The M2 gas mask was a French-made gas mask used by French, British and American forces from April 1916 to August 1918 during World War I. [1] The M2 was fabricated in large quantities, with about 29,300,000 being made during the war. [2] It was intended to protect the wearer from at least five hours' exposure to phosgene gas, a common chemical weapon of the time. [3]
The M2 mask was based on a design proposed in 1915 by René Louis Gravereaux of Paris. An order of 600,000 masks was produced in February 1916 and introduced for British forces the following month. The first M2 model was produced in only one size and often incurred damage when it was folded for placement in a metal container. A second model introduced in April 1916 was produced in three different sizes and included two separate eyepieces, so folding it would not cause damage. British forces were issued 6.2 million units of the second model between May and November 1916 and used it as late as August 1918. [4]
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it was unprepared for chemical warfare. The US Army issued its soldiers the British-made Small Box Respirator to protect against chemical attack, and the French-made M2 gas mask in case a mask had to be worn for an extended period of time. The untrained soldiers tended to put on the Small Box Respirator when first confronted with a gas attack and then switch to the M2 when they realized they would have to wear it for a long time. While switching gear, some soldiers inhaled the poison gas and became casualties. [5] [6]
In contrast with gas masks made later in the war, the M2 did not have a special filter that fit onto the mask. Instead, it was made of one piece of material which covered the face completely. During 1917, an additional mask strap was produced, intended to be worn around the head of the wearer. [4]
The first model of the M2 mask was introduced during March 1916 and had a rectangular piece of cellophane glass for viewing, protected by a piece of glass in front of it. In April, the rectangle was replaced by two round pieces of cellophane glass due to problems on the earlier model, which could not be cleaned without removing the glass. These two glasses were held in place by a metal ring on each eyehole, with 12 dents in each so as to better hold the glass on the mask. [4]
The M2 protected the wearer for at least five hours against the common World War I chemical weapon phosgene. [3] After a while, condensation in the mask built up, which severely encumbered the wearer, requiring the mask to be taken off. [2]
A gas mask is an item of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas masks are also respirators, though the word gas mask is often used to refer to military equipment, the scope used in this article. The gas mask only protects the user from digesting, inhaling, and contact through the eyes. Most combined gas mask filters will last around 8 hours in a biological or chemical situation. Filters against specific chemical agents can last up to 20 hours.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemical, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. Protective clothing is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and protective gear applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others. PPE suits can be similar in appearance to a cleanroom suit.
The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large-scale use of chemical weapons was during World War I. They were primarily used to demoralize, injure, and kill entrenched defenders, against whom the indiscriminate and generally very slow-moving or static nature of gas clouds would be most effective. The types of weapons employed ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas, to lethal agents like phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. The killing capacity of gas was limited, with about 90,000 fatalities from a total of 1.3 million casualties caused by gas attacks. Gas was unlike most other weapons of the period because it was possible to develop countermeasures, such as gas masks. In the later stages of the war, as the use of gas increased, its overall effectiveness diminished. The widespread use of these agents of chemical warfare, and wartime advances in the composition of high explosives, gave rise to an occasionally expressed view of World War I as "the chemist's war" and also the era where weapons of mass destruction were created.
Technology during World War I (1914–1918) reflected a trend toward industrialism and the application of mass-production methods to weapons and to the technology of warfare in general. This trend began at least fifty years prior to World War I during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, and continued through many smaller conflicts in which soldiers and strategists tested new weapons.
Diphosgene is an organic chemical compound with the formula ClCO2CCl3. This colorless liquid is a valuable reagent in the synthesis of organic compounds. Diphosgene is related to phosgene and has comparable toxicity, but is more conveniently handled because it is a liquid, whereas phosgene is a gas.
During the First World War, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915 for control of the tactically important high ground to the east and south of the Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the previous autumn. The Second Battle of Ypres was the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front.
A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of respirators: the air-purifying respirator, in which respirable air is obtained by filtering a contaminated atmosphere, and the air-supplied respirator, in which an alternate supply of breathable air is delivered. Within each category, different techniques are employed to reduce or eliminate noxious airborne contaminants.
A hazmat suit is a piece of personal protective equipment that consists of an impermeable whole-body garment worn as protection against hazardous materials.
