Chemical weapon belongs to the category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Its action is based on the toxic properties of toxic substances (CA) and the means of application, which can be rockets, artillery shells, bombs, aircraft jets, etc. It is worth noting that various poisons and toxins have remained “point” weapons for thousands of years. Industrial technologies that appeared in the 20th century helped make them a means of mass destruction.

The ancients knew that certain substances and objects that burned could pose a mortal danger. Scientists have suggested that the ancient Persians were the first to use chemical weapons against their enemies. Simon James, a British archaeologist at the University of Leicester, discovered that Persian troops used poisonous gases during the siege of the city of Dura in eastern Syria back in the 3rd century BC. The city was occupied by Roman troops. Simon James's theory was based on the study of the remains of 20 Roman soldiers that were found at the base of the city wall.

According to the archaeologist's theory, the Persians used tunnels under the walls to capture Dura. At the same time, the Romans dug to attack the besiegers own tunnels. At that moment, when the Roman soldiers entered the tunnel, the Persians simply set fire to the bitumen and sulfur crystals, the result was the formation of thick poisonous smoke. Within a few seconds, the Roman soldiers lost consciousness, and after a few minutes they died. The results of the archaeological excavations carried out at Dura tell us that the Persians were no less skilled in the siege of fortresses than the Romans, and used even the most brutal techniques, says Dr. James.

However, the real “finest hour” for chemical weapons was the First World War. On April 22, 1915, German troops used chemical weapons to kill enemy soldiers for the first time in the 20th century. In just 8 minutes, they released 5,730 cylinders containing 180 tons of chlorine at the opposing Anglo-French troops. A greenish cloud silently covered the enemy positions.

As a result of this chemical attack, about 5 thousand people died right on the spot, and another 10 thousand people received serious damage to their eyes, lungs and other internal organs. This chemical attack will forever go down in the history of wars as the “black day at Ypres.” During the First World War, German troops used poison gas more than 50 times, the French - 20 times, the British - 150 times.

In the Russian Empire, the construction of factories that could produce chemical weapons began only in August 1915. However, in the Soviet Union much more attention was paid to this type of weapon. As a result, by 1990, our country had the world's largest reserves of chemical agents (more than 39 thousand tons). Most of these chemical warfare agents were mustard gas, lewisite, a mixture of mustard gas and lewisite, soman, sarin and VX.

In 1993, the Russian Federation signed and in 1997 ratified the CWC - Chemical Weapons Convention. Since then, Russia has been in the process of systematic destruction of chemical agents accumulated over many years. The deadline for the complete destruction of Russian chemical weapons stockpiles has been repeatedly postponed. According to experts, it can be completely destroyed no earlier than 2017-2019.

Ban

There have been attempts to ban chemical weapons several times. The first time this happened was back in 1899. Article 23 of the 1899 Hague Convention prohibited the use of ammunition whose sole purpose was to poison enemy personnel. However, the presence of this ban did not in any way affect the use of chemical weapons during the First World War.

Chemical weapons were banned for the second time by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. But the Geneva Convention of 1925 was not able to suspend the use of chemical weapons.

Thus, in 1938, Japan repeatedly used mustard gas and other toxic substances during the war in China. At least 50 thousand people died as a result of the use of chemical weapons by Japanese troops. Subsequently, chemical weapons were used repeatedly in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, and they were used by both sides of the conflict.

Finally, the third document prohibiting the use of chemical weapons was the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction. The Convention entered into force on April 29, 1997. It was she who became the first truly successful.

By July 2010, 60% of all existing chemical weapons on the planet had been destroyed.
As of January 2012, this convention was signed by 188 countries.

However, the existence of this convention did not put an end to the use of chemical weapons. In 2013 during civil war, which unfolded in Syria, several cases of the use of toxic substances were recorded. Under pressure from the UN, the Syrian leadership was forced to accept the 1997 convention. Russia and the United States began destroying the existing stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons (approximately 1,300 tons).

Chemical weapons (CW) were also used by terrorists. The most famous terrorist attack using chemical weapons is the gas attack on the Tokyo subway, which occurred in 1995. The organizer of the terrorist attack was the Japanese sect “Aum Shinrikyo”, which used sarin for its own purposes. As a result of this terrorist attack, 12 people were killed and more than 5 thousand people were injured.

Chemical weapon

It is worth noting that various toxic substances for a long time were not seriously considered by the military as one of the means of warfare. The situation changed only after it became possible to manufacture and store them for war purposes.

You can also note the fact that chemical weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction that they tried to ban even before their use. However, as with other types of weapons of mass destruction, this stopped few people. The result was a chemical attack carried out by the Germans on April 22, 1915 in the area of ​​the city of Ypres and the rapid development of various toxic substances in the 20th century. It was the attack near Ypres that practically marked the birthday of chemical weapons.

The most widespread use of chemical weapons was during the First World War. In total, about 180 thousand tons of various chemical agents were produced before the end of the war. And the total losses from the use of chemical weapons by the parties to the conflict are estimated at 1.3 million people, of which about 100 thousand people died.

The use of various chemical agents during the First World War was the first recorded violation of the Hague Declaration of 1899 and 1907. At the same time, the United States refused to support the Hague Conference of 1899. While Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Japan agreed to the declaration of 1899, and in 1907 Great Britain joined them.

The result of these declarations was that the parties agreed not to use nerve agents and asphyxiating gases for military purposes. Moreover, already on October 27, 1914, Germany used ammunition that was filled with shrapnel mixed with an irritant powder. The Germans referred to the exact wording of the declaration (the use of ammunition whose sole purpose was to poison enemy personnel was prohibited), motivating their actions by the fact that this use was not the only purpose of this shelling. The same applies to the use of non-lethal tear gas, which was used by France and Germany in the second half of 1914.

In just 4 years of conflict, chemical weapons have improved significantly. Mixtures of chlorine with chloropicrin or phosgene began to be used. Subsequently, hydrocyanic acid, diphenylchloroarsine, and arsenic trichloride were used. The British invented gas launchers that could fire mines filled with poisonous filling.

The Germans used the first blister agent synthesized back in 1822, spraying it on July 12, 1917 in the area of ​​the same ill-fated Ypres. The poisonous substance was used against the Anglo-French troops. It was named "mustard gas" from the name of the river, and the British also called it "mustard gas" because of its distinctive smell. During the famous Brusilov breakthrough in June 1916, Russian troops suppressed enemy artillery batteries with shells filled with phosgene and chloropicrin.

