The earliest archaeological evidence of gas warfare is during the Roman–Persian wars. Sparta was not alone in its use of unconventional tactics in ancient Greece Solon of Athens is said to have used hellebore roots to poison the water in an aqueduct leading from the River Pleistos around 590 BC during the siege of Kirrha. Spartan forces besieging an Athenian city placed a lighted mixture of wood, pitch, and sulfur under the walls hoping that the noxious smoke would incapacitate the Athenians, so that they would not be able to resist the assault that followed. The earliest recorded use of gas warfare in the West dates back to the fifth century BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. These accounts describe an arsenic-containing "soul-hunting fog", and the use of finely divided lime dispersed into the air to suppress a peasant revolt in 178 AD. Other Chinese writings dating around the same period contain hundreds of recipes for the production of poisonous or irritating smokes for use in war along with numerous accounts of their use. In the second century BC, writings of the Mohist sect in China describe the use of bellows to pump smoke from burning balls of toxic plants and vegetables into tunnels being dug by a besieging army. The Art of War described the use of fire weapons against the enemy.Īrsenical smokes were known to the Chinese as far back as c. Ancient Greek historians recount that Alexander the Great encountered poison arrows and fire incendiaries in India at the Indus basin in the 4th century BC. Kautilya's " Arthashastra", a statecraft manual of the same era, contains hundreds of recipes for creating poison weapons, toxic smokes, and other chemical weapons. 400 BC) forbids the use of poison and fire arrows, but advises poisoning food and water. The " Laws of Manu," a Hindu treatise on statecraft (c. Some of the earliest surviving references to toxic warfare appear in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Homer's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, allude to poisoned arrows used by both sides in the legendary Trojan War ( Bronze Age Greece). The M5 was later deemed obsolete and removed from service in 1947, but still used as a special purpose mask during the Korean War.Chemical weapons have been a part of warfare in most societies, although their use has been particularly controversial since the 20th century.Īncient Greek myths about Heracles poisoning his arrows with the venom of the Hydra monster are the earliest references to toxic weapons in western literature. The M5, as well as all the other gas masks made of neoprene had one distinctive problem - the facepiece hardens during colder weather, a condition known as "cold set".Īn attempt to replace this mask was made with the M8 Snout-Type Gas Mask, which was made from an M3, M3A1, M4, or M4A1 Lightweight Service Mask facepice (made of Class "B" Grey Rubber) that had the hose removed and an angle pipe fitted with a 60mm threaded inlet valve fitted in place of it. The mask was issued with an M7 Carrier Bag, which was made of duck canvas, heavily rubberized with black neoprene, which notibly doubled as a floatation device in the waters off of Normandy, as well as an M11 type filter (which was also issued with the M8 Snout and the M9 masks). The mask did not feature an oronasal cup unlike the M3-10A1-6 Mask it's made with. Another variant was made of an M2A2 or M2A3 Heavyweight Service Mask in the same way. The mask is made of a neroprene rubber M3-10A1-6 Lightweight Service Mask that had the hose chopped off, the hole plugged up, and had the side of the facepiece butchered to fit a 60mm threaded inlet valve for the filter. The M5 was based on the British Lightweight Service Respirator, featuring an filter input on the side of the mask. It is one of the most sought after mask by collectors due to its usage in the Normandy Landings in 1944. The M5-11-7 Assault Gas Mask was made in 1943, around the same time as the M3 by Mine Safety Appliances, intended to be a lightweight gas mask for use by paratroopers and assault troops because the older M1, M2, M3, and M4 Service Masks used combersome hoses that could impede a soldier's movement.
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