agents - the well-established production of nerve gases in Germany came as a complete surprise to the Allied forces in 1945.

In Germany, immediately after the Nazis came to power, by order of Hitler, work was resumed in the field of military chemistry. Starting from 1934, in accordance with the plan of the High Command of the Ground Forces, these works acquired a purposeful offensive character, in line with the aggressive policy of the Nazi leadership.

First of all, at the newly created or modernized enterprises, the production of well-known agents began, which showed the greatest combat effectiveness during the First World War, based on the creation of their stock for 5 months of chemical warfare.

The high command of the fascist army considered it sufficient to have approximately 27 thousand tons of mustard gas-type agents and tactical formulations based on it: phosgene, adamsite, diphenylchlorarsine and chloroacetophenone.

At the same time, intensive work was carried out to search for new OM among the most diverse classes of chemical compounds. These works in the field of skin-abscess agents were marked by the receipt in 1935 - 1936. "nitrogen mustard" (N-Lost) and "oxygen mustard" (O-Lost).

In the main research laboratory of the I.G. Farbenindustry" in Leverkusen revealed the high toxicity of some fluorine- and phosphorus-containing compounds, a number of which were subsequently adopted by the German army.

Tabun was synthesized in 1936, and from May 1943 it began to be produced on an industrial scale. In 1939, sarin, more toxic than tabun, was obtained, and at the end of 1944, soman. These substances marked the appearance in the army of fascist Germany of a new class of nerve agents - chemical weapons of the second generation, many times superior in their toxicity to the agents of the First World War.

The first generation of agents developed during the First World War included blistering substances (sulfur and nitrogen mustards, lewisite - persistent agents), general toxic (hydrocyanic acid - unstable agents), asphyxiant (phosgene, diphosgene - unstable agents) and irritant. (adamsite, diphenylchlorarsine, chloropicrin, diphenylcyanarsine). Sarin, soman and tabun belong to the second generation of agents. In the 50s. they were supplemented by a group of organophosphorus OM obtained in the USA and Sweden under the name "V-gases" (sometimes "VX"). V-gases are ten times more toxic than their organophosphorus counterparts.

In 1940, a large plant belonging to I.G. Farben, for the production of mustard gas and mustard compounds, with a capacity of 40 thousand tons.

In total, in the prewar and first war years in Germany, about 20 new technological installations for the production of OM were built, the annual capacity of which exceeded 100 thousand tons. They were located in Ludwigshafen, Hüls, Wolfen, Urdingen, Ammendorf, Fadkenhagen, Seeltse and other places. In the city of Dühernfurt, on the Oder (now Silesia, Poland), there was one of the largest production facilities for organic matter.

By 1945, Germany had 12 thousand tons of herd in stock, the production of which was not found anywhere else. The reasons why Germany did not use chemical weapons during the Second World War are still not clear.

Wehrmacht at the beginning of the war with Soviet Union had 4 regiments of chemical mortars, 7 separate battalions chemical mortars, 5 degassing squads and 3 road degassing squads (armed with Shweres Wurfgeraet 40 (Holz) rocket launchers) and 4 headquarters of special purpose chemical regiments. A battalion of six-barreled mortars 15cm Nebelwerfer 41 from 18 installations could release 108 mines containing 10 kg of OM in 10 seconds.

Colonel-General Halder, Chief of the General Staff of the Land Forces of the Nazi Army, wrote: “By June 1, 1941, we will have 2 million chemical shells for light field howitzers and 500 thousand shells for heavy field howitzers ... be shipped: before June 1, six echelons of chemical munitions, after June 1, ten echelons per day. To speed up the delivery in the rear of each army group, three echelons with chemical munitions will be put on sidings.

According to one version, Hitler did not give the command to use chemical weapons during the war because he believed that the USSR had a larger number of chemical weapons. Another reason could be the insufficiently effective effect of OM on enemy soldiers equipped with chemical protection equipment, as well as its dependence on weather conditions.

Designed for infections terrain poisonous substances version of the wheeled-tracked tank BT
If the anti-Hitler coalition forces were not used against the anti-Hitler coalition, then the practice of using it against the civilian population in the occupied territories became widespread. The gas chambers of the death camps became the main place for the use of chemical agents. When developing the means of exterminating political prisoners and all those classified as "inferior races", the Nazis faced the task of optimizing the ratio of "cost-effectiveness" parameters.

And here, the Zyklon B gas invented by SS Lieutenant Kurt Gerstein came to the fore. Initially, the gas was intended for the disinfection of barracks. But people, although it would be more correct to call them non-humans, saw in the means for exterminating linen lice a cheap and effective way of killing.

"Cyclone B" was a blue-violet crystals containing hydrocyanic acid (the so-called "crystal hydrocyanic acid"). These crystals begin to boil and turn into a gas (hydrocyanic acid, aka "hydrocyanic acid") when room temperature. Inhalation of 60 milligrams of bitter almond-scented vapors caused painful death. Gas production was carried out by two German companies that received a patent for gas production from I.G. Farbenindustri" - "Tesch and Shtabenov" in Hamburg and "Degesh" in Dessau. The first supplied 2 tons of Zyklon B per month, the second - about 0.75 tons. Income amounted to about 590,000 Reichsmarks. As they say - "money does not smell." The number of lives carried away by this gas is in the millions.

