Poison Gas
The effects of poison gas on people were not pretty so I'm not going to show you any pictures. If you can read, check out the info below.
Poison gas was the most terrible weapon used in WWI. It was responsible for a horrific number of deaths. Poison gases inflicted not only physical, but also mental injuries. Can you imagine being caught in a cloud of gas that you knew would kill you the instant you took a breath?
The French were the first to experiment with poison gas. They filled grenades with a gas that made people cry. A soldier would launch that grenade at an opposing Army. When the grenade hit something and exploded, the “crying gas” was released. Neither the gas, nor the grenades used to spread the gas were very effective on the battlefield.
The Germans were ahead of everybody in the race to develop an effective poison gas attack. They were the first to design and develop an artillery shell to deliver a deadly gas. The artillery shell filled with gas could be launched from far away. This kept friendly troops from being exposed. Plus the shells could be aimed to hit behind, directly at, or on either side of an opposing trench. This gave the Germans a decisive edge over the Allies, who had to wait for the wind to blow in the right direction before launching a gas attack.
The term “mustard gas” was given to a particularly toxic type of gas invented by the Germans. Mustard gas was actually a vapor that caused huge blisters to develop on people who were exposed. Mustard gas could linger for up to a week in areas that it had been used in.