Moroccan and Algerian soldiers of the French army lie dead in their trenches after exposure to the April 22 1915 chlorine gas
CHAPIES A PECULIAR FOG April 22 1915 was like most days in the trenches of the western front the battle zone that ran from Switzerland through Belgium during World War I 1914 1918 Without the shelling of a major battle the men went about their daily routine each army the Central powers and Allied forces quietly keeping an eye on the other Austria Hungary Germany and the Ottoman Empire made up the Central powers The United Kingdom France and Russia made up the Allied forces with Japan Italy and the United States joining later The Allied forces had seen very few signs of activity along the Germant trenches in April 1915 so the Algerian regulars who manned this section of the French defenses north of the town of Ypres Belgium started preparing their evening
DULCE ET DECORUM EST Gas Gas Quick boys An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound ring like a man in fire or lime Din through the misty panes and thick green light As under a green sea I saw him drowning In all my dreams before my helpless sight It was technically spring but the weather had been slow to warm up in Ypres This meant the temperature quickly dropped in the late afternoon There was only a slight breeze when the men noticed a mist forming along the German trenches The greenish yellow cloud seemed to rise up out of the ground It grew taller and slowly blotted out the sunlight as it rolled toward the French line The vapor followed the ground closely filling shell holes and other indentations while continuing forward with the breeze It was like nothing these soldiers had ever seen before and they watched it He plunges at me guttering choking drowning Many soldiers used poetry to describe what they experienced throughout the war This excerpt of Dulce et Decorum Est written by British soldier Wilfred Owen followed a gas attack similar to the one at Ypres His Latin title is part of a saying from a poem that was written by the ancient Roman author Horace Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori Translated it means It is sweet and right to die for your country curiously As it enveloped the first few men the trapped soldiers choked and fought to breathe Their fellows watched as the vapor's victims staggered out of the cloud blinded and coughing Their chests
GAS FRIGHT heaved as their lungs fought to pull in air their faces purple with the strain Curiosity turned to panic The men still didn't know what the cloud contained but they broke ranks and ran As they struggled to stay ahead of this mysterious threat they abandoned their posts in the Allied trenches The panic caused by chemical weapons was almost more damaging than the weapons themselves Many soldiers developed what became known as gas fright the delusion they were under gas attack Often several times throughout the night someone would sound a horn or beat on an empty shell casing to sound the alarm of a gas attack Men would scramble into their gas masks waking their neighbors and the panic would travel down the trench Eventually someone would send an all clear Depending on the type of chemical gas could be released from canisters or delivered in artillery shells This meant men often suspected any explosion was a gas attack and showed symptoms including stomachaches and vomiting whether they had been gassed or not As the war and gas attacks continued it became increasingly difficult for doctors to tell who had been gassed and who had not WARNING On April 22 1915 Ypres became the site of the first successful chlorine gas attack in World War I Chlorine is a chemical that when in gas form reacts with the water in airways and eyes to create an Soldiers who were exposed to it choked as their throats and lungs swelled and they fought to breathe coughing and vomiting The attack at Ypres took both the French and British commands completely by surprise even though it was not the first chemical attack Both the Allies and the Germans had used tear gas earlier in the war Tear gas is a nerve gas that acts
