"The rapid development of the western chemical industry has produced more and more intermediates of toxic chemical products, such as chlorine and phosgene, which were later used in actual combat, especially the rapid development of synthetic dyes and fertilizer industries, which provide more alternative new chemical poisons for military use, which has greatly promoted the development of poisons. At this time, the first world-scale war broke out in the history of mankind. The war involved more than 30 countries, and more than 90 million people were mobilized by both warring parties, and advanced science and technology in the early 20th century were widely used in warfare. Chemical weapons, as a completely new weapon, also appeared for the first time on the stage of human warfare. ”

Accompanied by the deep voice of the young officer on the podium, the whole classroom was silent, and all the male and female college students focused their eyes on the slides.

"Chemists are trying to apply toxic substances to the battlefield. The stalemate that quickly followed the outbreak of the world war led to the creation of chemical weapons. The development of chemical weapons began with certain fortuitous surnames. The initial impetus came from chemists who noticed that there were many chemicals in their laboratories that had certain toxic effects and felt that they could use these effects to the effect of the nation's war effort. From about 1914 onwards, several scientific laboratories in Europe were trying to convert laboratory compounds into weapons of war. Although some chemicals had been found to be highly toxic and could be used as chemical warfare agents, the designers of the weapons soon realized that it would not be easy to design a weapon that would produce an effective concentration of poison on the enemy evacuated far from the target area. The only realistic way to deliver agents is to pollute the enemy's environment, especially the air they breathe, in the hope that some of them will eventually enter the human body. This is bound to depend heavily on the meteorological conditions in wartime, especially the direction and speed of the wind, and if the conditions are suitable, a huge cloud of poison can drift with the wind and spread throughout the target area; But if the conditions are not suitable, such as the size of the wind, the poison cloud will stay and hurt itself, and if the wind is too strong, the poison cloud will quickly be blown away or diluted so that it is no longer harmful to people. In general, the greater the dependence of a weapon system on meteorological conditions, the less likely it is to be used. ”

"And the outbreak of this world war greatly stimulated the development of chemical weapons, and eventually contributed to their large-scale use in war."

The officer on the podium spoke a little hoarse when he mentioned the war that took place in Europe.

In the auditorium of the classroom, a young woman in a military uniform was looking at the Chinese army officer with medals in front of her with adoring eyes.

The colonel officer on the podium is about 170 centimeters tall, with a strong and strong body, no fat on his body, and his dark skin shows that he should have been in the wind for a long time, and he should be a battle-hardened soldier. But his small eyes and black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his high nose give him the air of a literati and scholar, making people feel that he is not a simple soldier.

This person is Tao Zhiguo, Colonel of the Central Group Army of the Chinese Army.

However, this time, as a distinguished lecturer of Tianjin University, he came to teach at the university, but it was not arranged by the group army headquarters, but from the army department.

The declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia in 1914 marked the beginning of the war: on the Western Front, the Germans invaded Belgium, followed by border battles between the Germans and the French on the borders of France, Belgium and Rwanda; The Battle of the Marne, which forced the Germans to halt their offensive, led to an encounter known as 'Run to the Sea' from 16 September to 15 October, followed by the Battle of Flanders. After more than three months of large-scale and fierce battles in which each side won and lost each other, the two sides confronted each other on a wide frontal area of 700 kilometers, turning from a war of movement to a war of position. On the Eastern Front, the Germans fought the Battle of East Prussia, the Battle of Galicia, the Battle of Warsaw-Ivangorod and the Battle of Lodz with the Russian army. The situation on the Eastern Front also dashed the Germans' hopes of a quick victory, and it became increasingly clear that they were turning into positional warfare. ”

"The main reason for the formation of positional warfare on the Western Front is that both sides evenly distribute approximately equal forces on a wide frontage of 700 km, the average density of forces is small, and there is only one artillery squadron (company) per kilometer of front. In such a situation, it is impossible for anyone to create a powerful assault group in a certain zone and organize a decisive battle. Although both sides have taken active actions to try to break through each other's respective defenses, the results have been in vain. The two armies had enough time to strengthen their respective defenses in the confrontation, setting up barbed wire and obstacles in front of the front line, constructing underground communication trenches and concrete fortifications, and constructing multiple positions to form a complete trench-type defensive system, so that it was difficult for artillery and other lethal weapons at that time to destroy such a solid defense system, making defense more advantageous than attacking. As a result, both warring sides are looking for new weapons and new tactics to break through the defenses. ”

"Because poison gas has a spatial flow surname, it can enter trenches, bunkers, fortifications, and drive away and kill enemy living forces. As a result, both warring sides are beginning to look to this new weapon. In October 1914, the German army experimentally used chemical weapons on the battlefield, thus opening the prelude to the 'chemical warfare' of this world war. ”