Separate work on obtaining tabun, sarin, soman was carried out in the USA and Great Britain, but a breakthrough in their production could not occur earlier than 1945. During the years of World War II, 135 thousand tons of OM were produced in the USA at 17 installations, mustard gas accounted for half of the total volume . About 5 million shells and 1 million AB were equipped with mustard gas. Initially, mustard gas was supposed to be used against enemy landings on the sea coast. During the period of the emerging turning point in the course of the war in favor of the Allies, serious fears arose that Germany would decide to use chemical weapons. This was the basis for the decision of the American military command to supply mustard gas ammunition to the troops on the European continent. The plan provided for the creation of stocks of chemical weapons for the ground forces for 4 months. military operations and for the Air Force - for 8 months.

Transportation by sea was not without incident. So, on December 2, 1943, German aircraft bombed ships that were in the Italian port of Bari in the Adriatic Sea. Among them was the American transport "John Harvey" with a cargo of chemical bombs equipped with mustard gas. After the damage to the transport, part of the OM mixed with the spilled oil, and mustard gas spread over the surface of the harbor.

During the Second World War, extensive military biological research was also carried out in the United States. For these studies, the biological center Kemp Detrick, opened in 1943 in Maryland (later it was called Fort Detrick), was intended. There, in particular, the study of bacterial toxins, including botulinum toxins, began.

AT recent months war in Edgewood and the army laboratory of Fort Rucker (Alabama), searches and tests of natural and synthetic substances that affect the central nervous system and cause mental or physical disorders in humans in negligible doses

Chemical weapons in local conflicts in the second half of the 20th century

After the Second World War, OV was used in a number of local conflicts. The facts of the use of chemical weapons by the US army against the DPRK and Vietnam are known. From 1945 to the 1980s in the West, only 2 types of agents were used: lacrimators (CS: 2-- tear gas) and defoliants - chemicals from the herbicide group. CS alone used 6,800 tons. Defoliants belong to the class of phytotoxicants - chemicals that cause leaves to fall off plants and are used to unmask enemy objects.

During the hostilities in Korea, the US Army used the US Army both against the KPA and CPV troops, and against the civilian population and prisoners of war. According to incomplete data, from February 27, 1952 to the end of June 1953, more than a hundred cases of the use of chemical projectiles and bombs by American and South Korean troops against CPV troops were recorded. As a result, 1,095 people were poisoned, of which 145 died. More than 40 cases of the use of chemical weapons were also noted against prisoners of war. The largest number of chemical projectiles were fired at the KPA troops on May 1, 1952. Symptoms of defeat with highly likely testify that diphenylcyanarsine or diphenylchlorarsine, as well as hydrocyanic acid, were used as equipment for chemical munitions.

The Americans used tear and blister agents against prisoners of war, and tear agents were used repeatedly. June 10, 1952 in camp number 76 on about. Kojedo, American guards sprayed the prisoners of war three times with a sticky poisonous liquid, which was a skin blister agent.

May 18, 1952 on about. Tear agents were used against prisoners of war in Kojedo in three sectors of the camp. The result of this "quite legal" action, according to the Americans, was the death of 24 people. Another 46 lost their sight. Repeatedly in the camps on about. In Gojedo, chemical grenades were used by American and South Korean soldiers against prisoners of war. Even after the armistice was concluded, during the 33 days of the work of the Red Cross commission, 32 cases of the use of chemical grenades by the Americans were noted.

Purposeful work on the means of destruction of vegetation was started in the United States during the Second World War. The level of development of herbicides reached by the end of the war, according to American experts, could allow their practical application. However, research for military purposes continued, and only in 1961 was a "suitable" test site chosen. The use of chemicals to destroy vegetation in South Vietnam was initiated by the US military in August 1961 with the authorization of President Kennedy.

All areas of South Vietnam were treated with herbicides - from the demilitarized zone to the Mekong Delta, as well as many areas of Laos and Kampuchea - everywhere and everywhere, where, according to the Americans, there could be detachments of the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLF) of South Vietnam or lay their communications.

Along with woody vegetation, fields, gardens and rubber plantations also began to be affected by herbicides. Since 1965, chemicals have been sprayed over the fields of Laos (especially in its southern and eastern parts), two years later - already in the northern part of the demilitarized zone, as well as in the regions of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam adjacent to it. Forests and fields were cultivated at the request of the commanders of the American units stationed in South Vietnam. The spraying of herbicides was carried out with the help of not only aircraft, but also special ground devices that were available in the American troops and Saigon units. Especially intensively herbicides were used in 1964 - 1966. to destroy the mangrove forests on the southern coast of South Vietnam and on the banks of the shipping channels leading to Saigon, as well as the forests of the demilitarized zone. Two US Air Force aviation squadrons were fully engaged in operations. The use of chemical anti-vegetative agents reached its maximum in 1967. Subsequently, the intensity of operations fluctuated depending on the intensity of hostilities.

The use of aviation for spraying agents.

In South Vietnam, during Operation Ranch Hand, the Americans tested 15 different chemicals and formulations for the destruction of crops, plantations of cultivated plants and trees and shrubs.

The total amount of pesticides used by the US armed forces from 1961 to 1971 was 90,000 tons, or 72.4 million liters. Four herbicidal formulations were predominantly used: purple, orange, white and blue. The formulations found the greatest use in South Vietnam: orange - against forests and blue - against rice and other crops.

