Figure 1.--The use of chemical weapons was considered one of the great horrors of World War I. Here an American boy after World War I in the 1920s is playing with the gas mask his father r brother brought back from the War..

The United States initiated a chemical weapon's program during World War I. President Wilson personally was involved, worrying that America did not have a poison gas weapon. I'm not sure what happened to the poison gas program durung the inter-war era. The American policy concerning poison gas after it entered the War against Germany was to create a vastly superior stock pile and improve delivery systems so that if the German military first used gas, then the United States could respond with overwhelming force. A factor here was the air superority that the Allies began to develop during 1942. The most serious incident concerning poison gas occurred in Italy. After the Allied invasion of Italy (September 1943), the Lufwaffe attacked Allied shipping. The Allies were using the port of Bari in southern Italy. A Luftwaffe attack caught about 50 ships at Bari waiting to be unloaded (December 2, 1943). The German raid was devestating to the ships moored together in the small port. Seventeen Allied ship were destroyed. One of the ships hit was a U.S. Liberty ship laden with a secret cargo of mustard gas bombs. The ship exploded after receiving a direct hit. The crew was killed immeditely. The gas s[read across the port and into the adjoining city. More than a thousand Allied servicemen and more than a thousand civilians died. [Reminick]

World War I

Chemical weapns did not exist until World war I. They were first intrduced by the Germans (1915). The United States initiated a chemical weapon's program during World War I, but only after entering the War (1917). President Wilson personally was involved, worrying that America did not have a poison gas weapon. The United States as a result produced small quanities of chemical weapons during the war--about 5,700 tons. And the AEF was both subjected to German chemical attacks and used chemical weapons against the Germans.

Inter-War Era

Chemical weapons were the responsibility of the Army’s Chemical Warfare Service (CWS). The United States signed the Geneva Gas Protocol of the Third Geneva Convention (1925). The signatory nations agreed not to use poison gas in the future, but there was not limitation on research and production or system to monitor such activities. The Senate, however, failed to ratify the treaty. Even so, American presidents indicated that the saw chemical weapons as imporal and would not use them. This included Warren G. Harding through Franklin D. Roosevelt each pledged to abide by the agreement despite the lacl of approval by the Sente. The horifiv World War I injuries and deaths were indelibly ethched in the Ameeican conciouness. The same was of course even more the case in Europe. And of great import was te fact thsat Coirporal Adolf Hitler had been gassed. The CWS was held to an average annual appropriation of only $1.5 million and to about 500 Army personnel through the mid-1930s an even after the world move toward war, the United States did not expasnd the CWS. This limited budget did not change until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the War.

World War II

Europeans were very concerned about poison gas being used when war broke out in Europe. All the major powers had chemical weapons. The weapons had been used in World War I and it was widely believed that if another war broke out, thsat that thery woulf be used again. Civilians and school children were drilled in civil defense measures and the use of gas masks. This did not occur in Europe. As the War developed, none of the beligerants employed chemical weapons. Thus by the time the United States entered the War, there was less fear of chemical weapons. The American policy concerning poison gas after it entered the War against Germany was to create a vastly superior stock pile and improve delivery systems so that if the German military first used gas, then the United States could respond with overwhelming force. A factor here was the air superority that the Allies began to develop during 1942. The CWS received a $1 billion dollar appropriation and expanded to over 60,000 employees. It was directed to prepare for both chemical (gas) and bacteriological warfare, as well as producing incendiaries for bombing, flamethrowers, and other devices. There were differences wihin the Administration and among the military over public statements and eventully the use of chemical weapons. Differents also developed with the British. The United States threatened Japan after reports of Japan using chemical weapons in China were received. The most serious incident concerning poison gas occurred in Italy. After the Allied invasion of Italy (September 1943), the Lufwaffe attacked Allied shipping. The Allies were using the port of Bari in southern Italy. A Luftwaffe attack caught about 50 ships at Bari waiting to be unloaded (December 2, 1943). The German raid was devestating to the ships moored together in the small port. Seventeen Allied ship were destroyed. One of the ships hit was a U.S. Liberty ship laden with a secret cargo of mustard gas bombs. The ship exploded after receiving a direct hit. The crew was killed immeditely. The gas s[read across the port and into the adjoining city. More than a thousand Allied servicemen and more than a thousand civilians died. [Reminick]

Sources

Reminick, Gerald. Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas ....

Rumpf, Hans. The Bombing of Germany (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York, 1962), 256p.

Tucker, Jonathan B. War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda (Pantheon, 2005), 479p..

Created: 7:11 AM 4/29/2008
Last updated: 7:11 AM 4/29/2008