Physiological Effects
Sir John French, a soldier during the war, said that being gassed is such a horrible ideal because any contact with it results in paralysis, then a slow, agonizing death. Asphyxiating gas was used at the second Battle of Ypres. French described a yellow cloud of smoke coming over the trenches. No one knew what to do because nothing could be seen through the gas. He wrote: "...Hundreds of men were thrown into a comatose or dying condition, and within an hour the whole position had to be abandoned..."
Phosgene gas had some immediate results, such as coughing, burning sensation, watery eyes, difficulty breathing, and nausea/vomiting. However, some effects were not evident until up to 48 hours alter, but by then the gas was already in the lungs. Phosgene gas reacts with the alveoli, causing a person to suffocate.
Chlorine gas was deadly, especially at Ypres, because the enemy wasn't equipped with gas masks. There was an estimated 5,000 casualties (1,000 killed, 4,000 injured) in a matter of minutes.
Soldiers tried to prevent exposure to the gas through various methods. The first mode of defense was a bell used to warn when there gas was sighted (picture). This gave the soldiers a chance to put on their gas masks. The gas masks were only helpful when given sufficient warning. If there was no such warning, a wet cloth (made wet by either water or urine, it depended) was used.
Gas victims who had conjunctivitis (which was caused by gas exposure) were treated by doctors with alkaline eye irrigations multiple times until the symptoms lessened. A Red Cross Military Hospital Nurse, Lily B. Craighton, described how they treated chemical burns. “The men would come in with hideous blisters, extending from their shoulder down [the length of their bodies]. The nurses would clip away all this blistered skin, clean the… raw surface with antiseptic solution, dry it with antiseptic solution, dry it with an electric blower and spray on the ‘amberine.’ Burns treated in this way healed in an incredibly short time.”