British Army Chemcial Warfare 1914-1918

[Richard Lindquist]

In WWI, the Brits suffered the first gas attacks then went into a massive effort to launch chemical attacks of their own. Some things to wonder about:

 

1. The Brits stuck to release of gas from cylinders longer than the French or Germans.

 

2. The Brits decided on the Livens Projector as their primary chemical weapon while the French and Germans opted more for the projectile-delivered gas attack.

 

 

[Markus Becker]

1. The wind usually blew from the British to the German lines.

 

2. AFAIK it was cheap. It could be made w/o reducing HE shell production. I'm not an expert on the UK in WW1 but I recall that artillery ammo was in short supply at some time of the war.

[Chris Werb]

3. It could deliver massive volumes of gas on target rapidly prior to the advent or MRLs.