748
8 Modern Weapons: Possibilities and Limitations
is multi-purposed and can damage a tank, destroy a machine gunpoint or a house, or
kill one or several soldiers, a chemical charge can only do the latter; i.e., chemical
ammunition is not multi-purposed. Hence the simple conclusion: any commander
would prefer a dozen regular projectiles to a hundred chemical ones.
From the point of view of warfare science, chemical weapons are not weapons at
all.
And the last thing: The entire history of warfare means is a technical struggle
between offense and defence means. The shield was born to fight the sword, the
knight’s suit—to counter the spear, the armor—to protect from cannons, the trench—
to protect from bullets, etc. The appearance of more sophisticated means of protection
was responded with more sophisticated means of offense, in response to which the
protection had been modernized; this struggle alternately gave advantage to both
parties; moreover, there is no sufficient protection against any type of weapons.
Against any type of weapons… except chemical ones.
The means of protection against chemical agents were born almost in an instant
and quickly became nearly absolute. Even during the first chemical attacks, the
soldiers managed to find effective countermeasures. It is known that the defenders
often made fires on the exterior slopes of the trenches, and the clouds of chlorine
were simply carried away over the trenches (and this is considering the fact that
the soldiers did not know physics or meteorology). The soldiers quickly learned to
protect their eyes with car glasses, and their breathing apparatus with handkerchiefs,
on which they had previously simply urinated (we’re sorry for such a naturalistic
detail).
Within weeks, basic cotton gauze masks with bottles of degassing solution were
supplied to the fronts; soon they were replaced with rubber gas masks equipped with
carbon filters.
The attempts to create gases penetrating through a carbon filter brought no
results, since the so-called oxygen-breathing gas masks emerged immediately, which
helpfully isolated the wearer from the environment.
All the successful attacks were aimed at the enemy who was unaware of the new
type of weapons and completely unprepared and had no means of protection. When
CA were a novelty, they could achieve success. However, the golden age of chemical
weapons ended very quickly.
Yes, people feared chemical weapons. They fear it today, too. There is a reason why
almost the first thing handed to a rookie in the army is a gas mask, and the first lesson
a rookie learns is how to put it on quickly. Everyone may be afraid; however, no one
wants to use chemical weapons. All cases of their use during the World War II or after
it were either experimental or aimed at civilians who had no sufficient knowledge or
protection means. All of these were separate cases, after which the commander who
used them quickly realized that the use of such weapons was impractical. Therefore,
by the moment of publication of this book, CA have become one of the components
of information warfare. Examples: the test tube with a “white” substance shown from
the UN podium before the attack on Iraq, the informational message about chemical
attacks in Syria, the case of Skripal father and daughter poisoned in England, etc.
8 Modern Weapons: Possibilities and Limitations
is multi-purposed and can damage a tank, destroy a machine gunpoint or a house, or
kill one or several soldiers, a chemical charge can only do the latter; i.e., chemical
ammunition is not multi-purposed. Hence the simple conclusion: any commander
would prefer a dozen regular projectiles to a hundred chemical ones.
From the point of view of warfare science, chemical weapons are not weapons at
all.
And the last thing: The entire history of warfare means is a technical struggle
between offense and defence means. The shield was born to fight the sword, the
knight’s suit—to counter the spear, the armor—to protect from cannons, the trench—
to protect from bullets, etc. The appearance of more sophisticated means of protection
was responded with more sophisticated means of offense, in response to which the
protection had been modernized; this struggle alternately gave advantage to both
parties; moreover, there is no sufficient protection against any type of weapons.
Against any type of weapons… except chemical ones.
The means of protection against chemical agents were born almost in an instant
and quickly became nearly absolute. Even during the first chemical attacks, the
soldiers managed to find effective countermeasures. It is known that the defenders
often made fires on the exterior slopes of the trenches, and the clouds of chlorine
were simply carried away over the trenches (and this is considering the fact that
the soldiers did not know physics or meteorology). The soldiers quickly learned to
protect their eyes with car glasses, and their breathing apparatus with handkerchiefs,
on which they had previously simply urinated (we’re sorry for such a naturalistic
detail).
Within weeks, basic cotton gauze masks with bottles of degassing solution were
supplied to the fronts; soon they were replaced with rubber gas masks equipped with
carbon filters.
The attempts to create gases penetrating through a carbon filter brought no
results, since the so-called oxygen-breathing gas masks emerged immediately, which
helpfully isolated the wearer from the environment.
All the successful attacks were aimed at the enemy who was unaware of the new
type of weapons and completely unprepared and had no means of protection. When
CA were a novelty, they could achieve success. However, the golden age of chemical
weapons ended very quickly.
Yes, people feared chemical weapons. They fear it today, too. There is a reason why
almost the first thing handed to a rookie in the army is a gas mask, and the first lesson
a rookie learns is how to put it on quickly. Everyone may be afraid; however, no one
wants to use chemical weapons. All cases of their use during the World War II or after
it were either experimental or aimed at civilians who had no sufficient knowledge or
protection means. All of these were separate cases, after which the commander who
used them quickly realized that the use of such weapons was impractical. Therefore,
by the moment of publication of this book, CA have become one of the components
of information warfare. Examples: the test tube with a “white” substance shown from
the UN podium before the attack on Iraq, the informational message about chemical
attacks in Syria, the case of Skripal father and daughter poisoned in England, etc.