What is better plunger or "chemical weapon"

“Why didn’t Hitler use chemical weapons, isn’t it so terrible?”

First, the chemical weapons of the WWII era were very difficult to use effectively. It is necessary each time to carefully consider the direction and strength of the wind, the air temperature, the season, the nature of the terrain - a forest, a city or an open field ...

Secondly, conventional shells, mines and bombs proved to be much more reliable and deadly.

Millions of people died in the First World War. But only a few thousand from combat gases by country.

Among the total losses - losses from gases (highlighted in yellow) are by no means in the first place

In the American army, only two hundred and six people died from gases directly on the battlefield. A little more than a thousand are in hospitals. And this despite the fact that the Americans were at the peak of the use of military gases.

According to post-war estimates, in general, about four percent of the soldiers struck by gases died (in the US army - two percent), and one in four of those struck by conventional weapons, from shrapnel to bayonets, died.

Thirdly, it is necessary not only to defeat the enemy, but also to protect our troops and civilians. And with rubber for gas masks, Germany had a bad time back in the First World War. With Allied air dominance, retaliatory strikes were inevitable - and would have inflicted much more damage on the Reich. And the allies had chemical weapons at the ready.

Cleaning onions in gas masks, Tobruk, 1941

Therefore, most horror stories about the use of poisonous substances in World War II are just rumors or random incidents. Simple land mines, flamethrowers and smoke bombs were much more effective. Only the Japanese against the practically defenseless Chinese were reliably noted with military gases.

“But the imyarek inhumanly poisoned his people with terrible gases!”

The First World War proved that chemical weapons are mass.

Only in the movies can a killer effect be achieved with a single bottle of green gas inside.

In reality, already in 1917, when the chemical war had not yet reached its peak, the Germans fired over a million shells with 2,500 tons of mustard gas inside in just ten days. And they didn't win.

And in local wars, this conclusion was fully confirmed.

On the same topic Fritz Haber: how the Nobel laureate promoted chemical weapons

British gas bombs in northern Russia blew the morale of the Red soldiers, but did not kill them. In turn, the Red troops were preparing to pour poison over the fortifications of the Whites on Perekop and the forests with the Tambov rebels.

But while in the devastation of the Civil War they were looking for cylinders and shells with gases, in both cases they won with conventional weapons earlier. Chemistry was not used at Perekop at all. In the Tambov forests, where the defeated rebel detachments were hiding, the Reds were able to fire a maximum of fifty shells at a time. Even the traces that at least someone was covered were not left in the documents of the units.

The dropping of single bombs with mustard gas on the highlanders of Morocco was just for chickens to laugh at. The Italians in Ethiopia were also dissatisfied with chemical bombs - in contrast to pouring devices.

Therefore, you should not believe the sensations "of the press, which somewhere found another suspicious cylinder or an old order from the time of the Civil War in Russia.

“There is no defense against chemical weapons, we will all die!”

Against! Protecting yourself from gases is much easier than from bullets and shells.

On the same topic, Osovets: how did Russian soldiers defend themselves from a gas attack?

In order for a soldier of the First World War not to be killed by heavy artillery, at least a strong dugout with multilayer protection from logs, bags of earth, rails, concrete and other things was required. Plus a good disguise.

Protection against bullets is still being improved - and new bullets constantly reset old bulletproof vests.

And the first protection against gases - tiny pads of cotton wool with a solution of sodium hyposulfite - appeared in the Allied forces a few days after the famous April attack. Even without special protection, the soldiers in the clouds of chlorine wrapped their faces in a wet overcoat, a shirt soaked in urine, they breathed through hay or even the ground.It turned out that ordinary bonfires perfectly clean the trenches from chlorine residues.

Gas masks soon began to be made, for example, designs by the Russian chemist Zelinsky and technologist Kummant.

Soldiers in Zelinsky gas masks On the same topic Scientists at war: Nobel laureate Victor Grignard and phosgene

Despite the emergence of new combat gases - phosgene and mustard gas - to protect against them, a cape was enough to get out of the dugout or just an additional cartridge for the gas mask filter. From tear gases, the impregnation of a soldier's mask with castor oil and alcohol helped. Even from super-poisonous hydrocyanic acid, they found protection - nickel salts.

And between the world wars, and after them, many volunteers exposed themselves to the effects of toxic substances. The world was seriously preparing for chemical warfare.

The reports of both Soviet and non-Soviet units regularly contain lines like: The doctor covered himself with a cape and sat down with his back to the wind, he was poured with mustard gas, then the doctor got up - no skin lesions were found.