Within 10 years, from 1961 to 1971, almost a tenth of the territory of South Vietnam, including 44% of all its forest areas, was treated with defoliants and herbicides, designed respectively to remove leaves and completely destroy vegetation. As a result of all these actions, mangrove forests (500 thousand hectares) were almost completely destroyed, about 1 million hectares (60%) of the jungle and more than 100 thousand hectares (30%) of lowland forests were affected. The yield of rubber plantations has fallen by 75% since 1960. From 40 to 100% of crops of bananas, rice, sweet potatoes, papaya, tomatoes, 70% of coconut plantations, 60% of hevea, 110 thousand hectares of casuarina plantations were destroyed. Of the numerous species of trees and shrubs of the wet rainforest in areas affected by herbicides, only single species of trees and several species of thorny grasses, not suitable for livestock feed, remained.

The destruction of vegetation has seriously affected the ecological balance of Vietnam. In the affected areas, out of 150 species of birds, 18 remained, amphibians and even insects almost completely disappeared. The number has decreased, and the composition of fish in the rivers has changed. Pesticides violated the microbiological composition of soils, poisoned plants. Has changed too species composition ticks, in particular, ticks carrying dangerous diseases appeared. Mosquito species have changed, in areas remote from the sea, instead of harmless endemic mosquitoes, mosquitoes characteristic of coastal mangrove forests have appeared. They are the main carriers of malaria in Viet Nam and neighboring countries.

The chemical agents used by the United States in Indochina were directed not only against nature, but also against people. The Americans in Vietnam used such herbicides and with such high consumption rates that they posed an undoubted danger to humans. For example, picloram is as persistent and just as poisonous as DDT, which is universally banned.

By that time, it was already known that poisoning with 2,4,5-T poison leads to embryonic deformities in some domestic animals. It should be noted that these pesticides were used in huge concentrations, sometimes 13 times higher than allowed and recommended for use in the United States itself. Spraying with these chemicals was subjected not only to vegetation, but also to people. Especially destructive was the use of dioxin, which, according to the Americans, "by mistake" was part of the orange recipe. In total, several hundred kilograms of dioxin were sprayed over South Vietnam, which is toxic to humans in fractions of a milligram.

American experts could not have been unaware of its deadly properties - at least from the cases of lesions at the enterprises of a number of chemical firms, including the results of an accident at a chemical plant in Amsterdam in 1963. Being a persistent substance, dioxin is still found in Vietnam in areas application of the orange formulation, both in surface and deep (up to 2 m) soil samples.

This poison, getting into the body with water and food, causes cancer, especially of the liver and blood, massive congenital deformities of children and numerous violations of the normal course of pregnancy. Medical and statistical data obtained by Vietnamese doctors indicate that these pathologies appear many years after the end of the use of the orange recipe by the Americans, and there is reason to fear for their increase in the future.

The “non-lethal”, according to the Americans, the agents that were used in Vietnam include: CS - orthochlorobenzylidene malononitrile and its prescription forms, CN - chloroacetophenone, DM - adamsite or chlordihydrophenarsazine, CNS - prescription form of chloropicrin, BAE - bromoacetone, BZ - quinuclidyl-3 -benzylate. Substance CS at a concentration of 0.05-0.1 mg/m3 has an irritating effect, 1-5 mg/m3 becomes unbearable, above 40-75 mg/m3 it can cause death within a minute.

At a meeting of the International Center for the Study of War Crimes, held in Paris in July 1968, it was established that, under certain conditions, the substance CS is deadly weapon. These conditions (the use of CS in large quantities in a confined space) existed in Vietnam.

Substance CS - such a conclusion was made by the Russell Tribunal in Roskilde in 1967 - is a toxic gas prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The amount of substance CS ordered by the Pentagon in 1964 - 1969. for use in Indochina, was published in Congressional Record on June 12, 1969 (CS - 1,009 tons, CS-1 - 1,625 tons, CS-2 - 1,950 tons).

It is known that even more gas was used in 1970 than in 1969. With the help of CS gas, civilians survived from villages, partisans were expelled from caves and shelters, where lethal concentrations of CS substance were easily created, turning these shelters into "gas chambers ".

The use of gases has probably been effective, judging by the significant increase in the amount of C5 used by the US Army in Vietnam. Another proof of this is that since 1969, a lot of new means have appeared for spraying this toxic substance.

Chemical warfare affected not only the population of Indochina, but also thousands of participants in the American campaign in Vietnam. So, contrary to the assertions of the US Department of Defense, thousands of American soldiers were victims of a chemical attack by their own troops.

Many Vietnam War veterans have demanded treatment for everything from ulcers to cancer because of this. In Chicago alone, there are 2,000 veterans with symptoms of dioxin exposure.

BOV was widely used during the protracted Iran-Iraq conflict. Both Iran and Iraq (November 5, 1929 and September 8, 1931, respectively) signed the Geneva Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Chemical and Bacteriological Weapons. However, Iraq, seeking to turn the tide in a positional war, actively used chemical weapons. Iraq used the OM mainly to achieve tactical goals, in order to break the resistance of one or another point of the enemy's defense. This tactic in terms of positional warfare has borne some fruit. During the battle for the Majun Islands, the OV played an important role in disrupting the Iranian offensive.