During the period between the two world wars, all the leading powers of the world carried out active developments in the field of creating chemical weapons. This is how the Americans got a similar method of destruction to mustard gas; the new toxic substance was called lewisite. In Nazi Germany, during the search for an insecticide, the first organophosphate poisonous substance was created, called tabun. Work in this direction did not stop after the Second World War, when one of the deadliest substances on the planet - VX (V-ex) - was born.

How do deadly toxic substances work?

Nerve agents (VX, soman, sarin, tabun)
Nerve agents disrupt the functioning of the human nervous system. The poisoned person develops convulsions that turn into paralysis. Signs of poisoning are: miosis (constriction of the pupils), blurred vision, heaviness in the chest, difficulty breathing, and headache. If affected through the skin, signs of poisoning may appear in a person only after 24 hours.

Blisters (lewisite, mustard gas)
They affect human skin (lead to the formation of ulcers), respiratory tract, lungs, eyes. If OBs fall into human body with food and water, then they suffer internal organs, mainly digestive system. Signs of departure: redness of the skin, the appearance of small blisters. They appear within a few hours.

Asphyxiants (chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene)
These agents damage lung tissue, causing toxic pulmonary edema in humans. The hidden period can last up to 12 hours. Signs of poisoning are: a sweetish taste in the mouth, dizziness, weakness, cough. In case of chlorine poisoning: redness, burning and swelling of the eyelids, as well as the mucous membrane of the mouth and upper respiratory tract.

Generally toxic (hydrocyanic acid, cyanogen chloride)
These chemical agents, when entering the human body, disrupt the transfer of oxygen from the blood to the tissues. They are one of the fastest-acting toxic substances. Signs of poisoning: burning and metallic taste in the mouth, tingling in the eye area, numbness of the tip of the tongue, scratching in the throat, weakness, dizziness.

Organizational findings

Already during the First World War, the main disadvantages that were inherent in chemical weapons were quite clearly formulated:

- firstly, such weapons were very weather dependent. To carry out an attack we had to wait for the right conditions to arise. The slightest change in the direction of the wind and now toxic substances fly to the side or even towards the attackers themselves (real precedents). At the same time, hydrocyanic acid decomposes very quickly at high humidity and in direct sunlight.

- secondly, chemical weapons turned out to be ineffective against troops dispersed on the ground.

- thirdly, according to the results of the analysis, the losses incurred from chemical weapons did not exceed similar losses from ordinary artillery fire.

Significantly reduced the demand for chemical weapons and the constant development of collective and personal protection . Modern gas masks, unlike their distant predecessors of the beginning of the last century, are capable of effectively containing most chemical agents. Adding here specialized protective clothing, modern means of decontamination and antidotes, the low popularity of chemical weapons for conducting full-scale combat operations becomes clear.

A separate and very serious problem was the production and long-term storage of various chemical munitions, as well as the process of their subsequent disposal. Accidents that occurred in sections of this technological chain sometimes resulted in significant casualties. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1993 in Geneva, the leading countries of the world decided to sign the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

A hundred years have passed since the end of the First World War, which is remembered mainly for the horrors of the massive use of chemical weapons. Its colossal reserves, remaining after the war and multiplied many times during the interwar period, were supposed to lead to the apocalypse in the Second. But it passed. Although there were still local cases of the use of chemical weapons. Real plans for its mass use by Germany and Great Britain were also made public. There were probably such plans in the USSR and the USA, but nothing is known for certain about them. We will tell everyone about this in this article.

However, first let us recall what chemical weapons are. This is a weapon of mass destruction, the action of which is based on the toxic properties of toxic substances (CA). Chemical weapons are classified according to the following characteristics:

— the nature of the physiological effects of OM on the human body;

— tactical purpose;

- speed of onset of impact;

— durability of the agent used;

- means and methods of application.

Based on the nature of their physiological effects on the human body, there are six main types of toxic substances:

— Nervous agents that affect nervous system and causing death. These chemical agents include sarin, soman, tabun and V-gases.

— Agents of blister action, causing damage mainly through the skin, and when used in the form of aerosols and vapors, also through the respiratory system. The main agents in this group are mustard gas and lewisite.

— Generally toxic agents that, when entering the body, disrupt the transfer of oxygen from the blood to the tissues. This is an instant action agent. These include hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride.

— Agents with a suffocating effect, affecting mainly the lungs. The main agents are phosgene and diphosgene.

— Agents of psychochemical action, capable of incapacitating the enemy’s manpower for some time. These agents, affecting the central nervous system, disrupt the normal mental activity of a person or cause disorders such as temporary blindness, deafness, a sense of fear, and limited motor functions. Poisoning with these substances in doses that cause mental disorders does not lead to death. OM from this group are quinuclidyl-3-benzilate (BZ) and lysergic acid diethylamide.

— Agents of irritating action. These are fast-acting agents that cease their effect after leaving the contaminated area, and signs of poisoning disappear within 1-10 minutes. This group of agents includes tear substances, which cause excessive lacrimation, and sneeze substances, which irritate the respiratory tract.

According to the tactical classification, toxic substances are divided into groups according to their combat purpose: lethal and temporarily incapacitating. Based on the speed of exposure, a distinction is made between fast-acting and slow-acting agents. Depending on the duration of preservation of the damaging ability, agents are divided into substances of short-term action and long-term action.

They deliver chemical agents to the place of their use: artillery shells, rockets, mines, aerial bombs, gas launchers, balloon gas launch systems, VAPs (aircraft discharge devices), grenades, checkers.

The history of combat weapons goes back hundreds of years. Various chemical compounds were used to poison enemy soldiers or temporarily incapacitate them. Most often, such methods were used during the siege of fortresses, since using toxic substances during a war of maneuver is not very convenient. However, of course, there was no need to talk about any massive use of toxic substances. Chemical weapons began to be considered by generals as one of the means of warfare only after toxic substances began to be produced in industrial quantities and they learned how to store them safely.

Certain changes were also required in the psychology of the military: back in the 19th century, poisoning one’s opponents like rats was considered an ignoble and unworthy thing. The use of sulfur dioxide as a chemical warfare agent by British Admiral Thomas Gokhran was received with indignation by the British military elite. Curiously, chemical weapons became prohibited even before their mass use. In 1899, the Hague Convention was adopted, which prohibited weapons that use strangulation or poisoning to defeat the enemy. However, this convention did not prevent either the Germans or other participants in the First World War (including Russia) from massively using poisonous gases.