Therefore, now for most poisonous substances - in addition to gas masks, protective suits and pressurized vehicles - there are also effective antidotes.

"Attack of the Dead"

On August 6, 1915, the Germans used poisonous substances, which were compounds of chlorine and bromine, against the defenders of the Russian fortress Osovets. This case went down in history under the name "attack of the dead".

The defense of the Osovets fortress, located 50 km from Bialystok (the territory of modern Poland), lasted almost a year. German troops organized three assaults, during the last they launched a gas attack.The very name "attack of the dead" was given to the counter-offensive, which was launched by the dying soldiers of the 13th company of the 226th Zemlyansky regiment of the Russian army, struck by gas. The defenders of the fortress did not have gas masks.

For a long time, this story was the subject of controversy. Some insisted on its complete authenticity, others, on the contrary, argued that this attack was entirely the fruit of an invention of propagandists.

The attack is a historical fact, but sometimes it is described too picturesquely: the soldiers coughed up their lungs, ran shouting "Hurrah!" Shout "hurrah!" with damaged lungs is impossible. But we must understand: everyone in the fortress experienced gas poisoning, although of varying degrees of intensity. The first line of trenches suffered the most, almost everyone died there, the 13th company was on the second line, but the fact remains: the company was subject to a gas attack, nevertheless counterattacked and completed its combat mission

As historians noted, the gas wave, which had about 3 km along the front when released, spread so quickly that, having traveled 10 km, it had already reached about 8 km width. All greenery in the fortress and in the immediate area was destroyed. All copper objects - parts of guns and shells, tanks, etc. - were covered with a thick green layer of chlorine oxide, and all products were poisoned.

The ruins of the Osovets fortress, 1915

Wikimedia Commons

After this attack, the German units went on the offensive (about 7 thousand infantrymen), believing that the garrison of the fortress was dead. However, when they approached the forward fortifications of the fortress, the remaining defenders of the 13th company rose to meet them in a counterattack - about 60 people, who at the same time had a terrifying appearance.This terrified the German units and put them to flight.

At the end of 1915, the Germans tested a new achievement on the Italians - phosgene gas, which causes irreversible changes in the mucous membranes of the human body. In total, the warring countries spent more than 125 thousand tons of toxic substances during the First World War, and the number of soldiers who died from poisoning reached a million people, that is, every 13th dead was killed by chemical weapons.

The main poisonous substances

Sarin. Sarin was discovered in 1937. The discovery of sarin happened by accident - German chemist Gerhard Schrader was trying to create a stronger chemical against pests in agriculture. Sarin is a liquid. Acts on the nervous system.

Soman. Soman was discovered by Richard Kunn in 1944. Very similar to sarin, but more poisonous - two and a half times more than sarin.

After the Second World War, the research and production of chemical weapons by the Germans became known. All research classified as "secret" became known to the allies.

VX. In 1955, VX was opened in England. The most poisonous chemical weapon created artificially.

At the first signs of poisoning, you need to act quickly, otherwise death will occur in about a quarter of an hour. Protective equipment is a gas mask, OZK (combined arms protective kit).

VR. Developed in 1964 in the USSR, it is an analogue of the VX.

In addition to highly toxic gases, gases were also produced to disperse crowds of rioters. These are tear and pepper gases.

In the second half of the twentieth century, more precisely from the beginning of 1960 to the end of the 1970s, there was a flourishing of discoveries and developments of chemical weapons. During this period, gases began to be invented that had a short-term effect on the human psyche.

“So, chemical weapons are a paper tiger? But what about the bans?

Not always. With skillful and mass application, combat gases were very effective. For example, at the end of World War I, irritating gases quickly and successfully suppressed enemy artillery. Guns were still often transported by horse-drawn vehicles, and horses were much more difficult to protect - not to mention the fact that a horse in a gas mask carried guns. Yes, and tossing shells in a gas mask is difficult, plus the target is not visible. That is, the enemy did not have to be killed - it was enough to prevent him from fighting.

German cavalry in gas masks

At the same time, in a war, you can kill for kilometers - with the help of artillery. You can shoot at the enemy with machine guns. You can crush tanks or bomb from the air.

Because no one could ban a truly effective weapon. The arms race is held back not so much by the paperwork of treaties as by the fear of a retaliatory strike.

Tear gas in peaceful Paris

It is curious that the 1993 UN Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons specifically singles out a chemical riot control agent. It does not kill or cause permanent harm to health - therefore the police use it, but in war such things cannot be used.

That is, it is possible to poison protesters with gases - if only not in a war.

