GAS AS A WEAPON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22779, 15 January 1936, Page 11

GAS AS A WEAPON

A SOLDIER’S VIEW The view that gas is over-rated by the general public as a weapon of war was expressed by Major H. C. Robertson, D. 5.0., director of military art at Duntroon Military College, New South Wales, in an interview in Wellington. Although, ho said, gas was a definite menace when present in . large quantities, it was an over-rated weapon because of the difficulty of effectively administering it. The effectiveness of gas depended on concentration, and to get concentration a huge quantity was required. Even when

large quantities pf gas were liberated the difficulties of the users of the gas wore not yet over as everything then depended on the wind.

Present respirators, ho continued, were extremely efficient, and stopped every known gas. Protection against gases such as mustard gas was more difficult, for these gases attacked the skin. Protection against these gases could only be achieved by means of special protective clothing. Major Robertson said that in hie opinion gas was more humane than machine-gun fire. An interallied commission of doctors appointed by the League of Nations had inquired into the use and effect of gas, and the report of that commission showed that only a very small percentage of gas patients showed any effect whatever six mesaths after being gassed.