February 14th, 2015

German gas attack. Aerial view. Photo: Imperial War Museums

According to rough estimates by historians, at least 1.3 million people suffered from chemical weapons during the First World War. All major theaters Great War became, in fact, the largest test site in the history of mankind for testing weapons of mass destruction in real conditions. The international community began to think about the danger of such a development of events at the end of the 19th century, trying to introduce restrictions on the use of poison gases through a convention. But as soon as one of the countries, namely Germany, broke this taboo, all the others, including Russia, joined the chemical arms race with no less zeal.

In the material “Russian Planet” I suggest you read about how it began and why the first gas attacks were never noticed by humanity.

The first gas is lumpy

On October 27, 1914, at the very beginning of the First World War, the Germans fired improved shrapnel shells at the French near the village of Neuve Chapelle in the outskirts of Lille. In the glass of such a projectile, the space between the shrapnel bullets was filled with dianisidine sulfate, which irritates the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose. 3 thousand of these shells allowed the Germans to capture a small village on the northern border of France, but the damaging effect of what would now be called “tear gas” turned out to be small. As a result, disappointed German generals decided to abandon the production of “innovative” shells with insufficient lethal effect, since even Germany’s developed industry did not have time to cope with the monstrous needs of the fronts for conventional ammunition.

In fact, humanity then did not notice this first fact of the new “chemical war”. Against the backdrop of unexpectedly high losses from conventional weapons, tears from the soldiers’ eyes did not seem dangerous.

German troops release gas from cylinders during a gas attack. Photo: Imperial War Museums

However, the leaders of the Second Reich did not stop experiments with combat chemicals. Just three months later, on January 31, 1915, already on the Eastern Front, German troops, trying to break through to Warsaw, near the village of Bolimov, fired at Russian positions with improved gas ammunition. That day, 18 thousand 150-mm shells containing 63 tons of xylylbromide fell on the positions of the 6th Corps of the 2nd Russian Army. But this substance was more of a tear-producing agent than a poisonous one. Moreover, the severe frosts that prevailed in those days negated its effectiveness - the liquid sprayed by exploding shells in the cold did not evaporate or turn into gas, its irritating effect turned out to be insufficient. The first chemical attack on Russian troops was also unsuccessful.

The Russian command, however, paid attention to it. On March 4, 1915, from the Main Artillery Directorate of the General Staff, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, then the commander-in-chief of the Russian Imperial Army, received a proposal to begin experiments with shells filled with toxic substances. A few days later, the Grand Duke’s secretaries replied that “the Supreme Commander-in-Chief has a negative attitude towards the use of chemical shells.”

Formally, the uncle of the last tsar was right in this case - the Russian army was sorely lacking conventional shells in order to divert the already insufficient industrial forces to the production of a new type of ammunition of dubious effectiveness. But military technology developed rapidly during the Great Years. And by the spring of 1915, the “gloomy Teutonic genius” showed the world truly deadly chemistry, which horrified everyone.

Nobel laureates killed near Ypres

The first effective gas attack was launched in April 1915 near the Belgian town of Ypres, where the Germans used chlorine released from cylinders against the British and French. At the attack front of 6 kilometers, 6 thousand gas cylinders filled with 180 tons of gas were installed. It is curious that half of these cylinders were of civilian origin - the German army collected them throughout Germany and occupied Belgium.

The cylinders were placed in specially equipped trenches, combined into “gas batteries” of 20 pieces each. Burying them and equipping all positions for a gas attack was completed on April 11, but the Germans had to wait for more than a week for favorable winds. It blew in the right direction only at 5 pm on April 22, 1915.

Within 5 minutes, the “gas batteries” released 168 tons of chlorine. A yellow-green cloud covered the French trenches, and the gas affected mainly the soldiers of the “colored division” that had just arrived at the front from the French colonies in Africa.

Chlorine caused laryngeal spasms and pulmonary edema. The troops did not yet have any means of protection against gas; no one even knew how to defend themselves and escape from such an attack. Therefore, the soldiers who remained in their positions suffered less than those who fled, since every movement increased the effect of the gas. Because chlorine is heavier than air and accumulates near the ground, those soldiers who stood under fire suffered less than those who lay or sat at the bottom of the trench. The worst victims were the wounded lying on the ground or on stretchers, and people moving to the rear along with the cloud of gas. In total, almost 15 thousand soldiers were poisoned, of which about 5 thousand died.

It is significant that the German infantry, advancing after the chlorine cloud, also suffered losses. And if the gas attack itself was a success, causing panic and even the flight of French colonial units, then the German attack itself was almost a failure, and progress was minimal. The front breakthrough that the German generals were counting on did not happen. The German infantrymen themselves were openly afraid to move forward through the contaminated area. Later, German soldiers captured in this area told the British that the gas caused sharp pain to their eyes when they occupied the trenches left behind by the fleeing French.

The impression of the tragedy at Ypres was aggravated by the fact that the Allied command was warned at the beginning of April 1915 about the use of new weapons - a defector said that the Germans were going to poison the enemy with a cloud of gas, and that “cylinders with gas” were already installed in the trenches. But the French and English generals then only shrugged it off - the information was included in the intelligence reports of the headquarters, but was classified as “untrustworthy information.”

It turned out to be even bigger psychological impact the first effective chemical attack. The troops, who then had no protection from the new type of weapon, were struck by a real “gas fear”, and the slightest rumor of the start of such an attack caused general panic.

Representatives of the Entente immediately accused the Germans of violating the Hague Convention, since Germany in 1899 in The Hague at the 1st Disarmament Conference, among other countries, signed the declaration “On the non-use of projectiles whose sole purpose is to distribute asphyxiating or harmful gases.” However, using the same wording, Berlin responded that the convention prohibits only gas shells, and not any use of gases for military purposes. After that, in fact, no one remembered the convention anymore.

Otto Hahn (right) in the laboratory. 1913 Photo: Library of Congress

It is worth noting that chlorine was chosen as the first chemical weapon for completely practical reasons. In peaceful life, it was then widely used to produce bleach, hydrochloric acid, paints, medicines and a host of other products. The technology for its production was well studied, so obtaining this gas in large quantities was not difficult.

The organization of the gas attack near Ypres was led by German chemists from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin - Fritz Haber, James Frank, Gustav Hertz and Otto Hahn. European civilization of the 20th century is best characterized by the fact that all of them subsequently received Nobel Prizes for various scientific achievements of an exclusively peaceful nature. It is noteworthy that the creators of chemical weapons themselves did not believe that they were doing anything terrible or even simply wrong. Fritz Haber, for example, claimed that he had always been an ideological opponent of the war, but when it began, he was forced to work for the good of his homeland. Haber categorically denied accusations of creating inhumane weapons of mass destruction, considering such reasoning to be demagoguery - in response, he usually stated that death in any case is death, regardless of what exactly caused it.

“They showed more curiosity than anxiety”

Immediately after the “success” at Ypres, the Germans carried out several more gas attacks on the Western Front in April-May 1915. For the Eastern Front, the time for the first “gas attack” came at the end of May. The operation was again carried out near Warsaw near the village of Bolimov, where the first on the Russian front took place in January bad experience with chemical shells. This time, 12 thousand chlorine cylinders were prepared over a 12-kilometer area.

On the night of May 31, 1915, at 3:20 a.m., the Germans released chlorine. Units of two Russian divisions - the 55th and 14th Siberian divisions - came under the gas attack. Reconnaissance on this section of the front was then commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander DeLazari; he later described that fateful morning as follows: “Complete surprise and unpreparedness led to the fact that the soldiers showed more surprise and curiosity at the appearance of a gas cloud than alarm. Mistaking the gas cloud to camouflage the attack, Russian troops strengthened the forward trenches and brought up reserves. Soon the trenches were filled with corpses and dying people.”

In two Russian divisions, almost 9,038 people were poisoned, of whom 1,183 died. The gas concentration was such that, as an eyewitness wrote, chlorine “formed gas swamps in the lowlands, destroying spring and clover seedlings along the way” - the grass and leaves changed color from the gas, turned yellow and died along with the people.

As at Ypres, despite the tactical success of the attack, the Germans were unable to develop it into a breakthrough of the front. It is significant that the German soldiers near Bolimov were also very afraid of chlorine and even tried to object to its use. But the high command from Berlin was inexorable.

No less significant is the fact that, just like the British and French at Ypres, the Russians were also aware of the impending gas attack. The Germans, with balloon batteries already placed in the forward trenches, waited 10 days for a favorable wind, and during this time the Russians took several “tongues”. Moreover, the command already knew the results of using chlorine near Ypres, but they still did not warn the soldiers and officers in the trenches about anything. True, due to the threat of the use of chemicals, “gas masks” were ordered from Moscow itself - the first, not yet perfect gas masks. But by an evil irony of fate, they were delivered to the divisions attacked by chlorine on the evening of May 31, after the attack.

A month later, on the night of July 7, 1915, the Germans repeated the gas attack in the same area, not far from Bolimov near the village of Volya Shidlovskaya. “This time the attack was no longer as unexpected as on May 31,” wrote a participant in those battles. “However, the chemical discipline of the Russians was still very low, and the passage of the gas wave caused the abandonment of the first line of defense and significant losses.”

Despite the fact that the troops had already begun to be supplied with primitive “gas masks,” they did not yet know how to properly respond to gas attacks. Instead of wearing masks and waiting for the cloud of chlorine to blow through the trenches, the soldiers began to run in panic. It is impossible to outrun the wind by running, and they, in fact, ran in a gas cloud, which increased the time they spent in chlorine vapor, and fast running only aggravated the damage to the respiratory system.

As a result, parts of the Russian army suffered heavy losses. The 218th Infantry suffered 2,608 casualties. In the 21st Siberian Regiment, after retreating in a cloud of chlorine, less than a company remained combat-ready; 97% of the soldiers and officers were poisoned. The troops also did not yet know how to conduct chemical reconnaissance, that is, identify heavily contaminated areas of the area. Therefore, the Russian 220th Infantry Regiment launched a counterattack through terrain contaminated with chlorine, and lost 6 officers and 1,346 privates from gas poisoning.

“Due to the enemy’s complete indiscriminateness in means of combat”

Just two days after the first gas attack against Russian troops, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich changed his mind about chemical weapons. On June 2, 1915, a telegram was sent from him to Petrograd: “The Supreme Commander-in-Chief admits that, due to the complete indiscriminateness of our enemy in the means of struggle, the only measure of influence on him is the use on our part of all the means used by the enemy. The Commander-in-Chief asks for orders to carry out the necessary tests and supply the armies with appropriate devices with a supply of poisonous gases.”

But the formal decision to create chemical weapons in Russia was made a little earlier - on May 30, 1915, Order No. 4053 of the War Ministry appeared, which stated that “organizing the procurement of gases and asphyxiants and conducting business on active use gases is entrusted to the Commission for the Procurement of Explosives.” This commission was headed by two guard colonels, both Andrei Andreevich - artillery chemistry specialists A.A. Solonin and A.A. Dzerzhkovich. The first was assigned to be in charge of “gases, their preparation and use,” the second was “to manage the matter of equipping projectiles” with poisonous chemistry.

So since the summer of 1915 Russian empire became concerned with the creation and production of its own chemical weapons. And in this matter, the dependence of military affairs on the level of development of science and industry was especially clearly demonstrated.

On the one hand, to end of the 19th century centuries in Russia there was a powerful scientific school in the field of chemistry; it is enough to recall the epoch-making name of Dmitry Mendeleev. But, on the other hand, the Russian chemical industry in terms of production level and volumes was seriously inferior to the leading powers of Western Europe, primarily Germany, which at that time was the leader in the world chemical market. For example, in 1913, all chemical production in the Russian Empire - from the production of acids to the production of matches - employed 75 thousand people, while in Germany over a quarter of a million workers were employed in this industry. In 1913, the value of the products of all chemical production in Russia amounted to 375 million rubles, while Germany that year alone sold 428 million rubles (924 million marks) worth of chemical products abroad.

By 1914, there were less than 600 people in Russia with a higher chemical education. There was not a single special chemical-technological university in the country; only eight institutes and seven universities in the country trained a small number of chemist specialists.

It should be noted here that the chemical industry in wartime is needed not only for the production of chemical weapons - first of all, its capacity is required for the production of gunpowder and other explosives, which are needed in gigantic quantities. Therefore, there were no longer state-owned “state-owned” factories in Russia that had spare capacity for the production of military chemicals.

Attack of German infantry in gas masks in clouds of poisonous gas. Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv

Under these conditions, the first producer of “asphyxiating gases” was the private manufacturer Gondurin, who proposed to produce phosgene gas at his plant in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, an extremely toxic volatile substance with the smell of hay that affects the lungs. Since the 18th century, Hondurin merchants have been producing chintz, so by the beginning of the 20th century, their factories, thanks to the work on dyeing fabrics, had some experience in chemical production. The Russian Empire entered into a contract with the merchant Hondurin for the supply of phosgene in an amount of at least 10 poods (160 kg) per day.

Meanwhile, on August 6, 1915, the Germans attempted to carry out a large gas attack against the garrison of the Russian fortress of Osovets, which had been successfully holding the defense for several months. At 4 o'clock in the morning they released a huge cloud of chlorine. The gas wave, released along a front 3 kilometers wide, penetrated to a depth of 12 kilometers and spread outward to 8 kilometers. The height of the gas wave rose to 15 meters, the gas clouds this time were green in color - it was chlorine mixed with bromine.

Three Russian companies that found themselves at the epicenter of the attack were completely killed. According to surviving eyewitnesses, the consequences of that gas attack looked like this: “All the greenery in the fortress and in the immediate area along the path of the gases was destroyed, the leaves on the trees turned yellow, curled up and fell off, the grass turned black and lay on the ground, flower petals flew off. All copper objects in the fortress - parts of guns and shells, washbasins, tanks, etc. - were covered with a thick green layer of chlorine oxide.”

However, this time the Germans were unable to build on the success of the gas attack. Their infantry rose to attack too early and suffered losses from the gas. Then two Russian companies counterattacked the enemy through a cloud of gases, losing up to half of the soldiers poisoned - the survivors, with swollen veins on their gas-stricken faces, launched a bayonet attack, which lively journalists in the world press would immediately call the “attack of the dead.”

Therefore, the warring armies began to use gases in increasing quantities - if in April near Ypres the Germans released almost 180 tons of chlorine, then by the fall in one of the gas attacks in Champagne - already 500 tons. And in December 1915, a new, more toxic gas, phosgene, was used for the first time. Its “advantage” over chlorine was that the gas attack was difficult to determine - phosgene is transparent and invisible, has a faint smell of hay, and does not begin to act immediately after inhalation.

Germany's widespread use of poisonous gases on the fronts of the Great War forced the Russian command to also enter the chemical arms race. At the same time, two problems had to be urgently solved: firstly, to find a way to protect against new weapons, and secondly, “not to remain in debt to the Germans,” and to answer them in kind. The Russian army and industry coped with both more than successfully. Thanks to the outstanding Russian chemist Nikolai Zelinsky, already in 1915 the world's first universal effective gas mask was created. And in the spring of 1916, the Russian army carried out its first successful gas attack.
The Empire needs poison

Before responding to German gas attacks with the same weapon, the Russian army had to establish its production almost from scratch. Initially, the production of liquid chlorine was created, which before the war was completely imported from abroad.

