"Then, from April 1915, a new nightmare began: gas warfare. Lethal poisonous gas was first used by the German Army in the war, but it was soon adopted by all sides. Although there were often terrible and lasting consequences for the individual soldiers who experienced a gas attack, the weapon did not prove strategically decisive since wind and countermeasures like gas masks frequently negated its effects."
"Non-lethal tear gas (lachrymatory) was experimented with in the early part of WWI, but the first major assault using deadly poison gas was undertaken by the German Army against French, Algerian, British, and Canadian troops in the afternoon of 22 April 1915 at the Second Battle of Ypres. This gas attack released 168 tons of poisonous chlorine gas from 500 special canisters."
"The gas killed 5,000 to 6,000 Allied soldiers and injured another 10,000 in just ten minutes, either directly from the effects of the gas or because desperate men climbed out of the trenches trying to escape it and were consequently shot. The German commanders were surprised by the devastating effects of the gas, and so they were unprepared to take full advantage of the 5-mile (8-km) gap caused by the new weapon."
From April 1915, lethal gas transformed trench warfare by adding a new form of battlefield horror. Early experiments used non-lethal lachrymatory agents, but German forces launched the first major deadly assault at Ypres on 22 April 1915. That attack released 168 tons of chlorine from 500 canisters, causing thousands of deaths and injuries within minutes and creating a five-mile gap. German troops could not exploit the opening because of surprise, fear of lingering gas, reluctance to enter contaminated ground, and insufficient reserves. Wind and countermeasures such as gas masks frequently limited gas effectiveness, while psychological effects were significant.
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