"THE POISON BELT."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17189, 17 December 1917, Page 8

"THE POISON BELT."

A NEW ZEALANDER'S EXPERIENCE. A realistio account of the new poison gas being employed by tho Germans is given by Captain Oscar E. Gillie, a New Zealand officer serving in the artillery on the western front. Writing to his brother Mr C L. Gallie, of Newtbwn, on August 27, he states: "I suppose you havo read about this particular front—of the lively artillery actions, of tho heavy guns which the Boche has, of the shifting terrain, and so on; but worst of all is his new mustard gas. Phosgene and lachrymatory are sweet and pure compared to it. He simply wallops us with this new new terror, and it's a cake of masks on before one smells it. It is not so very_ fatal, but it i» peculiar in that it does not take any immediate effect except when one gets a good dose of it. About a week after one may gradually become blistered all over, may be overcome by violent vomiting sickness, which ultimately tarns into pneumonia and eats away the lungs. Then, again, it attacks all tho more sensitive tissues. The eyes may be closed for, months and ajl sight impaired, tho pain being'intense the while. The ( inside of the mouthy and the tongue are very sensitive to it.." All one night I lay. in_ a little hole, undter whafc is left of the railway embankment, andl the Boohe shelled all the long night through with mustard gas. I lay there with my mask on all by myself, awaiting something, to hit me, but it didn't. The morning broke poisonous and grey. The rank • fumes of the gas were also resting on the oily waters of the river.

"Tho shelling had ceased, and through the haze of tho poison belt I couW see the skeleton walls of . The poisonous sight was too common a one, otherwise I may have gone mad. I seemed to bo the only human being in the world as I stood upon the "embankment endeavouring to climb above the poison. My mask I was afraid toVtake off, for through my goggles I could almost see the gas. I picked my may gingerly along the bank of the river, and) at 6 a.m. came through,, and lay on the fresh, cool earth, ripped my mask off, and went to sleep sniffing the biV?ze. I wakened at noon. I walked back to the battery, sick and feeling 'pisined!' The major greeted me, and pushed me into bed, where I remained for a couple of days, taking nothing but hot tea. Five days after my tongue swelled to about twice its eize, and all the l inside of my mouth became' raw and painful. That was over three weeks ago, and! I am still feeling the effects, though much better. My respirator saved me that night. The gas smells sometimes like mustard and other times like garlic, and is r sickly and nauseating, but after the first two or three smells it apnears to neutralise tho sense of smell, and then comes the trouble, as one thinks the nir .'s clear,_ and may get it -properly without knowing it."