Technical Service, Edgewood Arsenal

Reid, E. Emmet. "History of Offense Research, John Hopkins University Station", Historical Report No. H-149, Chemical Warfare Service, Edgewood Arsenal Technical Library. 

Chemical Warfare Service, (1944) Thermite, Plain, Incendiary, C.W.S. Formula No. D-l-1, Aug 19, 1944 (C.W.S. Formerly Technical Command, Edgewood Arsenal, Sept. 01, 1945) Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, USA. 

Pamphlet, Edgewood Arsenal, the Seat of Chemical Warfare, pp. 7-10. (2) Instructions from Chairman CWTC. Principles that Should Govern in the Research and Development of Materiel and Ammunition Pertaining to the Chemical Warfare Service, 30 Mar 22. (3) Maj Earl J. Atkisson, Policy Governing Research and Development, 19 Jul 22. All in CWS 314.7 Early CWS History File. (4) Pamphlet, Procedure in Development, Test and Adoption of Chemical Warfare Material, approved 31 Jul 26, corrected to 29 Aug 27, and revised edition, 6 Sep 29. (5) Pamphlet, Development Procedure, 16 Dec 31, and revised edition, 1 Feb 38. All in CWS Publications File, Technical Library, A CmlC, Md. (6) Rpt of CWS, 1920, p. 29. (7) Rpt of CWS, 1931 (secret supplement), pp. 17-20. (8) Barker, "The Technical Divisions, Edgewood Arsenal. ... 

Mangun, G. H., Skipper, H. E. (1942). Hydrocyanic acid The toxicity and speed of action on man (Edgewood Arsenal Memorandum Rep. Project A 3.5-1, Technical Directorate Memorandum Rep. No. 471). Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD Chemical Warfare Service. 

WardeU EL. Lewisite (M-1) Summary of Physiologic and Toxicologic Data. Edgewood Arsenal, MD, Chemical Warfare Service, 1940. Edgewood Arsenal Technical Report 285. 

Katz SH. Standard US Army Gas Masks and Components. Edgewood Arsenal, Md Chemical Warfare Service Technical Command 1944. Technical Division Memorandum Report 878-2. 

The CWS technical reports, along with many evaluations of munitions and plans, both for the United States and its Allies, were deposited in the Technical Library, Army Chemical Center, Md., and have been identified and described in From Laboratory to Fields The best World War I source, pending the preparation of an official volume on gas warfare in World War I, is the draft History of the Chemical Warfare Service, American Expeditionary Forces. Copies of this study are available in the Technical Library and in the Office of the Historian, U.S. Army Edgewood Arsenal. Finally, as regards monographs and studies, special note should be made of the excellent Marine Corps series on operations in the Pacific. Also worthy of special note is the American Forces in Action series, which has been useful although documented and more complete accounts have in most instances appeared in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. The volumes published in this series have proved invaluable, and the following have been particularly important ... 

Chemical Warfare units were well represented in each component of the Army, yet less than half of these organizations received their unit training directly under CWS auspices. The chemical mortar battalions, as indicated, were all trained by the AGF. Two-thirds of the 1942-1943 AAF units were made up from chemical platoons that had been unit-trained at air installations. CWS unit training was thus narrowed to those technical service organizations which were trained at Edgewood Arsenal and Camp Sibert. Table ii)... 

In 1940 the CWS carried on all research and development at Edge-wood Arsenal, mainly in buildings dating from World War I. The old laboratories had been suitable for the small-scale operations characteristic of the 1920 s and 1930 s, but not for the tremendous volume of technical work necessary to support the armed forces in World War II. The service drafted plans for a chemical research laboratory and a medical research laboratory at Edgewood. Since these buildings could not be completed until 1942, the CWS expanded as it had in World War I, by seeking assistance from university laboratories. 

The CWS obtained the clue which led them to vacuum distillation in November 1943 when Capt. J. W. Eastes visited the University of Illinois to confer with NDRC chemists. He learned that they had distilled at low pressure mustard which had been washed with water, and that the temperatures in the distillation column indicated that fairly pure jS,/ -dichloro-ethyl sulfide could be prepared in this way. In other words, water removed certain impurities, and distillation removed the remainder. The CWS had investigated vacuum distillation earlier, but had never washed the crude mustard before distilling. The Technical Division investigated the process and found that it produced a purer and more stable j8,j8 -di-chloroethyl sulfide than the other methods and that it was quite practical so far as apparatus was concerned. A pilot plant was first set up and then a full-scale plant. In 1945 the service switched to the new process at Edgewood and at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. By the end of the year 9,218,-357 pounds of distilled mustard (symbol, HD) had been produced. With the successful production of HD, production of the old Levinstein mustard was halted. 

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