Republican farmer., 1919-08-08
CHEMISTS OF
 ALLIES BEAT GERMANS AT GAS
Last Days of War Subjected Them to Twice What
 They Could Give.

New York, Aug. 2-(Speciai Core spondence)-The Allies whipped the Germans in the battle of the chemists and before the war was ended the Germans were subjected to twice as much poison gas as they were able to deliver to the Allies, according to A. Russell Bond, who writes a history of the development of gas warfare in the August St. Nicholas. In part he writes follows:
 The German army had dug itself into a line of trenches. Neither side could make an advance without a frightful loss of life. But German scientist, Professor Nernst, inventor of a weIl-known electric lamp, came forward with a plan to drown out the British with a flood of poison gas Chlorine gas was selected. For the gas attack a point was chosen where the ground sloped gently toward the opposing lines, so that the gas would actually flow down hill into them. Preparations were carried out with the utmost secrecy. Just under the parapet of the trenches, deep pits were dug about a yard apart on a front of fifteen miles, or over 25,O0O pits.
 Everything was ready for the at tack on the British in April, 1915. A point had been chosen where the British lines made a juncture with the French. The French portion or Algerians, who would be likely to think there was thing super natural about a death dealing cloud. On the left of the Africans was a di- vision of Canadians The Germans wished to pick out a time when the breeze was blowing steadily-not so fast as to scatter the gas, but yet E< fast that 1t would overtake men who attempted to run away from it. Ii was not until the twenty-second of April that conditions were ideal, and then the new warfare was launched.
 Just as had been expected, the Turcos were awe-struck when they saw, coming out of the German trenches, volumes of greenish yellow gas, which rolled toward them, pour ing down into the shell holes and flowing over into the trenches as if 1t were a liquid. Immediately there was a panic and they raced back, striving to outspeed the pursuing cloud. For stretch of fifteen miles the Allied trenches were emptted and the Germans, who followed in the wake of the gas, met with no op- position, except in the sector held by the Canadians. The brave Can adians held them until reinforce ments arrived and the gap in the line was closed. Had the Germans made the attack on a broader front, noth- dng could have stopped them from breaking through to Calais.
 "One thing the Germans had not counted upon was the fact that the n dc fr E1 Va I1 from west to east. During the en- tire summer and fall of 1915, the winds refused to favor them. This gave the British a long respite and enabled them to prepare gas masks. There were many disadvantages in the use of gas-clouds. If the wind was blowing at more than 15 miles an hour it would swirl the gas around and dissipate 1t before 1t did much harm to the opposing fighters. If the wind was light there were other dan gers. On one occasion in 1916 the wind veered around and carried their gas back upon the German lines. As a result of this wi1im of the winds, eleven thousand Germans were killed.
 While chlorine was the first gas used, British chemists had suspected that the Germans would use phos- gene. The man who inhales this deadly gas may not know he is gassed, but hours afterward, particu- larly if he has exercised in the mean time, he may suddenly fall dead. owing to the paralyzing action of the gas on the heart. Mixed with chlorine this deadly combination destroyed all life for miles behind the trenches. Except for the men whose masks proved defective, the soldiers came through with few losses. All animal life, however, was destroyed. This was a blessing to the British Tommy whose trenches had been overrun with rats.''