This gas began to be supplied by pre-war and converted production facilities - four plants in Samara, several enterprises in Saratov, one plant each near Vyatka and in the Donbass in Slavyansk. In August 1915, the army received the first 2 tons of chlorine; a year later, by the fall of 1916, the production of this gas reached 9 tons per day.

An illustrative story happened with the plant in Slavyansk. It was created at the very beginning of the 20th century to produce bleach electrolytically from rock salt mined in local salt mines. That is why the plant was called “Russian Electron”, although 90% of its shares belonged to French citizens.

In 1915, it was the only plant located relatively close to the front and theoretically capable of quickly producing chlorine on an industrial scale. Having received subsidies from the Russian government, the plant did not provide the front with a ton of chlorine during the summer of 1915, and at the end of August, management of the plant was transferred to the hands of the military authorities.

Diplomats and newspapers, seemingly allied with France, immediately made noise about the violation of the interests of French owners in Russia. The tsarist authorities were afraid of quarreling with their Entente allies, and in January 1916, management of the plant was returned to the previous administration and even new loans were provided. But until the end of the war, the plant in Slavyansk did not begin to produce chlorine in the quantities stipulated by military contracts.
An attempt to obtain phosgene from private industry in Russia also failed - Russian capitalists, despite all their patriotism, inflated prices and, due to the lack of sufficient industrial capacity, could not guarantee timely fulfillment of orders. For these needs, new state-owned production facilities had to be created from scratch.

Already in July 1915, construction began on a “military chemical plant” in the village of Globino in what is now the Poltava region of Ukraine. Initially, they planned to establish chlorine production there, but in the fall it was reoriented to new, more deadly gases - phosgene and chloropicrin. For the combat chemicals plant, the ready-made infrastructure of a local sugar factory, one of the largest in the Russian Empire, was used. Technical backwardness led to the fact that the enterprise took more than a year to build, and the Globinsky Military Chemical Plant began producing phosgene and chloropicrin only on the eve of the February revolution of 1917.

The situation was similar with the construction of the second large state enterprise for the production of chemical weapons, which began to be built in March 1916 in Kazan. The Kazan Military Chemical Plant produced the first phosgene in 1917.

Initially, the War Ministry hoped to organize large chemical plants in Finland, where there was an industrial base for such production. But bureaucratic correspondence on this issue with the Finnish Senate dragged on for many months, and by 1917 the “military chemical plants” in Varkaus and Kajaan were still not ready.
While state-owned factories were just being built, the War Ministry had to buy gases wherever possible. For example, on November 21, 1915, 60 thousand pounds of liquid chlorine were ordered from the Saratov city government.

"Chemical Committee"

Since October 1915, the first “special chemical teams” began to be formed in the Russian army to carry out gas balloon attacks. But due to the initial weakness of Russian industry, it was not possible to attack the Germans with new “poisonous” weapons in 1915.

To better coordinate all efforts to develop and produce combat gases, in the spring of 1916, the Chemical Committee was created under the Main Artillery Directorate of the General Staff, often simply called the “Chemical Committee”. All existing and newly created chemical weapons factories and all other work in this area were subordinated to him.

The Chairman of the Chemical Committee was 48-year-old Major General Vladimir Nikolaevich Ipatiev. A major scientist, he had not only military, but also professorial rank, and before the war he taught a course in chemistry at St. Petersburg University.

Gas mask with ducal monograms

The first gas attacks immediately required not only the creation of chemical weapons, but also means of protection against them. In April 1915, in preparation for the first use of chlorine at Ypres, the German command provided its soldiers with cotton pads soaked in a sodium hyposulfite solution. They had to cover the nose and mouth during the release of gases.

By the summer of that year, all soldiers of the German, French and English armies were equipped with cotton-gauze bandages soaked in various chlorine neutralizers. However, such primitive “gas masks” turned out to be inconvenient and unreliable; moreover, while mitigating the damage from chlorine, they did not provide protection against the more toxic phosgene.

In Russia, in the summer of 1915, such bandages were called “stigma masks.” They were made for the front by various organizations and individuals. But as the German gas attacks showed, they hardly saved anyone from the massive and prolonged use of toxic substances, and were extremely inconvenient to use - they quickly dried out, completely losing their protective properties.

In August 1915, Moscow University professor Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky proposed using activated charcoal as a means of absorbing toxic gases. Already in November, Zelinsky’s first carbon gas mask was tested for the first time complete with a rubber helmet with glass “eyes”, which was made by an engineer from St. Petersburg, Mikhail Kummant.

Unlike previous designs, this one turned out to be reliable, easy to use and ready for immediate use for many months. The resulting protective device successfully passed all tests and was called the “Zelinsky-Kummant gas mask.” However, here the obstacles to the successful arming of the Russian army with them were not even the shortcomings of Russian industry, but the departmental interests and ambitions of officials. At that time, all work on protection against chemical weapons was entrusted to the Russian general and the German Prince Friedrich (Alexander Petrovich) of Oldenburg, a relative of the ruling Romanov dynasty, who held the position of Supreme Chief of the sanitary and evacuation unit of the imperial army. The prince by that time was almost 70 years old and Russian society remembered him as the founder of the resort in Gagra and a fighter against homosexuality in the guard. The prince actively lobbied for the adoption and production of a gas mask, which was designed by teachers of the Petrograd Mining Institute using experience in the mines. This gas mask, called the “gas mask of the Mining Institute,” as tests showed, provided worse protection from asphyxiating gases and was more difficult to breathe in than the Zelinsky-Kummant gas mask.

Despite this, the Prince of Oldenburg ordered the production of 6 million “Mining Institute gas masks”, decorated with his personal monogram, to begin. As a result, Russian industry spent several months producing a less advanced design. On March 19, 1916, at a meeting of the Special Conference on Defense - the main body of the Russian Empire for managing the military industry - an alarming report was made about the situation at the front with “masks” (as gas masks were then called): “Masks of the simplest type weakly protect against chlorine, but not at all protect against other gases. Mining Institute masks are not suitable. The production of Zelinsky’s masks, long recognized as the best, has not been established, which should be considered criminal negligence.”

As a result, only the unanimous opinion of the military allowed the mass production of Zelinsky’s gas masks to begin. On March 25, the first government order appeared for 3 million and the next day for another 800 thousand gas masks of this type. By April 5, the first batch of 17 thousand had already been produced. However, until the summer of 1916, the production of gas masks remained extremely insufficient - in June no more than 10 thousand pieces per day arrived at the front, while for reliable protection the army needed millions of them. Only the efforts of the “Chemical Commission” of the General Staff made it possible to radically improve the situation by the fall - by the beginning of October 1916, over 4 million different gas masks were sent to the front, including 2.7 million “Zelinsky-Kummant gas masks.” In addition to gas masks for people, during the First World War it was necessary to attend to special gas masks for horses, which then remained the main draft force of the army, not to mention the numerous cavalry. By the end of 1916, 410 thousand horse gas masks of various designs arrived at the front.

In total, during the First World War, the Russian army received over 28 million gas masks of various types, of which over 11 million were the Zelinsky-Kummant system. Since the spring of 1917, only they were used in combat units of the active army, thanks to which the Germans abandoned “gas balloon” attacks with chlorine on the Russian front due to their complete ineffectiveness against troops wearing such gas masks.

“The war has crossed the last line»

According to historians, about 1.3 million people suffered from chemical weapons during the First World War. The most famous of them, perhaps, was Adolf Hitler - on October 15, 1918, he was poisoned and temporarily lost his sight as a result of a nearby explosion of a chemical shell. It is known that in 1918, from January until the end of the fighting in November, the British lost 115,764 soldiers from chemical weapons. Of these, less than one tenth of one percent died - 993. Such a small percentage of fatal losses from gases is associated with the full equipment of the troops with advanced types of gas masks. However, a large number of wounded, or rather poisoned and lost combat capability, left chemical weapons a formidable force on the fields of the First World War.

The US Army entered the war only in 1918, when the Germans brought the use of a variety of chemical shells to maximum and perfection. Therefore, of all the losses of the American army, more than a quarter were due to chemical weapons. These weapons not only killed and wounded, but when used massively and for a long time, they rendered entire divisions temporarily incapable of combat. Thus, during the last offensive of the German army in March 1918, during artillery preparation against the 3rd British Army alone, 250 thousand shells with mustard gas were fired. British soldiers on the front line had to continuously wear gas masks for a week, which made them almost unfit for combat. The losses of the Russian army from chemical weapons in the First World War are estimated with a wide range. During the war, these figures were not made public for obvious reasons, and two revolutions and the collapse of the front by the end of 1917 led to significant gaps in the statistics.

The first official figures were published already in Soviet Russia in 1920 - 58,890 non-fatally poisoned and 6,268 died from gases. Research in the West, which came out hot on the heels of the 20-30s of the 20th century, cited much higher numbers - over 56 thousand killed and about 420 thousand poisoned. Although the use of chemical weapons did not lead to strategic consequences, its impact on the psyche of soldiers was significant. Sociologist and philosopher Fyodor Stepun (by the way, he is of German origin, real name Friedrich Steppuhn) served junior officer in Russian artillery. Even during the war, in 1917, his book “From the Letters of an Ensign Artillery Officer” was published, where he described the horror of people who survived a gas attack: “Night, darkness, a howl overhead, the splash of shells and the whistling of heavy fragments. It's so difficult to breathe that you feel like you're about to suffocate. The voices in the masks are almost inaudible, and in order for the battery to accept the command, the officer needs to shout it directly into the ear of each gunner. At the same time, the terrible unrecognizability of the people around you, the loneliness of the damned tragic masquerade: white rubber skulls, square glass eyes, long green trunks. And all in the fantastic red sparkle of explosions and shots. And above everything there was an insane fear of heavy, disgusting death: the Germans shot for five hours, but the masks were designed for six.

You can't hide, you have to work. With every step, it stings your lungs, knocks you over backwards, and the feeling of suffocation intensifies. And you need to not only walk, you need to run. Perhaps the horror of the gases is not characterized more clearly by anything than by the fact that in the gas cloud no one paid any attention to the shelling, but the shelling was terrible - more than a thousand shells fell on one of our batteries...
In the morning, after the shelling stopped, the appearance of the battery was terrible. In the dawn fog, people are like shadows: pale, with bloodshot eyes, and with the coal of gas masks settling on their eyelids and around their mouths; many are sick, many are fainting, the horses are all lying on the hitching post with dull eyes, with bloody foam at the mouth and nostrils, some are in convulsions, some have already died.”
Fyodor Stepun summed up these experiences and impressions of chemical weapons as follows: “After the gas attack in the battery, everyone felt that the war had crossed the last line, that from now on everything was allowed to it and nothing was sacred.”
The total losses from chemical weapons in WWI are estimated at 1.3 million people, of which up to 100 thousand were fatal:

British Empire - 188,706 people were affected, of whom 8,109 died (according to other sources, on the Western Front - 5,981 or 5,899 out of 185,706 or 6,062 out of 180,983 British soldiers);
France - 190,000, 9,000 died;
Russia - 475,340, 56,000 died (according to other sources, out of 65,000 victims, 6,340 died);
USA - 72,807, 1,462 died;
Italy - 60,000, 4,627 died;
Germany - 200,000, 9,000 died;
Austria–Hungary - 100,000, 3,000 died.

Evgeny Pavlenko, Evgeny Mitkov

The reason for writing this brief review was the appearance of the following publication:
Scientists have found that the ancient Persians were the first to use chemical weapons against their enemies. British archaeologist Simon James from the University of Leicester discovered that the troops of the Persian Empire used poisonous gases during the siege of the ancient Roman city of Dura in eastern Syria in the 3rd century AD. His theory is based on the study of the remains of 20 Roman soldiers discovered at the base of the city wall. The British archaeologist presented his find at the annual meeting of the American Archaeological Institute.

According to James's theory, to capture the city, the Persians dug under the surrounding fortress wall. The Romans dug their own tunnels to counterattack their attackers. When they entered the tunnel, the Persians set fire to bitumen and sulfur crystals, resulting in a thick, poisonous gas. After a few seconds the Romans lost consciousness, after a few minutes they died. The Persians stacked the bodies of the dead Romans one on top of the other, thus creating a protective barricade, and then set the tunnel on fire.

"The archaeological excavations at Dura indicate that the Persians were no less skilled in the art of siege than the Romans, and used the most brutal techniques," says Dr James.

Judging by the excavations, the Persians also hoped to collapse the fortress wall and watchtowers as a result of the undermining. And although they failed, they eventually captured the city. However, how they entered Dura remains a mystery - the details of the siege and assault were not preserved in historical documents. The Persians then abandoned Dura, and its inhabitants were either killed or driven to Persia. In 1920, the well-preserved ruins of the city were excavated by Indian troops, who dug defensive trenches along the buried city wall. Excavations were carried out in the 20s and 30s by French and American archaeologists. As the BBC reports, in recent years they have been re-studied using modern technology.

As a matter of fact, there are a great many versions about priority in the development of chemical agents, probably as many as there are versions about gunpowder priority. However, a word from a recognized authority on the history of BOV:

DE-LAZARI A.N.

“CHEMICAL WEAPONS ON THE FRONTS OF THE WORLD WAR 1914-1918.”

The first chemical weapons used were "Greek fire", consisting of sulfur compounds thrown from chimneys during naval battles, first described by Plutarch, as well as hypnotics described by the Scottish historian Buchanan, causing continuous diarrhea as described by Greek authors, and a whole range of drugs, including arsenic-containing compounds and the saliva of rabid dogs, which was described by Leonardo da Vinci. In Indian sources of the 4th century BC. e. There were descriptions of alkaloids and toxins, including abrine (a compound close to ricin, a component of the poison with which the Bulgarian dissident G. Markov was poisoned in 1979). Aconitine, an alkaloid found in plants of the genus aconitium, has an ancient history and was used by Indian courtesans for murder. They covered their lips with a special substance, and on top of it, in the form of lipstick, they applied aconitine to their lips, one or more kisses or a bite, which, according to sources, led to a terrible death, the lethal dose was less than 7 milligrams. With the help of one of the poisons mentioned in the ancient “teachings of poisons”, which described the effects of their influence, Nero’s brother Britannicus was killed. Several clinical experimental works were carried out by Madame de Brinville, who poisoned all her relatives claiming to inherit; she also developed an “inheritance powder”, testing it on patients in clinics in Paris to assess the strength of the drug. In the 15th and 17th centuries, poisonings of this kind were very popular, we should remember the Medici, they were a natural phenomenon, because it was almost impossible to detect poison after an autopsy. If the poisoners were discovered, the punishment was very cruel, they were burned or forced to drink huge amounts of water. A negative attitude towards poisoners restrained the use of chemicals for military purposes, until the mid-19th century.Until, suggesting that sulfur compounds could be used for military purposes, Admiral Sir Thomas Cochran (tenth Earl of Sunderland) used sulfur dioxide as a chemical warfare agent in 1855, which was met with indignation by the British military establishment.During the First World War, chemicals were used in huge quantities: 12 thousand tons of mustard gas, which affected about 400 thousand people, and in total various substances 113 thousand tons.