Colonel Cluny Macpherson was a physician and the inventor of an early gas mask. After World War I he served as the president of the St. John's Clinical Society and the Newfoundland Medical Association.
The P helmet, PH helmet and PHG helmet were early types of gas mask issued by the British Army in the First World War, to protect troops against chlorine, phosgene and tear gases. Rather than having a separate filter for removing the toxic chemicals, they consisted of a gas-permeable hood worn over the head which was treated with chemicals.
The Gas Attacks at Hulluch were two German cloud gas attacks on British troops during World War I, from 27 to 29 April 1916, near the village of Hulluch, 1 mi (1.6 km) north of Loos in northern France. The gas attacks were part of an engagement between divisions of the II Royal Bavarian Corps and divisions of the British I Corps.
The Livens Projector was a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with flammable or toxic chemicals.
The Hypo helmet, or British Smoke Hood, was an early British World War I gas mask, designed by Cluny Macpherson.
The British Army used a variety of standardized battle uniforms and weapons during World War I. According to the British official historian Brigadier James E. Edmonds writing in 1925, "The British Army of 1914 was the best trained best equipped and best organized British Army ever sent to war". The value of drab clothing was quickly recognised by the British Army, who introduced Khaki drill for Indian and colonial warfare from the mid-19th century on. As part of a series of reforms following the Second Boer War, a darker khaki serge was adopted in 1902, for service dress in Britain itself. The British military authorities showed more foresight than their French counterparts, who retained highly visible blue coats and red trousers for active service until the final units received a new uniform over a year into World War I. The soldier was issued with the 1908 Pattern Webbing for carrying personal equipment, and he was armed with the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield rifle.
The M17 Protective Mask is a series of gas masks that were designed and produced in 1959 to provide protection from all types of known chemical and biological agents present. The M-17 was issued to troops in the Vietnam War, and was standard issue for the U.S. Military until it was replaced by the M40 Field Protective Mask for the U.S. Army and USMC in the mid 1990s while the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy replaced it for the MCU-2/P Gas Mask in the mid-1980s.
The German phosgene attack of 19 December 1915 was the first use of phosgene gas against British troops by the German army. The gas attack took place at Wieltje, north-east of Ypres in Belgian Flanders on the Western Front in the First World War. German gas attacks on Allied troops had begun on 22 April 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres using chlorine against French and Canadian units. The surprise led to the capture of much of the Ypres Salient, after which the effectiveness of gas as a weapon diminished, because the French and British introduced anti-gas measures and protective helmets. The German Nernst-Duisberg-Commission investigated the feasibility of adding the much more lethal phosgene to chlorine. Mixed chlorine and phosgene gas was used at the end of May 1915 against French troops and on Russian troops on the Eastern Front.
The Gas attacks at Wulverghem were German cloud gas releases during the First World War on British troops at Wulverghem in the municipality of Heuvelland, near Ypres in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The gas attacks were part of the sporadic fighting between battles in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. The British Second Army held the ground from Messines Ridge northwards to Steenstraat and the divisions opposite the German XXIII Reserve Corps had received warnings of a gas attack. From 21 to 23 April, British artillery-fire exploded several gas cylinders in the German lines around Spanbroekmolen, which released greenish-yellow clouds. A gas alert was given on 25 April when the wind began to blow from the north-east and routine work was suspended; on 29 April, two German soldiers deserted and warned that an attack was imminent. Just after midnight on 30 April, the German attack began and over no man's land, a gas cloud drifted on the wind into the British defences, then south-west towards Bailleul.
The Black Veil Respirator was an early British gas mask designed by John Scott Haldane and introduced in May 1915.
Chemical weapons have been a part of warfare in most societies for centuries. However, their usage has been extremely controversial since the 20th century.
The Small Box Respirator (SBC) was a British gas mask of the First World War and a successor to the Large Box Respirator. In late 1916, the respirator was introduced by the British with the to provide reliable protection against chlorine and phosgene gases. The respirator offered a first line of defence against these. The use of mustard gas, was begun by the Germans; a vesicant ("blister agent") that burnt the skin of individuals that were exposed to it. Death rates were high with exposure to both the mixed phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas, however with soldiers having readily available access to the small box respirator, death rates had lowered significantly. Light and reasonably fitting, the respirator was a key piece of equipment to protect soldiers on the battlefield.
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