The learned men, who before 1914 were simple dreamers dedicated to selfless studies, came to look like the evil schemers of the new century. And not just any scientists, but chemists, who left their mark on a conflict that was considered to be “the war to end all wars”-just as physicists would later affect the outcome of World War II. Like in a dystopian vision, World War I saw scientists join the hostilities. The trauma was such that it haunted entire generations in France, Germany, and the world, and remains a vivid memory to this day. The Ypres gas attack was the first of its kind, but sadly not the last. A stroke of luck!” “Much science was needed to kill so many”įew of his comrades had such luck: when the gas cleared, more than 5000 of the 15,000 entrenched French soldiers in that sector lay on the ground and another 5000 were captured. One of them saw me, took aim-and missed me from that short distance. They were marching past calmly, their weapons slung over their shoulders, without firing a shot. A few moments later, I saw the Jerries only 15 meters away. We soon started feeling its effects: throat burning, then chest pains, shortness of breath, dizziness, spitting blood. It was like looking through green-tinted glasses. Then the asphyxiating mist was all around us. ![]() The medic of the French army’s First African Battalion recalls: “The sky was suddenly obscured by a yellow-green cloud, as though a storm was coming in. on April 22, 1915, when tragedy struck Ypres, a small town in southern Belgium.
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