Investigation into the Syrian tragedy

Photos of the victims of a chemical attack are replete with the entire Internet. Here and there, there are video interviews of Syrians talking about the brutal Bashar al-Assad and his regime. Naturally, in connection with all the accusations thrown to official Damascus, it became necessary to conduct an independent investigation into the chemical attack.

However, it is difficult to prove one's case when people do not want to see the obvious.For example, attentive Internet users noticed inconsistencies in the videos of the attack with the statement about the time of the attack. It is also not clear where the photo of nine dead children in the back of a truck came from on the eve of the alleged attack. All this requires careful study and verification, because it is not known whether the spraying of toxic substances was deliberate, or is it still a tragic accident that claimed several dozen lives of innocent people.

Types of chemical weapons

• the nature of the physiological effects of toxic substances on the human body
• tactical purpose
• the speed of the coming impact
• resistance of the poison used
• means and methods of application

Chemical weapons by the nature of the effect of a poisonous substance on the human body

• Poison nerve agentsthat affect the nervous system. These are the most dangerous toxic substances. They affect the body through the respiratory system, the skin (in the vaporous and drip-liquid state), as well as when they enter the gastrointestinal tract along with food and water (that is, they have a multilateral damaging effect).Their resistance in summer is more than a day, in winter - several weeks and even months; an insignificant amount of them is enough to injure a person. These substances are colorless or slightly yellowish liquids that are easily absorbed into the skin, collect and spread over the surface in various paint and varnish coatings, rubber products and other materials, easily collect on tissues. - paralytic effect is the rapid and massive withdrawal of personnel from the system with the greatest possible number of deaths. The toxic substances of this group include sarin, soman, tabun, Novichok and V-gases.
• Poisonous substances of blistering action, causing damage mainly through the skin, and when applied in the form of aerosols and vapors - also through the respiratory system. It is also possible to get into the digestive organs with food and water. The main toxic substances are mustard gas and lewisite.
• Poisonous substances of general poisonous action, which disrupt the activity of many organs and tissues, primarily the circulatory and nervous systems. It is one of the fastest acting poisons. These include hydrocyanic acid and cyanogen chloride.
• Asphyxiating poisonous substancesaffecting mainly the lungs. The main poisonous substances are phosgene and diphosgene.
• Poisonous substances of psychochemical action, capable of temporarily incapacitating the enemy's manpower. These toxic substances, acting on the central nervous system, disrupt the normal mental activity of a person or cause such disorders as temporary blindness, deafness, a sense of fear, and limitation of motor functions.Poisoning with these substances in doses that cause mental disorders does not lead to death. Poisonous substances from this group are quinuclidyl-3-benzilate (BZ) and lysergic acid diethylamide.
• Irritant poisonous substances, or irritants (from the English irritant - an irritating substance). Irritants are fast-acting. At the same time, their effect, as a rule, is short-term, since after leaving the infected zone, the signs of poisoning disappear after 1-10 minutes. A lethal effect from irritants is possible only when doses enter the body that are tens to hundreds of times higher than the minimum and optimally acting doses. Irritant poisonous substances include lachrymal substances that cause profuse lacrimation, and sneezing, irritating the respiratory tract (may also affect the nervous system and cause skin lesions). Lachrymators - CS, CN (chloroacetophenone) and PS (chloropicrin). The sneezing substances (sternites) are DM (adamsite), DA (diphenylchlorarsine) and DC (diphenylcyanarsine). There are poisonous substances that combine tear and sneezing effects. Irritant poisonous substances are in service with the police in many countries and are therefore classified as police or non-lethal special means (special means).

Tactical chemical weapons

• unstable (phosgene, hydrocyanic acid);
• persistent (mustard gas, lewisite, VX);
• poisonous smoke (adamsite, chloroacetophenone).

• lethal (sarin, mustard gas);
• temporarily incapacitating personnel (chloroacetophenone, quinuclidyl-3-benzilate);
• irritant: (adamsite, chloroacetophenone);
• educational: (chloropicrin);

• fast-acting - do not have a latent period (sarin, soman, VX, AC, Ch, Cs, CR);
• slow-acting - have a period of latent action (mustard gas, Phosgene, BZ, Louisite, Adamsite).

Reasons for abandoning chemical weapons

Despite the lethality and significant psychological effect, today we can confidently say that chemical weapons are a passed stage for mankind. And the point here is not in conventions that prohibit the persecution of their own kind, and not even in public opinion (although it also played a significant role).

