Most feared U.S. WWI weapon

[Bengalzona]

(11-26-2019, 12:02 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: I would have guessed chemical weapons were the most feared. Seeing a model horse wearing a WWI era chemical suit with mask on display at the Infantry Museum is one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen.

We had what was known as a 'gas regiment' in WWI and they used phosgene gas several times. But as terrible as that was, it was a pittance compared to what the Germans, British and French had already been dumping on each other for years. We had a new 'product' known as Lewisite that they had planned to unleash if the war went into 1919.

Interestingly enough the use of gas was already starting to decline in the war when the Americans arrived. It was difficult weapon to use, requiring favorable winds and weather conditions which could not always be predicted. It was supposed to create breakthroughs that could be exploited on the line. But after its initial use, the breakthroughs became more limited as defenses against gas became more common and widespread. Also the final year of the war saw the biggest breakthroughs in the line since the initial German offensive in 1914. With the troops more mobile, it became even harder still to find effective places to use chemical weapons.

A lot people claim that Hitler didn't use chemical weapons in combat in WWII because he despised it so much. That may or may not have been true. But perhaps more importantly the lines in WWII moved so rapidly, there were few places in combat where they could have been used.

But as bad as the gas warfare is and was, the shotgun was the only thing the Germans complained about. The Germans were also the first to use chemical weapons in the war, BTW.