Mustard Gas

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

if someone was wounded badly enough to loose a foot... during a heavy mustard gas attack.... could mustard gas cause the wound to infect enough to kill the person?

i.e. did mustard gas effect open wounds?

Thanks

Chris

[Robert Dunlop]

Chris, mustard gas could burn through the skin and cause a wound that became infected. If a skin was broken by some other means, eg a gunshot wound, then infection was also possible. Infection, once started by whichever means, could spread, cause blood poisoning and death.

Mustard gas could make an existing wound larger, but I would not attribute any death by infection specifically to this. It would be the wound per se that was important.

Robert

[Chris Boonzaier]

Chris, mustard gas could burn through the skin and cause a wound that became infected. If a skin was broken by some other means, eg a gunshot wound, then infection was also possible. Infection, once started by whichever means, could spread, cause blood poisoning and death.

Mustard gas could make an existing wound larger, but I would not attribute any death by infection specifically to this. It would be the wound per se that was important.

Robert

Hi Robert,

thanks for the info.

best

Chris

[chloeflorence]

Hi

Not really adding to what Robert has said. Infection from wounds was caused by debris getting in, ie carried into the tissue by a bullet or piece of shrapnel. Mustard gas was a vesicant (blister agent) used to disable troops (Gas is a bit of a misnomer as it was a water souble liquid). Not many deaths are directly attributable to it, only really if it got into the lungs where it stripped away the lining. There are two types of mustard gas, sulphur mustard and nitrogen mustard. Sulphur mustard was used in WW1.

Jim

[Chris Boonzaier]

Thanks,

I have a document to an American officer who was wounded on the 15th of August 1918 during a major German Yellow cross bombardment, a letter home in Mid October saying they had taken of a foot and by mid September he was dead.

I assume it was a HE and Gas barrage, was wondering if the Yellow Cross would have added to the infection of the wound.

Best

Chris

[truthergw]

Thanks,

I have a document to an American officer who was wounded on the 15th of August 1918 during a major German Yellow cross bombardment, a letter home in Mid October saying they had taken of a foot and by mid September he was dead.

I assume it was a HE and Gas barrage, was wondering if the Yellow Cross would have added to the infection of the wound.

Best

Chris

Any minor injury received during the gas attack might have led to infection, the swift death implies septicaemia. I do not believe the mustard gas would have caused the infection but if he was blistered, it may have hampered treatment. 

[chloeflorence]

Any minor injury received during the gas attack might have led to infection, the swift death implies septicaemia. I do not believe the mustard gas would have caused the infection but if he was blistered, it may have hampered treatment.

I agree with Tom, septicaemia seems the most likely cause of death in this case. Mustard gas could kill if inhaled or if a large percentage of the skin was blistered, but by 1918 gas attacks were expected and were less effective due to better preparedness. Other possibilities are tetanus, another common infection occurring with war wounds, but this takes longer to incubate and kill than septicaemia; and gangrene. Gas gangrere was the most rapidly fatal type of this infection.

Jim

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

I am doing an article on "my man" and his division on the Vesle in August 1918.

The US 77th and 28th division occupied the zone at Fismes and totally ignored all they had been told about Gas warfare...

The two divisions suffered thousands of casualties in a couple of weeks...

[penno]

Hello,

I should imagine that infections would have set in quite quickly considering the terrible conditions that those men were in, in the trenches.

I'm trying to research my Granddads WW1 record, and I know that he was gassed on the Somme. I was wondering if anyone knows if there would have been any kind of records kept or where these men would have been taken for treatment. Thanks.

[truthergw]

Hi. Many men were affected by gas so it depends on how badly he was gassed.  Men might get a whiff of gas and merely need  '  a cup of tea and a fag ' to recover and carry on,  right through to dying somewhere in the evacuation chain. There were medical centres which specialised in certain types of casualty. I think you will need your GFs details to find out if he was treated and, if so, where. 

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

"my guy" was in the field artillery, they were heavily hit by Blue Cross, yellow cross and HE on the day of his wound.

Apparently he was "seriously wounded" leading to him loosing a foot.

Having witnessed the odd bad wound myself I imagine the strain, the pain and the tension must have made it hell to have to lay there wounded... AND wear a gasmask.

Best

Chris

[penno]

Hello truthergw,

Unfortunately I haven't got any info on my granddad other than he was in the East Surrey Regt., was gassed at the Somme and received a shrapnel wound to his head [not sure if this was at the same time]. I don't know if his war ended early, although he lived for around 20+ years after it ended and went back to work with the shrapnel still in his head. I've been told that his records no longer exist so I was perhaps clutching at straws. Got to try all avenues!! Thanks anyway.

[truthergw]

Hello truthergw,

Unfortunately I haven't got any info on my granddad other than he was in the East Surrey Regt., was gassed at the Somme and received a shrapnel wound to his head [not sure if this was at the same time]. I don't know if his war ended early, although he lived for around 20+ years after it ended and went back to work with the shrapnel still in his head. I've been told that his records no longer exist so I was perhaps clutching at straws. Got to try all avenues!! Thanks anyway.

CG, If you post your Grandfather's name and what you do know, in the Soldiers section, someone may be able to point you in the right direction. As a matter of interest, being gassed on the Somme probably means it was not mustard gas, but that is not certain. 

[Robert Dunlop]

It definitely would not have been mustard gas in 1916. The Germans did not start using it until mid-1917. Might have been in the 1918 Somme battles though.

Robert

[truthergw]

That 1918 possibility prompted me to put the sneaky get out clause in, Robert. 

[Robert Dunlop]

...put the sneaky get out clause in

I recognised the clause Just wanted to make sure that the nuance of your post was not entirely lost

Robert

[penno]

Hello truthergw & Robert Dunlop,

Sorry for the delay in replying. As far as the type of gas used is concerned, I've been told that even though my granddad lived for 20+ years after the war ended, he suffered with permanent lung problems and spent time in a London hospital [although not sure when or how often]. We don't know which year his war ended, but he also received at some time a shrapnel injury to his head. That shrapnel was never removed and he suffered bad headaches.We're not sure either if the shrapnel happened before the gassing, after or at the same time. My dad said that whenever he tried as a boy to find out what had happened to his dad in the war, his words were always the same 'you don't want to know boy' and nobody ever did. I guess that happened many times over. Thanks again, I'll give the Soldier Section a go.