So, Germany was the first to violate the existing agreements and, first in the small Battle of Bolimov in 1915, and then in the second battle near the town of Ypres, used the chemical weapons it had. On the eve of the planned offensive, German troops installed more than 120 batteries equipped with gas cylinders along the front. These actions were carried out in the dead of night, in secret from enemy intelligence, which, naturally, knew about the impending breakthrough, but neither the British nor the French had any idea about the forces with which it was supposed to be carried out. In the early morning of April 22, the offensive began not with the typical cannonade, but with the fact that the Allied troops suddenly saw a green fog creeping towards them from the side where the German fortifications were supposed to be located. At that time, the only means of chemical protection were ordinary masks, but due to the complete surprise of such an attack, most of the soldiers did not have them. The first ranks of the French and English troops literally fell dead. Despite the fact that the chlorine-based gas used by the Germans, later called mustard gas, mainly spread at a height of 1-2 meters above the ground, its quantity was enough to infect more than 15 thousand people, and among them were not only the British and French, but also the Germans . At one point, the wind blew on the positions of the German army, as a result of which many soldiers who did not wear protective masks. While the gas was corroding the eyes and suffocating the enemy soldiers, the Germans, dressed in protective suits, followed him and finished off the unconscious people. The army of the French and British fled, the soldiers, ignoring the orders of their commanders, abandoned their positions without having time to fire a single shot; in fact, the Germans got not only the fortified area, but also most of the abandoned provisions and weapons. Today, the use of mustard gas in the Battle of Ypres is recognized as one of the most inhumane actions in world history, as a result of which more than 5 thousand people died, while the remaining survivors, who received varying doses of the deadly poison, remained crippled for life.

After the Vietnam War, scientists identified another harmful consequence of the effects of chemical agents on the human body. Quite often, those affected by chemical weapons gave inferior offspring, i.e. Freaks were born in both the first and second generations.

Thus, Pandora's box was opened, and the warring countries began to poison each other with toxic substances everywhere, although the effectiveness of their action hardly exceeded the mortality rate from artillery fire. The possibility of use was extremely dependent on the weather, direction and strength of the wind. In some cases, it was necessary to wait weeks for suitable conditions for massive use. When chemical weapons were used during offensives, the side using them itself suffered losses from its own chemical weapons. For these reasons, the warring parties mutually “quietly abandoned the use of weapons of mass destruction” and in subsequent wars the massive combat use of chemical weapons was no longer observed. An interesting fact is that among those injured as a result of the use of chemical agents was Adolf Hitler, who was poisoned by English gases. In total, during the First World War, about 1.3 million people suffered from the use of chemical agents, of whom about 100 thousand died.

During the interwar years chemical substances were periodically used to destroy individual nationalities and suppress rebellions. Thus, the Soviet government of Lenin used poison gas in 1920 during the storming of the village of Gimry (Dagestan). In 1921, he persecuted peasants during the Tambov uprising. The order, signed by military commanders Tukhachevsky and Antonov-Ovseenko, read: “The forests in which the bandits are hiding must be cleared with poison gas. This must be carefully calculated so that the layer of gas penetrates into the forests and kills everything hiding there.” In 1924, the Romanian army used explosive agents to suppress the Tatarbunary uprising in Ukraine. During the Rif War in Spanish Morocco from 1921-1927, combined Spanish and French forces dropped mustard gas bombs in an attempt to suppress a Berber rebellion.

In 1925, 16 countries with the greatest military potential signed the Geneva Protocol, thereby pledging never again to use gas in military operations. It is noteworthy that while the United States delegation led by the President signed the Protocol, it languished in the US Senate until 1975, when it was finally ratified.

In violation of the Geneva Protocol, Italy used mustard gas against Senussi forces in Libya. Poison gas was used against Libyans as early as January 1928. And in 1935, Italy used mustard gas against the Ethiopians during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Chemical weapons dropped by military aircraft "proved to be very effective" and were used "on a massive scale against civilians and troops, as well as for pollution and water supplies." The use of chemical agents continued until March 1939. By some estimates, up to one-third of Ethiopian war casualties were caused by chemical weapons.

It is unclear how the League of Nations behaved in this situation, people were dying from the most barbaric weapons, and it remained silent, as if encouraging them to continue to use it. Perhaps for this reason, in 1937 Japan began to use tear gas in combat: the Chinese city of Woqu was bombed - about 1000 air bombs were dropped on the ground. The Japanese later detonated 2,500 chemical shells during the Battle of Dingxiang. Under the sanction of Japanese Emperor Hirohito, toxic gas was used during the 1938 Battle of Wuhan. It was also used during the invasion of Changde. In 1939, mustard gas was used against both Kuomintang and Communist Chinese troops. They did not stop there and continued to use chemical weapons until their final defeat in the war.

The Japanese army was armed with up to ten types of chemical warfare agents - phosgene, mustard gas, lewisite and others. It is noteworthy that in 1933, immediately after the Nazis came to power, Japan secretly purchased equipment for the production of mustard gas from Germany and began producing it in Hiroshima Prefecture. Subsequently, military chemical plants appeared in other cities in Japan, and then in China, where a special school was also organized for the training of specialized military units operating in China.

It should be noted that chemical weapons tests were carried out on living prisoners in the notorious detachments “731” and “516”. Due to fear of retaliation, however, these weapons were never used against Western countries. Asian psychology did not allow one to “bully” against the powers that be. According to various estimates, the Japanese used chemical agents more than 2 thousand times. In total, about 90 thousand Chinese soldiers died from the use of Japanese chemicals; there were civilian casualties, but they were not counted.

It should be noted that by the beginning of World War II, Great Britain, Germany, the USSR and the USA had very significant reserves of various chemical warfare agents loaded into ammunition. In addition, each country was actively preparing not only to use its own weapons, but also developed active protection against them in case of use by the enemy.

Ideas about the role of chemical weapons during warfare were mainly based on an analysis of the experience of their use in the operations of 1917–1918. Artillery remained the main means of using explosives to destroy the enemy's location to a depth of 6 km. Beyond this limit, the use of chemical weapons was assigned to aviation. Artillery was used to infect the area with persistent chemical agents such as mustard gas and fire to exhaust the enemy with the help of irritating chemical agents. To use chemical weapons in the armies of leading countries, chemical troops were created that were armed with chemical mortars, gas launchers, gas cylinders, smoke devices, ground contamination devices, chemical land mines and mechanized means for decontaminating the area... However, let’s return to the chemical weapons of individual countries.

