the First Gas Attack 2
French troops with makeshift protection.
Illustrations from 'The War Illustrated'.
Left : "Every precaution is taken at the front to guard against the fiendish poison-gas. For whenever the wind is in favour of the enemy, this dastardly means of attack is resorted to. Necessity is the Mother of Invention and the British Tommy is seldom caught napping. Various devices for warning soldiers at the approach of the vapour terror are in vogue. The one illustrated in this drawing is a frequent method showing a private hammering on a tin with the hilt of his bayonet. The alarm sounded, his comrades in the trench adjust their respirators while those in the dug-out are being warned by word of mouth."
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Right :" 'Eye witness' recently wrote that the spirit of savagery animating the Germans is almost incredible. An instance is here illustrated from the official description. During the fighting north of Ypres, a captured Prussian officer - whose life had been spared by our men even in the heat of a charge and in spite of their exasperation over the use of deadly gases - while being escorted to the rear passed some British soldiers who were lying in agony on the ground fighting for breath their lungs filled with the ghastly poison fumes. The Prussian stopped, looked at them and then pointing to the postrate forms he burst into a sneering laugh and said - "What do you think of that ?"