In total, during the First World War, 180 thousand tons of various toxic substances were produced. The total losses from chemical weapons are estimated at 1.3 million people, of which up to 100 thousand were fatal. The use of chemical agents during the First World War are the first recorded violations of the Hague Declaration of 1899 and 1907. By the way, the United States refused to support the Hague Conference of 1899. In 1907, Great Britain acceded to the declaration and accepted its obligations. France agreed to the 1899 Hague Declaration, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. The parties agreed on the non-use of asphyxiating and nerve gases for military purposes. Referring to the exact wording of the declaration, Germany on October 27, 1914 used ammunition filled with shrapnel mixed with irritant powder, citing the fact that this application was not the only target of this attack. This also applies to the second half of 1914, when Germany and France used non-lethal tear gases,

A German 155 mm howitzer shell ("T-shell") containing xylylbromide (7 lb - about 3 kg) and a bursting charge (trinitrotoluene) in the nose. Figure from F. R. Sidel et al (1997)

But on April 22, 1915, Germany carried out a massive chlorine attack, as a result of which 15 thousand soldiers were defeated, of which 5 thousand died. The Germans at the 6 km front released chlorine from 5,730 cylinders. Within 5-8 minutes, 168 tons of chlorine were released. This treacherous use of chemical weapons by Germany was met with a powerful propaganda campaign against Germany, spearheaded by Britain, against the use of chemical weapons for military purposes. Julian Parry Robinson examined propaganda materials produced after the Ypres events that drew attention to the description of Allied casualties due to the gas attack, based on information provided by credible sources. The Times published an article on April 30, 1915: “ Full story events: New German weapons." This is how eyewitnesses described this event: “People’s faces and hands were glossy gray-black, their mouths were open, their eyes were covered with lead glaze, everything was rushing around, spinning, fighting for life. The sight was frightening, all these terrible blackened faces, moaning and begging for help... The effect of the gas is to fill the lungs with a watery mucous liquid that gradually fills the entire lungs, because of this suffocation occurs, as a result of which people die within 1 or 2 days " German propaganda responded to its opponents in the following way: “These shells are no more dangerous than the poisonous substances used during the English riots (meaning the Luddite explosions, using explosives based on picric acid).” This first gas attack was a complete surprise to the Allied forces, but already on September 25, 1915, British troops carried out their test chlorine attack. In further gas attacks, both chlorine and mixtures of chlorine and phosgene were used. A mixture of phosgene and chlorine was first used as a chemical agent by Germany on May 31, 1915, against Russian troops. At the 12 km front - near Bolimov (Poland), 264 tons of this mixture were released from 12 thousand cylinders. Despite the lack of protective equipment and surprise, the German attack was repulsed. Almost 9 thousand people were put out of action in 2 Russian divisions. Since 1917, warring countries began to use gas launchers (a prototype of mortars). They were first used by the British. The mines contained from 9 to 28 kg of toxic substance; gas launchers were fired mainly with phosgene, liquid diphosgene and chloropicrin. German gas launchers were the cause of the “miracle at Caporetto”, when, after shelling an Italian battalion with phosgene mines from 912 gas launchers, all life in the Isonzo River valley was destroyed. Gas launchers were capable of suddenly creating high concentrations of chemical agents in the target area, so many Italians died even while wearing gas masks. Gas launchers gave impetus to the use of artillery weapons and the use of toxic substances from mid-1916. The use of artillery increased the effectiveness of gas attacks. So on June 22, 1916, during 7 hours of continuous shelling, German artillery fired 125 thousand shells with 100 thousand liters. asphyxiating agents. The mass of toxic substances in the cylinders was 50%, in the shells only 10%. On May 15, 1916, during an artillery bombardment, the French used a mixture of phosgene with tin tetrachloride and arsenic trichloride, and on July 1, a mixture of hydrocyanic acid with arsenic trichloride. On July 10, 1917, the Germans on the Western Front first used diphenylchloroarsine, which caused severe coughing even through a gas mask, which in those years had a poor smoke filter. Therefore, in the future, diphenylchlorarsine was used together with phosgene or diphosgene to defeat enemy personnel. A new stage in the use of chemical weapons began with the use of a persistent toxic substance with blister action (B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide). Used for the first time by German troops near the Belgian city of Ypres.

On July 12, 1917, within 4 hours, 50 thousand shells containing 125 tons of B, B-dichlorodiethyl sulfide were fired at the Allied positions. 2,490 people were injured to varying degrees. The French called the new agent “mustard gas”, after the place of its first use, and the British called it “mustard gas” because of its strong specific odor. British scientists quickly deciphered its formula, but they managed to establish the production of a new agent only in 1918, which is why the use of mustard gas for military purposes was only possible in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice). In total, for the period from April 1915. Until November 1918, German troops carried out more than 50 gas attacks, the British 150, the French 20.

The first anti-chemical masks of the British army:
A - soldiers of the Argyllshire Sutherland Highlander Regiment demonstrate the latest gas protection equipment received on May 3, 1915 - eye protection goggles and a fabric mask;
B - soldiers of the Indian troops are shown in special flannel hoods moistened with a solution of sodium hyposulfite containing glycerin (to prevent it from drying out quickly) (West E., 2005)

Understanding of the danger of using chemical weapons in war was reflected in the decisions of the Hague Convention of 1907, which prohibited toxic substances as a means of warfare. But already at the very beginning of the First World War, the command of the German troops began to intensively prepare for the use of chemical weapons. The official date of the beginning of the large-scale use of chemical weapons (namely as weapons of mass destruction) should be considered April 22, 1915, when the German army in the area of ​​​​the small Belgian town of Ypres used a chlorine gas attack against the Anglo-French Entente troops. A huge poisonous yellow-green cloud of highly toxic chlorine, weighing 180 tons (out of 6,000 cylinders), reached the enemy’s advanced positions and struck 15 thousand soldiers and officers within a matter of minutes; five thousand died immediately after the attack. Those who survived either died in hospitals or became disabled for life, having received silicosis of the lungs, severe damage to the visual organs and many internal organs. The "stunning" success of chemical weapons in action stimulated their use. Also in 1915, on May 31, on the Eastern Front, the Germans used an even more highly toxic toxic substance called phosgene (full carbonic acid chloride) against Russian troops. 9 thousand people died. On May 12, 1917, another battle of Ypres. And again, German troops use chemical weapons against the enemy - this time the chemical warfare agent of skin, vesicant and general toxic effects - 2,2 - dichlorodiethyl sulfide, which later received the name “mustard gas”. The small town became (like Hiroshima later) a symbol of one of the greatest crimes against humanity. During the First World War, other toxic substances were also “tested”: diphosgene (1915), chloropicrin (1916), hydrocyanic acid (1915). Before the end of the war, poisonous substances (OS) based on organoarsenic compounds, which have a general toxic and pronounced irritant effect - diphenylchloroarsine, diphenylcyanarsine, receive a "start in life". Some other broad-spectrum agents were also tested in combat conditions. During the First World War, all warring states used 125 thousand tons of toxic substances, including 47 thousand tons by Germany. Chemical weapons claimed 800 thousand lives in this war

TOXIC WARFARE AGENTS
SHORT REVIEW

History of the use of chemical warfare agents

Until August 6, 1945, chemical warfare agents (CWAs) were the deadliest type of weapon on Earth. The name of the Belgian city of Ypres sounded as ominous to people as Hiroshima would later sound. Chemical weapons were feared even by those born after the Great War. No one doubted that BOV, along with aircraft and tanks, would become the main means of waging war in the future. In many countries, they were preparing for a chemical war - they built gas shelters, and they carried out explanatory work with the population on how to behave in the event of a gas attack. Stocks of toxic substances (CA) were accumulated in arsenals, capacities for the production of already known types of chemical weapons were increased, and work was actively carried out to create new, more deadly “poisons”.

But... The fate of such a “promising” means of mass murder of people was paradoxical. Chemical weapons, as well as subsequently atomic weapons, were destined to turn from combat into psychological. And there were several reasons for this.

The most significant reason is its absolute dependence on weather conditions. The effectiveness of the use of OM depends, first of all, on the nature of the movement of air masses. If a wind that is too strong leads to rapid dissipation of OM, thereby reducing its concentration to safe values, then a wind that is too weak, on the contrary, leads to stagnation of the OM cloud in one place. Stagnation does not allow covering the required area, and if the agent is unstable, it can lead to the loss of its damaging properties.

The inability to accurately predict the direction of the wind at the right moment, to predict its behavior, is a significant threat to someone who decides to use chemical weapons. It is impossible to determine absolutely exactly in which direction and at what speed the cloud of OM will move and who it will cover.

Vertical movement of air masses - convection and inversion, also greatly influence the use of OM. During convection, a cloud of OM, together with air heated near the ground, quickly rises above the ground. When the cloud rises above two meters from ground level - i.e. above human height, the exposure to OM is significantly reduced. During the First World War, during a gas attack, defenders burned fires in front of their positions to speed up convection.

The inversion causes the OM cloud to remain near the ground. In this case, if the civilian soldiers are in the trenches and dugouts, they are most exposed to the effects of chemical agents. But the cold air, which has become heavy, mixed with OM, leaves elevated places free, and the troops located on them are safe.

In addition to the movement of air masses, chemical weapons are affected by air temperature (low temperatures sharply reduce the evaporation of OM) and precipitation.

It is not only dependence on weather conditions that creates difficulties when using chemical weapons. The production, transportation and storage of chemically charged ammunition creates a lot of problems. The production of chemical agents and equipping ammunition with them is a very expensive and harmful production. A chemical projectile is deadly, and will remain so until disposal, which is also very big problem. It is extremely difficult to achieve complete sealing of chemical munitions and to make them sufficiently safe to handle and store. The influence of weather conditions leads to the need to wait for favorable circumstances to use chemical agents, which means that troops will be forced to maintain extensive warehouses of extremely dangerous ammunition, allocate significant units to guard them, and create special conditions for safety.

In addition to these reasons, there is another one, which, if it has not reduced the effectiveness of the use of chemical agents to zero, has significantly reduced it. Means of protection were born almost from the moment of the first chemical attacks. Simultaneously with the advent of gas masks and protective equipment that prevented body contact with blister agents (rubber raincoats and overalls) for people, horses, the main and irreplaceable means of draft of those years, and even dogs received their own protective devices.

A 2-4 times reduction in a soldier's combat effectiveness due to chemical protection equipment could not have a significant impact in battle. Soldiers of both sides are forced to use protective equipment when using chemical agents, which means the chances are equalized. That time, in the duel between offensive and defensive means, the latter won. For every successful attack there were dozens of unsuccessful ones. Not a single chemical attack in the First World War brought operational success, and tactical successes were rather modest. All more or less successful attacks were carried out against an enemy who was completely unprepared and had no means of defense.

Already in the First World War, the warring parties very quickly became disillusioned with the combat qualities of chemical weapons and continued to use them only because they had no other ways to bring the war out of the positional deadlock

All subsequent cases of the use of chemical warfare agents were either of a testing nature or punitive - against civilians who did not have the means of protection and knowledge. The generals, on both sides, were well aware of the inexpediency and futility of using chemical agents, but were forced to reckon with politicians and the military-chemical lobby in their countries. Therefore, for a long time, chemical weapons remained a popular “horror story.”

It remains so now. The example of Iraq confirms this. The accusation of Saddam Hussein in the production of chemical agents served as the reason for the start of the war, and turned out to be a compelling argument for the “public opinion” of the United States and its allies.

First experiments.

In texts of the 4th century BC. e. An example is given of the use of poisonous gases to combat enemy tunneling under the walls of a fortress. The defenders pumped smoke from burning mustard and wormwood seeds into the underground passages using bellows and terracotta pipes. Poisonous gases caused suffocation and even death.

In ancient times, attempts were also made to use chemical agents during combat operations. Toxic fumes were used during the Peloponnesian War 431-404. BC e. The Spartans placed pitch and sulfur in logs, which they then placed under the city walls and set on fire.

Later, with the advent of gunpowder, they tried to use bombs filled with a mixture of poisons, gunpowder and resin on the battlefield. Released from catapults, they exploded from a burning fuse (the prototype of a modern remote fuse). When exploding, the bombs emitted clouds of poisonous smoke over enemy troops - poisonous gases caused bleeding from the nasopharynx when using arsenic, skin irritation, and blisters.

In medieval China, a bomb was created from cardboard filled with sulfur and lime. During a naval battle in 1161, these bombs, falling into the water, exploded with a deafening roar, spreading poisonous smoke into the air. The smoke produced by the contact of water with lime and sulfur caused the same effects as modern tear gas.

The following components were used to create mixtures for loading bombs: knotweed, croton oil, soap tree pods (to produce smoke), arsenic sulfide and oxide, aconite, tung oil, Spanish flies.

IN early XVI centuries, the inhabitants of Brazil tried to fight the conquistadors, using against them poisonous smoke obtained from burning red pepper. This method was subsequently used repeatedly during uprisings in Latin America.

In the Middle Ages and later, chemical agents continued to attract attention for military purposes. Thus, in 1456, the city of Belgrade was protected from the Turks by exposing the attackers to a poisonous cloud. This cloud arose from the combustion of toxic powder, which city residents sprinkled on rats, set them on fire and released them towards the besiegers.

A whole range of drugs, including those containing arsenic compounds and the saliva of rabid dogs, were described by Leonardo da Vinci.

In 1855, during the Crimean campaign, the English admiral Lord Dandonald developed the idea of ​​fighting the enemy by using a gas attack. In his memorandum dated August 7, 1855, Dandonald proposed to the English government a project to capture Sevastopol using sulfur vapor. Lord Dandonald's memorandum, together with explanatory notes, was submitted by the English government of the time to a committee in which Lord Playfard played a leading role. The Committee, having examined all the details of Lord Dandonald's project, expressed the opinion that the project was quite feasible, and the results promised by it could certainly be achieved - but these results in themselves were so terrible that no honest enemy should use this method. The committee therefore decided that the draft could not be accepted and Lord Dandonald's note should be destroyed.

The project proposed by Dandonald was rejected not at all because “no honest enemy should use such a method.” From the correspondence between Lord Palmerston, the head of the English government at the time of the war with Russia, and Lord Panmuir, it follows that the success of the method proposed by Dandonald aroused strong doubts, and Lord Palmerston, together with Lord Panmuir, were afraid of getting into a ridiculous position if the experiment they sanctioned failed.

If we take into account the level of soldiers of that time, there is no doubt that the failure of the experiment to smoke the Russians out of their fortifications with the help of sulfur smoke would not only make the Russian soldiers laugh and raise the spirit, but would even more discredit the British command in the eyes of the allied forces (the French , Turks and Sardinians).

Negative attitudes towards poisoners and the underestimation of this type of weapon by the military (or rather, the lack of need for new, more lethal weapons) restrained the use of chemicals for military purposes until the middle of the 19th century.

The first tests of chemical weapons in Russia were carried out in the late 50s. XIX century on the Volkovo field. Shells filled with cacodyle cyanide were detonated in open log houses where 12 cats were located. All cats survived. The report of Adjutant General Barantsev, which made incorrect conclusions about the low effectiveness of the chemical agent, led to a disastrous result. Work on testing shells filled with explosives was stopped and resumed only in 1915.

Cases of the use of chemical agents during the First World War are the first recorded violations of the Hague Declaration of 1899 and 1907. The declarations prohibited “the use of projectiles whose sole purpose is to distribute asphyxiating or harmful gases.” France agreed to the Hague Declaration of 1899, as did Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. The parties agreed on the non-use of asphyxiating and poisonous gases for military purposes. The United States refused to support the decision of the Hague Conference of 1899. In 1907, Great Britain joined the declaration and accepted its obligations.