Iraq was the first to use OB during the Iran-Iraq war and subsequently widely used it both against Iran and in operations against the Kurds. Some sources claim that against the latter in 1973-1975. agents purchased in Egypt or even in the USSR were used, although there were reports in the press that scientists from Switzerland and Germany, back in the 1960s. made OV Baghdad specifically to fight the Kurds. Work on the production of their own OV began in Iraq in the mid-70s. According to Mirfisal Bakrzadeh, the head of the Iranian Foundation for the Storage of Documents of the Sacred Defense, the companies of the USA, Great Britain and Germany took the most direct part in the creation and transfer of chemical weapons to Hussein. According to him, "indirect (indirect) participation in the creation of chemical weapons for the Saddam regime" was taken by companies from such states as France, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Scotland and several others. During the Iran-Iraq war, the United States was interested in supporting Iraq, since in the event of its defeat, Iran could greatly expand the influence of fundamentalism in the entire Persian Gulf region. Reagan, and later Bush Sr., saw Saddam Hussein's regime as an important ally and a defense against the threat posed by Khomeini's followers who came to power in the 1979 Iranian revolution. The successes of the Iranian army forced the US leadership to provide intensive assistance to Iraq (in the form of millions of anti-personnel mines, a large number of different types of heavy weapons and information about the deployment of Iranian troops). Chemical weapons were chosen as one of the means designed to break the spirit of Iranian soldiers.

Until 1991, Iraq possessed the largest stocks of chemical weapons in the Middle East and carried out extensive work to further improve its arsenal. He had at his disposal general poisonous (hydrocyanic acid), blistering (mustard gas) and nerve agents (sarin (GB), soman (GD), tabun (GA), VX) action. Iraq's chemical munitions included more than 25 Scud warheads, about 2,000 aerial bombs and 15,000 rounds (including mortars and MLRS), as well as landmines.

Since 1982, the use of tear gas (CS) by Iraq has been noted, and since July 1983 - mustard gas (in particular, 250-kg AB with mustard gas from Su-20 aircraft). During the conflict, mustard gas was actively used by Iraq. By the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi army had 120-mm mortar mines and 130-mm artillery shells equipped with mustard gas. In 1984, Iraq began the production of tabun (the first case of its use was noted at the same time), and in 1986, sarin.

Difficulties arise with the exact dating of the start of production by Iraq of one or another type of OV. The first tabun use was reported in 1984, but Iran reported 10 tabun use in 1980-1983. In particular, cases of the use of the herd were noted on the Northern Front in October 1983.

The same problem arises when dating the cases of using OV. So back in November 1980, Tehran radio reported on a chemical attack on the city of Susengird, but there was no reaction in the world to this. Only after Iran's statement in 1984, in which it stated 53 cases of the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 40 border regions, did the UN take some steps. The number of victims by this time exceeded 2,300 people. An inspection by a group of UN inspectors revealed traces of agents in the area of ​​Khur al-Khuzwazeh, where on March 13, 1984 there was a chemical attack on Iraq. Since then, evidence of Iraqi use of OV began to appear in droves.

The embargo imposed by the UN Security Council on the supply to Iraq of a number of chemicals and components that could be used for the production of chemical agents could not seriously affect the situation. Factory capacities allowed Iraq at the end of 1985 to produce 10 tons of OM of all types per month, and already at the end of 1986 more than 50 tons per month. At the beginning of 1988, capacities were increased to 70 tons of mustard gas, 6 tons of tabun and 6 tons of sarin (ie almost 1,000 tons per year). Intensive work was underway to establish the production of VX.

In 1988, during the storming of the city of Fao, the Iraqi army bombed Iranian positions with the use of chemical agents, most likely unstable nerve agent formulations.

During a raid on the Kurdish city of Halabaja on March 16, 1988, Iraqi aircraft struck with chemical ABs. As a result, from 5 to 7 thousand people died, and more than 20 thousand were injured and poisoned.

From April 1984 to August 1988, chemical weapons were used by Iraq over 40 times (more than 60 in total). 282 people suffered from the impact of this weapon settlements. The exact number of victims of chemical warfare by Iran is unknown, but their minimum number is estimated by experts at 10,000 people.

Iran has committed the development of chemical weapons in response to Iraq's use of CW during the war. The lag in this area even forced Iran to buy a large amount of CS gas, but it soon became clear that it was ineffective for military purposes. Since 1985 (and possibly also since 1984), there have been isolated cases of Iran using chemical projectiles and mortar mines, but, apparently, it was then about captured Iraqi ammunition.

In 1987-1988 there were isolated cases of the use by Iran of chemical munitions filled with phosgene or chlorine and hydrocyanic acid. Before the end of the war, the production of mustard gas and, possibly, nerve agents was established, but they did not have time to use them.

According to Western sources, Soviet troops chemical weapons were also used in Afghanistan. Foreign journalists deliberately "thinned the paint" in order to once again emphasize the "cruelty Soviet soldiers". It was much easier to use the exhaust gases of a tank or infantry fighting vehicle to “smoke out” spooks from caves and underground shelters. The possibility of using an irritating agent - chloropicrin or CS - cannot be ruled out. One of the main sources of funding for dushmans was the cultivation of opium poppy. Pesticides may have been used to destroy poppy plantations, which could also be perceived as the use of CW.

Libya produced chemical weapons at one of its enterprises, which was recorded by Western journalists in 1988. During the 1980s. Libya produced more than 100 tons of nerve and blister gases. During the fighting in 1987 in Chad, the Libyan army used chemical weapons.

On April 29, 1997 (180 days after ratification by the 65th country, which became Hungary), the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction came into force. This also indicates the approximate date of commencement of the activities of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will ensure the implementation of the provisions of the convention (headquartered in The Hague).

