On 10 July 1943, the allied forces attacked Sicily to stop the German occupation of Europe. The allied forces carried out combined attacks utilizing paratroopers, the Navy and Army land forces to start a battle that gave the allied forces a stronghold in Europe that fed into other military operations and a training location for Soldiers landing in Normandy later in the war. The initial battle and beach landing was anything but flawless. The ocean was violent and the paratroopers were scattered off their target area by more than 20 miles (Birtle, 2003). The axis forces unsuccessfully attempted to stop the allied forces by attacking units landing on the beaches. Nevertheless, the allied forces pushed forward and landed on the beaches of Sicily. The allied forces including the 83rd Chemical Battalion, which employed the 4.2 inch HE mortar, were engaged in intense battle against the Germans and the Italian forces (Birtle, 2003). Consequently, the Success of the operation was largely due to the mobility, accuracy and lethality of the 4.2 inch HE mortar. The Chemical Mortar Units provided critical support to the infantry units. However, the 4.2 Inch mortar has not been combat proven in battle prior to this operation. The mortar is a product of the efforts of Soldiers assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service Technical Command. An intuitive Officer named Lewis M. McBride invented The HE Mortar (M2) and its delivery system. The Chemical Warfare Service Technical Command team was led by COL Lewis McBride, Dr. G. S. Maxwell and their co-workers (Brophy, 1966). He helped the CWS stay on the edge of advanced chemical warfare. This weapon is a modification of the 4 inch British Stokes mortar. The British Stokes mortar was the primary g... ... middle of paper ... ... the battle of Sicily, are a direct result of the efforts of COL McBride and the Chemical Mortar Companies. This validated the Chemical Corps effectiveness in the Theater of operations. We as Chemical Corps Soldiers may not have been inimitable, with a specific mission, and would only be augmented attachments to different units if they did not prevail. “Elementis, Regamus, Proelium”. Works Cited Birtle, A. (2003, October 03). WWI campaigns: Sicily. Retrieved from: http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-16/72-16.htm Brophy, L. (1966). The chemical warfare service from laboratory to field . Office of the Chief of Military History. Lindberg, K. (2005, July 01). Soldier, machinist, inventor, patriot--the legacy of colonel Lewis McBride. Kleber, B. (2003). The chemical warfare service: Chemicals in combat. Office of the Chief of Military History.
3Brophy, L. (1959). The Chemical Warfare Service (1st ed.). Washington: Office of the Chief of
Zerby, Roy M. Interview by author, 28 March 1996. Mail questionnaire. 12th Armored Division Historical Project, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas.
Trueman, Chris. "Chemical Warfare and World War Two." Chemical Warfare and World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
Frustrated by the commissioning programs of the time, Sledge begins his journey by resigning from the officer candidate program in an effort to more quickly reach combat. He subsequently volunteers to be a sixty millimeter mortar-man and joins Company K, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment (K/3/5) of the First Marine Division. It is within this command framework that Sledge experiences two of the bloodiest campaigns of the Second World War...
In order to receive a victory in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton used Mission Command Analysis in order to understand how he can be successful for this mission. The first thing of understanding t...
In the summer of 1944, General George S. Patton and his 3rd Army successfully broke through heavy German Forces resistance from the Normandy invasion. German forces were in total disarray by the end of August 1944. Patton pleaded with his boss, General Omar Bradley, that if 3rd U.S. Army could be allocated as little as 400,000 gallons of fuel, he could be inside Germany in two days. Time was crucial before the inevitable reaction by the Germans to shore up their defense, preventing Patton from advancing. General Bradley refused Patton's request for more fuel; Unfortunately, General Patton advanced to Germany. Morale ran high throughout Patton’s Army, and there was no sign of heavy resistance before the German border. Consequently, by early September, the 3rd U.S Army had ground to a virtual halt along the flooded Moselle River. In places, Patton's tanks and vehicles ran out of fuel on the battlefield and their swift momentum outran their supply lines (Fugate, 1999). Lack of logistics allowed the German forces to take advantage of Patton’s Army and initiate one of the largest tank battles of World War II, the Battle of Arracourt.
HQ, Department of the Army. (2014). Army Techniques Publication 3-11.24: TECHNICAL CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, NUCLEAR, AND EXPLOSIVES FORCE EMPLOYMENT. Washington, DC: HQ, Department of the Army.
Cashman, J. (2000). Emergency Response to Chemical and Biological Agents. Boca Raton, FL. Lewis Publishers.
By the summer of 1943 the Allied Powers had finished their campaigns in North Africa. Their next objective was to move into Sicily and invade Italy to cause the Germans to move northwest from the coast. This came to be known as “Operation Husky which was designed to open the shipping lanes in the Mediterranean, eliminate it as an Axis base, and to aid in the fall of Mussolini’s government” (Hickman n.d.). In July 8th, 1943 Mowat, now an intelligence officer was ordered to head to Sicily to participate in Operation Husky. They left the night of the 8th and encountered terribly rough seas due to the sirocco. The sirocco is an intense wind that comes off of the Sahara. It looked as though Operation Husky would be cancelled. Fortunately, later that night the wind slowed and the platoons were able to continue with the operation. The invasion commenced on the night of July 9th, landing on the west side of the Pachi...
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...
Chemical Warfare and Medical Response During World War I, 2008 US National Library of Medicine, accessed 20 March 2014, .
a. TERMINAL LEARNING OBJECTIVE: To familiarize you with the main components and characteristics of the 81mm mortar.
US ARMY (FM 3-11.19, Multiservice Tactics, Techniques, and procedures Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Reconnaissance, 2004)
German forces launched nearly one-hundred-ninety tons of Mustard Gas into the battlefield of Ypres, Belgium, marking a new chapter in gas warfare. Previously, gas was used to gain tactical advantage or suppress enemy forces. Mustard gas was designed with more malicious intent. It was used in coordination with another gas known as “Blue Cross”. Blue cross was created with the intention of penetrating charcoal filters in gas masks. The chemical would then cause such severe irritation to the nose and throat, that soldiers would tear off their gas masks to cough or vomit. Subsequently, they would be exposed to the more caustic mustard
In The Great War (WW1) mustard gas was one of many technologies that changed the nature of the war. The Germans introduced the chemical mustard gas in 1917. Fritz Haber, a German chemist, was thought to be the ‘father of chemical warfare’ for his years of developing the poisonous gas weapons during the era of World War 1. Haber did not only develop the deadly gasses but he also helped develop gas masks to help protect people against these poisons. Haber was not the only person responsible for developing mustard gas, there were other inventors credible for the establishment as well. Different people tweaked the creation with their own methods throughout the whole process, such as Depretz, Levinstein, Clarke and Meyer. Normally, in its gaseous