The initiative to use chemical warfare agents on a large scale belongs to Germany. Already in the September battles of 1914 on the Marne and on the Ain River, both belligerents experienced great difficulties in supplying their armies with shells. With the transition to trench warfare in October-November, there was no hope left, especially for Germany, of overpowering the enemy hidden in trenches with the help of ordinary artillery shells. In contrast, explosive agents have the ability to defeat a living enemy in places inaccessible to the most powerful projectiles. And Germany was the first to take the path of using chemical agents, having the most developed chemical industry.

Referring to the exact wording of the declaration, Germany and France used non-lethal “tear” gases in 1914, and it should be noted that the French army was the first to do this, using xylylbromide grenades in August 1914.

Immediately after the declaration of war, Germany began to conduct experiments (at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute) with cacodyl oxide and phosgene with a view to the possibility of using them militarily.

The Military Gas School was opened in Berlin, in which numerous depots of materials were concentrated. A special inspection was also located there. In addition, a special chemical inspection, A-10, was formed under the Ministry of War, specifically dealing with issues of chemical warfare.

The end of 1914 marked the beginning of research activities in Germany to develop explosive agents, mainly for artillery ammunition. These were the first attempts to equip BOV shells. The first experiments on the use of chemical warfare agents in the form of the so-called “N2 projectile” (105-mm shrapnel with dianisidine chlorosulfate replacing the bullet ammunition) were carried out by the Germans in October 1914.

On October 27, 3,000 of these shells were used on the Western Front in the attack on Neuve Chapelle. Although the irritating effect of the shells turned out to be small, according to German data, their use facilitated the capture of Neuve Chapelle. At the end of January 1915, the Germans in the Bolimov area used 15-cm artillery grenades (“T” grenades) with a strong blasting effect and an irritating chemical (xylyl bromide) when shelling Russian positions. The result turned out to be more than modest - due to the low temperature and insufficiently massive fire. In March, the French first used chemical 26-mm rifle grenades filled with ethyl bromoacetone, and similar chemical hand grenades. Both without any noticeable results.

In April of the same year, at Nieuport in Flanders, the Germans first tested the effects of their “T” grenades, which contained a mixture of benzyl bromide and xylyl, as well as brominated ketones. German propaganda stated that such shells were no more dangerous than explosives based on picric acid. Picric acid - another name for it is melinite - was not a BOV. It was an explosive, the explosion of which released asphyxiating gases. There were cases of death from suffocation of soldiers who were in shelters after the explosion of a shell filled with melinite.

But at this time, a crisis arose in the production of such shells and they were withdrawn from service, and in addition, the high command doubted the possibility of obtaining a mass effect in the manufacture of chemical shells. Then Professor Fritz Haber proposed using an OM in the form of a gas cloud.

Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber (1868–1934). Was awarded the title of laureate in 1918 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the synthesis in 1908 of liquid ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen on an osmium catalyst. During the war he led the chemical service of the German troops. After the Nazis came to power, he was forced to resign in 1933 from his post as director of the Berlin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry (he took it in 1911) and emigrate - first to England and then to Switzerland. Died in Basel on January 29, 1934.

First use of BOV
The center of production of BOV became Leverkusen, where a large number of materials were produced, and where the Military Army was transferred from Berlin in 1915 chemistry school- it had 1,500 technical and command personnel and several thousand workers employed in production. In her laboratory in Gushte, 300 chemists worked non-stop. Orders for chemical agents were distributed among various plants.

The first attempts to use chemical warfare agents were carried out on such a small scale and with such insignificant effect that no measures were taken by the Allies in the area of ​​chemical defense.

On April 22, 1915, Germany carried out a massive chlorine attack on the Western Front in Belgium near the city of Ypres, releasing 5,730 chlorine cylinders from its positions between Bixschute and Langemarck at 17:00.

The world's first gas attack was prepared very carefully. Initially, a sector of the XV Corps front was chosen for it, which occupied a position opposite the southwestern part of the Ypres salient. The burial of gas cylinders in the XV Corps front sector was completed in mid-February. The sector was then slightly increased in width, so that by March 10 the entire front of the XV Corps was prepared for a gas attack. But the dependence of the new weapon on weather conditions had an impact. The time of the attack was constantly delayed because the necessary southern and southwestern winds did not blow. Due to the forced delay, the chlorine cylinders, although buried, were damaged by accidental hits from artillery shells

On March 25, the commander of the 4th Army decided to postpone preparations for the gas attack on the Ypres salient, choosing a new sector at the location of 46 Res. Divisions and XXVI Res. building - Poelkappele-Steenstraat. On a 6-km section of the attack front, gas cylinder batteries were installed, 20 cylinders each, which required 180 tons of chlorine to fill. A total of 6,000 cylinders were prepared, half of which were requisitioned commercial cylinders. In addition to these, 24,000 new half-volume cylinders were prepared. The installation of the cylinders was completed on April 11, but we had to wait for favorable winds.

The gas attack lasted 5-8 minutes. Of the total number of chlorine cylinders prepared, 30% was used, which amounted to from 168 to 180 tons of chlorine. Actions on the flanks were reinforced with fire from chemical shells.

The result of the battle at Ypres, which began with a gas attack on April 22 and lasted until mid-May, was the consistent clearing by the Allies of a significant part of the territory of the Ypres salient. The Allies suffered significant losses - 15 thousand soldiers were defeated, of which 5 thousand died.

Newspapers of that time wrote about the effect of chlorine on the human body: “filling the lungs with a watery mucous liquid, which gradually fills all the lungs, because of this suffocation occurs, as a result of which people died within 1 or 2 days.” Those who were “lucky” to survive, from brave soldiers who were awaited home with victory, turned into blind cripples with burned lungs.

But the Germans’ success was limited to such tactical achievements. This is explained by the uncertainty of the command as a result of the effects of chemical weapons, which did not support the offensive with any significant reserves. The first echelon of German infantry, advancing cautiously at a considerable distance behind the cloud of chlorine, was too late to exploit the success, thereby allowing the British reserves to close the gap.

In addition to the above reason, the lack of reliable protective equipment and chemical training of the army in general and specially trained personnel in particular played a deterrent role. Chemical warfare is impossible without protective equipment for friendly troops. However, at the beginning of 1915, the German army had primitive protection against gases in the form of tow pads soaked in a hyposulfite solution. Prisoners captured by the British in the days following the gas attack testified that they had neither masks nor any other protective equipment, and that the gas caused severe pain to their eyes. They also claimed that the troops were afraid to advance for fear of being harmed by the poor performance of their gas masks.

This gas attack came as a complete surprise to the Allied troops, but already on September 25, 1915, British troops carried out their test chlorine attack.

Subsequently, both chlorine and mixtures of chlorine and phosgene were used in gas balloon attacks. The mixtures usually contained 25% phosgene, but sometimes in summer time the share of phosgene reached 75%.

For the first time, a mixture of phosgene and chlorine was used on May 31, 1915 at Wola Szydłowska near Bolimov (Poland) against Russian troops. 4 gas battalions were transferred there, consolidated after Ypres into 2 regiments. The target for the gas attack was units of the 2nd Russian Army, which, with its stubborn defense, blocked the path to Warsaw of the 9th Army of General Mackensen in December 1914. Between May 17 and May 21, the Germans installed gas batteries in the forward trenches over a distance of 12 km, each consisting of 10-12 cylinders filled with liquefied chlorine - a total of 12 thousand cylinders (cylinder height 1 m, diameter 15 cm). There were up to 10 such batteries per 240-meter section of the front. However, after deployment is completed gas batteries The Germans were forced to wait for favorable weather conditions for 10 days. This time was spent explaining to the soldiers the upcoming operation - they were told that Russian fire would be completely paralyzed by gases and that the gas itself was not lethal, but only caused temporary loss of consciousness. Propaganda among the soldiers of the new “miracle weapon” was not successful. The reason was that many did not believe it and even had a negative attitude towards the very fact of using gases.

The Russian army had information received from defectors about the preparation of a gas attack, but it went unheeded and was not communicated to the troops. Meanwhile, the command of the VI Siberian Corps and the 55th Infantry Division, which defended the section of the front that had been subjected to a gas attack, knew about the results of the attack at Ypres and even ordered gas masks from Moscow. Ironically, the gas masks were delivered on the evening of May 31, after the attack.

That day, at 3:20 a.m., after a short artillery barrage, the Germans released 264 tons of a mixture of phosgene and chlorine. Mistaking the gas cloud to camouflage the attack, Russian troops strengthened the forward trenches and brought up reserves. Complete surprise and unpreparedness on the part of the Russian troops led to the soldiers showing more surprise and curiosity at the appearance of the gas cloud than alarm.

Soon the trenches, which were a labyrinth of solid lines, were filled with the dead and dying. Losses from the gas attack amounted to 9,146 people, of which 1,183 died from gases.

Despite this, the result of the attack was very modest. After spending a huge preparatory work(installation of cylinders on a front section 12 km long), the German command achieved only tactical success, which consisted of inflicting 75% losses on Russian troops in the 1st defensive zone. Just like at Ypres, the Germans did not ensure that the attack developed to the size of an operational-scale breakthrough by concentrating powerful reserves. The offensive was stopped by the stubborn resistance of Russian troops, who managed to close the breakthrough that had begun to form. Apparently, the German army still continued to carry out experiments in the field of organizing gas attacks.

On September 25, a German gas attack followed in the Ikskul area on the Dvina River, and on September 24, a similar attack south of the Baranovichi station. In December, Russian troops were subjected to a gas attack on the Northern Front near Riga. In total, from April 1915 to November 1918, German troops carried out more than 50 gas balloon attacks, the British - 150, the French - 20. Since 1917, the warring countries began to use gas launchers (a prototype of mortars).

They were first used by the British in 1917. The gas launcher consisted of a steel pipe, tightly closed at the breech, and a steel plate (pallet) used as a base. The gas launcher was buried in the ground almost up to the barrel, while its channel axis made an angle of 45 degrees with the horizon. The gas launchers were charged with ordinary gas cylinders that had head fuses. The weight of the cylinder was about 60 kg. The cylinder contained from 9 to 28 kg of agents, mainly asphyxiating agents - phosgene, liquid diphosgene and chloropicrin. The shot was fired using an electric fuse. Gas launchers were connected by electric wires into batteries of 100 pieces. The entire battery was fired simultaneously. The most effective was considered to be the use of 1,000 to 2,000 gas launchers.

The first English gas launchers had a firing range of 1-2 km. For service German army 180-mm gas launchers and 160-mm rifled gas launchers with a firing range of up to 1.6 and 3 km, respectively, were received.

German gas launchers caused the “Miracle at Caporetto”. The massive use of gas launchers by the Kraus group advancing in the Isonzo River valley led to a rapid breakthrough of the Italian front. Kraus's group consisted of selected Austro-Hungarian divisions trained for mountain warfare. Since they had to operate in high mountainous terrain, the command allocated relatively less artillery to support the divisions than other groups. But they had 1,000 gas launchers, which the Italians were not familiar with.

The effect of surprise was greatly aggravated by the use of explosive agents, which until then had been very rarely used on the Austrian front.

In the Plezzo basin, the chemical attack had a lightning-fast effect: in only one of the ravines, southwest of the town of Plezzo, about 600 corpses without gas masks were counted.

Between December 1917 and May 1918, German troops carried out 16 attacks on the British using gas cannons. However, their result, due to the development of chemical protection means, was no longer so significant.

The combination of gas launchers with artillery fire increased the effectiveness of gas attacks. Initially, the use of explosives by artillery was ineffective. The equipment of artillery shells with explosive agents presented great difficulties. For a long time, it was not possible to achieve uniform filling of ammunition, which affected their ballistics and shooting accuracy. The share of the mass of the explosive agent in the cylinders was 50%, and in the shells - only 10%. The improvement of guns and chemical ammunition by 1916 made it possible to increase the range and accuracy of artillery fire. From mid-1916, the warring parties began to widely use artillery weapons. This made it possible to sharply reduce the preparation time for a chemical attack, made it less dependent on meteorological conditions and made it possible to use chemical agents in any state of aggregation: in the form of gases, liquids, solids. In addition, it became possible to hit enemy rear areas.

Thus, already on June 22, 1916, near Verdun, during 7 hours of continuous shelling, German artillery fired 125 thousand shells with 100 thousand liters of asphyxiating agents.

On May 15, 1916, during an artillery bombardment, the French used a mixture of phosgene with tin tetrachloride and arsenic trichloride, and on July 1, a mixture of hydrocyanic acid with arsenic trichloride.

On July 10, 1917, the Germans on the Western Front first used diphenylchloroarsine, which caused severe coughing even through a gas mask, which in those years had a poor smoke filter. Those exposed to the new agent found themselves forced to throw off their gas mask. Therefore, in the future, to defeat enemy personnel, diphenylchlorarsine began to be used together with the asphyxiating agent - phosgene or diphosgene. For example, a solution of diphenylchloroarsine in a mixture of phosgene and diphosgene (in a ratio of 10:60:30) was placed in the shells.

A new stage in the use of chemical weapons began with the use of a persistent blister agent B, B "-dichlorodiethyl sulfide (here “B” is the Greek letter beta), first tested by German troops near the Belgian city of Ypres. July 12, 1917 for 4 hours 60 thousand shells containing 125 tons of B,B"-dichlorodiethyl sulfide were fired at the Allied positions. 2,490 people were injured to varying degrees. The offensive of the Anglo-French troops on this section of the front was thwarted and was able to resume only three weeks later.

Impact on humans of blister agents.

The French called the new agent “mustard gas,” after the place of its first use, and the British called it “mustard gas” because of its strong specific odor. British scientists quickly deciphered its formula, but they managed to establish the production of a new agent only in 1918, which is why it was possible to use mustard gas for military purposes only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice). In total for 1917-1918. the warring parties used 12 thousand tons of mustard gas, which affected about 400 thousand people.

Chemical weapons in Russia.

In the Russian army, the high command had a negative attitude towards the use of chemical agents. However, under the impression of the gas attack carried out by the Germans in the Ypres region, as well as in May on the Eastern Front, it was forced to change its views.

On August 3, 1915, an order appeared to form a special commission “for the preparation of asphyxiants” at the Main Artillery Directorate (GAU). As a result of the work of the GAU commission in Russia, first of all, the production of liquid chlorine was established, which was imported from abroad before the war.

In August 1915, chlorine was produced for the first time. In October of the same year, production of phosgene began. Since October 1915, special chemical teams began to be formed in Russia to carry out gas balloon attacks.

In April 1916, a Chemical Committee was formed at the State Agrarian University, which included a commission for the “procurement of asphyxiants.” Thanks to the energetic actions of the Chemical Committee, an extensive network of chemical plants (about 200) was created in Russia. Including a number of factories for the production of chemical agents.

New chemical agents plants were put into operation in the spring of 1916. The quantity of chemical agents produced reached 3,180 tons by November (about 345 tons were produced in October), and the 1917 program planned to increase monthly productivity to 600 tons in January and to 1,300 tons in May.

Russian troops carried out their first gas attack on September 6, 1916 at 3:30 am. in the Smorgon region. On a 1,100 m front section, 1,700 small and 500 large cylinders were installed. The amount of firepower was calculated for a 40-minute attack. A total of 13 tons of chlorine were released from 977 small and 65 large cylinders. Russian positions were also partially exposed to chlorine vapor due to changes in wind direction. In addition, several cylinders were broken by return artillery fire.