The document was announced for signing in January 1993. In 2004, Libya acceded to the agreement.

Unfortunately, the “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction” may be destined for the fate of the “Ottawa Convention on the Ban of Anti-Personnel Mines”. In both cases, the most modern types of weapons can be withdrawn from the conventions. This can be seen in the example of the problem of binary chemical weapons.

The technical idea of ​​binary chemical munitions is that they are equipped with two or more initial components, each of which can be non-toxic or low-toxic substance. These substances are separated from each other and enclosed in special containers. During the flight of a projectile, rocket, bomb or other munition to the target, the initial components are mixed in it with the formation of a CWA as the final product of the chemical reaction. Mixing of substances is carried out due to the rotation of the projectile or special mixers. In this case, the role of a chemical reactor is performed by ammunition.

Despite the fact that in the late thirties the US Air Force began to develop the world's first binary AB, in the post-war period, the problem of binary chemical weapons was of secondary importance to the United States. During this period, the Americans forced the equipment of the army with new nerve agents - sarin, tabun, "V-gases", but from the beginning of the 60s. American experts again returned to the idea of ​​creating binary chemical munitions. They were forced to do this by a number of circumstances, the most important of which was the lack of significant progress in the search for agents with ultra-high toxicity, i.e., agents of the third generation. In 1962, the Pentagon approved a special program for the creation of binary chemical weapons (Binary Lenthal Wear Systems), which became a priority for many years.

In the first period of the binary program, the main efforts of American specialists were directed to the development of binary compositions of standard nerve agents, VX, and sarin.

By the end of the 60s. work was completed on the creation of binary sarin - GВ-2.

Government and military circles explained the increased interest in work in the field of binary chemical weapons by the need to solve the problems of the safety of chemical weapons during production, transportation, storage and operation. The first binary munition adopted by the US Army in 1977 was the 155mm M687 howitzer shell loaded with binary sarin (GB-2). Then the 203.2-mm XM736 binary projectile was created, as well as various samples of ammunition for artillery and mortar systems, missile warheads, and AB.

Research continued after the signing on 10 April 1972 of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. It would be naive to believe that the United States will abandon such a "promising" type of weapon. The decision to organize the production of binary weapons in the United States not only cannot provide an effective agreement on chemical weapons, but will even completely take the development, production and stockpiling of binary weapons out of control, since the most ordinary chemicals can be components of binary warfare. For example, isopropyl alcohol is a component of binary sarin, and pinacol alcohol is a component of soman.

In addition, binary weapons are based on the idea of ​​obtaining new types and compositions of weapons, which makes it pointless to draw up in advance any lists of weapons to be banned.

Gaps in international law are not the only threat to chemical safety in the world. The terrorists did not put their signatures under the Convention, and there is no doubt about their ability to use OV in terrorist acts after the tragedy in the Tokyo subway.

On the morning of March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect opened plastic containers of sarin on the subway, resulting in the death of 12 subway passengers. Another 5,500-6,000 people received poisoning of varying severity. This was not the first, but the most "effective" gas attack of the sectarians. In 1994, seven people died from sarin poisoning in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture.

From the point of view of terrorists, the use of OV makes it possible to achieve the greatest public outcry. OV have the greatest potential compared to other types of WMD due to the fact that:

• individual warheads are highly toxic, and their number required to achieve a lethal outcome is very small (the use of warheads is 40 times more effective than conventional explosives);
• it is difficult to determine the specific agent used in the attack and the source of infection;
• a small group of chemists (sometimes even one qualified specialist) is quite capable of synthesizing CWAs that are easy to manufacture, in the quantities necessary for a terrorist attack;
• OV is extremely effective for inciting panic and fear. Losses in a crowd in an enclosed space can be measured in the thousands.

All of the above indicates that the probability of using OV in a terrorist act is extremely high. And, unfortunately, we can only wait for this new stage in the terrorist war.

Literature:
1. Military encyclopedic dictionary / In 2 volumes. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, "RIPOL CLASSIC," 2001.
2. The World History artillery. Moscow: Veche, 2002.
3. James P., Thorp N. "Ancient inventions" / Per. from English; - Minsk: Potpourri LLC, 1997.
4. Articles from the site "Weapons of the First World War" - "The campaign of 1914 - the first experiments", "From the history of chemical weapons.", M. Pavlovich. "Chemical warfare."
5. Trends in the development of chemical weapons in the US and its allies. A. D. Kuntsevich, Yu. K. Nazarkin, 1987.
6. Sokolov B.V. "Mikhail Tukhachevsky: the life and death of the Red Marshal". - Smolensk: Rusich, 1999.
7. War in Korea, 1950-1953. - St. Petersburg: LLC "Polygon Publishing House", 2003. (Military History Library).
8.Tatarchenko E. "Air forces in the Italo-Abyssinian war." - M.: Military Publishing, 1940
9 Development of CVHP in the pre-war period. Creation of the Institute of Chemical Defense., publishing house "Chronicle", 1998.

The first known case of the use of chemical weapons is the battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915, in which chlorine was used very effectively by German troops, but this battle was not the only one and far from the first.

Turning to a positional war, during which, due to the large number of troops opposing each other on both sides, it was impossible to organize an effective breakthrough, the opponents began to look for other ways out of their current situation, one of them was the use of chemical weapons.