First famous case The use of chemical agents in World War II occurred on September 8, 1939, during the Wehrmacht invasion of Poland, when a Polish battery fired a battalion of German rangers trying to capture a bridge with mines containing a toxic substance. It is unknown how effectively the Wehrmacht soldiers used gas masks, but their casualties in this incident amounted to 15 people.

After the “evacuation” from Dunkirk (May 26 - June 4, 1940), there was no equipment or weapons left in England for the ground army - everything was abandoned on the French coast. In total, 2,472 artillery pieces, almost 65 thousand vehicles, 20 thousand motorcycles, 68 thousand tons of ammunition, 147 thousand tons of fuel and 377 thousand tons of equipment and military equipment, 8 thousand machine guns and about 90 thousand rifles, including all heavy weapons and transport of 9 British divisions. And although the Wehrmacht did not have the opportunity to cross the English Channel and finish off the British on the island, the latter, in fear, thought that this would happen any day now. Therefore, Great Britain prepared for the last battle with all its might and means.

On 15 June 1940, the Chief of the Imperial Staff, Sir John Dill, proposed the use of chemical weapons on the coast during the German landings. Such actions could significantly slow down the advance of the landing forces into the interior of the island. It was supposed to spray mustard gas from special tank trucks. Other types of chemical agents were recommended to be used from the air, and with the help of special throwing devices, of which several thousand were buried on the coast.

Sir John Dill attached detailed instructions on the use of each type of agent and calculations of the effectiveness of their use to his note. He also mentioned possible casualties among his civilian population. British industry was increasing the production of chemical agents, but the Germans were still delaying the landing. When the supply of chemical agents was significantly increased, and under Lend-Lease military equipment appeared in Britain, incl. and a huge number of bombers, by 1941 the concept of using chemical weapons had changed. Now they were preparing to use it exclusively from the air with the help of aerial bombs. This plan was valid until January 1942, when the British command had already ruled out an attack on the island from the sea. From that time on, it was planned to use chemical agents against German cities if Germany used chemical weapons. And although after the start of missile attacks on Great Britain, many parliamentarians advocated the use of explosive agents in response, Churchill categorically rejected such proposals, arguing that these weapons were applicable only in cases of mortal danger. However, the production of chemical agents in England continued until 1945.

From the end of 1941, Soviet intelligence began to receive information about an increase in the production of chemical agents in Germany. In 1942, there was reliable intelligence information about the massive deployment of special chemical weapons and their intensive training. In February-March 1942, the troops on the Eastern Front began to receive new, improved gas masks and anti-mustard suits, chemical agents stocks (shells and aerial bombs) and chemical units began to be transferred closer to the front. Such parts were discovered in the cities of Krasnogvardeysk, Priluki, Nezhin, Kharkov, Taganrog. Chemical training was intensively carried out in anti-tank units. Each company had a non-commissioned officer as a chemical instructor. The General Headquarters was confident that in the spring Hitler intended to use chemical weapons. Headquarters also knew that Germany had developed new types of chemical agents, against which the gas masks in service were powerless. There was no longer time to produce a new gas mask modeled after the German one made in 1941. And the Germans at that time produced 2.3 million units. per month. Thus, the Red Army found itself defenseless against German forces.

Stalin could have made an official statement about a retaliatory chemical strike. However, it was unlikely that it could have stopped Hitler: the troops were more or less protected, and German territory was out of reach.

Moscow decided to turn to Churchill for help, who understood that if chemical weapons were used against the USSR, Hitler would subsequently be able to use them against Great Britain. After consultations with Stalin, Churchill, speaking on the radio on May 12, 1942, said that “...England will consider the use of poisonous gases against the USSR by Germany or Finland in the same way as if this attack were carried out against England itself, and that England will respond to this by using gases against German cities...”

It is not known what Churchill would have actually done, but already on May 14, 1942, one of the residents of Soviet intelligence, who had a source in Germany, reported to the Center: “...Churchill’s speech on the use of gases against Germany in in case the Germans use them on the Eastern Front. In German cities there are very few reliable gas shelters, which can cover no more than 40% of the population... According to the calculations of German experts, in the event of a retaliatory strike, about 60% of the German population would die from British gas bombs.” In any case, Hitler did not check in practice whether Churchill was bluffing or not, since he saw the results of conventional Allied bombing in German cities. The order for the massive use of chemical weapons on the Eastern Front was never given. Moreover, remembering Churchill’s statement after the defeat at Kursk Bulge, chemical weapons reserves were removed from the eastern front, since Hitler feared that some general, driven to despair by defeats, might give the command to use chemical weapons.

Despite the fact that Hitler no longer intended to use chemical weapons, Stalin was really scared and did not rule out chemical attacks until the end of the war. A special directorate (GVKhU) was created as part of the Red Army, appropriate equipment for detecting HE was developed, disinfection and degassing technology appeared... The seriousness of Stalin’s attitude towards chemical protection was determined by a secret order issued on January 11, 1943, in which commanders were punished for negligence in matters of chemical protection threatened with a military tribunal.

At the same time, having abandoned the massive use of chemical weapons on the Eastern Front, the Germans did not hesitate to use them on a local scale on Black Sea coast. Thus, gas was used in the battles for Sevastopol, Odessa, and Kerch. About 3 thousand people were poisoned in the Adzhimushkai catacombs alone. It was planned to use explosive agents in the battles for the Caucasus. In February 1943, German troops received two trainloads of toxin antidotes. But the Nazis were quickly driven away from the mountains.

The Nazis did not hesitate to use chemical agents in concentration camps, where they used carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide (including Zyklon B) to kill millions of prisoners.

After the Allied invasion of Italy, the Germans also removed stockpiles of chemical weapons from the front, moving them to Normandy to defend the Atlantic Wall. When Goering interrogated why nerve gas was not used in Normandy, he replied that many horses were used to supply the army, and the production of appropriate gas masks for them had not been established. It turns out that German horses saved thousands of Allied soldiers, although the veracity of this explanation is highly questionable.