On October 25, another gas attack was carried out by Russian troops north of Baranovichi in the Skrobov area. Damage to cylinders and hoses during the preparation of the attack led to significant losses - only 115 people died. All those poisoned were without masks. By the end of 1916, a tendency emerged to shift the center of gravity of chemical warfare from gas-balloon attacks to chemical shells.

Russia has taken the path of using chemical shells in artillery since 1916, producing 76-mm chemical grenades of two types: asphyxiating, filled with a mixture of chloropicrin with sulfuryl chloride, and general toxic action - phosgene with tin chloride (or vensinite, consisting of hydrocyanic acid, chloroform , arsenic chloride and tin). The action of the latter caused damage to the body and in severe cases led to death.

By the fall of 1916, the army's requirements for chemical 76-mm shells were fully satisfied: the army received 15,000 shells monthly (the ratio of poisonous and asphyxiating shells was 1:4). The supply of large-caliber chemical shells to the Russian army was hampered by the lack of shell casings, which were entirely intended for equipping explosives. Russian artillery began receiving chemical mines for mortars in the spring of 1917.

As for gas launchers, which were successfully used as a new means of chemical attack on the French and Italian fronts from the beginning of 1917, Russia, which emerged from the war that same year, did not have gas launchers. The mortar artillery school, formed in September 1917, was just about to begin experiments on the use of gas launchers.

Russian artillery was not so rich in chemical shells to use mass shooting, as was the case with Russia's allies and opponents. It used 76 mm chemical grenades almost exclusively in trench warfare situations, as aid along with firing ordinary shells. In addition to shelling enemy trenches immediately before an attack, firing chemical shells was used with particular success to temporarily stop the fire of enemy batteries, trench guns and machine guns, to facilitate their gas attack - by firing at those targets that were not captured by the gas wave. Shells filled with explosive agents were used against enemy troops accumulated in a forest or other hidden place, their observation and command posts, and covered communication passages.

At the end of 1916, the GAU sent 9,500 hand glass grenades with asphyxiating liquids to the active army for combat testing, and in the spring of 1917 - 100,000 hand chemical grenades. Those and other hand grenades were thrown at a distance of 20 - 30 m and were useful in defense and especially during retreat, to prevent the pursuit of the enemy.

During the Brusilov breakthrough in May-June 1916, the Russian army received some front-line reserves of German chemical agents - shells and containers with mustard gas and phosgene - as trophies. Although Russian troops were subjected to German gas attacks several times, they rarely used these weapons themselves - either due to the fact that chemical munitions from the Allies arrived too late, or due to a lack of specialists. And the Russian military did not have any concept of using chemical agents at that time.

During the First World War, chemicals were used in huge quantities. A total of 180 thousand tons of chemical ammunition of various types were produced, of which 125 thousand tons were used on the battlefield, including 47 thousand tons by Germany. Over 40 types of explosives have passed combat testing. Among them, 4 are vesicant, suffocating and at least 27 are irritating. Total losses from chemical weapons are estimated at 1.3 million people. Of these, up to 100 thousand are fatal. At the end of the war, the list of potentially promising and already tested agents included chloroacetophenone (a lachrymator with a strong irritant effect) and a-lewisite (2-chlorovinyldichloroarsine). Lewisite immediately attracted close attention as one of the most promising BOVs. Its industrial production began in the United States even before the end of the World War. Our country began producing and accumulating lewisite reserves in the first years after the formation of the USSR.

All arsenals with chemical weapons of the old Russian army at the beginning of 1918 ended up in the hands of the new government. During the Civil War, chemical weapons were used in small quantities by the White Army and the British occupation forces in 1919. The Red Army used chemical weapons to suppress peasant uprisings. Probably for the first time the Soviet government tried to use chemical agents when suppressing the uprising in Yaroslavl in 1918.

In March 1919, another uprising broke out on the Upper Don. On March 18, the artillery of the Zaamur regiment fired at the rebels with chemical shells (most likely with phosgene).

The massive use of chemical weapons by the Red Army dates back to 1921. Then, under the command of Tukhachevsky, a large-scale punitive operation against the rebel army of Antonov unfolded in the Tambov province. In addition to punitive actions - shooting hostages, creating concentration camps, burning entire villages, chemical weapons (artillery shells and gas cylinders) were used in large quantities. We can definitely talk about the use of chlorine and phosgene, but possibly also mustard gas.

On June 12, 1921, Tukhachevsky signed order number 0116, which read:
For immediate clearing of forests I ORDER:
1. Clear the forests where the bandits are hiding with poisonous gases, accurately calculating so that the cloud of suffocating gases spreads completely throughout the entire forest, destroying everything that was hidden in it.
2. The artillery inspector should immediately provide the required number of cylinders with poisonous gases and the necessary specialists to the field.
3. The commanders of combat areas must persistently and energetically carry out this order.
4. Report the measures taken.

Technical preparations were carried out to carry out the gas attack. On June 24, the head of the operational department of the headquarters of Tukhachevsky’s troops conveyed to the head of the 6th combat sector (the area of ​​the village of Inzhavino in the valley of the Vorona River) A.V. Pavlov the commander’s order to “check the ability of the chemical company to act with asphyxiating gases.” At the same time, artillery inspector of the Tambov Army S. Kasinov reported to Tukhachevsky: “Concerning the use of gases in Moscow, I found out the following: an order for 2,000 chemical shells was given, and these days they should arrive in Tambov. Distribution by sections: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th 200 each, 6th - 100.”

On July 1, gas engineer Puskov reported on his inspection of gas cylinders and gas equipment delivered to the Tambov artillery depot: “... cylinders with chlorine grade E 56 are in good condition, there are no gas leaks, there are spare caps for the cylinders. Technical accessories, such as: keys, hoses, lead tubes, washers and other equipment - in good condition, in excess quantities..."

The troops were instructed how to use chemical munitions, but a serious problem arose - the battery personnel were not provided with gas masks. Due to the delay caused by this, the first gas attack was carried out only on July 13th. On this day, the artillery division of the Zavolzhsky Military District brigade used 47 chemical shells.

On August 2, a battery of the Belgorod artillery courses fired 59 chemical shells at an island on a lake near the village of Kipets.

By the time the operation using chemical agents was carried out in the Tambov forests, the uprising had actually already been suppressed and there was no need for such a brutal punitive action. It seems that it was carried out for the purpose of training troops in chemical warfare. Tukhachevsky considered chemical warfare agents to be a very promising means in a future war.

In his military-theoretical work “New Questions of War” he noted:

The rapid development of chemical means of combat makes it possible to suddenly use more and more new means against which old gas masks and other anti-chemical means are ineffective. And at the same time, these new chemicals require little or no rework or recalculation of the material part.

New inventions in the field of warfare technology can be immediately applied on the battlefield and, as a means of combat, can be the most sudden and demoralizing innovation for the enemy. Aviation is the most advantageous means for spraying chemical agents. OM will be widely used by tanks and artillery.

They tried to establish their own production of chemical weapons in Soviet Russia since 1922 with the help of the Germans. Bypassing the Versailles agreements, on May 14, 1923, the Soviet and German sides signed an agreement on the construction of a plant for the production of chemical agents. Technological assistance in the construction of this plant was provided by the Stolzenberg concern within the framework of the Bersol joint stock company. They decided to expand production to Ivashchenkovo ​​(later Chapaevsk). But for three years nothing was really done - the Germans were clearly not eager to share the technology and were playing for time.

Industrial production of chemical agents (mustard gas) was first established in Moscow at the Aniltrest experimental plant. The Moscow experimental plant "Aniltrest" from August 30 to September 3, 1924 produced the first industrial batch of mustard gas - 18 pounds (288 kg). And in October of the same year, the first thousand chemical shells were already equipped with domestic mustard gas. Later, on the basis of this production, a research institute for the development of chemical agents with a pilot plant was created.

One of the main centers for the production of chemical weapons since the mid-1920s. becomes a chemical plant in the city of Chapaevsk, which produced BOV until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Research in the field of improving the means of chemical attack and defense in our country was carried out at the Institute of Chemical Defense, opened on July 18, 1928. Osoaviakhim". The first head of the Institute of Chemical Defense was appointed head of the military chemical department of the Red Army Ya.M. Fishman, and his deputy for science was N.P. Korolev. Academicians N.D. acted as consultants at the institute’s laboratories. Zelinsky, T.V. Khlopin, professor N.A. Shilov, A.N. Ginsburg

Yakov Moiseevich Fishman. (1887-1961). Since August 1925, Head of the Military Chemical Department of the Red Army, concurrently Head of the Institute of Chemical Defense (since March 1928). In 1935 he was awarded the title of hull engineer. Doctor of Chemical Sciences since 1936. Arrested on June 5, 1937. Sentenced on May 29, 1940 to 10 years in labor camp. Died July 16, 1961 in Moscow

The result of the work of the departments involved in the development of means of individual and collective protection against chemical agents was the adoption of the weapon into service by the Red Army for the period from 1928 to 1941. 18 new samples of protective equipment.

In 1930, for the first time in the USSR, the head of the 2nd department of collective chemical defense means S.V. Korotkov drew up a project for sealing the tank and its FVU (filter-ventilation unit) equipment. In 1934-1935 successfully implemented two projects on anti-chemical equipment for mobile objects - the FVU equipped an ambulance based on a Ford AA car and a saloon car. At the Institute of Chemical Defense, intensive work was carried out to find modes of decontamination of uniforms, and machine methods for processing weapons and military equipment were developed. In 1928, a department for the synthesis and analysis of chemical agents was formed, on the basis of which the departments of radiation, chemical and biological reconnaissance were subsequently created.

Thanks to the activities of the Institute of Chemical Defense named after. Osoaviakhim", which was then renamed NIHI RKKA, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the troops were equipped with chemical protection equipment and had clear instructions for their combat use.

By the mid-1930s The concept of using chemical weapons during the war was formed in the Red Army. The theory of chemical warfare was tested in numerous exercises in the mid-30s.

The Soviet chemical doctrine was based on the concept of a “retaliatory chemical strike.” The exclusive orientation of the USSR towards a retaliatory chemical strike was enshrined both in international treaties (the Geneva Agreement of 1925 was ratified by the USSR in 1928) and in the “Chemical Weapons System of the Red Army”. In peacetime, the production of chemical agents was carried out only for testing and combat training of troops. Stockpiles of military significance were not created in peacetime, which is why almost all capacities for the production of chemical warfare agents were mothballed and required a long period of production deployment.

The chemical agents reserves available at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War were sufficient for 1-2 days of active combat operations by aviation and chemical troops (for example, during the period of covering mobilization and strategic deployment), then one should expect the deployment of chemical agents production and their supply to the troops.

During the 1930s the production of BOVs and the supply of ammunition with them was deployed in Perm, Berezniki (Perm region), Bobriki (later Stalinogorsk), Dzerzhinsk, Kineshma, Stalingrad, Kemerovo, Shchelkovo, Voskresensk, Chelyabinsk.

For 1940-1945 More than 120 thousand tons of organic matter were produced, including 77.4 thousand tons of mustard gas, 20.6 thousand tons of lewisite, 11.1 thousand tons of hydrocyanic acid, 8.3 thousand tons of phosgene and 6.1 thousand tons of adamsite.

With the end of World War II, the threat of using chemical warfare agents did not disappear, and in the USSR, research in this area continued until the final ban on the production of chemical agents and their means of delivery in 1987.

On the eve of the conclusion of the Chemical Weapons Convention, in 1990-1992, our country presented 40 thousand tons of chemical agents for control and destruction.

Between two wars.

After the First World War and until the Second World War, public opinion in Europe was opposed to the use of chemical weapons, but among European industrialists who ensured the defense capabilities of their countries, the prevailing opinion was that chemical weapons should be an indispensable attribute of warfare.

Through the efforts of the League of Nations, at the same time, a number of conferences and rallies were held promoting the prohibition of the use of chemical agents for military purposes and talking about the consequences of this. The International Committee of the Red Cross supported the events that took place in the 1920s. conferences condemning the use of chemical warfare.

In 1921, the Washington Conference on Arms Limitation was convened, at which chemical weapons became the subject of discussion by a specially created subcommittee. The Subcommittee had information about the use of chemical weapons during the First World War and intended to propose a ban on the use of chemical weapons.

He ruled: “the use of chemical weapons against the enemy on land and water cannot be allowed.”

The treaty was ratified by most countries, including the United States and Great Britain. In Geneva, on June 17, 1925, the “Protocol prohibiting the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and other similar gases and bacteriological agents in war” was signed. This document was subsequently ratified by more than 100 states.

However, at the same time, the United States began expanding the Edgewood Arsenal. In Britain, many perceived the possibility of using chemical weapons as a fait accompli, fearing that they would find themselves in a disadvantageous situation similar to that which arose in 1915.

The consequence of this was further work on chemical weapons, using propaganda for the use of chemical agents. To the old means of using chemical agents, tested back in the First World War, new ones were added - airborne pour-out devices (VAP), chemical aerial bombs (AB) and chemical combat vehicles (CMC) based on trucks and tanks.

VAP were intended to destroy manpower, infect the area and objects on it with aerosols or droplet-liquid agents. With their help, the rapid creation of aerosols, droplets and OM vapors was carried out over a large area, which made it possible to achieve massive and sudden use of OM. Various mustard-based formulations were used to equip the VAP, such as a mixture of mustard gas with lewisite, viscous mustard gas, as well as diphosgene and hydrocyanic acid.

The advantage of VAP was the low cost of their use, since only OM was used without additional costs for the shell and equipment. The VAP was refueled immediately before the aircraft took off. The disadvantage of using VAP was that it was mounted only on the external sling of the aircraft, and the need to return with them after completing the mission, which reduced the maneuverability and speed of the aircraft, increasing the likelihood of its destruction

There were several types of chemical ABs. The first type included ammunition filled with irritating agents (irritants). Chemical fragmentation batteries were filled with conventional explosives with the addition of adamsite. Smoking ABs, similar in their effect to smoke bombs, were equipped with a mixture of gunpowder with adamsite or chloroacetophenone.

The use of irritants forced the enemy's manpower to use means of defense, and under favorable conditions made it possible to temporarily disable it.

Another type included ABs of caliber from 25 to 500 kg, equipped with persistent and unstable agent formulations - mustard gas (winter mustard gas, a mixture of mustard gas with lewisite), phosgene, diphosgene, hydrocyanic acid. For detonation, both a conventional contact fuse and a remote tube were used, which ensured detonation of ammunition at a given height.

When the AB was equipped with mustard gas, detonation at a given height ensured the dispersion of OM droplets over an area of ​​2-3 hectares. The rupture of an AB with diphosgene and hydrocyanic acid created a cloud of chemical vapors that spread along the wind and created a zone of lethal concentration 100-200 m deep. The use of such ABs against the enemy located in trenches, dugouts and armored vehicles with postcard hatches was especially effective, as this increased action of OV.

BKhM were intended to contaminate the area with persistent chemical agents, degas the area with a liquid degasser and set up a smoke screen. Tanks with chemical agents with a capacity of 300 to 800 liters were installed on tanks or trucks, which made it possible to create a contamination zone up to 25 m wide when using tank-based chemical agents

German medium-sized machine for chemical contamination of the area. The drawing was made based on the materials of the textbook “Chemical Weapons of Nazi Germany”, fortieth year of publication. Fragment from the album of the division's chemical service chief (the forties) - chemical weapons of Nazi Germany.

