OK now onto my specialist subject :lol: does anyone have information regarding or photos of chemical troops, defensive or offensive chemical warfare equipment or any related material?
I know that during WW2 little use was made of chemical weapons however all major participants had stocks and were equipped with defensive equipment. The subject interests me on a professional and private basis and I would welcome any material.
Not very extensive knowledge. If you see photos of German soldiers early war they have a small bag on the chest, this is the gas cape. I have heard that the reason the Germans never used nerve gas was the fear of reprisals and assumed that the Brits also had nerve gas. I think the role on the top of Brit 37small packs was the gas cape.
This has just reminded me of an anecdote from a book by a troop commander on Churchills (can’t remember the title). Basically he thought he would do the crew a good tern by doing he dhoby. End result, all grots came out brown. Oh how can I get them back to white, I known we have bleach slurry in the gas decontamination box. Add bleach to pot, add brown grots, boil, end result, hot water and some buttons. Guess who was flavour of the month.
Now not a lot of people know this but the British did develope a nerve agent of sorts during the war Diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) and were just short of industrial scale production. This project died after the war when the German work was discovered. During the war we tended to lay a lot of faith in biological warfare, especially Anthrax, the open threat of the use of which was the main counter to the possibility of German use of chemical weapons IIRC.
Oh reference the bleach slurry, I’ve ruined a couple of lab coats and jeans with that stuff in the past :lol:
During WW2 the British Government thought that some poison gas would hit Britain, and so they issued one to everyone living in Britain. 38 million were issued.
Childrens’ gas mask had their masks look like mickey mouse. 
There were also gas masks for babies.
There were monthly inspections to make sure everyone had their gas masks, if they lost it, they had to pay for a new one.
"I remain far from satisfied with the state of our preparations for offensive chemical warfare, should this be forced upon us by the actions of the enemy.
I have before me a report on this matter by the Inter-Service Committee on Chemical Warfare, together with a commentary thereon by the Ministry of Supply. From these two documents the following special points emerge:
(1) The deficiency of gas shell is still serious. Although the production of 6-inch and 5.5-inch gas shell was due to start in February, none has yet been produced. I understand that the shortage of 25-pounder gas-filled shell is due to the lack of empty shell cases.
(2) The production of 30-lb. L.C. bomb, Mark I, will not keep pace with the production of the 5-inch U.P. weapon, the new mobile projector for use with the Army. Indeed, supplies will be insufficient even for training purposes.
(3) The production of phosgene gas is inadequate. The output from the plant is now about 65 per cent of capacity, having previously been only 50 per cent over a period of some months. I propose to examine the whole position at an early meeting of the Defence Committee (Supply).
In order that this examination may be as complete as possible, I shall be glad to receive from the Minister of Aircraft Production and the Minister of Supply, for circulation in advance of the meeting, brief comprehensive statements of the position so far as each is concerned, showing in respect of each of the main gas weapons and components (including gases):
(1) Total requirements notified to them, with dates.
(2) Stocks of components in the custody of each on April 1st.
(3) Supplies delivered by April to R.A.F. or Army authorities.
(4) Estimated output during each of the next six months.
I shall be glad if these statements can be submitted within a week. They should be addressed to Sir Edward Bridges."
Well the US certainly took stockpiles of their chemicals around with them, you just have to look at the accident in Naples in 43:
http://www.mitretek.org/home.nsf/homelandsecurity/OceanDumpChemWeap
Still affects the bay to this time as well.
Firefly, is that BATUS I can see in the US picture
This has just reminded me of an anecdote from a book by a troop commander on Churchills (can’t remember the title). Basically he thought he would do the crew a good tern by doing he dhoby. End result, all grots came out brown. Oh how can I get them back to white, I known we have bleach slurry in the gas decontamination box. Add bleach to pot, add brown grots, boil, end result, hot water and some buttons. Guess who was flavour of the month.
The book was “Mailed Fist-Tank attack” by Major John Foley. The title seems to have been somewhat tongue in cheek, as it seemed to be more about day to day life and squaddy humour than gung-ho warriness! I got a copy from a second hand bookshop when I was about 10 or 11 and re-read it constantly until I lost it in a house move a few years later. 
