Amos A. Fries

Amos A. Fries, head of the AEP Gas Service. (Photo taken after July 1920.) 

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When General John J. Pershing faced the task of organizing the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France in the summer of 1917, he decided to place responsibility for all phases of gas warfare in a single military service, and he recommended that the War Department at home do likewise. On 3 September 1917, the AEF established a centralized Gas Service under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Amos A. Fries. 25,26 The new organization had many hurdles to overcome. The troops had virtually no chemical warfare equipment of U.S. design and relied on the British and French to supply equipment from gas masks to munitions. 

To persuade congress to keep the CWS, several prominent civilian and military leaders lobbied to include a permanent chemical warfare organization. Lieutenant Colonel Amos A. Fries, a CWS officer and one of the strongest proponents of a permanent organization, stressed the need for a central organization, one that covered all aspects of chemical warfare (Figure 2-14). He drew on the lessons learned from the previous war ... 

Fig. 2-14. Amos A. Fries, shown here as a major general, was chief of the Chemical Warfare Service between 1921 and 1929. With his dynamic personality and extensive contacts in Congress and the chemical industry, he quite literally kept the CWS alive. Quotation Brown FJ. Chemical Warfare—A Study in Restraints. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press 1968 130. Photograph Chemical and Biological Defense Command Historical Research and Response Team, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

First, the book Chemical Warfare by Gen. Amos A. Fries and Maj. Clarence J. West (1921) states. 

The classic American text is Amos A. Fries, Chemical Warfare (New York McGraw Hill, 1st ed., 1921). For the postwar tactical literature, see Augustin M. Prentice, Chemicals in War A Treatise on Chemical Warfare (New York McGraw Hill, 1937) Col. Alden Waitt, Gas Warfare, the Chemical Weapon Its Use and Protection against It (New York Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1943) Frederick A. Hessell, Chemistry in Warfare Its Strategic Importance (New York Hastings House, 1942). 

Amos A. Fries, MS, History of Chemical Warfare In France, 1919, pp. 33-53. 

Major General Amos A. Fries was chief of the US Army Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) during the 1920s. With determination and considerable political acumen, Fries ensured the survival of the CWS. (Courtesy of Soldier Biological and Chemical Command, Historical Research and Response Team, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.)... 

Amos A. Fries and Clarence J. West, Chemical Warfare (NewYork McGraw-Hill 1921) pp. 56, 58, 78, 87-8, 90. 

Two weeks later General Pershing assigned Lt. Col. Amos A. Fries, an Engineer officer who had served under him in the Philippines in 1905, as... 

Chemical Warfare Service Chiefs, February 1 20-April 1941. Top left, Aid/. Gen. Amos A. Fries, 1920-29 right, Ma], Gen. Walter C. Baker, 195-J-41 bottom left. Aid/. Gen. Harry L. Gilchrist, 1929- y right, Maj. Gen. Claude E. Brigham, 1933-37. 

There are several published volumes which discuss the origin and activities of the Chemical Warfare Service in World Wat I. These include Benedict Crowell, America s Munitions, i ij-i iS (Washington GPO, 1919) Amos A. Fries and Clarence J. West, Chemical Warfare (New York McGraw Hill, 1921) and Medical Aspects of Gas Warfare, Volume XIV of the series MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE WORLD WAR (Washington GPO, 1926). Volumes XV and XVI of the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE WORLD WAR (Washington GPO, 1948), prepared by the Historical Division, Special Staff United States Army, contain data on the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). More valuable as a source of information is the official history of the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces, a copy of which is on file in the Chemical Corps Historical Office. Especially useful in this history are the appendixes which ate copies of pertinent directives. On the organizational development of the Chemical Warfare Service in the zone of interior, the most fmitful sources of information are M. T. Bogert s and W. H. Walker s History of the Chemical Service Section, on file at the Technical Library, Army Chemical Center, Maryland, and the annual reports of the CWS for the years 1918, 1919, and 1920. The retired CWS files in the National Archives contain some important documents. 

Meanwhile in France, Col. Amos A. Fries, head of the AEF Gas Service, had obtained permission from the French Government to convert a former research laboratory for tuberculosis at Puteaux, near Paris, into a chemical warfare laboratory. In January 1918 Colonel Bacon, accompanied by a small group of chemists, arrived from the United States to head the laboratory. Since it wotdd take several months for the equipment... 

This was but the beginning of American procurement of British and French masks in the AEF. Colonel Fries, upon assuming command of the Gas Service, AEF, in August 1917. began placing orders with the British and French in anticipation of the arrival of large numbers of American troops. About 200,000 masks were obtained from the French and not less than 600,000 from the British. See Amos A. Fries, History of Chemical Warfare Service in France, 1919, pp. 4, 9-... 

Rfoumes of nonmilitary research may be found in (1) Maj, Gen. Amos A, Fries, By-Products of Chemical Warfare," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 20 (1928), 1079-84. (2) Carl B. Marquand, "Contributions To Better Living From Chemical Corps Research," of Chem-... 

William G. Atwood and A. A. Johnson, Marine Structures Their Deterioration and Preservation (Washington National Research Council, 1924), pp. 165-220. (2) Maj. Gen. Amos A. Fries, "Summary of Marine Piling Investigation," Military Engineer, 17 (1925), 237-39-... 

Ltr, Maj Gen Amos A. Fries to TAG, 17 Apr 28, sub Adoption as to Type, with inds. CWS 400.114/280. (2) 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar, a monograph in series, History of Research and Development of the CWS in World Wat II. (3) An excellent review of all phases of mortar development from World Wat I to 1945, is George A. Millet, "The Development of the 4.2-Inch Chemical Mortar," Armed Forces Chemical journal, III (October 1948), 33-42 III (January 1949) 35-42. 

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