A bizarre episode took place at the battle of Neuve Chapelle in
October 1914, it was in fact the first 'gas' attack of the war, but not the
deadly 'mustard' gas..
Early in the war,
German Major Max Bauer, Chief of Artillery and the Fortress Section of
Operation Branch had convened a group of scientists to develop a chemical shell
of incendiary, smoke, irritant, or stink type to drive enemy troops from
inaccessible places. The result was the "Ni-shell". The Ni stood for
'Niespulver'- Sneezing Powder. Professor Nernst of Kaiser Wilhelm Institute had
developed the idea of placing irritant among the balls of standard shrapnel
shell.
3, 000 of these
non-toxic shells were fired at Neuve Chapelle. The British and Indian troops
did not realize that they had been victims of the 'Ni shell' until they read
about it after the the war. Legend has it the Prof Nernst's 'Ni shells' were abandoned
after Erich Van Falenhayn's son had won a case of champagne by wagering that he
could stand in a cloud of the irritant for 5 minutes and emerge unharmed.
Meanwhile, a new
type of Gas weapon a shell filled with xylyl bromide was being developed and
would be used, against the Russian's in 1915.
2 comments:
This sounds the type of thing the Yanks would think up!
I love the officer who won case of champagne and the allied soldiers who had not realized until after the war that they had been affected by it. Truly something of the bizarre
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