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WW I Gas Attack
Hi All,
While I was building the dioramas for my recently concluded Great War thread which appeared in this sub-forum, I also built this Pellerin model titled, “Les Gaz Asphyxiants,” or, “The Asphyxiating Gas.” I didn’t include this model in my thread because it didn’t fit the premise of the care and feeding of soldiers away from the battlefield. But this orphaned diorama is worth a look, so I present it here today.
The model purports to show the first widespread use of chlorine gas in World War I. In the early evening of April 22, 1915, the Germans let loose over 150 tons of chlorine gas against French ground forces during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium. As seen in the diorama, the French were woefully unprepared for such an attack as all they could do to protect themselves was to cover their mouths with wads of cloth. No effective gas masks were available at the time, and the soldiers needed to improvise as best they could. It was quickly discovered that if the masks were soaked in ammonia they became more effective, so upon hearing the first alarm, the soldiers would quickly urinate into their masks before securing them to their faces.
The sarcastic subtitle of the diorama translates as, “German Initiative in the Process of War!” Sadly, the use of poison gas increased throughout the conflict, with the Germans leading the way in development and use. Nobel Prize winning chemist Fritz Haber was instrumental in the advancement of gas as a deadly weapon, and those interested in the history of modern chemical warfare often begin by researching the varied career of Doktor Haber.
The diorama shows the alarm being sounded by a soldier banging on a large metal basin and another sounding a blast from his trumpet. With bayonets fixed, the Poilus are preparing for the German infantry attack that will surely come after the gas dissipates. But first they must outlast the dastardly gas attack by any means possible.
From its beginning on August 1st, 1914 to the Armistice on November 11th, 1918, the Great War lasted 1564 days. The introduction of massed gas attacks was but one of the terrors let loose on the world during what has become known as the first modern war. Even though sporadic poison gas attacks have been used by decrepit governments and maniacal terrorists over the years, nothing like the vast attacks witnessed on the battlefields of Europe have been seen for nearly a century. Thankfully, the use of chemical weapons by great nations has become too terrible to contemplate.
Score and fold,
Thumb Dog
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