By the end of the war, in two and a half years of production at the Dürchfurt plant, Germany had accumulated 12 thousand tons of the latest nerve agent - tabun. 10 thousand tons were loaded into aerial bombs, 2 thousand into artillery shells. The plant personnel were killed so as not to give out the chemical agent recipe. However, the ammunition and production were captured by the Red Army and taken to the territory of the USSR. As a result, the Allies were forced to launch a worldwide manhunt for German chemical agents and scientists in order to fill the gap in their chemical arsenals. Thus began the “two worlds” race on chemical weapons, which lasted for decades, in parallel with nuclear weapons.

It was only in 1945 that the United States introduced M26 warheads with cyanogen chloride for the M9 and M9A1 Bazooka rocket launchers. They were intended for use against Japanese soldiers, holed up in caves and bunkers. It was believed that there was no protection against this gas, but agents were never used in combat conditions.

Summarizing the topic chemical weapons, we note that its mass use was not allowed due to several factors: fear of a retaliatory strike, low efficiency of application, dependence of application on weather factors. However, for pre-war years and during the war, colossal reserves of chemical agents were accumulated. Thus, reserves of mustard gas (mustard gas) in Britain amounted to 40.4 thousand tons, in Germany - 27.6 thousand tons, in the USSR - 77.4 thousand tons, in the USA - 87 thousand tons. About the dangers of this oily muck can be judged by the fact that the minimum dose that causes the formation of abscesses on the skin is 0.1 mg/cm². There is no antidote for mustard gas poisoning. And the gas mask and OZK lose their protective functions after 40 minutes of being in the affected area.

It is unfortunate that numerous conventions banning chemical weapons are constantly being violated. The first post-war use of chemical agents was recorded already in 1957 in Vietnam, i.e. 12 years after the end of World War II. And then the gaps in the years of ignoring him become smaller and smaller. It seems that humanity has firmly taken the path of self-destruction.

Based on materials from the sites: https://ru.wikipedia.org; https://en.wikipedia.org; https://thequestion.ru; http://supotnitskiy.ru; https://topwar.ru; http://magspace.ru; https://news.rambler.ru; http://www.publy.ru; http://www.mk.ru; http://www.warandpeace.ru; https://www.sciencehistory.org; http://www.abc.net.au; http://pillboxes-suffolk.webeden.co.uk.

Is a chemical weapon. The principle of its action is toxic poisoning of the environment and people. It can be in the form of rockets, aircraft bombs, mines or other means of application. They include several attempts to ban the use of this type of weapon. However, its production does not stop.

Chemical weapons are divided into several types. Depending on the type of toxic substance and its effect on the human body, the following types are also distinguished:

1. The substance may have effects on people. The result is rapid defeat large quantity personnel. The fatality rate from exposure to this type of chemical weapon is very high.

2. The next species affects the body through the skin and respiratory system. These chemical weapons come in the form of aerosols or vapors.

3. The fastest-acting weapons are those containing substances that affect the entire body. They penetrate the blood with oxygen and quickly spread to tissues and organs.

4. Substances that damage the lungs and cause a suffocating effect are part of another type of chemical weapon.

5. The last type is a chemical weapon, which contains substances that have a temporary effect on a person’s mental state. It is not fatal, but can cause transient deafness, blindness, a state of panic and fear, and some other mental disorders.

There are also substances that cause irritation. They have a short-term effect, manifested in the form of sneezing or watery eyes. These substances have been adopted by police in some countries.

Types of chemical weapons are also distinguished according to their combat purpose:

1. Deadly weapon destroys living force.

2. The second type temporarily incapacitates people. The period depends on the type of damaging substance.

Sometimes the use of non-lethal weapons can be fatal. This occurs when its concentration is significantly exceeded. Such cases were recorded during the Vietnam War.

Depending on the speed of impact, chemical weapons are divided into slow-acting and fast-acting. It also depends on the substance it contains. Irritating, psychotropic and nerve-paralytic components have a rapid effect. Asphyxiants and vesicants have a slow effect.

There are also elements with a long exposure time and short-term ones. Unstable substances act within a few minutes, while more persistent ones can cause long-term negative effects (up to several weeks).

Wars in which chemical weapons were used have shown their ineffectiveness. Despite the deadly harm that the use of some substances can cause, certain conditions are required for their use. For example, weather conditions.

Russia has signed a treaty on the non-use of chemical weapons. In this regard, a program has been developed to destroy all its species.

Chemical weapons protection must be used to reduce the risk of injury.

Here main role Timely detection of the problem and search for methods to eliminate it play a role. Gas masks and special clothing are used as personal equipment. But with a mass casualty, there is a need to protect a large number of people. For this purpose, special rooms are provided, equipped with filters and ventilation that prevent the spread of toxic substances.

The use of chemical weapons must be reduced and completely banned. It must be fully controlled by international organizations.

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 his supplies ran out and french army I started using 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 announced that Berlin had violated the principles 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.

As A. Fries says: “The first attempt to defeat the enemy by releasing poisonous and suffocating gases, it seems, was made during the war of the Athenians with the Spartans (431 - 404 BC), when, during the siege of the cities of Plataea and Belium, the Spartans impregnated wood with resin and sulfur and burned it under the walls of these cities, in order to suffocate the inhabitants and facilitate the siege. A similar use of poisonous gases is mentioned in the history of the Middle Ages. Their effect was similar to the action of modern asphyxiating shells, they were thrown out using syringes or in bottles, like hand grenades. Legends say that Preter John (about the 11th century) filled copper figures with explosive and flammable substances, the smoke of which escaped from the mouth and nostrils of these phantoms and caused great havoc in the ranks of the enemy."

The idea of ​​fighting the enemy by using a gas attack was outlined in 1855 during the Crimean campaign by the English admiral Lord Dandonald. In his memorandum dated August 7, 1855, Dandonald proposed to the English government a project to capture Sevastopol using sulfur vapor. This document is so interesting that we present it in its entirety:

A short preliminary note.

"When inspecting the sulfur furnaces in July 1811, I noticed that the smoke that is given off during the rough process of smelting sulfur, at first, due to the heat, rises upward, but soon falls down, destroying all vegetation and being fatal to everyone over a large area. living being. It turned out that there was an order prohibiting people from sleeping within a 3-mile radius of the furnaces during smelting."

"I decided to apply this fact to the needs of the army and navy. On mature reflection, I submitted a memorandum to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who deigned to transmit it (2 April 1812) to a Commission consisting of Lord Kates, Lord Exmouth and General Congreve (later Sir William), who gave him a favorable review, and His Royal Highness deigned to order that the whole matter be kept in complete secrecy."