"But in the first months of the war, technology had not yet advanced to the point where it could effectively use poisons. As the war progressed, stimulants became the earliest chemical warfare agents that attracted battlefield commanders and personnel of the General Staff. These substances are believed to be applicable under certain tactical conditions. They can be used to interfere with the targeting of gunners and machine gun shooters in fortifications. The cartridge containing ethyl acetate first used by the French could achieve this purpose. They can also be used to drive enemies out of cover. ”

"In the winter of 1914, several British [***] officers who had returned from the front personally inquired about the possible surnames of the personnel who had been cleared of the shelter with foul-smelling bombs. Chemists from the Royal College in London studied the matter and finally provided the commanders of the British Expeditionary Force with another stimulant, ethyl iodoacetate. But it was abandoned for fear that the enemy would use it as well. It was not until the end of the Second Battle of Ypres six months later that the British reconsidered the use of stimulants, and German chemists valued the possible names of stimulants more than any other country, and therefore conducted more detailed research. By the autumn of 1914, two technologies of use had been developed, both of which used poison shells. ”

"Why was it designed as a poison shell? This is related to the opinion of the initiators of chemical warfare at that time, who believed that chemical warfare could be carried out with existing weapons throwing systems. Therefore, the easiest and most direct way is to replace the explosive part of ordinary artillery shells, mortar shells or grenades with chemical warfare agents. The first to be used on the battlefield was the German 105 mm poison gas shrapnel shell, which was developed by a German professor named Nainster, which was redesigned from the high-explosive shell of a light field howitzer, and between the projectiles in the body of the projectile was filled with dianisal amine hydrochloride powder that has an irritating effect on the upper respiratory tract and can cause sneezing. ”

"On October 27, 1914, for the first time, the Germans fired 3,000 rounds of these grenades at the positions of the French 2nd Army in New Chapelle. Due to the unpreparedness of the French army, the Germans succeeded in their first use and took the opportunity to occupy New Chapelle. Due to the small amount of poison and the weak irritating effect of this kind of shrapnel, it was quickly replaced by highly toxic stimulant shells. ”

"The second German chemical shell was developed on the basis of a liquid tear gas formula proposed by Dr. Tapen. Dr. Tappen was a German Field Marshal von Tarpen? Brother of a general in the Mackensen Staff. The formulation of this chemical warfare agent is a mixture of xylene and xylene. It was loaded into a lead cartridge to replace two-thirds of the high-explosive charge in a 105-mm heavy field howitzer shell. The remaining high-explosive charges were used to blow up the shells and cartridges. and spread the contents of the charge out of it, and the volatility of the agent will be enough to create a strongly irritating vapor concentration. The Germans hoped that it would have a striking effect, but when this weapon was first used in the operation against the Russians in Pomori on the Eastern Front in January 1915, despite firing as many as 18,000 shells, the results were not ideal, perhaps due to the fact that the weather was too cold to limit the evaporation of the poison. However, this weapon was not abandoned, and it was finally improved to make it widely used on the two main European fronts in better weather, and this design became the basis for many of the later German chemical shells. The first use of such chemical shells on the Western Front was in March 1915. Around the same time, the French also used their own first chemical shells. This shell was improvised from a 75-mm field artillery shrapnel shell. Inside this shell is another stimulant, ethyl bromoacetate. However, due to the shortage of important raw materials for the synthesis of this agent in France, the agent was later replaced by chloroacetone and other stronger stimulants. By this time, the Germans had realized that scattering a few irritant shells on the enemy's positions could only serve as a disruptive, and the value of the stimulant increased with the increase in the scale of its use. In order to disrupt the enemy's supply lines or significantly reduce the enemy's combat effectiveness, it is necessary to use it over a large area for a long time. ”

"The advent of positional warfare placed the belligerents in a temporary strategic stalemate that was extremely detrimental to Germany, which soon used up almost all of its pre-war stockpiles of high-explosive ordnance, and the blockade of the coast deprived Germany of the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of high-explosive bombs, first of all nitrate from Chile. At this time, the German High Command became particularly attentive to listening to the opinions of industrialists. ”

