out into the open. After all, why should a man have to die in a shell hole
slowly bleeding to death over days and calling out for his mother? Gas too had
psychological advantages, it was infinitely variable so soldiers had no idea
what was heading for them and many substances ‘lingered’ on the soil thereby
confounding a soldier’s instincts to fall to the ground for protection. But gas
warfare had hardly begun before it played a part in the death of one of
Haber’s closest colleagues and soon after, that of his wife Clara Immerwahr.
13.6.1 War at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Institute’s initial involvement with the war effort however was innocuous
enough. In the early period of mobile warfare—according to Coates
5
—Haber
received his first problem from the War Ministry, viz, to discover a substitute
for ‘toluene’ (methyl benzene)—obtained from coal tar—which was no
longer available for use as an antifreeze agent in ‘benzine’ based motor fuel
because it was now too important as the precursor for TNT. The institute
soon found ‘xylene(s)’ (di-methylbenzene(s)) and ‘solvent naphtha’ satisfactory. The sudden and unexpected onset of trench warfare however not only
exacerbated Germany’s nitrate problem, but also presented her with the need
to rapidly re-instate the mobile war by devising some method of driving the
Allied forces out of their trenches and into the open where—they felt—their
superior numbers and tactical training would prevail. In this respect, the use
of ‘irritant’ substances to render confined positions such as trenches untenable
was not a new idea,
38 and none of the combatants regarded irritants to be in
conflict with the Hague Treaty of 1899. According to some reports it was the
French, who in August 1914, first used grenades containing a few millilitres
of ‘tear gas’ (ethyl bromoacetate or xylyl bromide) on the Western Front.
These small quantities however were rapidly dispersed, and the German
infantry hardly detected their presence. Soon afterwards, in October 1914,
Germany retaliated and deployed fragmentation shells containing a chemical
irritant against British troops at Neuve Chapelle with much the same effect.
But such warfare was unforeseen by Germany and no preparation had been
made in this direction. However, realizing the advantage these substances
might provide, she called upon her principal chemists to address the problem.
At first Nernst was consulted and he suggested the use of the irritant
non-toxic powder o-dianisidine chlorosulphonate
39
—an intermediate used in
the synthetic dye industry—and the lachrymator x-xylyl bromide
39
—both
delivered via normal high explosive and shrapnel shells simultaneously saving
on TNT. However, these proved ineffective because the delivery systems
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
257
slowly bleeding to death over days and calling out for his mother? Gas too had
psychological advantages, it was infinitely variable so soldiers had no idea
what was heading for them and many substances ‘lingered’ on the soil thereby
confounding a soldier’s instincts to fall to the ground for protection. But gas
warfare had hardly begun before it played a part in the death of one of
Haber’s closest colleagues and soon after, that of his wife Clara Immerwahr.
13.6.1 War at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Institute’s initial involvement with the war effort however was innocuous
enough. In the early period of mobile warfare—according to Coates
5
—Haber
received his first problem from the War Ministry, viz, to discover a substitute
for ‘toluene’ (methyl benzene)—obtained from coal tar—which was no
longer available for use as an antifreeze agent in ‘benzine’ based motor fuel
because it was now too important as the precursor for TNT. The institute
soon found ‘xylene(s)’ (di-methylbenzene(s)) and ‘solvent naphtha’ satisfactory. The sudden and unexpected onset of trench warfare however not only
exacerbated Germany’s nitrate problem, but also presented her with the need
to rapidly re-instate the mobile war by devising some method of driving the
Allied forces out of their trenches and into the open where—they felt—their
superior numbers and tactical training would prevail. In this respect, the use
of ‘irritant’ substances to render confined positions such as trenches untenable
was not a new idea,
38 and none of the combatants regarded irritants to be in
conflict with the Hague Treaty of 1899. According to some reports it was the
French, who in August 1914, first used grenades containing a few millilitres
of ‘tear gas’ (ethyl bromoacetate or xylyl bromide) on the Western Front.
These small quantities however were rapidly dispersed, and the German
infantry hardly detected their presence. Soon afterwards, in October 1914,
Germany retaliated and deployed fragmentation shells containing a chemical
irritant against British troops at Neuve Chapelle with much the same effect.
But such warfare was unforeseen by Germany and no preparation had been
made in this direction. However, realizing the advantage these substances
might provide, she called upon her principal chemists to address the problem.
At first Nernst was consulted and he suggested the use of the irritant
non-toxic powder o-dianisidine chlorosulphonate
39
—an intermediate used in
the synthetic dye industry—and the lachrymator x-xylyl bromide
39
—both
delivered via normal high explosive and shrapnel shells simultaneously saving
on TNT. However, these proved ineffective because the delivery systems
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
257