Combat chemical car BKhM-1 on GAZ-AAA for infection terrain OB

Chemical weapons were used in large quantities in “local conflicts” of the 1920-1930s: by Spain in Morocco in 1925, by Italy in Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 1935-1936, by Japanese troops against Chinese soldiers and civilians from 1937 to 1943

The study of OM in Japan began, with the help of Germany, in 1923, and by the beginning of the 30s. The production of the most effective chemical agents was organized in the arsenals of Tadonuimi and Sagani. Approximately 25% of the Japanese army's artillery and 30% of its aviation ammunition were chemically charged.

Type 94 "Kanda" - car For spraying of toxic substances.
In the Kwantung Army, “Manchurian Detachment 100”, in addition to creating bacteriological weapons, carried out work on the research and production of chemical agents (6th department of the “detachment”). The notorious “Detachment 731” conducted joint experiments with the chemical “Detachment 531”, using people as living indicators of the degree of contamination of the area with chemical agents.

In 1937 - August 12 in the battles for the city of Nankou and August 22 in the battles for railway Beijing-Suiyuan, the Japanese army used shells filled with explosive agents. The Japanese continued to widely use chemical agents in China and Manchuria. The losses of Chinese troops from the war accounted for 10% of the total.

Italy used chemical weapons in Ethiopia, where almost all Italian military operations were supported by chemical attacks using air power and artillery. Mustard gas was used with great efficiency by the Italians, despite the fact that they joined the Geneva Protocol in 1925. 415 tons of blister agents and 263 tons of asphyxiants were sent to Ethiopia. In addition to chemical ABs, VAPs were used.

Between December 1935 and April 1936, Italian aviation carried out 19 large-scale chemical raids on cities and towns in Abyssinia, expending 15 thousand chemical agents. Chemical agents were used to pin down Ethiopian troops - aviation created chemical barriers in the most important mountain passes and at crossings. Widespread use of explosives was found in air strikes both against advancing Negus troops (during the suicidal offensive at Mai-Chio and Lake Ashangi) and during the pursuit of retreating Abyssinians. E. Tatarchenko in his book “Air Forces in the Italo-Abyssinian War” states: “It is unlikely that the successes of aviation would have been so great if it had been limited to machine gun fire and bombing. In this pursuit from the air, the merciless use of chemical agents by the Italians undoubtedly played a decisive role.” Of the total losses of the Ethiopian army of 750 thousand people, approximately a third were losses from chemical weapons. A large number of civilians were also affected.

In addition to large material losses, the use of chemical agents resulted in a “strong, corrupting moral impression.” Tatarchenko writes: “The masses did not know how the release agents act, why so mysteriously, for no apparent reason, terrible torment suddenly began and death occurred. In addition, the Abyssinian armies had many mules, donkeys, camels, and horses, which died in large numbers after eating contaminated grass, thereby further enhancing the depressed, hopeless mood of the masses of soldiers and officers. Many had their own pack animals in the convoy.”

After the conquest of Abyssinia, the Italian occupation forces were repeatedly forced to carry out punitive actions against partisan units and the population supporting them. During these repressions, agents were used.

Specialists from the I.G. concern helped the Italians set up chemical agent production. Farbenindustry". In the concern "I.G. Farben, created to completely dominate the markets for dyes and organic chemistry, brought together six of Germany's largest chemical companies. British and American industrialists saw the concern as an empire similar to Krupp's, considering it a serious threat and made efforts to dismember it after the Second World War.

An indisputable fact is Germany’s superiority in the production of chemical agents - the established production of nerve gases in Germany came as a complete surprise to the Allied troops in 1945.

In Germany, immediately after the Nazis came to power, by order of Hitler, work in the field of military chemistry was resumed. Beginning in 1934, in accordance with the plan of the High Command of the Ground Forces, these works acquired a targeted offensive character, consistent with the aggressive policy of the Hitlerite leadership.

First of all, at newly created or modernized enterprises, the production of well-known chemical agents began, which showed the greatest combat effectiveness during the First World War, with the expectation of creating a supply of them for 5 months of chemical warfare.

The high command of the fascist army considered it sufficient to have for this purpose approximately 27 thousand tons of chemical agents such as mustard gas and tactical formulations based on it: phosgene, adamsite, diphenylchlorarsine and chloroacetophenone.

At the same time, intensive work was carried out to search for new agents among the most diverse classes of chemical compounds. These works in the field of vesicular agents were marked by the receipt in 1935 - 1936. “nitrogen mustard” (N-Lost) and “oxygen mustard” (O-Lost).

In the main research laboratory of the concern “I.G. Farbenindustry" in Leverkusen, the high toxicity of some fluorine- and phosphorus-containing compounds was revealed, a number of which were subsequently adopted by the German army.

In 1936, herd was synthesized, which began to be produced on an industrial scale in May 1943. In 1939, sarin, which was more toxic than tabun, was produced, and at the end of 1944, soman was produced. These substances marked the emergence of a new class of nerve agents in the army of Nazi Germany - second-generation chemical weapons, many times more toxic than the agents of the First World War.

The first generation of chemical agents, developed during the First World War, includes substances that are vesicant (sulfur and nitrogen mustards, lewisite - persistent chemical agents), general toxic (hydrocyanic acid - unstable chemical agents), asphyxiating (phosgene, diphosgene - unstable chemical agents) and irritating. (adamsite, diphenylchloroarsine, chloropicrin, diphenylcyanarsine). Sarin, soman and tabun belong to the second generation of agents. In the 50s to them was added a group of organophosphorus agents obtained in the USA and Sweden called “V-gases” (sometimes “VX”). V-gases are tens of times more toxic than their organophosphorus “counterparts”.

In 1940, a large plant owned by I.G. was launched in the city of Oberbayern (Bavaria). Farben", for the production of mustard gas and mustard compounds, with a capacity of 40 thousand tons.

In total, about 20 new ones were built in Germany in the pre-war and first war years. technological installations for the production of chemical agents, the annual capacity of which exceeded 100 thousand tons. They were located in Ludwigshafen, Hüls, Wolfen, Urdingen, Ammendorf, Fadkenhagen, Seelz and other places. In the city of Duchernfurt, on the Oder (now Silesia, Poland) there was one of the largest chemical agents production facilities.

By 1945, Germany had in reserve 12 thousand tons of herd, the production of which was not available anywhere else. The reasons why Germany did not use chemical weapons during the Second World War remain unclear.

The Wehrmacht at the beginning of the war Soviet Union had 4 regiments of chemical mortars, 7 separate battalions of chemical mortars, 5 decontamination detachments and 3 road decontamination detachments (armed with Shweres Wurfgeraet 40 (Holz) rocket launchers) and 4 headquarters of special-purpose chemical regiments. A battalion of six-barreled mortars 15cm Nebelwerfer 41 out of 18 installations could fire 108 mines containing 10 kg of chemical agents in 10 seconds.

The chief of the general staff of the ground forces of the fascist German army, Colonel General Halder, wrote: “By June 1, 1941, we will have 2 million chemical shells for light field howitzers and 500 thousand shells for heavy field howitzers... From chemical ammunition depots it can to be shipped: before June 1, six trains of chemical ammunition, after June 1, ten trains per day. To speed up the delivery in the rear of each army group, three trains with chemical ammunition will be placed on sidings.”

According to one version, Hitler did not give the command to use chemical weapons during the war because he believed that the USSR had more chemical weapons. Another reason could be the insufficiently effective effect of chemical agents on enemy soldiers equipped with chemical protective equipment, as well as its dependence on weather conditions.

Designed for, infection terrain toxic agent version of the BT wheeled-tracked tank
While explosive agents were not used against the troops of the anti-Hitler coalition, the practice of using them against civilians in the occupied territories became widespread. The main place where chemical agents were used were gas chambers in death camps. When developing means of exterminating political prisoners and all those classified as “inferior races,” the Nazis faced the task of optimizing the cost-effectiveness ratio.

And here the Zyklon B gas, invented by SS lieutenant Kurt Gerstein, came in handy. The gas was originally intended to disinfect barracks. But people, although it would be more correct to call them non-humans, saw in the means for exterminating linen lice a cheap and effective way of killing.

“Cyclone B” was blue-violet crystals containing hydrocyanic acid (the so-called “crystalline hydrocyanic acid”). These crystals begin to boil and turn into a gas (hydrocyanic acid, also known as hydrocyanic acid) at room temperature. Inhalation of 60 milligrams of fumes that smelled like bitter almonds caused painful death. Gas production was carried out by two German companies that received a patent for gas production from I.G. Farbenindustri" - "Tesch and Stabenov" in Hamburg and "Degesch" in Dessau. The first supplied 2 tons of Cyclone B per month, the second - about 0.75 tons. The income was approximately 590,000 Reichsmarks. As they say, “money has no smell.” The number of lives lost to this gas goes into the millions.

Some work on the production of tabun, sarin, and soman was carried out in the USA and Great Britain, but a breakthrough in their production could not have occurred earlier than 1945. During the Second World War in the USA, 135 thousand tons of chemical agents were produced at 17 installations, mustard gas accounted for half of the total volume . About 5 million shells and 1 million ABs were loaded with mustard gas. Initially, mustard gas was supposed to be used against enemy landings on sea ​​coast. During the period of the emerging turning point in the war in favor of the Allies, serious fears arose that Germany would decide to use chemical weapons. This was the basis for the decision of the American military command to supply mustard gas ammunition to the troops on the European continent. The plan provided for the creation of chemical weapons reserves for the ground forces for 4 months. combat operations and for the Air Force - for 8 months.

Transportation by sea was not without incident. Thus, on December 2, 1943, German aircraft bombed ships located in the Italian port of Bari in the Adriatic Sea. Among them was the American transport "John Harvey" with a cargo of chemical bombs filled with mustard gas. After the transport was damaged, part of the chemical agent mixed with the spilled oil, and mustard gas spread over the surface of the harbor.

During World War II, extensive military biological research was also carried out in the United States. The Camp Detrick biological center, opened in 1943 in Maryland (later named Fort Detrick), was intended for these studies. There, in particular, the study of bacterial toxins, including botulinum, began.

In the last months of the war, Edgewood and the Fort Rucker Army Laboratory (Alabama) began searching for and testing natural and synthetic substances that affect the central nervous system and cause mental or physical disorders in humans in minute doses.

Chemical weapons in local conflicts of the second half of the twentieth century

After World War II, chemical agents were used in a number of local conflicts. There are known facts of the use of chemical weapons by the US Army against the DPRK and Vietnam. From 1945 to 1980s In the West, only 2 types of chemical agents were used: lachrymators (CS: 2-chlorobenzylidene malonodinitrile - tear gas) and defoliants - chemicals from the group of herbicides. 6,800 tons of CS alone were applied. Defoliants belong to the class of phytotoxicants - chemical substances that cause leaves to fall from plants and are used to unmask enemy targets.

During the fighting in Korea, chemical agents were used by the US Army both against KPA and CPV troops, and against civilians and prisoners of war. According to incomplete data, from February 27, 1952 to the end of June 1953, there were over a hundred cases of the use of chemical shells and bombs by American and South Korean troops against CPV troops alone. As a result, 1,095 people were poisoned, of whom 145 died. More than 40 cases of the use of chemical weapons were also reported against prisoners of war. Largest quantity chemical shells were fired at KPA troops on May 1, 1952. Symptoms of defeat with high probability indicate that diphenylcyanarsine or diphenylchloroarsine, as well as hydrocyanic acid, were used as equipment for chemical munitions.

The Americans used tear and blister agents against prisoners of war, and tear agents were used more than once. June 10, 1952 in camp No. 76 on the island. In Gojedo, American guards sprayed prisoners of war three times with a sticky poisonous liquid, which was a blister agent.

May 18, 1952 on the island. In Gojedo, tear gas was used against prisoners of war in three sectors of the camp. The result of this “completely legal” action, according to the Americans, was the death of 24 people. Another 46 lost their sight. Repeatedly in camps on the island. In Gojedo, American and South Korean soldiers used chemical grenades against prisoners of war. Even after the truce was concluded, during the 33 days of work of the Red Cross commission, 32 cases of Americans using chemical grenades were noted.

Purposeful work on means of destroying vegetation began in the United States during the Second World War. The level of development of herbicides reached by the end of the war, according to American experts, could allow their practical use. However, research for military purposes continued, and only in 1961 a “suitable” test site was selected. The use of chemicals to destroy vegetation in South Vietnam was initiated by the US military in August 1961 with the authorization of President Kennedy.

All areas of South Vietnam were treated with herbicides - from the demilitarized zone to the Mekong Delta, as well as many areas of Laos and Kampuchea - anywhere and everywhere where, according to the Americans, detachments of the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF) of South Vietnam could be located or their communications ran.

Along with woody vegetation, fields, gardens and rubber plantations also began to be exposed to herbicides. Since 1965, chemicals have been sprayed over the fields of Laos (especially in its southern and eastern parts), two years later - already in the northern part of the demilitarized zone, as well as in the adjacent areas of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Forests and fields were cultivated at the request of the commanders of American units stationed in South Vietnam. Spraying of herbicides was carried out using not only aviation, but also special ground devices available in American troops and Saigon parts. Herbicides were used especially intensively in 1964 - 1966. to destroy mangrove forests on the southern coast of South Vietnam and on the banks of shipping canals leading to Saigon, as well as forests in the demilitarized zone. Two US Air Force aviation squadrons were fully involved in the operations. The use of chemical anti-vegetative agents reached its maximum in 1967. Subsequently, the intensity of operations fluctuated depending on the intensity of military operations.

Use of aviation for spraying agents.

In South Vietnam, during Operation Ranch Hand, the Americans tested 15 different chemicals and formulations to destroy crops, plantations of cultivated plants and trees and shrubs.

The total amount of vegetation control chemicals used by the US military from 1961 to 1971 was 90 thousand tons, or 72.4 million liters. Four herbicide formulations were predominantly used: purple, orange, white and blue. The most widely used formulations in South Vietnam are: orange - against forests and blue - against rice and other crops.

Over the course of 10 years between 1961 and 1971, nearly a tenth of South Vietnam's land area, including 44% of its forested areas, was treated with defoliants and herbicides, respectively designed to defoliate and completely destroy vegetation. As a result of all these actions, mangrove forests (500 thousand hectares) were almost completely destroyed, about 1 million hectares (60%) of jungles and more than 100 thousand hectares (30%) of lowland forests were affected. Productivity from rubber plantations has fallen by 75% since 1960. From 40 to 100% of the crops of bananas, rice, sweet potatoes, papaya, tomatoes, 70% of coconut plantations, 60% of hevea, and 110 thousand hectares of casuarina plantations were destroyed. Of the numerous species of trees and shrubs in the tropical rainforest, only a few species of trees and several species of thorny grasses, unsuitable for livestock feed, remained in areas affected by herbicides.

The destruction of vegetation has seriously affected the ecological balance of Vietnam. In the affected areas, out of 150 species of birds, only 18 remained, amphibians and even insects almost completely disappeared. The number has decreased and the composition of fish in the rivers has changed. Pesticides disrupted the microbiological composition of soils and poisoned plants. The species composition of ticks has also changed, in particular, ticks that carry dangerous diseases have appeared. The types of mosquitoes have changed; in areas remote from the sea, instead of harmless endemic mosquitoes, mosquitoes characteristic of coastal forests such as mangroves have appeared. They are the main carriers of malaria in Vietnam and neighboring countries.

