Chemical warfare agents incendiaries

Of the shells found in the pits that still had contents, some were smoke, some were high explosive, some were white phosphorus (incendiary), and some contained common chemical warfare agents like mustard. The pits generally stopped at about 12 ft in depth but they had to be excavated to 17 ft to remove the residual arsenic. The Corps apparently tested the soil in the pits for other substances but did not tell us the results. 

Review article Chemical warfare incendiaries. L. W. Greene, Kirk-Othmer Encycl Chem Tech-nol, 2nd Ed, 4, 895 (1964) CA 65, 3661 (1966) including a survey of incendiary requirements, agents bombs 8 refs... 

We have said that chemical suhsiances used in combat are designated as chemical agents. Of these agents, three distinct grmip.s— smokeet and incendiaries—constitute what is generally understood as Uic materiel of chemical warfare. 

The purpose of the wartime Chemical Warfare Service had been to handle all matters relating to toxic agents and ammunition together with gas defense material. Incendiaries and smokes had not been mentioned in the wartime charter of the Chemical Warfare Service although before the end of the war it had actually done considerable work on both these items. This fact is reflected in the wording of the revised National Defense Act, which accordingly enlarged the CWS field. Thus was completed the shift in emphasis from the "gas service of 1917 to the "chemical service of 1920. 

War Department directives provided that chemical warfare training should cover the fields of smoke, incendiary, and gas yet the primary concern of the CWS prior to World War II was unquestionably with gas. Since the service had been created by Congress as an answer to the military threat of toxic chemicals, the status of the CWS as an independent technical service could scarcely have been justified if it were not prepared to cope with this major menace. Fear of gas was largely fear of the unknown, and its antidote was, in large measure, to acquaint troops with toxic agents and how to counteract them. To impart such understanding was the primary training responsibility of the Chemical Warfare Service and the point of departure for the whole CWS mission. 

The Chemical Warfare Service came into existence because the armed forces needed a branch to deal with the problems arising from the use of poison gas, and although the service acquired the responsibility for other areas of warfare, such as incendiaries and smokes, its major concern during World War II remained the research, production, and neutralization of toxic agents. The first chemical used in World War I was chlorine, a heavy green gas. As the war progressed liquid and solid compounds were also used to launch chemical attacks. ... 

In 1917-18 the Chemical Warfare Service branched out from its research on toxic agents into other fields, one of which was incendiary mixtures. Chemists experimented with incendiary fillings for shells, grenades, and bombs, but did not have time to perfect any of the munitions. In this field CWS overlapped the Ordnance Department s work on incendiaries. In 1920 the War Department set up a line of demarcation between the two services, with the Ordnance Department henceforth to design the munitions and the CWS to provide the filling. ... 

In addition to toxic, incendiary, and smoke ammunition and bombs, as well as chemical warfare offensive weapons and equipment, the CWS was responsible for the procurement of a variety of service equipment. The latter included a truck mounted with a swinging boom crane, a chemical service truck, a chemical service trailer, a unit for mixing toxic and incendiary agents in the field, and a set for maintaining and repairing chemical warfare equipment in the field. Several of these items presented unusual problems of development and procurement. Table 8)... 

Under the term of "chemical agents are also understood items used for starting fires in enemy installations, houses, ships, or vehicles(see under INCENDIARY WARFARE) as well as substances producing smokes serving for screening movements of troops, ships, trains, or vehicles(See under SMOKES IN WARFARE)... 

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