Signed (Dandonald).

Memorandum.
"Materials necessary for expelling the Russians from Sevastopol: experiments have shown that from 5 parts of coal one part of sulfur is released. The composition of mixtures of coal and sulfur for use in field service, in which the weight ratio plays a very important role, can be indicated by Prof. Faraday, since I had little interest in land operations, four or five hundred tons of sulfur and two thousand tons of coal would suffice.

“In addition to these materials, it is necessary to have a certain amount of tarry coal and two thousand barrels of gas or other tar in order to create a smoke screen in front of the fortifications that are to be attacked or that flank the position being attacked.

“It is also necessary to prepare a certain amount of dry firewood, chips, shavings, straw, hay and other flammable materials, so that at the first favorable, steady wind you can quickly start a fire.”

(signed) Dandonald.

"Note: Due to the specialized nature of the task, full responsibility for success rests with the individuals in charge of its implementation."

“Assuming that Malakhov Kurgan and Redan are the target of the attack, it is necessary to fumigate Redan with the smoke of coal and tar lit in the quarry so that it can no longer fire at Mamelon, from where it is necessary to open an attack with sulfur dioxide in order to remove the garrison of Malakhov Kurgan. All Mamelon guns should be directed against the unprotected positions of Malakhov Kurgan."

“There is no doubt that smoke will envelop all the fortifications from Malakhov Kurgan to Baraki and even to the line of the warship “12 Apostles” anchored in the harbor.”

"The two outer Russian batteries, located on either side of the port, are to be fumigated with sulfur dioxide by fire-ships, and their destruction will be completed by warships approaching and anchoring under the cover of a smoke screen."

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. This Committee, having become acquainted with all the details of Lord Dandonald's project, expressed the opinion that the project was entirely feasible, and the results promised by it could certainly be achieved; but these results in themselves are 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. By what means the information was obtained by those who so carelessly published it in 1908, we do not know; they were probably found among Lord Panmuir's papers.

"The smell of lemon became poison and smoke,

And the wind blew smoke towards the troops of soldiers,

Choking from poison is unbearable for the enemy,

And the siege will be lifted from the city."

"He tears this strange army to pieces,

Heavenly fire transformed into an explosion,

The smell from Lausanne was suffocating, persistent,

And people do not know its source."

Nastrodamus on the first use of chemical weapons

The use of poisonous gases during the World War dates back to April 22, 1915, when the Germans made the first gas attack using chlorine cylinders, a long-known and well-known gas.

On April 14, 1915, near the village of Langemarck, not far from the then little-known Belgian city of Ypres, French units captured a German soldier. During the search, they found a small gauze bag filled with identical scraps of cotton fabric and a bottle with a colorless liquid. It was so similar to a dressing bag that initially they simply did not pay attention to it. Apparently, its purpose would have remained unclear if the prisoner had not stated during interrogation that the handbag was a special means of protection against the new “devastating” weapon that the German command plans to use on this sector of the front.

When asked about the nature of this weapon, the prisoner readily replied that he had no idea about it, but it seemed that these weapons were hidden in metal cylinders that were dug in no man's land between the lines of trenches. To protect against this weapon, you need to wet a piece of paper from your bag with the liquid from the bottle and apply it to your mouth and nose.

The French gentlemen officers considered the prisoner's story to be the delirium of a soldier gone crazy and did not attach any importance to it. But soon prisoners captured on neighboring sectors of the front reported about the mysterious cylinders. On April 18, the British knocked out the Germans from Height 60 and at the same time captured a German non-commissioned officer. The prisoner also spoke about an unknown weapon and noticed that the cylinders with it were dug at this very height - ten meters from the trenches. Out of curiosity, the English sergeant went with two soldiers on reconnaissance and in the indicated place they actually found heavy cylinders of an unusual appearance and unknown purpose. He reported this to the command, but to no avail.

In those days, British radio intelligence, which deciphered fragments of German radiograms, also brought riddles to the Allied command. Imagine the surprise of the codebreakers when they discovered that the German headquarters were extremely interested in the state of the weather!

“...An unfavorable wind is blowing...” reported the Germans. - ... The wind is getting stronger... its direction is constantly changing... The wind is unstable...

One radiogram mentioned the name of some doctor Haber.

-...Doctor Haber does not advise...

If only the English knew who Dr. Haber was!

Fritz Haber was a deeply civilian man. True, he once completed a year’s service in the artillery and by the beginning of the “Great War” had the rank of non-commissioned officer in the reserve, but at the front he was in an elegant civilian suit, aggravating the civilian impression with the shine of his gilded pince-nez. Before the war, he headed the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Berlin and even at the front did not part with his “chemical” books and reference books.

It was especially surprising to observe with what respect the gray-haired colonels, hung with crosses and medals, listened to his orders. But few of them believed that with one wave of the hand of this awkward civilian, thousands of people would be killed in a matter of minutes.

Haber was in the service of the German government. As a consultant to the German War Ministry, he was tasked with creating a toxic irritant that would force enemy troops to leave the trenches.

A few months later, he and his collaborators created a weapon using chlorine gas, which went into production in January 1915.

Although Haber hated war, he believed that the use of chemical weapons could save many lives if the exhausting trench warfare on the Western Front ended. His wife Clara was also a chemist and strongly opposed his war work.

The point chosen for the attack was in the north-eastern part of the Ypres Salient, at the point where the French and English fronts converged, heading south, and from where the trenches departed from the canal near Besinge.

“It was a wonderful clear spring day. A light breeze was blowing from the northeast...

Nothing foreshadowed an imminent tragedy, the likes of which humanity had never known before.

The section of the front closest to the Germans was defended by soldiers who arrived from the Algerian colonies. Having emerged from their shelters, they basked in the sun, talking loudly to each other. About five o'clock in the afternoon a large greenish cloud appeared in front of the German trenches. It smoked and swirled, behaving like "heaps of black gas" from "War of the Worlds" and at the same time slowly moving towards the French trenches, obeying the will of the north-east breeze. As witnesses say, many French watched with interest the approaching front of this bizarre “yellow fog”, but did not attach any importance to it.

Suddenly they smelled a pungent smell. Everyone's nose stung and their eyes stung, as if from acrid smoke. The “yellow fog” choked, blinded, burned my chest with fire, and turned me inside out.