The chemical agents used by the United States in Indochina were directed not only against nature, but also against people. The Americans in Vietnam used such herbicides and at such high consumption rates that they posed an undoubted danger to humans. For example, picloram is as persistent and as toxic as DDT, which is banned everywhere.

By that time, it was already known that poisoning with 2,4,5-T poison leads to fetal deformities in some domestic animals. It should be noted that these toxic chemicals were used in huge concentrations, sometimes 13 times higher than permissible and recommended for use in the United States itself. Not only vegetation, but also people were sprayed with these chemicals. Particularly destructive was the use of dioxin, which, as the Americans claimed, was “by mistake” part of the orange formulation. In total, several hundred kilograms of dioxin, which is toxic to humans in fractions of a milligram, were sprayed over South Vietnam.

American experts could not help but know about its deadly properties - at least from cases of injuries at the enterprises of a number of chemical companies, including the results of an accident at a chemical plant in Amsterdam in 1963. Being a persistent substance, dioxin is still found in Vietnam in areas application of the orange formulation, both in surface and deep (up to 2 m) soil samples.

This poison, entering the body with water and food, causes cancer, especially of the liver and blood, massive congenital deformities of children and numerous disturbances in the normal course of pregnancy. Medical and statistical data obtained by Vietnamese doctors indicate that these pathologies appear many years after the Americans stopped using the orange formulation, and there is reason to fear for their growth in the future.

According to the Americans, the “non-lethal” agents used in Vietnam include: CS - orthochlorobenzylidene malononitrile and its prescription forms, CN - chloroacetophenone, DM - adamsite or chlordihydrofenarsazine, CNS - prescription form of chloropicrin, BAE - bromoacetone, BZ - quinuclidyl-3 -benzilate. The CS substance in a concentration of 0.05-0.1 mg/m3 has an irritating effect, 1-5 mg/m3 becomes unbearable, above 40-75 mg/m3 can cause death within a minute.

At a meeting of the International Center for the Study of War Crimes, held in Paris in July 1968, it was determined that, under certain conditions, the substance CS is a lethal weapon. These conditions (use of CS in large quantities in a confined space) existed in Vietnam.

CS substance - this was the conclusion made by the Russell Tribunal in Roskilde in 1967 - is a toxic gas prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The amount of CS substance ordered by the Pentagon in 1964 - 1969. for use in Indochina, was published in the Congressional Record on June 12, 1969 (CS - 1,009 tons, CS-1 - 1,625 tons, CS-2 - 1,950 tons).

It is known that in 1970 it was consumed even more than in 1969. With the help of CS gas, the civilian population survived from villages, partisans were expelled from caves and shelters, where lethal concentrations of the CS substance were easily created, turning these shelters into “gas chambers” "

The use of gases appears to have been effective, judging by the significant increase in the amount of C5 used by the US Army in Vietnam. There is another proof of this: since 1969, many new means for spraying this toxic substance have appeared.

Chemical warfare affected not only the population of Indochina, but also thousands of participants in the American campaign in Vietnam. Thus, contrary to the claims of the US Department of Defense, thousands of American soldiers were victims of a chemical attack by their own troops.

Many Vietnam War veterans therefore demanded treatment for various diseases from ulcers to cancer. In Chicago alone, there are 2,000 veterans who have symptoms of dioxin exposure.

BWs were widely used during the protracted Iran-Iraq conflict. Both Iran and Iraq (November 5, 1929 and September 8, 1931, respectively) signed the Geneva Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Chemical and Bacteriological Weapons. However, Iraq, trying to turn the tide in trench warfare, actively used chemical weapons. Iraq used explosives mainly to achieve tactical goals, in order to break the resistance of one or another enemy defense point. These tactics in conditions of trench warfare bore some fruit. During the Battle of the Majun Islands, IWs played an important role in thwarting the Iranian offensive.

Iraq was the first to use OB during the Iran-Iraq War and subsequently used it extensively both against Iran and in operations against the Kurds. Some sources claim that against the latter in 1973-1975. agents purchased from Egypt or even the USSR were used, although there were reports in the press that scientists from Switzerland and Germany, back in the 1960s. manufactured chemical weapons for Baghdad specifically to fight the Kurds. Work on the production of their own chemical agents began in Iraq in the mid-70s. According to a statement by the head of the Iranian Foundation for the Storage of Sacred Defense Documents, Mirfisal Bakrzadeh, companies from the United States, Great Britain and Germany took a direct part in the creation and transfer of chemical weapons to Hussein. According to him, firms from countries such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Scotland and several others took “indirect (indirect) participation in the creation of chemical weapons for the Saddam regime.” During the Iran-Iraq War, the United States was interested in supporting Iraq, since in the event of its defeat, Iran could greatly expand the influence of fundamentalism throughout the Persian Gulf region. Reagan, and subsequently Bush Sr., saw Saddam Hussein's regime as an important ally and protection against the threat posed by Khomeini's followers who came to power as a result of the 1979 Iranian revolution. The successes of the Iranian army forced the US leadership to provide intensive assistance to Iraq (in the form of the supply of millions of anti-personnel mines, a large number of different types of heavy weapons and information about the deployment of Iranian troops). Chemical weapons were chosen as one of the means designed to break the spirit of Iranian soldiers.

Before 1991, Iraq had the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the Middle East and carried out extensive works to further improve its arsenal. He had at his disposal agents of general toxicity (hydrocyanic acid), blister agent (mustard gas) and nerve agent (sarin (GB), soman (GD), tabun (GA), VX) action. Iraq's chemical munitions inventory included more than 25 Scud missile warheads, approximately 2,000 aerial bombs and 15,000 projectiles (including mortar shells and multiple rocket launchers), as well as landmines.

Since 1982, Iraq's use of tear gas (CS) has been noted, and since July 1983 - mustard gas (in particular, 250 kg AB with mustard gas from Su-20 aircraft). During the conflict, mustard gas was actively used by Iraq. By the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi army had 120 mm mortar mines and 130 mm artillery shells filled with mustard gas. In 1984, Iraq began producing tabun (at the same time the first case of its use was noted), and in 1986 - sarin.

Difficulties arise with the exact dating of the beginning of Iraq's production of one or another type of chemical agent. The first use of tabun was reported in 1984, but Iran reported 10 cases of tabun use in 1980-1983. In particular, cases of the use of herds were noted on the Northern Front in October 1983.

The same problem arises when dating cases of chemical agent use. So back in November 1980, Tehran Radio reported a chemical attack on the city of Susengerd, but there was no reaction in the world to this. It was only after Iran's statement in 1984, in which it noted 53 cases of Iraqi use of chemical weapons in 40 border areas, that the UN took some steps. The number of victims by this time exceeded 2,300 people. An inspection by a group of UN inspectors revealed traces of chemical agents in the area of ​​Khur al-Khuzwazeh, where there was an Iraqi chemical attack on March 13, 1984. Since then, evidence of Iraq's use of chemical agents began to appear en masse.

The embargo imposed by the UN Security Council on the supply of a number of chemicals and components to Iraq that could be used for the production of chemical agents could not seriously affect the situation. Factory capacity allowed Iraq to produce 10 tons of chemical agents of all types per month at the end of 1985, and already at the end of 1986 more than 50 tons per month. At the beginning of 1988, the capacity was increased to 70 tons of mustard gas, 6 tons of tabun and 6 tons of sarin (i.e. almost 1,000 tons per year). Intensive work was underway to establish VX production.

In 1988, during the assault on the city of Faw, the Iraqi army bombed Iranian positions using chemical agents, most likely unstable formulations of nerve agents.

During a raid on the Kurdish city of Halabaja on March 16, 1988, Iraqi aircraft attacked with chemical weapons. As a result, from 5 to 7 thousand people died, and over 20 thousand were injured and poisoned.

From April 1984 to August 1988, Iraq used chemical weapons more than 40 times (more than 60 in total). 282 settlements were affected by these weapons. The exact number of victims of chemical warfare from Iran is unknown, but experts estimate the minimum number at 10 thousand people.

Iran began to develop chemical weapons in response to Iraq's use of chemical warfare agents during the war. The lag in this area even forced Iran to purchase large quantities of CS gas, but it soon became clear that it was ineffective for military purposes. Since 1985 (and possibly since 1984), there have been isolated cases of Iranian use of chemical shells and mortar mines, but, apparently, they were talking about captured Iraqi ammunition.

In 1987-1988 There have been isolated cases of Iran using chemical munitions filled with phosgene or chlorine and hydrocyanic acid. Before the end of the war, the production of mustard gas and, possibly, nerve agents had been established, but they did not have time to use them.

According to Western sources, Soviet troops in Afghanistan also used chemical weapons. Foreign journalists deliberately “thickened the picture” in order to once again emphasize the “cruelty of Soviet soldiers.” It was much easier to use the exhaust gases of a tank or infantry fighting vehicle to “smoke out” dushmans from caves and underground shelters. We cannot exclude the possibility of using an irritant agent - chloropicrin or CS. One of the main sources of financing for the dushmans was the cultivation of opium poppies. To destroy poppy plantations, pesticides may have been used, which could also be perceived as the use of pesticides.

Libya produced chemical weapons at one of its enterprises, which was recorded by Western journalists in 1988. During the 1980s. Libya produced more than 100 tons of nerve gases and blister gases. During the fighting in Chad in 1987, the Libyan army used chemical weapons.

On April 29, 1997 (180 days after ratification by the 65th country, which became Hungary), the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction came into force. This also means the approximate date for the start of the activities of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, which will ensure the implementation of the provisions of the convention (headquarters are located in The Hague).

The document was announced for signing in January 1993. In 2004, Libya joined the agreement.

Unfortunately, the “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction” may face the same fate as the “Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines”. In both cases, the most modern types of weapons can be excluded from the scope of the conventions. This can be seen in the example of the problem of binary chemical weapons.

The technical idea behind binary chemical munitions is that they are loaded with two or more starting components, each of which can be a non-toxic or low-toxic substance. These substances are separated from each other and placed in special containers. During the flight of a projectile, rocket, bomb or other ammunition towards a target, the initial components are mixed in it to form a chemical reaction agent as the final product. Mixing of substances is carried out by rotating the projectile or using special mixers. In this case, the role of a chemical reactor is played by ammunition.

Despite the fact that in the late thirties the US Air Force began developing the world's first binary battery, in the post-war period the problem of binary chemical weapons was of secondary importance for the United States. During this period, the Americans accelerated the equipment of the army with new nerve agents - sarin, tabun, "V-gases", but from the beginning of the 60s. American experts again returned to the idea of ​​​​creating binary chemical munitions. They were forced to do this by a number of circumstances, the most important of which was the lack of significant progress in the search for agents with ultra-high toxicity, i.e., third-generation agents. In 1962, the Pentagon approved a special program for the creation of binary chemical weapons (Binary Lenthal Weapon Systems), which became a priority for many years.

During the first period of implementation of the binary program, the main efforts of American specialists were aimed at developing binary compositions of standard nerve agents, VX and sarin.

By the end of the 60s. work was completed on the creation of binary sarin - GB-2.

Government and military circles explained the increased interest in work in the field of binary chemical weapons by the need to solve problems of the safety of chemical weapons during production, transportation, storage and operation. The first binary ammunition adopted by the American army in 1977 was the 155-mm M687 howitzer shell filled with binary sarin (GВ-2). Then the 203.2-mm binary projectile XM736 was created, as well as various samples of ammunition for artillery and mortar systems, missile warheads, and AB.

Research continued after the signing on April 10, 1972 of the convention prohibiting the development, production and stockpiling of toxin weapons and their destruction. It would be naive to believe that the United States will abandon such a “promising” type of weapon. The decision to organize the production of binary weapons in the United States not only cannot ensure an effective agreement on chemical weapons, but will even completely take the development, production and stockpiling of binary weapons out of control, since the components of binary agents can be the most ordinary chemical substances. For example, isopropyl alcohol serves as a component of binary sarin, and pinacoline alcohol - soman.

In addition, the basis of binary weapons is the idea of ​​obtaining new types and compositions of chemical agents, which makes it pointless to compile in advance any lists of chemical agents subject to prohibition.

Gaps in international legislation are not the only threat to chemical safety in the world. Terrorists did not sign the Convention, and there is no doubt about their ability to use chemical agents in terrorist acts after the tragedy in the Tokyo subway.

On the morning of March 20, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect opened plastic containers with sarin in the subway, resulting in the death of 12 subway passengers. Another 5,500-6,000 people received poisoning of varying severity. This was not the first, but the most “effective” gas attack by sectarians. In 1994, seven people died from sarin poisoning in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.

From the point of view of terrorists, the use of chemical agents allows them to achieve the greatest public resonance. Warfare agents have the greatest potential compared to other types of weapons of mass destruction due to the fact that:

• Some chemical agents are highly toxic, and their quantity required to achieve a lethal outcome is very small (the use of chemical agents is 40 times more effective than conventional explosives);
• Determining the specific agent used in the attack and the source of infection is difficult;
• a small group of chemists (sometimes even one qualified specialist) is quite capable of synthesizing easy-to-manufacture chemical warfare agents in the quantities required for a terrorist attack;
• OBs are extremely effective in inciting panic and fear. Losses in the crowd located in indoors, can be measured in thousands.

All of the above indicates that the likelihood of using chemical agents in a terrorist act is extremely high. And, unfortunately, we can only wait for this new stage in the terrorist war.

Literature:
1. Military encyclopedic dictionary / In 2 volumes. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, “RIPOL CLASSIC,” 2001.
2. The World History artillery. M.: Veche, 2002.
3. James P., Thorpe N. “Ancient Inventions”/Trans. from English; - Mn.: Potpourri LLC, 1997.
4. Articles from the site “Weapons of the First World War” - “The 1914 Campaign - the first experiments”, “From the history of chemical weapons.”, M. Pavlovich. "Chemical warfare."
5. Trends in the development of chemical weapons in the United States and its allies. A. D. Kuntsevich, Yu. K. Nazarkin, 1987.
6. Sokolov B.V. "Mikhail Tukhachevsky: the life and death of the Red Marshal." - Smolensk: Rusich, 1999.
7. Korean War, 1950–1953. - St. Petersburg: Polygon Publishing House LLC, 2003. (Military History Library).
8. Tatarchenko E. “Air Forces in the Italo-Abyssinian War.” - M.: Voenizdat, 1940
9 Development of CVHP in the pre-war period. Creation of the Institute of Chemical Defense., Letopis Publishing House, 1998.

The first gas attack in World War I, in short, was carried out by the French. But the German military was the first to use toxic substances.
For various reasons, in particular the use of new types of weapons, the First World War, which was planned to end in a few months, quickly escalated into a trench conflict. Such hostilities could continue for as long as desired. In order to somehow change the situation and lure the enemy out of the trenches and break through the front, all kinds of chemical weapons began to be used.
It was the gases that became one of the reasons for the huge number of casualties in the First World War.

