Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-11-11
. CHEMICAL WAR WEAPONS
Future: Possibilities of Gas are Some
e thing Terrible.

Future: Possibilities of Gas are Some
thing Terrible.
Vastareas of war gases in the up
per spaces in which aeroplane pilots
will find instant death; pockets of hy-
drogen'whfcfh win burst into flame as
an aeroplane enters them: attack
defying barrages created by the chem
ist-a complete system Of chemical
offense, and defense-is the picture
painted by. General Eugene Debeney,
commander of the French First Army
during the war in describing the tac-
tics that the general staffs' of the lead
ing nations of the world are now en-
deavoring to perfect! -
IF hostilities had been drawn out
for a few months longer" says Gen.
eral Debeney "the war of explosives
would have become struggle between
the manufacturers Of gases"
ITO create supplies of chemicals
and gas is so simple" the French
general points out, "all that is needed
is a laboratory and few dye factor
les. And then, the path of scientific
research Is so broad. Colorless, odor-
less gases will be discovered, that can
be condensed into infinitely small
compass and solidified into tablets and
pills. Already we know something of
what the effects of these things will
be. Scatter the contents of few
small boxes on the ground, and
dense smoky mist will spread steadily,
under a favorable wind, over several
square miles of countryside. A dead
" fog, fatal to everything living with
in its area, will be created at any de-
sired point merely by shot from
cannon, or even from cunningly
placed machine gun. Broad belts of
territory and entire villages will be
poisoned and rendered unapproach-
able for weeks at time by other
gases poured out here and there a
drop at time.
where will one be able to go?
There, the ground is suspected, that
airplane overhead may be dropping an
impenetsable fog in another direction;
at a third point sudden shot from
a gun has created an area of several
acres covered with an atmosphere of
strychnine; those bushes down there
may breathe out an Invisible wave Of
death.
1.-The poor infantryman will stag
ger along under an enormous mask,
covered with shapeless and gas
proof cloak. and protected, as to the
feet, with insulated soles. Chemistry
makes no attempt to preserve manly
beauty, and worries itself still less in
regard to the feelings of the woman
who may have the desire to recognize,
under the disguise Of this hideous
diverlike costume, the beloved fea-
lures of the heroic husband, son or
sweetheart. Poor woman!.
Against attacks by airships bar
RACES will be launched-no longer the
infantile barrage fire of explosives
and shrapnel, but barrages of tenuous
gas that will create in the air vast
poisoned pockets" in which the un-
happy pilot will meet with instant
death; pockets of hydrogen, which
will burst into flame as the air from
hundreds of flexible cables. contact
with which will smash propellers and
destroy both pilot and machine. The
air will be filled with ambushes and
snares.
con tiren terrestrial battlefield gas
tight. tanks will be used in front of
the infantry, fitted with apparatus
whose reaction will reveal the pres
ence Of hidden gas and enable the pi-
lot Immediately to launch counter-gas,
while self propelled watering cars
would deluge the poisoned ground
with an antagopistic liquid"
General Debeny believes that chem
ical attack and defense will tend to
offset each other provided that the
rival nations are equally skilled. The
expert chemist will find way to
neutralize poison gases. However the
French veteran concludes, the nation
that fails to develop chemical research
and chemical industries will be pow
erless against highly skilled invader
even though the attacking forces
might be inferior numerically.