For the first time, chemical weapons were used by the French, it was the French who, back in August 1914, used tear gas, the so-called ethyl bromoacenate. By itself, this gas could not lead to a fatal outcome, but caused a strong burning sensation in the enemy soldiers in the eyes and mucous membranes of the mouth and nose, due to which they lost their orientation in space and did not provide effective resistance to the enemy. Before the offensive, French soldiers threw grenades filled with this poisonous substance at the enemy. The only drawback of the ethyl bromoacenate used was its limited amount, so it was soon replaced by chloroacetone.

Application of chlorine

After analyzing the success of the French, which followed from their use of chemical weapons, the German command already in October of the same year fired at the positions of the British in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, but missed the gas concentration and did not get the expected effect. There was too little gas, and it did not have the proper effect on the enemy soldiers. Nevertheless, the experiment was repeated already in January in the battle of Bolimov against the Russian army, this attack was practically successful for the Germans, and therefore the use of poisonous substances, despite the statement that Germany had violated the norms of international law, received from the UK, it was decided to continue.

Basically, the Germans used chlorine against enemy units - a gas with an almost instantaneous lethal effect. The only disadvantage of using chlorine was its saturated green color, because of which it was possible to make an unexpected attack only in the already mentioned battle of Ypres, later on, the Entente armies stocked up with enough means of protection against the effects of chlorine and could no longer be afraid of it. Fritz Haber personally supervised the production of chlorine - a man who later became well known in Germany as the father of chemical weapons.

Having used chlorine in the Battle of Ypres, the Germans did not stop there, but used it at least three more times, including against the Russian fortress of Osovets, where in May 1915 about 90 soldiers died instantly, more than 40 died in hospital wards . But despite the frightening effect that followed from the use of gas, the Germans did not succeed in taking the fortress. The gas practically destroyed all life in the district, plants and many animals died, most of the food supply was destroyed, while Russian soldiers received a frightening type of injury, those who were lucky enough to survive had to remain disabled for life.

Phosgene

Such large-scale actions led to the fact that the German army soon began to feel an acute shortage of chlorine, so it was replaced by phosgene, a gas without color and pungent odor. Due to the fact that phosgene exuded the smell of moldy hay, it was not at all easy to detect it, since the symptoms of poisoning did not appear immediately, but only a day after application. The poisoned enemy soldiers successfully fought for some time, but without receiving timely treatment, due to elementary ignorance of their condition, they died the next day in tens and hundreds. Phosgene was a more toxic substance, so it was much more profitable to use it than chlorine.

Mustard gas

In 1917, all near the same town of Ypres, German soldiers used another poisonous substance - mustard gas, also called mustard gas. In the composition of mustard gas, in addition to chlorine, substances were used that, when they got on the skin of a person, not only caused poisoning in him, but also served to form numerous abscesses. Outwardly, mustard gas looked like an oily liquid without color. It was possible to determine the presence of mustard gas only by its characteristic smell of garlic, or mustard, hence the name - mustard gas. Contact with mustard gas in the eyes led to instant blindness, concentration of mustard gas in the stomach led to immediate nausea, bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. When the mustard gas affected the mucous membrane of the throat, the victims experienced an immediate development of edema, which subsequently developed into a purulent formation. A strong concentration of mustard gas in the lungs led to the development of their inflammation and death from suffocation on the 3rd day after poisoning.

The practice of using mustard gas showed that of all the chemicals used in the First World War, it was this liquid, synthesized by the French scientist Cesar Despres and the Englishman Frederic Guthrie in 1822 and 1860 independently of each other, that was the most dangerous, since there were no measures to combat poisoning she didn't exist. The only thing the doctor could do was to advise the patient to wash the mucous membranes affected by the substance and wipe the skin areas that were in contact with mustard gas with napkins abundantly moistened with water.

In the fight against mustard gas, which, when it comes into contact with the surface of the skin or clothing, can be converted into other equally dangerous substances, even a gas mask could not provide significant assistance, be in the mustard zone, the soldiers were recommended no more than 40 minutes, after which the poison began to penetrate through the means of protection.

Despite the obvious fact that the use of any of the poisonous substances, whether it be the practically harmless ethyl bromoacenate, or such a dangerous substance as mustard gas, is a violation not only of the laws of warfare, but also of civil rights and freedoms, following the Germans, the British and French began to use chemical weapons. and even Russians. Convinced of the high efficiency of mustard gas, the British and French quickly set up its production, and soon it was several times larger than the German one in scale.

In Russia, the production and use of chemical weapons first began before the planned Brusilov breakthrough in 1916. Ahead of the advancing Russian army, shells with chloropicrin and vensinite were scattered, which had a suffocating and poisoning effect. The use of chemicals gave the Russian army a noticeable advantage, the enemy left the trenches in droves and became easy prey for artillery.

Interestingly, after the First World War, the use of any of the means of chemical action on the human body was not only prohibited, but also imputed to Germany as the main crime against human rights, despite the fact that almost all poisonous elements entered mass production and were very effectively used by both opposing sides.

Chemical weapons are one of the three types of weapons of mass destruction (the other 2 types are bacteriological and nuclear weapon). Kills people with the help of toxins in gas cylinders.

History of chemical weapons

Chemical weapons began to be used by man a very long time ago - long before the Copper Age. Then people used a bow with poisoned arrows. After all, it is much easier to use poison, which will surely slowly kill the beast, than to run after it.

The first toxins were extracted from plants - a person received it from varieties of the acocanthera plant. This poison causes cardiac arrest.