The military has practically abandoned poisonous substances, because chemical weapons have more disadvantages than advantages. Let's look at the main ones:

• Strong dependence on weather conditions. At first, poison gases were released from cylinders downwind in the direction of the enemy. However, the wind is changeable, so during the First World War there were frequent cases of defeat of their own troops. The use of artillery ammunition as a method of delivery solves this problem only partially. Rain and simply high humidity dissolves and decomposes many poisonous substances, and air ascending currents carry them high into the sky. For example, the British built numerous fires in front of their line of defense so that the hot air carried the enemy gas upwards.
• Storage insecurity. Conventional ammunition without a fuse detonates extremely rarely, which cannot be said about shells or containers with explosive agents. They can lead to mass casualties, even deep in the rear in a warehouse. In addition, the cost of their storage and disposal is extremely high.
• Protection. The most important reason for the abandonment of chemical weapons.The first gas masks and bandages were not very effective, but soon they provided quite effective protection against RH. In response, chemists came up with blistering gases, after which a special chemical protection suit was invented. Reliable protection against any weapons of mass destruction, including chemical ones, appeared in armored vehicles. In short, the use of chemical warfare agents against the modern army is not very effective. That is why in the last fifty years, OV has been more often used against civilians or partisan detachments. In this case, the results of its use were truly horrific.
• Inefficiency. Despite all the horror that war gases caused to soldiers during the Great War, casualty analysis showed that conventional artillery fire was more effective than firing explosive ammunition. The projectile stuffed with gas was less powerful, therefore it destroyed enemy engineering structures and barriers worse. The surviving fighters quite successfully used them in defense.

Today, the greatest danger is that chemical weapons may fall into the hands of terrorists and be used against civilians. In this case, the victims can be horrifying. A chemical warfare agent is relatively easy to make (unlike a nuclear one), and it is cheap. Therefore, the threats of terrorist groups regarding possible gas attacks should be treated very carefully.

The biggest disadvantage of chemical weapons is their unpredictability: where the wind will blow, whether the humidity of the air will change, in which direction the poison will go along with groundwater. Whose DNA will be embedded with a mutagen from a war gas, and whose child will be born a cripple.And these are not theoretical questions at all. American soldiers crippled after using their own Agent Orange gas in Vietnam are clear evidence of the unpredictability that chemical weapons bring.

Article author:

Egorov Dmitry

I am fond of military history, military equipment, weapons and other issues related to the army. I love the written word in all its forms.

“The very first gas attack killed an entire division! The complete triumph of chemical weapons!

Quiet morning April 22, 1915. Green-yellow clouds of chlorine released by the Germans crawled into the position of the French troops near the Belgian city of Ypres. Thousands poisoned. Panic.

Indeed, this attack with chlorine was the first mass - and the most famous. It is by her that chemical weapons in general are still judged.

Victim of gases - staged photo

However, it was not the very first: the Germans had more than once used poison gases in shells - dianisidine sulfate and xylyl bromide (and the French - ethyl bromoacetate in grenades). It's just that the effect of these tear gases was much weaker than chlorine.

Yes, on April 22, chlorine poisoned about fifteen thousand people. But about five thousand of them died. That is, even under ideal conditions - good weather, complete surprise of the attack and lack of protection - only one in three of those struck died. Moreover, those who remained in place suffered less than those who ran away in a panic.

It turns out that chemical weapons are not a sentence. Poisoned" - not necessarily died in terrible agony.

Canadians repel a German attack on April 22, 1915

From a military point of view, even that April attack did not lead to the most important result - the breakthrough of the front. Neighboring units that did not fall under the clouds of chlorine repulsed the attack of the German infantry in time

That is, chemical weapons did not bring not only victory in the war, but at least a temporary way out of the positional impasse.

History of chemical weapons

Chemical weapons began to be used by man a very long time ago - long before the Copper Age. Then people used a bow with poisoned arrows. After all, it is much easier to use poison, which will surely slowly kill the beast, than to run after it.

The first toxins were extracted from plants - a person received it from varieties of the acocanthera plant. This poison causes cardiac arrest.

With the advent of civilizations, prohibitions on the use of the first chemical weapons began, but these prohibitions were violated - Alexander the Great used all the chemicals known at that time in the war against India. His soldiers poisoned water wells and food stores. In ancient Greece, strawberry roots were used to poison wells.

In the second half of the Middle Ages, alchemy, the forerunner of chemistry, began to develop rapidly. Acrid smoke began to appear, driving away the enemy.

Classification of toxic substances

Scientists have developed several areas in which it is possible to classify substances used in chemical weapons:

• by toxic manifestation;
• in combat;
• by durability.

Each direction, in turn, is divided into several types. If we are talking about toxic, then substances can be classified as follows:

• nerve agents (eg, chemical attack with sarin);
• blistering agents;
• suffocating;
• general poisonous;
• psychochemical action;
• irritating action.