Spike Milligans War memoirs are in a vaguely similiar vein, although much funnier, if anyone fancies a good giggle.
What is BATUS?
What is BATUS?[/quote]
:lol: i wanted to ask the same question :lol:
British Army Training Unit Suffield, a large training area in Alberta, Canada. As any use of Google would have told you :roll:
Then I guess it must be then as the red dot is in alberta, sorry about that. Do you drive the fox then? JNBC? Hopefully your not an Er… ChemWalt?
I am sorry I am assuming others understood the abbreviations.
In BATUS there is a large area that is fenced off with chemical warning signs (a little scary the first time you see it and it is for real). They to fired Chemical weapons into the area and it is still contaminated. I was not aware that they dumped stuff there. It was also setup for nuc testing but I do not know if they detonated one. It’s a little close to Medhat.
Thinking back to pictures I can see Brits with respirators in early years but by 44 they seem to have gone. I can not remember ever seeing a US soldier with one.
Is this because by 44 the threat of gas was considered very low?
I have met a couple of the people that are involved in clearing the area at BATUS it was indeed as you say used for the testing of chemical munitions as far as the nuclear side of things goes that’s new to me (but I am not dismissing it entirely). Although when compared with other sites the contamination at BATUS is extremely low, Munsterlager in Germany for those who know it was during the 1st and 2nd WW the largest production, filling and testing area for chemical weapons in Europe and the contamination there is significant, the area is still used as a training area with only small “Red Areas” fenced off.
Bari harbour was certainly the most severe “incident” in Europe during the 2ndWW involving chemical agents (I say incident as the agent release was the unfortunate "by product"of the German attack). The only other event in Europe that I can recall is the “alleged” use of Mustard filled mines by Polish troops to mine a bridge in front of advancing German troops at the start of the war (I cant find exact references at the moment). Japanese troops however made use of certain agents especially on the Chinese mainland, the main agent used being diphenylcyanoarsine (Clark 2) an arsenical "vomitting agent. The Japanese may also have use HL a mustard/lewisite mix but as of yet I haven’t seen any reliable sources that back this up.
There was also a great interest amongst the Japanese military for biological agents.
Edited to add: To bring a of relativity to this post the use of Clark 2 by the Japanese may be compared to the use of large amounts of CS by the US army in Vietnam and also the use of Adamsite or Adamsite/CN mixes as a riot control agent within the USA in the past.
If you look at BATUS you will see that the tracks are circular and set at 2.5 mile radius going to the 10 mile circle, so giving a total diameter of 20 miles. The centre was just north of Jadex junction Gr055938. I can not say if they did explode a nuc or not but it would seem that it was setup for a test. Thinking about it may have been an underground test?
In 1944 the British Army introduced a new respirator, which was much smaller than the old one, which was carried in front of the chest and had an external filter canister connected to the mask by a rubber hose. The new lightweight one looks quite similar to the modern British Army ones, with a small filter canister fixed to the left side of the mask. The bag was then usually worn attached to the back of the waist belt.
Up to the end of WW2, it was standing order in the British Forces for a soldier on leave to always carry his respirator and helmet with him.
AFAIK, there were plans to saturate the landing beaches with chemical weapons in case the Germans made an invasion on British soil.
Jan
Zyklon B. Although not used in warfare. You could say used in the war against the Jews/other people the 3rd Reich didnt like(Soviets POW). Ironically enought it was a pesticide. :shock: :roll:
You can’t class Zyklon B as a chemical agent being as it was initially a pest control system (used for fumigation by releasing Hydrogen cyanide in a controlled way). This does not however exclude cyanide from being used in chemical warfare. It is not purely the toxicological properties of a substance that make it a chemical agent as these properties have to be combined with many other factors, method of delivery, storage stability, persistence etc etc.
It must not be forgotten that many “chemical agents” have perfectly legitimate peaceful uses eg Nitrogen mustard : was used as one of the early methods of chemotherapy for certain cancers; Phosgene: has many uses in the chemical industry as does hydrogen cyanide (the pest control fumigation application is still applicable). This is one of the reasons that the CWC (Chemical Weapons Convention) can be difficult to police see
for background information.