Gas attacks

[Horace Bachelor]

What were the long term effects of gas?

Were many soldiers severely disabled for life?

Did permanent blindness ever result from a gas attack?

The image of long lines of men holding onto each other's shoulders with their eyes bandaged has haunted me from a very young age.

Cheers

Rich.

[CROONAERT]

Rich.

In answer to your questions...

1. Depends on the type of gas.

2. Yes. The ones who were severely affected were. Many others suffered bronchal and other related problems in later life also.

3. Yes, again dependant on the severity and the individual's physical reaction to the gassing (usually Mustard style gasses caused this).

Dave.

[jhill]

You may find this document interesting. It is a memo written in September, 1917 by Major W. Eric Harris, the Canadian Corps Chemical Advisor. The Major is concerned that men are purposely exposing their eyes to mustard gas, knowing that the effects are temporary, yet resulting in a stay in hospital. He had directed his officers to "spread the word" that permanent blindness could result.

I wonder if someone upstairs took him aside for a word about this type of deceit. Unfortunately, this muddies the waters for us to arrive at an appreciation of the real situation. I am quite sure that the prevalence of permanent effects of gas, although not negligable, was less that assumed.

Of course, different minds reading the same facts could arrive at different conclusions.

[Ribble]

My Great Uncle, who fought with the RWK, had the misfortune to be gassed at Ypres in October 1917 and suffered from severe bronchal problems for the rest of his life, especially in his later years. As a youngster I well remember him struggling painfully for breath and recall him telling me that he had been in and out of hospital over twenty times for various operations and consultations.

Remarkably he lived until the early 1980's.

[ChrisC]

My Great Grandfather was gassed at 2nd Ypres and died 2 years later. Largely? partially? not at all? of the effects of the gas? I'm not a Doctor / chemist so I don't know? Any thoughts?

[Terry_Reeves]

My Grandfather was severely gassed by phosgene in 1916 and suffered for the rest of his life from its effects. Apart from his personal testimony, this was also recorded in the Cadbury works magazine on his retirement.

Terry Reeves

[Horace Bachelor]

Thanks everybody.

One further question. Were any figures kept of the number of casualties from gas and how many were actually killed?

Sorry, that's two questions.

Cheers

Rich.

[Chris Henschke]

This gives some idea as to the amount of long term disability as a result of gas.

The number of men in the UK receiving disability pensions in 1920, two or more years after gassing, was approximately 19,000, that is, about 12 per cent. of the total gas casualties. Gas poisoning was responsible actually for 2 per cent. of all disabilities after the war, 35 per cent. of all pensioners being classified as suffering from wounds and injuries, and 65 per cent. as suffering from diseases.

Regarding casualty figures, the attached list is from the Medical history.

[Horace Bachelor]

Thanks Chris.

I wonder why the deaths from Dec 1915 - Aug 1916 are substantially higher for that period compared with the total casualties?

Cheers

Rich.

[Chris Henschke]

To answer one of your earlier questions "were figures kept?" the answer is yes.

The D.G.M.S. included the total number of gas-shell casualties admitted to CCSs and the deaths that occurred in the weekly returns.

Here is an example of figures compiled just for the 'Mustard Gas Period.'

The incidence of Death was much lower than from Cloud Gas, partly as a result of the use of the more efficient SBR, compared to earlier forms of protection.

During the twelve months from July 1916 to July 1917, British troops only suffered about twice as many casualties and half as many deaths from gas shell as were caused by the six cloud gas attacks between December 1915 and August 1916.

[Chris Henschke]

"Did permanent blindness ever result from a gas attack?"

Mustard Gas, because it was a vessicant, was responsible for a high rate of casualties (due to incapacity) because of it's affect to organs such as the eye.

JHills post of 6 Mar 05 referring to the Canadian Corps Chemical Advisor is interesting. I think that the images of men with bandaged eyes has made people generally think that permanant blindness was a result. Even though the effect of Conjunctivitis was of a sufficient intensity to incapacitate, the amount of men who were permanantly blinded due to Mustard Gas was extremely low.

Most men recovered, fit for duty as far as the eyes were concerned, within two weeks.

Chris Henschke

[Paul K]

I know that my Great Grandfather suffered from eye problems for the rest of his life as a result of being gassed. Im not sure what type of gas he was exposed to but I know that he would sometimes have to really work hard at keeping his eyes open.

Paul K

[Horace Bachelor]

Thanks once more Chris. Very interesting figures.

I'm relieved to hear that very few casualties suffered permanent blindness.

Cheers

Rich.

[Nathan Greenfield]

A fine book on gas warfare is Tim Cook's NO PLACE TO RUN: THE CANADIAN CORPS AND GAS WARFARE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR (UBC Press).

Especially given Canada's present day "boy scout of the world image," it is fascinating to read how during the war Canada suffered from and made use of gas.

[James Brown]

Mustard Gas apart from attacking the lining of the skin externally will attack the lining of the lungs which could cause cancers in later life.

When exposed to high concentrations the gas will attack the corneas of the eyes, eventually rendering the victim blind. If exposure was strong enough.

How long an exposure was this?

After the war the soldiers who were exposed to the gas were still fighting their own personal battles against cancers that had taken hold due to the gasses.

We will never know the true casualty figures from these gruesome forms of warfare.

Recently or should I say as far back as 1946, Nitrogen Mustards were researched for use in reducing cancer (tumour) growth.

Mustard Gas

James

[Robert Dunlop]

James

You are right that mustard gas can cause cancer. This effect is due to the damage that mustard gas can do to the DNA of dividing cells within the body. It is not specifically due to the damage done to the lining of the lungs when inhaled. If someone developed lung cancer, my first question would be whether they smoked or not. Much rarer is a form of lung cancer that can develop in scar tissue in a lung - this can occur in non-smokers.

In people with cancer who are treated with nitrogen mustard, there is a very very small risk of a second cancer developing many years later. In these people, the nitrogen mustard is given intravenously on many occasions (you can imagine the terrible damage that can occur if the material leaks outside the vein and into the tissues - causes a really nasty mess). The doses are much higher and the exposure is over a much longer time than occurs with most soldiers' exposure to mustard gas.

Mustard gas might be used in conjunction with 'tear gas' like agents. The eyes are very sensitive to even small amounts of vesicants so once the effect was felt, most soldiers would take measures to prevent further exposure. Thus the long term risk to the eyes was relatively small. Occasionally people would get splashed with quantities of the stuff. One person developed a full-thickness 'burn' on the scalp as a result.

Robert