The design team was pressed for results quickly and had little time. Designs for the small box respirator were made in May of 1917. Bureau of Mines as that government agency had some experience in the art of designing gasmasks which were capable of filtering out the poisonous gas often found in underground mines. In turn, the job of actually designing the first American made respirator of the war was turned over to the U.S. Army Surgeon General and the Medical Department with designing and overseeing the manufacture of an American made gasmask. The American Small Box Respirator was the first attempt at a gas mask made in the United States to combat the chemical gases used in the war. In this article we cover just a few of the gas mask used by AEF troops in the future we will cover the other lesser known examples. The need for a protection against chemical gas attacks quickly produced early respirators or commonly know as gas mask for the users to be shielded from most chemical agents used on the battlefield. After the failure to capture the trenches the German military quick devised a plan to attack while the gas was being used against the enemy forces. The French and Algerian forces quickly retreated from the clouds of smoke but before the German military could take the trenches reinforcements were quickly put back on the line. On April 22nd, 1915 in Ypres, Belgium along a 4 mile stretch on the front lines the German military first used a chemical agent called chlorine gas to attack the unsuspecting French and Algerian forces. One of the many new weapons of war was the use of chemical agents that could either debilitate or kill the person unfortunate enough to get a whiff of the deadly toxins. When men started to dig trenches all armies on both sides looked for a new way to break the stalemate and get troops moving once again. In WWI new weapon’s of war were made and fielded in the stagnant fields of “No Man’s Land”.
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