Chemical Warfare School

In 1933 the Japanese established The Army Chemical Warfare School at Narashino, 21 miles east of Tokyo. The 11-month course ran for 12 years and turned out over 3000 chemical warfare officers for the Japanese Imperial Army. There is little doubt that from 1937 onwards the Japanese made extensive use of poison gas in their war against the Chinese. 

Gilchrist HL. A Comparative Study ofWWI Casualties from Gas and Other Weapons. Edgewood Arsenal, MD, U.S. Chemical Warfare School, 1928, 1-51. 

The Japanese set about the study of chemical warfare with a dedication that at times bordered on fanaticism. The Army Chemical Warfare School was established in 1933 at Narashino, twenty-one miles east of Tokyo. It had a forty acre site and impressive facilities. The School Commandant, Major General Yamazaki, promised just and severe punishment for those who failed to adhere to its code ... 

Fig. 2-15. The first temporary Chemical Warfare School building at Edgewood Arsenal, Md., shortly after the end of World War I. The school was later moved to a permanent structure. Photograph Chemical and Biological Defense Command Historical Research and Response Team, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

The CWS continued to maintain stockpiles of the key World War I-chemical agents during the 1930s. Captain Alden H. Waitt, then Secretary of the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal and later Chief Chemical Officer, summed up the CWS s planning for the next war in 1935 ... 

Chemical Warfare School. Use of Gas in Ethiopia—1936. Edgewood Arsenal, Md Chemical Warfare School 22 Oct 36. Mimeo 1. 

Gas mask discipline was the key to low chemical casualty rates in the face of this insidious weapon. Quotation Gilchrist HL. A Comparative Study of World War Casualties From Gas and Other Weapons. Edgewood Arsenal, Md Chemical Warfare School 1928 16. Photograph Reprinted from Moore WE, Crussell J. US Official Pictures of the World War. Washington, DC Pictorial Bureau 1920. 

Arsenal, Md Chemical Warfare School 1928 Chart 7, page 19. 

Annex Building, Chemical Warfare School, Brisbane, Australia... 

Chemical Division and the Mechanical Division, each of which was engaged in research and development activities the Plants Division, which was responsible for manufacturing the Property Division, to which supply responsibilities were delegated the Chemical Warfare School and CWS troops. " Later a Safety and Inspection Division and a Medical Research Division were activated. 

The subject of biological warfare attracted but passing interest in the Chemical Warfare Service in the years between the two wars. The chief of Medical Division, OC CWS, Maj. Leon A. Fox, lectured on the topic in the early 1930 s at the Chemical Warfare School. His lectures reflected the general attitude of both the scientists and military men of the period, whidi was to minimize the potentialities of biological warfare. ... 

In July 1943 the CWS asked the ASF for authority to establish a chemical warfare school toward the West Coast. The recommendation was advanced as a means of providing final instruction for military personnel moving into Pacific theaters of operations and of eliminating extensive travel for those selected at western stations for training in chemical warfare. The functions of the new school would be (i) to provide for short technical refresher courses of one-week duration for CWS officers in the Far West who were scheduled for overseas duty (2) to provide short courses for units gas officers who could not be economically sent to the Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood (3) to conduct training for civilians, as directed by the Office of Civilian Defense and (4) to meet requests of naval authorities for training naval personnel on the Pacific coast in gas defense. ... 

The reaction of the ASF to the proposal for another chemical warfare school under the jurisdiction of the Chief, CWS, was not favorable. Instead, the chief of the Training Division, ASF, on ii September 1943 directed that a chemical warfare school be set up at Camp Beale, California, as a Class I installation under the jurisdiction of the commanding general of the Ninth Service Command. Such a school, known as the West Coast Chemical School, was activated in October 1943, and the first class assembled on 13 December. As of 8 March 1944, 100 students were in attendance at the school, 56 of whom were officers and 44, enlisted men. These included personnel from the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps." Col. Maurice E. Jennings was named commandant of the school. 

Not all chemical weapons were suited to employment by one of the older arms. Such weapons constituted the armament of "special gas troops and the technique of their employment was taught at the Chemical Warfare School. 

The Chemical Warfare School at Edgewood Arsenal was, before the war, the most important single training agency of the CWS. It was in effect the fountainhead of chemical warfare training for the Army and its teachings were closely followed in the Navy and Marine Corps. It was also to some extent a laboratory for the development of chemical warfare tactics and techniques. 

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