The Chemical Corps Regiment
The US Army Chemical Corps history began back in World War I as the Chemical Warfare Service. World War I came to be known as the “Chemists War” because of the first uses of chemical warfare agents (Fitzgerald, 2008). The use of chemical agents by Germany was said to have been initiated by the necessity of war fighters to develop new war strategies to offset trench warfare. German armies were complacent with trench warfare and could no longer rely on this method to ensure victory (Blodgett, 2009). Due to this uncertainty, the Germans unleashed what is known to be the first instance of chemical warfare use. In response to the German use of chemical warfare, other nations, particularly the French and the British began to manufacture poison gases as war weapons. The role that chemical weapons played took a forefront in the war efforts and demand for these new weapons was fastly increasing (Coleman, 2005).
In an effort by the US Armed Forces to level the playing field, the American Expeditionary Force was developed under the command of General John J Pershing and was deployed to Europe during World War I. The American Expeditionary Force fought in alliance with the French and the Italians. From the American Expeditionary Force, a gas service was created. The 30th Engineer Regiment (Gas and Flame) stood up in August of 1917. It would later be known as the First Gas Regiment in 1918. The First Gas Regiment’s mission was to support defensive and offensive military gas operations. Once again, in June 1918, the section was reclassified to encompass gas and chemical service operations and the Chemical Warfare Service was officially born. Major General William L Sibert was designated the first commander of the Ch...
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About.com. (2014). Us military chemical corps. Retrieved from http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/armybranches/blchem.htm Blodgett, Brian. (2009). Germany’s use of chemical warfare in world war I. Retrieved from http://firstworldwar.com/features/chemical_warfare.htm Butler, Jack. (1996). Chemical mortars and shells: The history of the 4.2” chemical mortar.
Retrieved from http://www.4point2.org/mortar42.htm
Chemical Corps Regimental Association. (2012). The us army chemical corps history.
Retrieved from http://ccrassn.org/
Coleman, K. (2005). A history of chemical warfare (11-100). New York, NY: Palgrave
MacMillan.
Fitzgerald, Gerald J. (2008). Chemical warfare and medical response during world war I.
Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2376985/
Looking back at how the chemical weaponry expanded starting in the beginning of World War 1, it all began with Tear gas which was used by the French in August of 1914. Those techniques have been used in ancient times. Moving forward eight months in to the war the Germans have been giving great study in to the development of chemical weapons due to the first usage from the French and witnessed its great effectiveness and were the first to use it in a large scale.
Trueman, Chris. "Chemical Warfare and World War Two." Chemical Warfare and World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
The men of the 714th Tank Battalion served their country in its greatest time of need. A key element of the 12th Armored Division, the 714th fought in harsh conditions against a desperate German enemy for five consecutive months, driving the Nazi Armies from France and back into the German heartland.
During the World War II there was many different aspects on the Allies side that helped them defeat the Axis Powers. One crucial aspect for the Allies was the well-built airborne divisions. The 82nd Airborne Division, from the United States Army, was considered to be the firmest and most successful division during the Second World War. After being reactivated for World War II, the men of the 82nd Airborne division took on intense training to later on take part in some of the most dangerous missions of World War II.
This paper is about what chemical agent being employed during the attack of Yichang during the Sin-Japanese war in 1940 and which side of the conflict or both would employ it. What type of agent that was used if any? Employment methods used to disperse the chemical agent in wartime. Finally, I examined situations in which the agent would be employed by military forces to gain maximum effectiveness. A brief description of Unit 731, its commander, and a bit about what the kinds has been explained. Next key point is a brief summary of the actual war previous to the incident usage, and the attack itself. The war is followed by research on the chemical actually used during the course of the paper a slight background of the war and. Next explained is the main battle where the chemical was found to be employed. Afterwards the chemical mustard gas is detailed in prosperities and symptoms.
I have organized this paper into five distinct sections; mission, task organization, capabilities, limitations, and finally the conclusion. After the reading and comprehension of this paper, you should have gained a basic understanding of the Special Forces (SF) Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments (CRD). The following paper is mixed with Unclassified (UCI) and For Official Use Only (FOUO) information. FOUO is annotated at the beginning of all For Official Use Only information, the rest of the paper is UCI. If you wish to share this information paper with others, please at a minimum; confirm identity of the person prior to providing (FM 380-5, 2000). For further handling instructions please refer to FM 380-5, or contact me, I will gladly answer all questions.
From the creation of the Army’s Technical Escort Unit, there has always been one mission that has never changed; the removal, transportation and disposal of chemical weapons. “The U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit was formed in 1944 and is the longest, continuously active, military chemical unit in existence... The unit was formed as a group of specialist to escort chemical weapons”(Cashman, 2000, p. 104). Although this mission type has not faded, the overall mission of these units has expanded to a larger arena.
