The Somme Battle, 1916.--My impression as an eyewitness
and participator, however, was that the real British gas
offensive began after, and as a result of, the Loos experience.
Material, organisation, and numbers of personnel, both at
the front and at home, co-operation with staffs and tactical
conceptions all improved vastly in time to contribute largely
to the efficiency of preparations for the Somme offensive
in July, 1916. During the early months of 1916, a Special Brigade
was created by expanding the four Special Companies,
and the 4-inch Stokes mortar was adopted, training being
vigorously pursued. As many as 110 cloud gas discharges,
mainly of a phosgene mixture, occurred during the Somme battle,
and evidence of their success is seen in German reports.
These successes were due not only to the magnitude of our operations,
but to the carefully developed cloud attack tactics which
aimed at obtaining maximum results from the gas employed.
The factor of surprise governed all other considerations.
Attacks occurred at night and depended for success upon
the concentration of the maximum amount of gas in the given sector
for a short, sharp discharge under the best wind conditions.
There is abundant evidence of our success in these attacks.
Probably the most marked feature of the captured documents or
of prisoners' statements during the later stages of the Somme battle
was the continual reference to the deadly effect of British cloud gas.
The captured letter of a German soldier writing home stated:
"Since the beginning of July an unparalleled slaughter has
been going on. Not a day passes but the English let off
their gas waves at one place or another. I will give you
only one instance of this gas; men 7 and 8 kilometres behind
the front line became unconscious from the tail of the gas cloud,