The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-08-05
DOCTORING GERMANS
WITH OWN MEDICINE
British "Gasmen" Are Now Permitted to
Tell How They Used Gas in Recent
Operations on the Western
War Front,


squeeze" began discussion of British gas
attacks was strictly prohibited but now
the taboo has been lifted and British
"gasman" has been allowed to write a
graphic account of the work of his own
special corps, whose business it is, he
says, "to doctor the Germans with their
own medicine
Behind our lines" he writes, "the sun
set in a blaze of glory. A glance over
the parapet shows the green and scarlet
of the popped No Mans land already
merging into the gray mists of twilight;
but 100 yards away, like a brown earth
shadow among the grays, hangs the
rusty barbed wire of the enemy and Just
beyond a white, chalky upthrow marks
his front line trench. The gasmen stare
across the silent shadows at that white
line and for a moment they think of the
choky, gurgling couch OF the men who
die by gas. 1t is not pleasant TO die by
gas
Connect up!' The order comes down
the line from one bay of the trench to
another, and the gasmen Immediately get
busy. The front rows of neatly piled
/ edhhDaSS VI WHICH tdiil ultSbtD 10 dHtdI-
emily solidly built are pulled out and
disclose cavity in which show, black
and ominous, the cowled heads of row
of iron cylinders. They are sunk in pits
well 'bagged up to protect them from
possible crack or puncture by flying
fragment or ricochetting bullet. Each
cylinder weighs about 1870 pounds and
contains sufficient compressed gas, if it
could be used without waste, 70 put an
entire company out of action.
"On top of the cylinders lies a tangle
of flexible connecting pipes, three and
four way joints, spigots and screw jets,
and upon these, with spanner and key,
the gasmen start work. The cylinders
are all connected up in series, and moth
ing remains but to throw the jets over
the top of the parapet and open the
valves in order to release the deadly
fumes.
But something is required to carry
the gas over to the German linesa ia
voring breeze-and never did sailor scan
the sky more intently than the gasmen
watch their little, inconspicuous wind
gauges, fixed to the edge OF trench. |
They must have a wind of certain di |
rection, and they prefer it of a certain
strength. On this occasion, the direction |
is satisfactory enough, but the breeze
shows signs of weakness and occasionally |
falls to a mere, almost imperceptible
zephyr.
"When not watching the wand the
gasmen are watching their pipes; repeat
eddy feeling and testing every inch OF
tube and joint; for none know better
than they the danger of leakage and OF
the escape of gas into their own trenches.
Persistently an officer passes down the
line, casting rapid though keen glances
as he goes at each set of cylinders and
their connecting pipes. And in every
bay he pauses and whispers two words to
the corporal in CHARGE Eleven o'clock.
But the wind, without which the gas will
not reach the euemy's trench and do its
deadly work among its occupants, begins
to peter out
"At 1850 the gasmen don their special
respirators, which in the dim light, give
the wearers a strange, almost ilihuman
appearance. Masked and goggled, with
weird, trunk like pieces of hose running
from the mouthpiece to the box of air
purifying chemicals strapped to their
chests, they look like some of the I'M
earthly beings who people the books of
Mr., H. G. Wells.
"But not breath disturbs the still
air The feeble breeze has died complete
y. Hurriedly the order runs down the
line: Cancel, and stand by Behind
their masks the gasmen grunt disgusted-
y. But suddenly-crack crack!l rata
tati rst-a-tatl! The orders to the in
'antry have not been countermanded and
The quiet of the night is roughly shat
cred by long line of viciously cracking
-ifes and Lewis guns, to which the Ger
mans reply.
"The gasmen move about uneasily. 1t
S not for themselves they fear, but for
hose pipes and cylinder heads lying bare
md exposed to the hail of flying frag-
nents. Well they know the danger of
,ursts and of trenches filled with gas
nd no wind to move it. But they can-
lot bag up without orders, and so they
etail one of their number in each bay
o watch the cylinders while the rest
ather behind the traverse, as being a
lightly safer spot.
'When day breaks fair wind is blow
ny, straight towards the Gerr.an
renches. But. of course, it is now broad
sylight and the gas will be visible as
Don as it leaves the pipes. The gasmen
now what to expect They know that
5 soon as the greenish-gray clouds sp-
ear outside their psrapet there will be
INNING messengers and hurried tele-
honing in the German lines They know
rat within a few minutes the word viii
ave reached the German big guns at the
ack. and that every piece capable OF
attening out a parapet and burying
rem, mangled and broken, among their
IN cylinders will be concentrated upon
le front line trench in which they stand.
Time, Over the top of the jet pipes
e flung. and then. simultaneously along
most two miles Of trench. there arises
sibilsnt hiss. ss Of some mo. strous and
'nomous snake suddenly aroused from