Hi I’m Kevin Hicks and welcome to my channel the History Squad. Now the subject of today's film
video if you like is the use of poison gas during the First World War and the different
styles of gas masks I’ve got a collection of of uh replica gas masks that I’m going to show you
but if we go back a little bit I’ve already done a little film about this the first
gas attack uh 22nd of April 1915 second battle of Ypres. It was horrendous what happened
and even German soldiers couldn't believe how bad it was but once it had been released I can't
understand why they didn't think of this then the enemy of Germany's gonna do the same thing
and the British did it at the battle of Loos in in September 1915 but what the Germans did first
was they installed the gas canisters in their trenches and waited for their meteorologists to
tell them the weather is perfect the wind will be in the right direction we've been studying
it so the British battle of lose we install the chemicals we're ready with these great big
canisters of this terrible gas and the meteorologist saying if the wind's going to change
and our high command ignore them and we let the gas go forward and our troops with very
rudimentary gas masks charge the Germans and the gas comes back on us the battle lose was desperate
so let me show you let me go through some of these um gas masks for you right first gas was just
chlorine yeah like a I suppose kind of a bleach it affects your eyes your nose mucous membranes
if you get it down into your lungs then it's going to be fatal but it's not a quick death yeah
but as the war went on you had phosgene gas and then mustard gas the famous one must have gas
is the one because it smelled like a mustardy smell and it also had that yellow brown color
as it as it came over but hey this this gas right. Fritz Haber, yeah he was a scientist in Germany he
was designing inventing this gas this poisen and gas yeah but his wife Clara, she was a scientist.
Now think back 1914, 1915 she was a scientist in her own right yeah. She confronted her husband, so
the story goes and you can research this yourself, about what was he doing with his poison gas
and they had a row about it now I read one account which says Fritz just simply turned on her and
said, ‘I have no allegiance to mankind anymore. As as a scientist my allegiance is to the fatherland
and the Kaiser.’ Heard that kind of thing before and Clara commits suicide shoots herself with her
husband's service revolver. I like to think of this woman, who was highly intelligent, a woman
well ahead of her time making a stand against what her husband was doing. So let me show you,
let me go through some of these gas masks for you. Right so the first defense, urinate on a sock.
Tie the sock over your nose and mouth.
Can you imagine trying to do that when people are shooting at you? When your eyes are streaming?
Not only that, can you imagine if you just had a pee
then you had no urine do you go and ask your friend to pee on your sock for you please
yeah. Joking aside, that was the first chance. So a British chemist Mr Haldane uh came up with
this inside it's a gauze pad and then there's a layer of linen on either side
sodium thiosulfate I think that's how you pronounce it it's soaked in it tie it up
yeah to protect your eyes there's a couple of versions welding goggles which is fine
unless it's an explosion and the glass goes through your eyes also
the old guys at home who were welding making ships and things they needed these there was
always these knee-jerk reactions so while old ladies and, and people in the UK are actually
making these in their front room there was a knee-jerk reaction and they sent these
soaked in that sodium thiosulfate stuff anyway whatever it's called.
This is a lady sanitary towel, this is how desperate we were and of course you can't
just empty the country of these, the ladies need them bless them. So we're catching up, the pad
and a proper eye shield and this is quite something
this is the first use of mica a form of plastic one of the problems is it turned I think
green with mustard gas touching it and it became very brittle but this this is emergency
right so as the gas gets stronger you've got that chlorine and you've got Phosgene
coming up they've got to really treat this seriously so I’m going to take my hats off now
so we have the hypo hood officially called the smoke helmet but I wanted to show you how it's
actually contained you have a nice linen bag metal buttons which are really easy to undo
but it's what's inside as you open your bag the lid has got your hood
inside as you pull your hood out it's supposed to unroll like this now it's contained in a
waterproof bag inside because this is soaked in sodium hyposulfate right now let's put it on.
This one isn't by the way, this is a replica so you put this on
you tuck it in
problem is this there is no valve so you're breathing in and out of this also this
mica because it's such a large piece here to see through it often cracked
so all right it's, it's the first honest attempt but let me show you this now
the PH hood I haven't got this in the bag this is an excellent reproduction yeah
and it is double lined so hopefully the outside is soaked the inside is dry it also has a valve
that you breathe in and out so not bad not bad so you put it on then have a listen
close it all up you can see yeah now have a listen to this
if you're out of breath and you're breathing deep
this vibrates so in the night time if there's a gas about the enemy can hear you but this is a
good attempt yeah except for one problem when it dries out you've got to have it
dipped again in the hyposulfate yeah did you hear that sodium hyposulfate oh you've got it
yeah so you would after you come back from the front line uh excuse me sarge it's uh it's drying
out can I have a a bucket no you can't dip it in yourself join the queue hand yours in
get a new one soaked but actually it's not a new hood the guy ate down actually handed it in
so all he snot and spit he's actually in this but don't forget we're talking over 100 years ago
infection war hell wasn't it but as the old gas gets stronger the mustard gas the terrible stuff
They had to come up with a genuine respirator and I’ve got a copy of
what's called a box respirator here. These were out in 1916 but not come 1917 everybody got one
So it's worn there it has a filter and I’ll show you this in a moment,
but when you get this out it should be inside out and it has a clasp for your nose and like a
small a snorkel there so somebody's clanging gas gas gas don't stand there going gas gas gas put
your respirator on first otherwise you're going to do that thing called dying yeah so you put it on
This is so successful that the Germans come up with an idea. Let's have another gas,
one that when you send it they can't see it smell it or anything it's not poisonous gas
in the true words it's actually a vomit gas, and as soon as you've released the
vomit gas give it a few minutes to permeate amongst the British yeah and then release
the mustard gas they can see it they will panic they will put on their gas masks.
But one thing though, great isn't it, the vomit gas takes effect and you will start
to puke up your guts but you can't take off your respirator if you do you'll be gassed so
they put in extra pockets at the side so you can wretch away and fill up your respirator
he won't harm you yeah this is a horrible subject isn't it but I want to show you this.
This is the filter these had um asbestos in them now it's broken down into dust first second war
respirators, don't touch them, don't put them on. Do you know in 1925 there was a treaty signed by
many of the countries around the world prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons
but you get to the second world war and look at the siege of Warsaw yeah the Warsaw uprising
the Nazis used poison gas down in the cellars I understand the Japanese in the second world
war some use some forms of this and then the Vietnam war and then you come to Syria and
what has happened in Iraq in recent years poison gas is still being used still being manufactured
and that kind of does my head in yeah. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed our film if
that's the kind of word you can use, perhaps you've found it interesting and if you have,
do me a favor thumbs up and join in the comments. If you've got a point of view on this then let's
get it in in the comments because I love the forums that I’ve got going they are really great
um and if you're a subscriber hey thanks a bunch yeah and if you're not a subscriber then
press the subscribe button and ding that bell yeah. Dinging the bell was one of
the warnings for gas gas gas gas. Thank you very much for your time.