First experience

Already in August 1914, almost in the first days of the war, the French in one of the battles used grenades filled with ethyl bromoacetate (tear gas). They did not cause poisoning, but were capable of disorienting the enemy for some time. In fact, this was the first military gas attack.
After supplies of this gas were depleted, French troops began using chloroacetate.
The Germans, who very quickly adopted advanced experience and what could contribute to the implementation of their plans, adopted this method of fighting the enemy. In October of the same year, they tried to use shells with a chemical irritant against the British military near the village of Neuve Chapelle. But the low concentration of the substance in the shells did not give the expected effect.

From irritating to poisonous

April 22, 1915. This day, in short, went down in history as one of the darkest days of the First World War. It was then that German troops carried out the first massive gas attack using not an irritant, but a poisonous substance. Now their goal was not to disorient and immobilize the enemy, but to destroy him.
It happened on the banks of the Ypres River. 168 tons of chlorine were released by the German military into the air towards the location of the French troops. The poisonous greenish cloud, followed by German soldiers in special gauze bandages, terrified the French-English army. Many rushed to run, giving up their positions without a fight. Others, inhaling the poisoned air, fell dead. As a result, more than 15 thousand people were injured that day, 5 thousand of whom died, and a gap more than 3 km wide was formed in the front. True, the Germans were never able to take advantage of their advantage. Afraid to attack, having no reserves, they allowed the British and French to fill the gap again.
After this, the Germans repeatedly tried to repeat their such a successful first experience. However, none of the subsequent gas attacks brought such an effect and so many casualties, since now all troops were supplied with individual means of protection against gases.
In response to Germany's actions at Ypres, the entire world community immediately expressed its protest, but it was no longer possible to stop the use of gases.
On Eastern Front, the Germans also did not fail to use their new weapons against the Russian army. This happened on the Ravka River. As a result of the gas attack, about 8 thousand soldiers of the Russian imperial army were poisoned here, more than a quarter of them died from poisoning in the next 24 hours after the attack.
It is noteworthy that, having first sharply condemned Germany, after some time almost all Entente countries began to use chemical agents.

Early on an April morning in 1915, a light breeze blew from the German positions opposing the Entente defense line twenty kilometers from the city of Ypres (Belgium). Together with him, a dense yellowish-green cloud that suddenly appeared began to move in the direction of the Allied trenches. At that moment, few people knew that this was the breath of death, and, in the terse language of front-line reports, the first use of chemical weapons on the Western Front.

Tears Before Death

To be absolutely precise, the use of chemical weapons began back in 1914, and the French came up with this disastrous initiative. But then ethyl bromoacetate was used, which belongs to the group of chemicals that are irritating and not lethal. It was filled with 26-mm grenades, which were used to fire at German trenches. When the supply of this gas came to an end, it was replaced with chloroacetone, which has a similar effect.

In response to this, the Germans, who also did not consider themselves obliged to comply with generally accepted legal norms enshrined in the Hague Convention, fired at the British with shells filled with a chemical irritant at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, which took place in October of the same year. However, then they failed to achieve its dangerous concentration.

Thus, April 1915 was not the first case of the use of chemical weapons, but, unlike previous ones, deadly chlorine gas was used to destroy enemy personnel. The result of the attack was stunning. One hundred and eighty tons of spray killed five thousand Allied soldiers and another ten thousand became disabled as a result of the resulting poisoning. By the way, the Germans themselves suffered. The cloud carrying death touched their positions with its edge, the defenders of which were not fully equipped with gas masks. In the history of the war, this episode was designated the “black day at Ypres.”

Further use of chemical weapons in World War I

Wanting to build on their success, a week later the Germans repeated a chemical attack in the Warsaw area, this time against the Russian army. And here death received a bountiful harvest - more than one thousand two hundred killed and several thousand left crippled. Naturally, the Entente countries tried to protest against such a gross violation of the principles of international law, but Berlin cynically stated that the Hague Convention of 1896 only mentioned poisonous shells, and not gases themselves. Admittedly, they didn’t even try to object - war always undoes the work of diplomats.

The specifics of that terrible war

As military historians have repeatedly emphasized, during the First World War wide application found the tactics of positional actions, in which continuous front lines were clearly marked, characterized by stability, density of concentration of troops and high engineering and technical support.

This greatly reduced the effectiveness of offensive actions, since both sides encountered resistance from the enemy’s powerful defense. The only way out of the impasse could be an unconventional tactical solution, which was the first use of chemical weapons.

New war crimes page

The use of chemical weapons in the First World War was a major innovation. The range of its impact on humans was very wide. As can be seen from the above episodes of the First World War, it ranged from harmful, which was caused by chloroacetone, ethyl bromoacetate and a number of others that had an irritating effect, to fatal - phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas.

Despite the fact that statistics show the relative limitation of the gas’s deadly potential (only 5% of deaths out of the total number of those affected), the number of dead and maimed was enormous. This gives us the right to claim that the first use of chemical weapons opened a new page of war crimes in the history of mankind.

In the later stages of the war, both sides were able to develop and introduce fairly effective means of defense against enemy chemical attacks. This made the use of toxic substances less effective, and gradually led to the abandonment of their use. However, it was the period from 1914 to 1918 that went down in history as the “war of the chemists,” since the first use of chemical weapons in the world occurred on its battlefields.

The tragedy of the defenders of the Osowiec fortress

However, let us return to the chronicle of military operations of that period. At the beginning of May 1915, the Germans carried out an attack against Russian units defending the Osowiec fortress, located fifty kilometers from Bialystok (present-day territory of Poland). According to eyewitnesses, after a long period of shelling with shells filled with deadly substances, among which several types were used at once, all living things at a considerable distance were poisoned.

Not only did people and animals caught in the shelling zone die, but all vegetation was destroyed. Before our eyes, the leaves of the trees turned yellow and fell off, and the grass turned black and lay on the ground. The picture was truly apocalyptic and did not fit into the consciousness of a normal person.

But, of course, the defenders of the citadel suffered the most. Even those who escaped death, for the most part, received severe chemical burns and were terribly disfigured. It is no coincidence that they appearance brought such horror to the enemy that the Russian counterattack, which eventually drove the enemy away from the fortress, entered the history of the war under the name “attack of the dead.”

Development and beginning of use of phosgene

The first use of chemical weapons revealed a significant number of its technical shortcomings, which were eliminated in 1915 by a group of French chemists led by Victor Grignard. The result of their research was a new generation of deadly gas - phosgene.

Absolutely colorless, in contrast to the greenish-yellow chlorine, it betrayed its presence only by the barely perceptible smell of moldy hay, which made it difficult to detect. Compared to its predecessor, the new product was more toxic, but at the same time had certain disadvantages.

Symptoms of poisoning, and even the death of the victims themselves, did not occur immediately, but a day after the gas entered the respiratory tract. This allowed poisoned and often doomed soldiers to participate in hostilities for a long time. In addition, phosgene was very heavy, and to increase mobility it had to be mixed with the same chlorine. This hellish mixture was given the name “White Star” by the Allies, since the cylinders containing it were marked with this sign.

Devilish novelty

On the night of July 13, 1917, in the area of ​​the Belgian city of Ypres, which had already gained notorious fame, the Germans made the first use of chemical weapons with blister effects. At the place of its debut, it became known as mustard gas. Its carriers were mines that sprayed a yellow oily liquid upon explosion.

The use of mustard gas, like the use of chemical weapons in general in the First World War, was another diabolical innovation. This “achievement of civilization” was created to damage the skin, as well as the respiratory and digestive organs. Neither a soldier's uniform nor any type of civilian clothing could protect him from its effects. It penetrated through any fabric.

In those years, no reliable means of protection against getting it on the body had yet been produced, which made the use of mustard gas quite effective until the end of the war. The very first use of this substance disabled two and a half thousand enemy soldiers and officers, of whom a significant number died.

Gas that does not spread along the ground

It was not by chance that German chemists started developing mustard gas. The first use of chemical weapons on the Western Front showed that the substances used - chlorine and phosgene - had a common and very significant drawback. They were heavier than air, and therefore, in a sprayed form, they fell down, filling trenches and all kinds of depressions. The people in them were poisoned, but those who were on higher ground at the time of the attack often remained unharmed.

It was necessary to invent a poisonous gas with a lower specific gravity and capable of hitting its victims at any level. This was the mustard gas that appeared in July 1917. It should be noted that British chemists quickly established its formula, and in 1918 they put the deadly weapon into production, but large-scale use was prevented by the truce that followed two months later. Europe breathed a sigh of relief - the First World War, which lasted four years, was over. The use of chemical weapons became irrelevant, and their development was temporarily stopped.

The beginning of the use of toxic substances by the Russian army

The first case of the use of chemical weapons by the Russian army dates back to 1915, when, under the leadership of Lieutenant General V.N. Ipatyev, a program for the production of this type of weapon in Russia was successfully implemented. However, its use at that time was technical tests and did not pursue tactical goals. Only a year later, as a result of work on introducing developments created in this area into production, it became possible to use them on the fronts.

The full-scale use of military developments coming out of domestic laboratories began in the summer of 1916 during the famous It is this event that makes it possible to determine the year of the first use of chemical weapons by the Russian army. It is known that during the military operation, artillery shells filled with the asphyxiating gas chloropicrin and the poisonous gases vencinite and phosgene were used. As is clear from the report sent to the Main Artillery Directorate, the use of chemical weapons provided “a great service to the army.”

Grim statistics of war

The first use of the chemical set a disastrous precedent. In subsequent years, its use not only expanded, but also underwent qualitative changes. Summing up the sad statistics of the four war years, historians state that during this period the warring parties produced at least 180 thousand tons of chemical weapons, of which at least 125 thousand tons found their use. On the battlefields, 40 types of various toxic substances were tested, causing death and injury to 1,300,000 military personnel and civilians who found themselves in the zone of their use.

A lesson left unlearned

Did humanity learn a worthy lesson from the events of those years and did the date of the first use of chemical weapons become a dark day in its history? Hardly. And these days, despite international legal acts, prohibiting the use of toxic substances, the arsenals of most countries in the world are full of their modern developments, and more and more often reports appear in the press about its use in various parts of the world. Humanity is stubbornly moving along the path of self-destruction, ignoring the bitter experience of previous generations.

On the night of July 12-13, 1917, the German army used the poisonous gas mustard gas (a liquid poisonous substance with a blister effect) for the first time during the First World War. The Germans used mines that contained an oily liquid as a carrier of the toxic substance. This event took place near the Belgian city of Ypres. The German command planned with this attack to disrupt the offensive of the Anglo-French troops. When mustard gas was first used, 2,490 military personnel suffered injuries of varying severity, of whom 87 died. UK scientists quickly deciphered the formula for this agent. However, the production of a new toxic substance was launched only in 1918. As a result, the Entente was able to use mustard gas for military purposes only in September 1918 (2 months before the armistice).

Mustard gas has a clearly defined local effect: the agent affects the organs of vision and breathing, the skin and the gastrointestinal tract. The substance, absorbed into the blood, poisons the entire body. Mustard gas affects human skin when exposed, both in droplet and vapor states. The usual summer and winter uniform did not protect the soldier from the effects of mustard gas, as did almost all types of civilian clothing.

Conventional summer and winter army uniforms do not protect the skin from drops and vapors of mustard gas, just like almost any type of civilian clothing. There was no complete protection of soldiers from mustard gas in those years, so its use on the battlefield was effective until the very end of the war. The First World War was even called the “war of chemists”, because neither before nor after this war were chemical agents used in such quantities as in 1915-1918. During this war, the fighting armies used 12 thousand tons of mustard gas, which affected up to 400 thousand people. In total, during the First World War, more than 150 thousand tons of toxic substances (irritant and tear gases, blister agents) were produced. The leader in the use of chemical agents was the German Empire, which had a first-class chemical industry. In total, Germany produced more than 69 thousand tons of toxic substances. Germany was followed by France (37.3 thousand tons), Great Britain (25.4 thousand tons), USA (5.7 thousand tons), Austria-Hungary (5.5 thousand), Italy (4.2 thousand . tons) and Russia (3.7 thousand tons).

"Attack of the Dead" The Russian army suffered the largest losses from exposure to chemical agents among all participants in the war. The German army was the first to use poison gas as a means of mass destruction on a large scale during the First World War against Russia. On August 6, 1915, the German command used explosive agents to destroy the garrison of the Osovets fortress. The Germans deployed 30 gas batteries, several thousand cylinders, and on August 6 at 4 am a dark green fog of a mixture of chlorine and bromine flowed onto the Russian fortifications, reaching the positions in 5-10 minutes. A gas wave 12-15 m high and up to 8 km wide penetrated to a depth of 20 km. The defenders of the Russian fortress had no means of defense. Every living thing was poisoned.

Following the gas wave and a barrage of fire (German artillery opened massive fire), 14 Landwehr battalions (about 7 thousand infantrymen) went on the offensive. After the gas attack and artillery strike, no more than a company of half-dead soldiers, poisoned by chemical agents, remained in the advanced Russian positions. It seemed that Osovets was already in German hands. However, Russian soldiers showed another miracle. When the German chains approached the trenches, they were attacked by Russian infantry. It was a real “attack of the dead,” the sight was terrible: Russian soldiers walked into the bayonet line with their faces wrapped in rags, shaking with a terrible cough, literally spitting out pieces of their lungs onto their bloody uniforms. It was only a few dozen soldiers - the remnants of the 13th company of the 226th Zemlyansky infantry regiment. The German infantry fell into such horror that they could not withstand the blow and ran. Russian batteries opened fire on the fleeing enemy, who, it seemed, had already died. It should be noted that the defense of the Osovets fortress is one of the brightest, heroic pages of the First World War. The fortress, despite brutal shelling from heavy guns and assaults by German infantry, held out from September 1914 to August 22, 1915.

The Russian Empire in the pre-war period was a leader in the field of various “peace initiatives”. Therefore, it did not have chemical weapons in its arsenals or means to counter such types of weapons, and did not conduct serious research in this direction. In 1915, it was necessary to urgently establish a Chemical Committee and urgently raise the issue of developing technologies and large-scale production of toxic substances. In February 1916, the production of hydrocyanic acid was organized at Tomsk University by local scientists. By the end of 1916, production was organized in the European part of the empire, and the problem was generally solved. By April 1917, the industry had produced hundreds of tons of toxic substances. However, they remained unclaimed in warehouses.

The first use of chemical weapons in the First World War

The 1st Hague Conference in 1899, which was convened at the initiative of Russia, adopted a declaration on the non-use of projectiles that spread asphyxiating or harmful gases. However, during the First World War, this document did not prevent the great powers from using chemical warfare agents, including on a massive scale.

In August 1914, the French were the first to use lachrymatory irritants (they did not cause death). The carriers were grenades filled with tear gas (ethyl bromoacetate). Soon its supplies ran out, and the French army began to use chloroacetone. In October 1914, German troops used artillery shells partially filled with a chemical irritant against British positions at Neuve Chapelle. However, the concentration of OM was so low that the result was barely noticeable.

On April 22, 1915, the German army used chemical agents against the French, spraying 168 tons of chlorine near the river. Ypres. The Entente powers immediately declared that Berlin had violated the principles of international law, but the German government parried this accusation. The Germans stated that the Hague Convention prohibits only the use of explosive shells, but not gases. After this, chlorine attacks began to be used regularly. In 1915, French chemists synthesized phosgene (a colorless gas). It has become a more effective agent, having greater toxicity than chlorine. Phosgene was used in pure form and in a mixture with chlorine to increase gas mobility.