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A SMALL EXPERIMENT WITH POISON
One further consideration links the two major wars of the 20th century. In late January 1915, noxious gas was used against humans for the first time when the Germans fired shells containing xylyl bromide at Russian troops based near Bolimow in Poland.
The conventional view is that the xylyl bromide fired on that day (three months before it was used against British troops at Ypres) was meant to act as a tearing agent only, causing temporary blindness and inflammation of the nose and throat. However, the impact of the gas on some of its victims was unambiguously lethal, if initially perplexing. The Russian general Basil Gourko was confused and uncertain when he received reports of unusual casualties among his men:
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| Russian General Basil Gourko |
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| Polish civilian Francis Smolinsky, who witnessed the first use of chemical weapons against humans at Bolimow during the First World War |
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'Bodies in a state of collapse with little sign of life were lying in the wood. What was the reason for this unusual occurrence? Had some of those already buried been in a state of coma and not dead at all?'
The first sight of the new weapon in action also confused local civilian Francis Smolinsky:
'I got up first, went outside and then I saw this something that looked like smoke. I ran back home shouting: Fire! Fire!'
However, the terrible effect of the gas on some of its Russian victims left little room for doubt:
'They were carried, crowded onto wagons, some lying on top of others. Those who could - walked. Their faces were pale-blue, they had foam at their mouths.'
CONCLUSION
Noxious gas, racial classification, forced labour, looting, maltreatment of Russian prisoners - the Eastern Front of 1914-17 was clearly a harbinger of horrors to come less than three decades later.
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