Without remembering themselves, the Africans rushed out of the trenches. Those who hesitated fell, suffocated. People ran screaming through the trenches; colliding with each other, they fell and struggled in convulsions, catching air with their distorted mouths.

And the “yellow fog” rolled further and further into the rear of the French positions, sowing death and panic along the way. Behind the fog, German chains with rifles at the ready and bandages on their faces marched in orderly rows. But they had no one to attack. Thousands of Algerians and French lay dead in trenches and artillery positions."

Naturally, the first feeling that the gas method of warfare inspired was horror. We find a stunning description of the impression of a gas attack in an article by O. S. Watkins (London).

“After the bombing of the city of Ypres, which lasted from April 20 to 22,” writes Watkins, “poisonous gas suddenly appeared amid this chaos.

As we stepped out into the fresh air to rest a few minutes from the stuffy atmosphere of the trenches, our attention was attracted by very heavy firing in the north, where the French occupied the front. Apparently there was a hot battle going on, and we energetically began to explore the area with our field glasses, hoping to catch something new during the battle. Then we saw a sight that made our hearts stop - figures of people running in confusion across the fields.

“The French have been broken through,” we cried. We couldn’t believe our eyes... We couldn’t believe what we heard from the fugitives: we attributed their words to a frustrated imagination: a greenish-gray cloud, descending on them, became yellow as it spread and scorched everything in its path. touched, causing the plants to die. Not even the most courageous man could resist such a danger.

French soldiers staggered among us, blinded, coughing, breathing heavily, their faces dark purple, silent with suffering, and behind them in the gas-poisoned trenches remained, as we learned, hundreds of their dying comrades. The impossible turned out to be just.

"This is the most evil, most criminal act I have ever seen."

But for the Germans this result was no less unexpected. Their generals treated the “bespectacled doctor’s” venture as an interesting experience and therefore did not really prepare for a large-scale offensive. And when the front turned out to be virtually broken, the only unit that poured into the resulting gap was an infantry battalion, which, of course, could not decide the fate of the French defense. The incident caused a lot of noise and by evening the world knew that a new participant had entered the battlefield, capable of competing with “His Majesty the machine gun.” Chemists rushed to the front, and by the next morning it became clear that for the first time for military purposes the Germans used a cloud of asphyxiating gas - chlorine. Suddenly it turned out that any country even possessing the makings of a chemical industry could get its hands on most powerful weapon. The only consolation was that it was not difficult to escape from chlorine. It is enough to cover the respiratory organs with a bandage moistened with a solution of soda or hyposulfite and chlorine is not so terrible. If these substances are not at hand, it is enough to breathe through a wet rag. Water significantly weakens the effect of chlorine dissolving in it. Many chemical institutions rushed to develop the design of gas masks, but the Germans were in a hurry to repeat the gas attack until the Allies had reliable means of protection.

On April 24, having gathered reserves to develop the offensive, they launched an attack on the neighboring sector of the front, which was defended by the Canadians. But the Canadian troops were warned about the “yellow fog” and therefore, seeing the yellow-green cloud, prepared for the effects of the gases. They soaked their scarves, stockings and blankets in puddles and applied them to their faces, covering their mouths, noses and eyes from the acrid atmosphere. Some of them, of course, suffocated to death, others were poisoned or blinded for a long time, but no one moved from their place. And when the fog crawled to the rear and the German infantry followed, Canadian machine guns and rifles began to speak, creating huge gaps in the ranks of the attackers, who were not expecting resistance.

Despite the fact that April 22, 1915 is considered the day of the “premiere” of toxic substances, individual facts of its use, as mentioned above, took place earlier. Thus, back in November 1914, the Germans fired several artillery shells filled with irritating toxic substances at the French, but their use went unnoticed. In January 1915, in Poland, the Germans used some kind of tear gas against Russian troops, but the scale of its use was limited, and the effect was smoothed out due to the wind.

The first of the Russians to undergo a chemical attack were units of the 2nd Russian Army, which, with its stubborn defense, blocked the path to Warsaw of the persistently advancing 9th Army of General Mackensen. In the period from May 17 to May 21, 1915, the Germans installed 12 thousand chlorine cylinders in the forward trenches over 12 km and waited for favorable weather conditions for ten days. The attack began at 3 o'clock. 20 minutes. May 31. The Germans released chlorine, simultaneously opening hurricane artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire on the Russian positions. The complete surprise of the enemy's actions and the lack of preparation on the part of the Russian troops led to the fact that the soldiers were more surprised and curious when the chlorine cloud appeared, rather than feeling alarmed. Mistaking the greenish cloud to camouflage the attack, the Russian troops strengthened the forward trenches and brought up support units. Soon the trenches, which were a labyrinth of solid lines, turned out to be places filled with corpses and dying people. By 4.30, chlorine had penetrated 12 km deep into the defense of the Russian troops, forming “gas swamps” in the lowlands and destroying spring crops and clover along the way.

At about 4 o'clock, German units, supported by artillery chemical fire, attacked Russian positions, counting on the fact that, as in the battle of Ypres, there was no one to defend them. In this situation, the unparalleled resilience of the Russian soldier was revealed. Despite the incapacitation of 75% of the personnel in the 1st defensive line, the German attack by 5 a.m. was repulsed by strong and accurate rifle and machine-gun fire from the remaining soldiers in the ranks. During the day, 9 more German attacks were thwarted. The losses of Russian units from chlorine were enormous (9,138 poisoned and 1,183 dead), but still the German offensive was repulsed.

However, chemical warfare and the use of chlorine against the Russian army continued. On the night of July 6-7, 1915, the Germans repeated a gas attack on the Sukha-Volya-Shidlovskaya section. There is no exact information about the losses suffered by Russian troops during this attack. It is known that the 218th infantry regiment during the retreat, he lost 2,608 people, and the 220th Infantry Regiment, which carried out a counterattack in terrain rich in “gas swamps,” lost 1,352 people.

In August 1915, German troops used a gas attack during the assault on the Russian fortress Osaovets, which they had previously unsuccessfully tried to destroy with the help of heavy artillery. Chlorine spread to a depth of 20 km, having a striking depth of 12 km and a cloud height of 12 m. It flowed even into the most closed rooms of the fortress, incapacitating its defenders. But here, too, the fierce resistance of the surviving defenders of the fortress did not allow the enemy to succeed.