Wright III, B. (1998, November). The Chemical Warfare Service Prepares for World War II. Retrieved from http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/NovDec98/MS274.htm
Before the CDTF was built Soldiers had live toxic training, but it had to be conducted outdoors as it represented the most effective training. Since 1973 the use of training with live chemical agents stops due to environmental concerns and low safety regulations (Unknown, 2011). In 1981the US Army Chemical School (USACMLS) plan and develop a training facility to be used indoors and safer for the environment and the Soldiers. The construction of the new training facility was 14.9 million dollars and it was finished in 1986 at Fort McClellan, Alabama. (Unknown, Transition Force, United States Army Garrison-FT McClellan, Alabama) The first chemical class to utilize the new CDTF was on March 1987. Thus started the age of Chemical (Unknown, 2011) Soldier’s being able to have assurance that their equipment is more than capable of protecting them in a chemical attack. Many allied nations have used and received training from our CDTF but no other like Germany. In 1988, Germany’s decontamination trai...
U. S. Army Center of Military History (2013). Lineage and honors information: 56th chemical detachment. Retrieved from http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/
The purpose of this essay is to deal with the fact that chemical warfare should be brought back to modern warfare strategies. As Warren Rudman said, “And they will tell you unequivocally that if we have a chemical or biological attack or a nuclear attack anywhere in this country, they are unprepared to deal with it today, and that is of high urgency.” Rudman’s words are true in what they say and that we should do everything to counter-act his statement. Biological weapons are a key to outstanding success in war and therefore, I strongly suggest that chemical warfare is an effective and producible weapon tactic that can be used on today’s battlefield.
We, as CBRN soldiers, can trace our corps roots back to World War I, where chemical agents were widely used by both the allied and German forces. One chemical used was called mustard gas (H). Mustard gas is a type of blister agent that causes large blister (vesicles) on the skin, lungs and eyes of those exposed to it. According to Heller (1984), when mustard gas was introduced on the battlefield soldiers were unaware that they were even exposed. Unlike other chemicals used at that time (Chlorine or Phosgene) the effects of mustard gas were not readily apparent. According to Namazi, Niknahad, & Razmkhah (2009), those exposed did not feel the effects for 4-8 hours after exposure causing severe injuries. According to Heller (1984), the Germans were the first to use mustard gas in 1917 on British soldiers. When the British soldiers observed the gas shells going off they did not see or smell any gas; therefore, believed that the Germans were trying to trick them. It was not until several hours later did they start complaining that their eyes, throats and lungs hurt. By the time that the United States entered World War I we did not have any protection against the chemicals that were being used on the front lines. According to Heller (1984), “On 6 April 1917, when the U.S. declared war on Germany, the army not only lacked defensive equipment for chemical warfare, but also had no concrete plans to develop or manufacture gas masks or any other defensive equipment” ( pg.38). While the history of our corps is very interesting, I will show the effects mustard gas has on unprotected soldiers and how the first protective equipment has changed to what we are equipped with today.
Poison gas was perhaps the most feared weapon out of all. Created to overcome the long stalemate style of trench warfare, its purpose was to draw out soldiers hiding in the trenches. One side would throw the poison gas into the enemy trenches and they would either wait for their enemy to come out into open fire or perish in the trenches. The first poison gas used in battle was chlorine at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915 by the Germans. Shortly after, followed the phosgene. The effects of these gases were ghastly. Chlorine was the most deadly as "within seconds of inhaling its vapor, it destroys the victim's respiratory organs, bringing on choking attacks" (Duffy). Phosgene had similar effects, except the fact that the effects started kicking in after 48 hours of inhalation. In September 1917, the Germans introduced the mustard gas or Yperite which was contained in artillery shells against the Russians at Riga. Those exposed t...
In order to give the reader a sense of the role of the Chemical Corps in the U.S. Army it is paramount to give a brief history of the Chemical Corps. The Chemical Corps came to fruition during World War I, at the behest of General John Pershing because of the Germans use of chemical agents. However, during a period in the 1970’s the Chemical Corps was very close to being terminated. In 1973 the Army decided it did not need the Chemical Corps and recommended reducing it in size and eventually wanted to merge it with the Ordnance Corps (Hilmas, Smart, & Hill, n.d.). The Army disestablished the chemical school at FT. McClellan, but Congress blocked the complete disestablishment of the Chemical Corps (Hilmas, Sm...
In the beginning of the 20th century, scientists were experimenting with a wide range of chemicals to develop a method that may affect several diseases in hopes of producing a cure. A German chemist, Paul Ehrlich, who was experimenting treatments of syphilis with chemical methods, created the term “chemotherapy” (Bonander, 2011). It wasn’t until 1943 when the United State’s secret chemical weapon program discovered that nitrogen mustard, also know...