![]() However, gas mask protection went into full gear following the German attack at Ypres.īoth the British and French looked to devise new ways of protecting soldiers against the sinister new form of attack. This evolved over the next half century into devices used by miners and for tunneling. Much later, in the 19th century, American mining engineer Lewis Haslett invented a device that filtered dust from the air. But, interestingly, they were not the first true gas masks.Īs far back as ancient times, the Greeks used sponges as masks to protect the wearer from smoke and other hazardous fumes, both on and off the battlefield. Early gas masks were nothing more than cotton wool pads or cloth soaked in water or in some cases urine. As a result, Allied forces struggled to find effective countermeasures. So devastating was the attack that it almost enabled a rare German breakthrough. This attack caused an immediate panic leading to a massive retreat. When inhaled, the gas destroyed the alveoli of the lungs, causing men to essentially “drown” on the liquid created by their own bodies. The first chlorine gas attack, which hit French Colonial and Canadian troops, appeared as a yellowish-green cloud. Introduced during World War I, the French Army used the ARS 1917 until 1935. And while the gas actually killed very few combatants when compared to the vast numbers who gave their lives in the war (according to some sources, as many as 93 percent of gas casualties returned to duty within a few weeks), it was quite a success as a psychological weapon. But it was that calm April day that marked how truly devious gas could be as a weapon of war. While the first widespread use of poison gas occurred on April 22, 1915, near Ypres, Belgium, there had been previous small experiments by the Germans in the weeks prior to the attack. For soldiers on both sides, the horrific effects of the new weapon added another vital piece of equipment to the soldiers’ needs-the gas mask. In a conflict that already was infamous for reaching new depths in the shameful chronicle of man’s inhumanity to man, the new weapon proved to be so heinous that it was never used again on such a massive scale. After a while, condensation in the mask built up, which severely encumbered the wearer, requiring the mask to be taken off.With World War I in a seeming stalemate, German forces in late April 1915 introduced a horrific new weapon to the fighting. The M2 protected the wearer for at least five hours against the common World War I chemical weapon phosgene. These two glasses were held in place by a metal ring on each eyehole, with 12 dents in each so as to better hold the glass on the mask. In April, the rectangle was replaced by two round pieces of cellophane glass due to problems on the earlier model, which could not be cleaned without removing the glass. The first model of the M2 mask was introduced during March 1916 and had a rectangular piece of cellophane glass for viewing, protected by a piece of glass in front of it. During 1917, an additional mask strap was produced, intended to be worn around the head of the wearer. Instead, it was made of one piece of material which covered the face completely. In contrast with gas masks made later in the war, the M2 did not have a special filter that fit onto the mask. While switching gear, some soldiers inhaled the poison gas and became casualties. The untrained soldiers tended to put on the Small Box Respirator when first confronted with a gas attack and then switch to the M2 when they realized they would have to wear it for a long time. The US Army issued its soldiers the British-made Small Box Respirator to protect against chemical attack, and the French-made M2 gas mask in case a mask had to be worn for an extended period of time. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it was unprepared for chemical warfare. British forces were issued 6.2 million units of the second model between May and November 1916 and used it as late as August 1918. A second model introduced in April 1916 was produced in three different sizes and included two separate eyepieces, so folding it would not cause damage. The first M2 model was produced in only one size and often incurred damage when it was folded for placement in a metal container. An order of 600,000 masks was produced in February 1916 and introduced for British forces the following month. The M2 mask was based on a design proposed in 1915 by René Louis Gravereaux of Paris. It was intended to protect the wearer from at least five hours' exposure to phosgene gas, a common chemical weapon of the time. The M2 was fabricated in large quantities, with about 29,300,000 being made during the war. The M2 gas mask was a French-made gas mask used by French, British and American forces from April 1916 to August 1918 during World War I. American soldiers wearing M2 gas masks in a frontline trench (1919 postcard image)
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