Laboratories were established in twenty-one universities, three chemical companies, and three government facilities, with a total of 118 chemists. Another Bureau member was directed to network with laboratories at other universities. Several other universities and institutes responded with offers to assist, including the Johns Hopkins University and the Mellon Institution. Lewis (1882-1975) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale University Professor of Physiology Yandell Henderson (1873-1944). In addition to Bureau personnel he added a representative of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, chemical engineering professor Warren K. Burrell (1882-1957), to supervise the creation of the new research network. Manning selected a Bureau chemical consultant, George A. American University’s (Washington, D.C.) Experiment Station was selected as the location for the headquarters and laboratory, which later became the Chemical Warfare Service’s (CWS) Research Division. On 7 April 1917 work began to create a vast civilian research network in coordination with universities. Manning (1861-1932) ordered an investigation by its Mine and Natural Gas Department, and the War Department assigned ordnance and medical officers to assist in the research. A subcommittee researched chemicals for both offensive and defensive measures. Secretary of the Interior Franklin Lane (1864-1921) encouraged the National Research Council’s Military Committee to study noxious gases in war. Bureau of Mines Department of the Interior initiated a study on defending against chemical weapons. military forces being placed unprepared on chemical battlefields early on. One government agency of the executive branch recognized the possibility of U.S. However, the lack of preparedness was also due to the fact that the military had convinced itself that such weapons would be irrelevant in war, since countermeasures prior to 1917 seemed to lessen the danger of gas.ĭomestic and Civilian Research and Preparations ↑ President Woodrow Wilson’s (1856-1924) insistence that the US not undertake significant preparations for offensive war in order to maintain neutrality partly explains this lag. army even copied British field manuals for use in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). The Americans initially relied on Great Britain and France for instructors, doctrine, defensive equipment, artillery shells, mortars (British Stokes Mortars) and Livens Projectors (large cylindrical tubes buried in the earth, firing sisty-pound gas loaded projectiles). army began to prepare for a European conflict. War Department, no serious effort was made to prepare the military for a chemical environment in combat. Although observer reports and news media reached the U.S. The United States was unprepared for chemical warfare when it entered the Great War in 1917.
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