U.S. Army Chemical Corps Historical Studies, Gas Warfare in World War I: The 29th Division in the Cotes de Meuse, October 1918
Author | : Rexmond C. Cochrane |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 90 |
Release | : 1959 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:227974208 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (08 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The Marylanders and Virginians of the 29th Division fought in a single major engagement in World War I, the attack on 8 October in conjunction with the 33rd Division on the heights east of the Meuse. The 29th Division was slow to recognize the effectiveness of gas as a weapon or the fact that the cumulative effects fo gas could in time be as productive of casualties as a sudden concentration. Its early experience with gas, in Alsace, where several crash concentrations of gas produced large numbers of quick casualties, did not prepare the division for its later experience in the Argonne. Although as thoroughly trained in gas defense as its Division Gas Officer, Capt. Alden H. Waitt, could make it, the division nevertheless suffered almost three times as many gas casualties as all other battle casualties put together while training in the trenches in Alsace.