Britain offensive capability

There were probably no better-equipped forces in respect of anti-gas defence than those of the United Kingdom in the late 1930s. Britain had emerged from the First World War with a primitive respirator and basic techniques for gas-proofing dugouts, and little else. At the end of the 1930s, superior-quality anti-gas equipment was available to the armed forces to cater for all known hazards and a cheap, but efficient, respirator had also been developed for the civilian population.48 However, as far as offensive capabilities were concerned, investment had been limited and production had been minimal in terms of agents and weapons due to political unease and uncertainties. By 1938 the international situation was such that offensive research and development and the production of war reserve stocks of mustard gas were authorised by the British Cabinet, albeit that it was realised that a useful production output could not be obtained for at least 12-18 months. 

Refurbishing an offensive capability proved a more ponderous process. To facilitate the possible use of gas as a retaliatory weapon required, in the first instance, political backing. In Britain this came from the Committee of Imperial Defence when it met on 10 July 1936 to approve the request of the Chiefs of Staff for the manufacture and storage of reserves of poison gas. Five months later Duff Cooper, the Secretary of State for War, reaffirmed this commitment. He assured Sir Cyril Deverell, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, that... 

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