With the advent of civilizations, prohibitions began on the use of the first chemical weapons, but these prohibitions were violated - Alexander the Great used all the chemicals known at that time in the war against India. His soldiers poisoned water wells and food stores. AT ancient greece used the roots of ground earth to poison wells.

In the second half of the Middle Ages, alchemy, the forerunner of chemistry, began to develop rapidly. Acrid smoke began to appear, driving away the enemy.

First use of chemical weapons

The French were the first to use chemical weapons. This happened at the beginning of the First World War. They say safety rules are written in blood. Safety rules for the use of chemical weapons are no exception. At first, there were no rules, there was only one piece of advice - when throwing grenades filled with poisonous gases, it is necessary to take into account the direction of the wind. There were also no specific, tested substances that were 100% killing people. There were gases that did not kill, but simply caused hallucinations or mild suffocation.

April 22, 1915 German armed forces mustard gas was used. This substance is very toxic: it severely injures the mucous membrane of the eye, respiratory organs. After the use of mustard gas, the French and Germans lost about 100-120 thousand people. And during the entire First World War, 1.5 million people died from chemical weapons.

In the first 50 years of the 20th century, chemical weapons were used everywhere - against uprisings, riots and civilians.

The main poisonous substances

Sarin. Sarin was discovered in 1937. The discovery of sarin happened by accident - German chemist Gerhard Schrader was trying to create a stronger chemical against pests. agriculture. Sarin is a liquid. Acts on the nervous system.

Soman. Soman was discovered by Richard Kunn in 1944. Very similar to sarin, but more poisonous - two and a half times more than sarin.

After the Second World War, the research and production of chemical weapons by the Germans became known. All research classified as "secret" became known to the allies.

VX. In 1955, VX was opened in England. The most poisonous chemical weapon created artificially.

At the first sign of poisoning, you need to act quickly, otherwise death will occur in about a quarter of an hour. Protective equipment is a gas mask, OZK (combined arms protective kit).

VR. Developed in 1964 in the USSR, it is an analogue of the VX.

In addition to highly toxic gases, gases were also produced to disperse crowds of rioters. These are tear and pepper gases.

In the second half of the twentieth century, more precisely from the beginning of 1960 to the end of the 1970s, there was a flourishing of discoveries and developments of chemical weapons. During this period, gases began to be invented that had a short-term effect on the human psyche.

Chemical weapons today

Currently, most chemical weapons are prohibited by the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

The classification of poisons depends on the danger posed by the chemical:

• The first group includes all the poisons that have ever been in the arsenal of countries. Countries are prohibited from storing any chemicals from this group in excess of 1 ton. If the weight is more than 100g, the control committee must be notified.
• The second group is substances that can be used both for military purposes and in peaceful production.
• The third group includes substances that are used in large quantities in industries. If the production produces more than thirty tons per year, it must be registered in the control register.

First aid for poisoning with chemically hazardous substances

The First World War was rich in technical innovations, but, perhaps, none of them acquired such an ominous halo as a gas weapon. Poisonous substances have become a symbol of senseless slaughter, and all those who have been under chemical attack will forever remember the horror of the deadly clouds creeping into the trenches. The First World War became a real benefit of gas weapons: 40 different types of toxic substances were used in it, from which 1.2 million people suffered and up to a hundred thousand more died.

By the beginning of the World War, chemical weapons were almost non-existent in service. The French and British were already experimenting with tear gas rifle grenades, the Germans were filling 105-mm howitzer shells with tear gas, but these innovations had no effect. Gas from German shells, and even more so from French grenades, instantly dissipated in the open air. The first chemical attacks of the First World War were not widely known, but soon combat chemistry had to be taken much more seriously.

At the end of March 1915, German soldiers captured by the French began to report: gas cylinders were delivered to the positions. One of them even had a respirator captured. The reaction to this information was surprisingly nonchalant. The command just shrugged and did nothing to protect the troops. Moreover, the French general Edmond Ferry, who had warned his neighbors about the threat and dispersed his subordinates, lost his post for panic. Meanwhile, the threat of chemical attacks grew ever more real. The Germans were ahead of other countries in the development of a new type of weapon. After experimenting with projectiles, the idea arose to use cylinders. The Germans planned a private offensive in the area of ​​the city of Ypres. The commander of the corps, to whose front the cylinders were delivered, was honestly informed that he should "exclusively test the new weapon." The German command did not particularly believe in the serious effect of gas attacks. The attack was postponed several times: the wind in the right direction stubbornly did not blow.

On April 22, 1915, at 17:00, the Germans released chlorine from 5,700 cylinders at once. Observers saw two curious yellow-green clouds, which were pushed by a light wind towards the Entente trenches. The German infantry moved behind the clouds. Soon the gas began to flow into the French trenches.

The effect of gas poisoning was terrifying. Chlorine affects the respiratory tract and mucous membranes, causes burns to the eyes and, if inhaled heavily, leads to death by suffocation. However, the most powerful was the psychological impact. French colonial troops, hit by a blow, fled in droves.

Within a short time, more than 15 thousand people were out of action, of which 5 thousand lost their lives. The Germans, however, did not take full advantage of the devastating effect of the new weapons. For them, it was just an experiment, and they were not preparing for a real breakthrough. In addition, the advancing German infantrymen themselves received poisoning. Finally, the resistance was never broken: the arriving Canadians soaked handkerchiefs, scarves, blankets in puddles - and breathed through them. If there was no puddle, they urinated themselves. The action of chlorine was thus greatly weakened. Nevertheless, the Germans made significant progress on this sector of the front - despite the fact that in a positional war, each step was usually given with huge blood and great labors. In May, the French had already received the first respirators, and the effectiveness of gas attacks decreased.

