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WW1 CLARK GAS BOTTLE


sommewalker

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WW1 CLARK 'D' GAS BOTTLE

A German Gas Bottle which contained toxic gas to be used in the chemical Warfare during 1917. This green glass bottle contained a fluid with a colour varying from eggwhite to brown/yellow and a smell similar to shoe polish, it was known to the Germans under the code name 'Clark' which stood for DA-gas, a Vomiting agent. The product was meant specifically to penetrate through safety measures such as gasmasks, especially treated cloths and even the anti gas ointment Item A0819. It was only loaded into projectiles of the 7.7cm model 1896 and the model 1915. These could be identified by a blue cross on the body. When the shell exploded, the glass was shattered and the fluid vaporised. Tens of these formed a vast cloud of toxic gas. This was a very rare item as it was only to be removed when opening a gas shell, something that no reasonable human being dared to do. In 2002 during earthworks in the village of Houthulst (Belgium) near to the site of the Bomb Disposal Base of the Belgium Army, a dump of inner parts of all sorts of German Shells and grenades was discovered. Research has shown that in 1919 German prisoners of war had been put to work emptying these dangerous beasts to salvage steel. The parts not wanted were simply thrown into shell holes. Only around 300 are known to have survived from that source.

 

 

it goes without saying" never ever touch a live gas shell if you come across one !"

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  • 4 years later...

I have seen several of these glass bottles for sale over the years, not very common. Interesting piece.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well this item piqued my interest, so I decided to get one for the collection. When I was in Belgium in 2015, I spoke with several farmers who now farmland that was once battlefields, they said it was very common to find live gas shells as several of their relatives had hit one or dug one up accidentally and got gassed. They said this had not happened for some time (70's/80's) but it was interesting hearing the stories. As you walk on the fields today, shrapnel balls are still everywhere along with bullets and bullet casings, amazing. 

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The first gas type you mention was "Maskenbrecher" or Adamsit*.   On the Somme I found a few bits and pieces, there were live Lebel cartridges from 1915, before the British took over the sectors. On a field (Schwaben Redout), I found the remains of boot soles with the hobnails still in them. Below the slopes of the Butte de Warlencourt there was an unexploded British handgrenade, and many other bits and pieces.
* Also known as
Phenarsazinchlorid
Diphenylaminchlorarsin
10-Chlor-5,10-dihydrophenarsazin

Struktur von Adamsit

 

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It is amazing how much of this stuff is still there. I remember finding a live US Mk II Grenade in the Snee Eifel area, we roped the hole off and notified the police. 

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  • 1 year later...

I did recently find the glass stopper to this bottle. I found a vendor in the Netherlands that found a small cache of the stoppers. Patience paid off in this instance!

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