For each category there are several types of known toxic substances, which are quite easily synthesized in any chemical laboratory.

By combat purpose, the following toxins can be distinguished:

• deadly;
• neutralizing the enemy for a while;
• annoying.

By resistance, military chemists distinguish between persistent and unstable substances. The former retain their characteristics for several hours or days. And the latter are able to act for no more than an hour, in the future they become absolutely safe for all living things.

Use of chemical weapons in Syria

On April 4 this year, the entire world community was shocked by the chemical attack in Syria. Early in the morning, the news feeds received the first reports that as a result of the use of poisonous substances by official Damascus in the province of Idlib, more than two hundred civilians ended up in hospitals.

Terrible pictures of dead bodies and victims began to be published everywhere, whom local doctors were still trying to save. Nearly 70 people have died in a chemical attack in Syria. All of them were ordinary, peaceful people. Naturally, such a monstrous destruction of people could not but cause a public outcry. However, official Damascus replied that it had not carried out any military operations against the civilian population. As a result of the bombing, the terrorists' ammunition depot was destroyed, where shells filled with poisonous substances could well have been located. Russia supports this version and is ready to provide strong evidence of its words.

Development of chemical weapons and first use

The first chemical attacks were carried out during the First World War. Fritz Haber is considered to be the developer of chemical weapons.He was instructed to create a substance that would be able to end a protracted war on all fronts. It is worth noting that Haber himself opposed any military action. He believed that the creation of a poisonous substance would help to avoid more massive casualties and bring the end of the protracted war closer.

Together with his wife, Haber invented and put into production weapons based on chlorine gas. The first chemical attack was made on April 22, 1915. In the northeast of the Ypres ledge, the British and French troops had been firmly holding the line for several months, so it was in this direction that the German command decided to use the latest weapons.

The consequences were terrible: a yellowish-green cloud blinded the eyes, cut off the breath and corroded the skin. Many soldiers fled in horror, while others were never able to get out of the trenches. The Germans themselves were shocked by the effectiveness of their new weapons and quickly set about developing new poisonous substances that replenished their military arsenal.

Attacks during the Iraq War

During the war in Iraq, chemical weapons were used repeatedly, and both sides of the conflict did not disdain them. For example, a chlorine gas bomb exploded in the Iraqi village of Abu Saida on May 16, killing 20 people and injuring 50. Earlier, in March of the same year, terrorists detonated several chlorine bombs in the Sunni province of Anbar, injuring more than 350 people in total. Chlorine is fatal to humans - this gas causes fatal damage to the respiratory system, and with a small impact leaves severe burns on the skin.

Even at the very beginning of the war, in 2004, US troops used white phosphorus as a chemical incendiary weapon. When used, one such bomb destroys all living things within a radius of 150 m from the place of impact. The American government at first denied its involvement in what happened, then it was mistaken, and finally, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Winable nevertheless admitted that American troops quite deliberately used phosphorus bombs to storm and fight enemy armed forces. Moreover, the US has stated that incendiary bombs are a perfectly legitimate tool of warfare, and henceforth the US does not intend to abandon their use if the need arises. Unfortunately, when using white phosphorus, civilians suffered.

Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway

Perhaps the most famous terrorist attack in history, unfortunately a success, was carried out by the neo-religious Japanese religious sect Aum Senrikyo. In June 1994, a truck drove through the streets of Matsumoto with a heated evaporator in its back. Sarin, a poisonous substance that enters the human body through the respiratory tract and paralyzes the nervous system, was applied to the surface of the evaporator. The evaporation of sarin was accompanied by the release of a whitish fog, and fearing exposure, the terrorists quickly stopped the attack. However, 200 people were poisoned and seven of them died.

The criminals did not limit themselves to this - taking into account previous experience, they decided to repeat the attack indoors. On March 20, 1995, five unidentified people descended into the Tokyo subway carrying packets of sarin.The terrorists pierced their bags in five different subway trains, and the gas quickly spread throughout the subway. A drop of sarin the size of a pinhead is enough to kill an adult, while the perpetrators carried two liter bags each. According to official figures, 5,000 people were seriously poisoned, 12 of them died.

The attack was perfectly planned - cars were waiting for the perpetrators at the exit from the metro in the agreed places. The organizers of the attack, Naoko Kikuchi and Makoto Hirata, were only found and arrested in the spring of 2012. Later, the head of the chemical laboratory of the Aum Senrikyo sect admitted that in two years of work, 30 kg of sarin was synthesized and experiments were carried out with other toxic substances - tabun, soman and phosgene.