Soon chlorine was also used on the Russian front near Bolimov. Here, too, events developed dramatically. Despite the chlorine flowing into the trenches, the Russians did not run, and although almost 300 people died from the gas right on the position, and more than two thousand received poisoning of varying severity after the first attack, the German offensive ran into stiff resistance and broke. A cruel twist of fate: gas masks were ordered from Moscow and arrived at the positions just a few hours after the battle.

Soon a real "gas race" began: the parties constantly increased the number of chemical attacks and their power: they experimented with a variety of suspensions and methods of their application. At the same time, the mass introduction of gas masks into the troops began. The first gas masks were extremely imperfect: it was difficult to breathe in them, especially on the run, and the glasses quickly fogged up. Nevertheless, even under such conditions, even in clouds of gas with an additionally limited view, hand-to-hand combat occurred. One of the British soldiers managed to kill or seriously injure ten German soldiers in turn in a gas cloud, having made his way into the trench. He approached them from the side or from behind, and the Germans simply did not see the attacker until the butt fell on their heads.

The gas mask has become one of the key items of equipment. When leaving, he was thrown last. True, this did not always help either: sometimes the concentration of the gas turned out to be too high and people died even in gas masks.

But unusual effective way fires turned out to be a protection: waves of hot air dissipated clouds of gas quite successfully. In September 1916, during a German gas attack, a Russian colonel took off his mask to give orders by telephone and lit a fire right at the entrance to his own dugout. In the end, he spent the entire fight yelling commands, at the cost of only a slight poisoning.

The method of gas attack was most often quite simple. Liquid poison was sprayed through hoses from cylinders, turned into a gaseous state in the open air and, driven by the wind, crawled to enemy positions. Troubles occurred regularly: when the wind changed, their own soldiers were poisoned.

Often the gas attack was combined with conventional shelling. For example, during the Brusilov Offensive, the Russians silenced the Austrian batteries with a combination of chemical and conventional shells. From time to time, attempts were even made to attack with several gases at once: one was supposed to cause irritation through a gas mask and force the affected enemy to tear off the mask and expose himself to another cloud - suffocating.

Chlorine, phosgene, and other asphyxiating gases had one fatal flaw as weapons: they required the enemy to inhale them.

In the summer of 1917, under the long-suffering Ypres, a gas was used, which was named after this city - mustard gas. Its feature was the effect on the skin bypassing the gas mask. When exposed to unprotected skin, mustard gas caused severe chemical burns, necrosis, and traces of it remained for life. For the first time, the Germans fired shells with mustard gas on the British military who had concentrated before the attack. Thousands of people received terrible burns, and many soldiers did not even have gas masks. In addition, the gas proved to be very stable and continued to poison anyone who entered its area of ​​action for several days. Fortunately, the Germans did not have sufficient supplies of this gas, as well as protective clothing, to attack through the poisoned zone. During the attack on the city of Armantere, the Germans filled it with mustard gas so that the gas literally flowed through the streets in rivers. The British retreated without a fight, but the Germans were unable to enter the town.

The Russian army marched in line: immediately after the first cases of the use of gas, the development of protective equipment began. At first, protective equipment did not shine with variety: gauze, rags soaked in a hyposulfite solution.

However, already in June 1915, Nikolai Zelinsky developed a very successful gas mask based on activated carbon. Already in August, Zelinsky presented his invention - a full-fledged gas mask, complemented by a rubber helmet designed by Edmond Kummant. The gas mask protected the entire face and was made from a single piece of high-quality rubber. In March 1916, its production began. Zelinsky's gas mask protected not only the respiratory tract from poisonous substances, but also the eyes and face.

The most famous incident involving the use of military gases on the Russian front refers precisely to the situation when Russian soldiers did not have gas masks. This, of course, is about the battle on August 6, 1915 in the Osovets fortress. During this period, Zelensky's gas mask was still being tested, and the gases themselves were a fairly new type of weapon. Osovets was attacked already in September 1914, however, despite the fact that this fortress is small and not the most perfect, it stubbornly resisted. On August 6, the Germans used shells with chlorine from gas-balloon batteries. A two-kilometer wall of gas first killed the forward posts, then the cloud began to cover the main positions. The garrison received poisoning of varying severity almost without exception.

But then something happened that no one could have expected. First, the attacking German infantry was partially poisoned by their own cloud, and then already dying people began to resist. One of the machine gunners, already swallowing gas, fired several tapes at the attackers before dying. The culmination of the battle was a bayonet counterattack by a detachment of the Zemlyansky regiment. This group was not at the epicenter of the gas cloud, but everyone got poisoned. The Germans did not flee immediately, but they were psychologically unprepared to fight at a moment when all their opponents, it would seem, should have already died under a gas attack. "Attack of the Dead" demonstrated that even in the absence of full-fledged protection, gas does not always give the expected effect.

As a means of murder, gas had obvious advantages, but by the end of the First World War, it did not look like such a formidable weapon. modern armies already at the end of the war, losses from chemical attacks were seriously reduced, often reducing them to almost zero. As a result, already in World War II, gases became exotic.