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Phosgene was first deployed as a chemical weapon by the French in 1915 in World War I. [24] It was also used in a mixture with an equal volume of chlorine, with the chlorine helping to spread the denser phosgene. [25] [26] Phosgene was more potent than chlorine, though some symptoms took 24 hours or more to manifest.
Phosgene was used by the German army from the end of May 1915, when attacks were conducted on the Western Front against French troops and on the Eastern Front on Russians, where 12,000 cylinders with 240–264 long tons (244–268 t) of 95 per cent chlorine and 5 per cent phosgene was discharged on a 7.5 mi (12 km) front at Bolimów. [5]
British emplacement after German gas attack (probably phosgene) It quickly became evident that the men who stayed in their places suffered less than those who ran away, as any movement worsened the effects of the gas, and that those who stood up on the fire step suffered less—indeed they often escaped any serious effects—than those who lay down or sat at the bottom of a trench.
These attacks marked the first widespread employment of gas warfare in the post-WWI era. [48] The Spanish army indiscriminately used phosgene, diphosgene, chloropicrin and mustard gas against civilian populations, markets and rivers.
Gases were frequently mixed. For example, white star was the name given to a mixture of equal volumes of chlorine and phosgene, the chlorine helping to spread the denser but more toxic phosgene. Despite the rapid technical developments that occurred in the production of specialised agents, chemical weapons suffered from diminishing ...
The gas used by the German troops at Hulluch was a mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which had first been used on 19 December 1915 at Wieltje, near Ypres. The German gas was of sufficient concentration to penetrate the British PH gas helmets and the 16th (Irish) Division was unjustly blamed for poor gas discipline. It was put out that the gas ...
Phosgene was up to six times as potent than chlorine and did not suggest any urgent symptoms that was associated with the coughing and discomfort that chlorine did. Psychological impacts of the gas had resulted in unexplained anxiety attacks which would cause men to tear off their gas masks to breathe correctly exposing them to the gas. [ 3 ]
Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons.This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (warfare or weapons), all of which are considered "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs), a term that ...