In June 1915, another asphyxiant was used - bromine, used in mortar shells; The first tear substance also appeared: benzyl bromide combined with xylylene bromide. Artillery shells were filled with this gas. The first time the use of gases in artillery shells, which subsequently became so widespread, was clearly observed on June 20 in the Argonne forests.

Phosgene became widespread during the First World War. It was first used by the Germans in December 1915 on the Italian front.

At room temperature Phosgene is a colorless gas with the smell of rotten hay, which turns into a liquid at a temperature of -8°. Before the war, phosgene was mined in large quantities and was used to make various dyes for woolen fabrics.

Phosgene is very poisonous and, in addition, acts as a substance that strongly irritates the lungs and causes damage to the mucous membranes. Its danger is further increased by the fact that its effect is not immediately detected: sometimes painful phenomena appeared only 10 - 11 hours after inhalation.

Relatively cheap and easy to prepare, strong toxic properties, prolonged action and low persistence (the smell disappears after 1 1/2 - 2 hours) make phosgene a substance very convenient for military purposes.

The use of phosgene for gas attacks was proposed back in the summer of 1915 by our marine chemist N.A. Kochkin (the Germans used it only in December). But this proposal was not accepted by the tsarist government.

At first, the gas was released from special cylinders, but by 1916, artillery shells filled with toxic substances began to be used in battle. Suffice it to recall the bloody massacre near Verdun (France), where up to 100,000 chemical shells were fired.

The most common gases used in combat were: chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene.

Among the gases used in the war, it is worth noting gases with skin-diving action, against which the gas masks adopted by the troops were ineffective. These substances, penetrating through shoes and clothing, caused burns on the body, similar to burns from kerosene.

It has already become a tradition to describe chemical weapons in the World War, which is worth convincing the Germans about. They, they say, used chlorine against the French on the Western Front and against Russian soldiers near Przemysl, and they are so bad that there is nowhere to go further. But the Germans, being pioneers in the use of chemistry in battle, lagged far behind the Allies in the scale of its use. Less than a month had passed since the “Chlorine Premiere” near Ypres, when the Allies began, with the same enviable composure, to flood the positions of German troops on the outskirts of the mentioned city with various muck. Russian chemists also did not lag behind their Western colleagues. It was the Russians who had priority in the most successful use of artillery shells filled with irritating toxic substances against German and Austro-Hungarian troops.

It's funny to note that with a certain amount of imagination, one can consider toxic substances to be the catalyst for the emergence of fascism and the initiator of the Second World War. After all, it was after the English gas attack near Comin that the German corporal Adolf Schicklgruber, who was lying in the hospital, temporarily blinded by chlorine, began to think about the fate of the deceived German people, the triumph of the French, the betrayal of the Jews, etc. Subsequently, while in prison, he organized these thoughts in his book “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle), but the title of this book already bore the pseudonym that was destined to become famous - Adolf Hitler.

During the war years, more than a million people were affected by various gases. Gauze bandages, which so easily found a place in soldiers' backpacks, became almost useless. Radically new means of protection against toxic substances were needed.

Gas warfare uses all sorts of effects produced on the human body by various types of chemical compounds. Depending on the nature of the physiological phenomena, these substances can be divided into several categories. Moreover, some of them can be simultaneously classified into different categories, combining different properties. Thus, according to the action they produce, gases are divided into:

1) suffocating, causing coughing, irritating the respiratory system and can cause death from suffocation;

2) poisonous, penetrating the body, affecting one or another important organ and, as a result, causing general damage to any area, for example, some of them affect the nervous system, others - red blood cells, etc.;

3) lacrimators, causing by their action profuse lacrimation and blinding a person for a more or less long time;

4) suppurating, causing by its reaction either itching, or deeper cutaneous ulcerations (eg, watery blisters), spreading to the mucous membranes (especially the respiratory organs) and causing serious harm;

5) sneezing, acting on the nasal mucosa and causing increased sneezing, accompanied by such physiological phenomena as irritation of the throat, tearing, suffering of the nose and jaws.

During the war, asphyxiating and poisonous substances were combined under the general name “poisonous”, since all of them can cause death. The same can be said about some other deadly substances, although their main physiological effect was manifested in a suppurating or sneezing reaction.

Germany used all the physiological properties of gases during the war, thus continuously increasing the suffering of the combatants. The gas war began on April 22, 1915 with the use of chlorine, which was placed in liquid form in a cylinder, and from the latter, when a small tap was opened, it came out in the form of a gas. Wherein significant amount gas jets released simultaneously from numerous cylinders formed a thick cloud, which was given the name “waves”.

Every action causes a reaction. The gas war caused an anti-gas defense. At first, they fought against gases by wearing special masks (respirators) to the soldiers. But for a long time the mask system was not improved.

However, the conditions of war also force us to remember collective defense.

During the war, about 60 different chemical substances and elements in various compounds were noted that killed a person or made him completely incapable of continuing the battle. Among the gases used in war, irritating gases should be noted, i.e. causing lacrimation and sneezing, against which the gas masks adopted by the troops were ineffective; then suffocating, poisonous and poisonous-burning gases, which, penetrating through shoes and clothing, caused burns on the body, similar to burns from kerosene.

The area shelled and saturated with these gases did not lose its burning properties for whole weeks, and woe to the person who found himself in such a place: he came out of there stricken with burns, and his clothes were so saturated with this terrible gas that just touching it struck the person who touched it. particles of released gas and caused the same burns.

The so-called mustard gas (mustard gas), which has such properties, was nicknamed by the Germans “the king of gases.”

Particularly effective are shells filled with mustard gas, the effect of which, under favorable conditions, lasts up to 8 days.

First used by the German side on April 22, 1915 near Ypres. The result of a chemical gas attack with chlorine was 15 thousand human casualties. After 5 weeks, 9 thousand soldiers and officers of the Russian army died from the effects of phosgene. Diphosgene, chloropicrin, and arsenic-containing irritating agents are being tested. In May 1917, again on the Ypres sector of the front, the Germans used mustard gas - an agent with a strong blister and general toxic effect.

During the First World War, the warring parties used 125 thousand tons of chemical agents, which claimed 800 thousand human lives. At the very end of the war, without having time to prove themselves in a combat situation, adamsite and lewisite are given a “ticket” to a long life, and later nitrogen mustards.

In the forties, nerve agent agents appeared in the West: sarin, soman, tabun, and later the “family” of VX (VX) gases. The effectiveness of chemical agents is growing, methods of their use are being improved (chemical munitions)...