Evening star., 1939-11-16
Chemical Tank
Is Newest Weapon
For Gas Warfare
Spreads Concentrations
Strong Enough to
Pierce Military Mask
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE.
Associated Press Science Editor.


NEW YORK, Nov 16-Poison gas
warfare has new weapon ready
for the battlefield.
1t is the chemical tank, a squat,
speedy, steel-skinned caterpillar,
whose insides, instead of guns, are
mostly poison liquids and gases.
This tank is described by 1t. Col.
Augustin M. Prentiss, U. S. A.,
Chemical Warfare Service, as one
of the most formidable methods of
attack yet devised. He is one Of
the gerat authorities on gas war
fare.
Chemical tanks have the power"
he writes in the Chemical Warfare
Bulletin, Ito suddenly release enor-
nous concentrations of non-per-
sistant lethal gas in such strength
as to readily break through any
military gas mask"
The non-persistent gases are those
which float in the air, and poison
the lungs. Their potency as wea-
pons was greatly reduced by gas
masks in the World War.
4NCW 1ype MASK NecueO.
But the chemical tanks may prove
50 effective, says Col. Prentiss, that
an entirely new type of gas mask
will be needed for protection. This
mask would shut out all outside air
and keep its wearer alive by breath
ing oxygen stored inside the mask.
A single tank, he explains, car
rying 1000 pounds of phosgene can
cover in one mission an area down.
wind 500 yards long and 100 yards
wide. For an additional 500 yards,
or total of nearly tWo-thirds of
. mile, the concentration of this
gas will be sufficiently deadly to
cause serious casualties.
The great advantage of this new
war engine is the ease of placing
gas. For example, to do the same
thing with artillery or projectors of
gas, would require hours of prepara-
ton, transporting materials to the
firing line. The tanks, alone of
ground weapons, carries its own gas.
Other New Instruments
European belligerents are supplied
with these tanks. But these weap-
ons are only one of several poison
gas instruments new since the World
War and waiting for the day which
Europe fears perhaps the most, and
for which its civilian populations are
most widely prepared.
Another new weapon is the air.
plane spray. Tests show, Col. Prem
tiss says, that low-flying planes in
single flight can cover an area
averaging 300 yards long and $50
wide with enough persistent gas to
render it untenable to unprotected
troops.
The persistent gas is mustard,
liquid which looks like dirty engine
oil Its breathing effects are small
and not fatal. But at the slightest
touch it burns badly, with exactly
the same burn as fire
Mustard Powder New Agent.
There is at least one new form of
mustard waiting for war use. This
is mustard powder. The Germans
have this powder, which was de-
cSlIOCo 111 ellO SllCAl1Cdl WAX ldi E
Bulletin.
Other nations may have the same
thing. but have not permitted as
much publication of their gas war
fare preparations. The powder mus
tard lasts longer on the ground than
the liquid and the latter may in
extreme cases, last for about two
weeks.
The powder does not burn as in
tensely as the liquid, but tests de-
scribed by Rumanian army officers
showed that seven days after pow
der was scattered it was still able to
poison all organic substances.
The composition of the mustard
powder is military secret. The
Rumanian sources claim it was first
prepared in Germany with rare
earths which absorb and retain the
liquid mustard. The Rumanians
say that peacetime benefit of the
same discoveries has been a number
of new agricultural insecticides.