JOURNAL #2 - May 2, 2001 

May 2: Journal #1: Go onto the internet and find facts on:

Go to Analysis

Research: 

WWI military training camps

TRAINING

Training camps in the army, like much of society at that time, were segregated. So, Thomas Davis
was shipped off to an all black training facility at Fort Dodge near Des Moines, Iowa. Davis
referred to it as "Camp Dodge". His time was spent drilling with a rifle in full uniform and in gas
mask training. Fort Dodge was also the site of the only training school for black officers in the US
Army. Although many hundred black officers were commissioned here, Army regulations
restricted them from commanding white troops. When Davis completed his own training as a
private, his unit was commanded by both black and white officers. I asked him if there were any
differences in the way they treated him. He said, "all officers were the same, some better, some
not. No troubles."

In August of 1918, Davis' unit was ordered to France. Sailing from New York on the ship named
President Grant, Thomas Davis found the crossing to be pure hell. This was the peak of the
vicious Swine Flu epidemic which devastated combatants and home-front civilians across the
globe. Of the 5,000 troops aboard the President Grant, half had been stricken ill. Davis
described that, "When I went over to France, the flu broke out so bad on that ship, and many
men died,... So many, in fact, that we had to bury at sea."



Mustard Gas

Despite the Hague Convention which outlawed chemical warfare (and two unsuccessful
experiments with gas shells), the Germans decided to release 5700 cylinders of chlorine - this to
be accompanied by heavy artillery bombardment and followed by strong infantry assaults. The
gas was released from these cylinders just in front of the German lines or through potholes
punched through trench parapets. As a weapon, gas was particularly advantageous when used
against soldiers in defensive positions. Being heavier than air, chlorine followed the ground’s
contours and sank into the trenches and shell holes soldiers used as protection against shrapnel
and bullet. This forced them to abandon their defences in favour of higher ground. Those who did
stay found it extremely difficult to fight with watery eyes, heaving stomachs and burning lungs. It
could thus be more effective than artillery, which had to be very accurate to do any damage to a
defensive position, or rifle fire, which required the enemy to expose himself.

The story of the gas attack has often been told - of an olive-green cloud rolling over Algerian
positions on the left of the 1st Canadian Division, of many men dead or dying of suffocation and
others running blindly to the rear. While the Canadians were not the direct target for gas attack
on that first day of the battle, many were witnesses to the initial German assaults and many felt its
residual effects. The 10th Canadian Infantry Battalion’s war diary reported the experiences of
some of its officers: "Maj. McLaren, Maj. Ormond and Capt. Glidden [the Medical Officer]
riding between Elverdinge and Brielen hear bombardment from the northeast and see shells
breaking, also cloud of peculiar colour (greyish, yellowish, greenish), darker near the ground and
lighter in colour near top." One Canadian officer, looking towards the French lines and seeing the
greenish yellow mist, thought the infantry there were firing with a different kind of powder. Such
short and confused reports announced the introduction of chemical warfare to the Western Front.

Gas was invented (and very successfully used) as a terror weapon meant to instill confusion and
panic among the enemy prior to an offensive. It was a sort of physiological weapon with the
non-lethal tearing agents inflicting as much panic as the dreaded mustard gas.

Gas was available in three basic varieties:

Lachrymator (tearing agent)

Much like today's tear gas and mace, this gas caused temporary blindness and greatly
inflamed the nose and throat of the victim. A gas mask offered very good protection from
this type of gas. xylyl bromide was a popular tearing agent since it was easily brewed.

Asphyxiant

These are the poisonous gases. This class includes chlorine, phosgene and diphosgene.
Chlorine inflicts damage by forming hydrochloric acid when coming in contact with
moisture such as found in the lungs and eyes. It is lethal at a mix of 1:5000 (gas/air)
whereas phosgene is deadly at 1:10,000 (gas/air) - twice as toxic! Diphosgene, first
used by the Germans at Verdun on 22-Jun-1916, was deadlier still and could not be
effectively filtered by standard issue gas masks.

Blistering Agent

Dichlorethylsulphide: the most dreaded of all chemical weapons in World War I -
mustard gas. Unlike the other gases which attack the respiratory system, this gas acts on
any exposed, moist skin. This includes, but is not limited to, the eyes, lungs, armpits and
groin. A gas mask could offer very little protection. The oily agent would produce large
burn-like blisters wherever it came in contact with skin. It also had a nasty way of
hanging about in low areas for hours, even days, after being dispersed. A soldier jumping
into a shell crater to seek cover could find himself blinded, with skin blistering and lungs
bleeding.

List of gases used in World War I

benzyl bromide

German, tearing, first used 1915

bromacetone

Both sides, tearing/fatal in concentration, first used 1916

carbonyl chloride (phosgene)

both sides, asphyxiant, fatal with delayed action, first used 1915

chlorine

both sides, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, first used in 1915, cylinder release only

chloromethyl chloroformate

both sides, tearing, first used in 1915, artillery shell

chloropircin

both sides, tearing, first used in 1916, artillery shell (green cross I)

cyanogen (cyanide) compounds

allies/Austria, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, first used in 1916, artillery shell

dichlormethylether

German, tearing, first used 1918, artillery shell

dibrommethylethylketone

German, tearing, fatal in concentration, first used in 1916

dichloroethylsulphide (mustard gas)

both sides, blistering, artillery shell (yellow cross)

diphenylchloroarsine

German, asphyxiant, fatal in concentration, (dust - could not be filtered), first used in
1917, artillery shell (blue cross)

diphenylcyonoarsine

German, more powerful replacement for blue cross, first used in 1918

ethyldichloroarsine

German, less powerful replacement for blue cross, first used in 1918, artillery shell
(yellow cross I, green cross III)

ethyl iodoacetate

British, tearing, first used in 1916

monobrommethylethylketone

German, more powerful replacement for bromacetone, first used 1916

trichloromethylchloroformate (diphosgene)

both sides, asphyxiant, fatal with delayed action, first used 1916

xylyl bromide

German, tearing, first used 1915



(From WWI: Trenches on the Web)

Analysis: 

See Research

Directions = Discuss how accurate Remarque's descriptions of these events are. 

1. The training camp in the novel was indeed accurate but only showed the bad
side of officers. It really depended upon which commander you got as to how
training was. He was right in that the camps taught mainly marching and drill
but not the stuff people needed to survive. 

2. His description of the poison gas attack was accurate, or if anything a bit too
simple. Gas attacks were cruel things that could maim or kill hundreds of
men. They were often use before large attacks.

Journal #2
The life of the soldiers inside the trenches were one of anticipation and anxiousness.
Some couldn't wait until they could get out of the small confinements while others were
horrified to set foot outside the door. They played games to keep themselves entertained
as much as they could but only a certain amount of time can be kept by playing games.
Food was eaten and shared with the rats and often a game of killing the rats came
about. With little room, little quietness and little awareness, life in the trenches must
have been horrible.