"Poison gas is not a substitute for explosives, but a possible way to break through the stable front; The enemy entrenched in the trenches was relatively safe against the fragmentation weapons of the shells, but was vulnerable to air poisoning. Therefore, the Germans accordingly made the decision to try out a gas attack on the battlefield. The original intention was to pack the poison into the shells, as in the case of stimulant agents, but the production of the shells was small and the amount of poison loaded with the shells was limited, and the German High Command expressed doubts that the poison shells could be effective on a large area. This suspicion was then confirmed by the defeat of chemical warfare agent shells at Polymo. German experts in charge of the development of chemical warfare suggested that poison gas could be delivered directly from cylinders placed in forward trenches, relying on the wind to blow the gas cloud towards the enemy, and if the wind direction was right, this method would produce a much higher dose of poison gas than existing artillery weapons, while also saving a lot of military explosives. The chemical warfare agent of choice was chlorine, a lung irritant, because chlorine was one of the simplest industrial chemicals to produce, and with the chemical strength of Germany at that time, it was completely capable of mass production, while the Entente countries, although they were also producing, the scale of production, especially in liquid form, was quite small, so they were not capable of retaliating equally. At the same time, the physical characteristics of chlorine are well suited to the chosen method of dispersion. It is generally gaseous except at low temperatures, which can be easily liquefied by the existing German chemical industry, and when it is released from the cylinder, it almost immediately vaporizes into a vapor that hangs low above the ground. Therefore, this suggestion was adopted. By January 1915, the Germans had successfully conducted field experiments, procured the necessary equipment, and deployed appropriate units for training. Through the study of the prevailing wind directions, the High Command chose the most suitable front for the experiment: the Arc of Ypre on the Western Front. At the time, the Germans were suspicious of the humble cylinder, but the success of Ypre's first use dispelled their doubts and showed more enthusiasm than ever before. In later battles. With its simple, cheap and convenient large-scale use, the poison gas cylinder has almost reached the level of necessity in every war. It was not until the beginning of 1918 that it was gradually replaced by other chemical weapons. ”

Speaking of this, Tao Zhiguo's emotions seemed to be a little excited, he picked up the blue and white porcelain teacup placed on the podium, took a sip of water, his eyes swept over the black students below, and his eyes suddenly met the gaze of the female officer who was also wearing a military uniform. She was looking at him eagerly, her eyes were full of encouragement, the corners of Tao Zhiguo's mouth involuntarily showed a smile, he subconsciously raised his hand to support his glasses, and continued to lecture.

"Let me focus on the history of the gas war in Ypre."

"Ypre is located in the southwest of Belgium, close to the French border, 40 km from the north coast. From October to December 1914, the Germans and the British and French forces fought in the Ypre Arc after many battles, and after repeated battles, the two sides dug trenches for defense and faced off for several months. Both sides felt a lack of suppressive firearms such as heavy artillery and weapons to destroy enemy field fortifications. In order to change this stalemate, the German High Command, on the advice of the famous chemist Professor Haber, used the large stocks of liquid chlorine in the factories as a means of breaking through the fortifications and seizing enemy positions. With the approval of the German High Command, it was decided to blow chlorine gas on cylinders on the Western Front and carry out a chemical attack on the Anglo-French positions between Bixshet and Langemark near Ypres. ”

"The Germans transferred 6,000 large cylinders and 24,000 small cylinders from China, and began to lay them on April 5, 1915, with one column for every 20 cylinders and 50 columns on the front of each kilometer of position. On the frontage, 8 kilometers wide in front of the German position, a total of 5,730 cylinders with 180 tons of chlorine gas were used. By 12 April, everything was ready for the attack, and the Germans began to wait for the right direction of the wind. ”

In fact, during this time, the Anglo-French forces had received information that the Germans were about to use the poison, but they did not pay enough attention to it, so they did not take the necessary precautions. As early as a month earlier, the French had learned from the confessions of the prisoners that the Germans had prepared poison gas cylinders, and this information was also published in the press bulletin of the French 10th Army, and it was also confirmed by aerial reconnaissance. On April 13, a German defector issued a strong warning to the French 11th Brigade of Langmark: the pipes containing the asphyxiating agent had been placed in the forward positions, 20 tubes every 40 meters, and the authors were given gas masks. This information was also published in the 5th Army's intelligence digest, which was sent to the battalion level. In addition, the Belgian Army press bulletin published the revelations of Belgian intelligence officers returning from the rear of the German front: the Germans had issued an order to prepare 20,000 gas masks. The report also clearly indicated the location of the German offensive. During this period, some of the poison cylinders buried by the Germans were also blown up by French artillery, but the top management of the Entente [***] ignored this important information, and did not take any active measures except to convey the general surname to the subordinates, and as a result, the German army's use of poison achieved a sudden effect. ”

When Tao Zhiguo said this, his sturdy body suddenly trembled, and his eyes behind the glass lenses suddenly flashed with a hint of fear, and his eyes became blurred and trance-like, as if he had returned to the thrilling battlefield.

Tao Zhiguo realized his gaffe, he took a deep breath, quickly regained his composure, he glanced at the speech on the table, and continued to speak.

"On the afternoon of April 22, 1915, a northerly wind with a wind speed of 2 to 3 meters per second appeared, and at 17:20 the German High Command gave the order to attack: '18 o'clock - the hour of death.' At this time, the Anglo-French forces were still holding their positions as usual, and they were not at all aware that a catastrophe was coming, and they thought that the gentle breeze was a good omen for them. ”

(To be continued)