veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

Chemical warfare and its use are almost as old as warfare itself. Poisoned spear tips and arrowheads have been documented for hundreds of years, along with other deadly variations – poisoned water and food supplies; rats and mice with diseased fleas and ticks; assassinations and dead bodies strategically flung into remote areas.

Very recently, chemical warfare tools were used in the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, the North Korean dictator’s older brother. North Korean agents sprayed a VX nerve agent in his face. It affects your involuntary functions like breathing and the beating of your heart. 

The first written account of chemical warfare dates back to 429 BC, when the Spartans laid siege to Plataea. They stacked impressive piles of wood laced with pitch and sulfur outside the city. Igniting this created blue clouds of foul-smelling and noxious sulfur dioxide gas. The Plataeans soon abandoned their posts, leading to a Spartan victory. 

The oldest solid evidence of chemical warfare was unearthed by archaeologists in 2009 near the ghost city of Dura in modern day Syria. The Persians who laid siege to the city dug a tunnel to breach the ramparts. Having learned of this, the Romans dug their own tunnel to intercept the invaders. The Persians used a large bellows to blow sulfur crystals and a powered tar substance into the Roman tunnel. This was then ignited. Their men kept on working the bellows until the screaming stopped. They then stacked the dead bodies in the intercept tunnel, adding to the terror. 

The Romans themselves were absolute masters at chemical warfare. They poisoned wells of cities the were about to besiege. They loaded their catapults with everything from flammable substances to diseased vermin.  Terrifyingly, they even loaded clay vessels with thousands of spiders and scorpions and launched these into enemy troops. They also made giant piles of gypsum – a skin and respiratory irritant — downwind of their targets. The wind would disperse the piles into the city.

Greek fire is another example of chemical warfare. The chemical makeup of their flammable weapon, which served as a deterrent to invading fleets for centuries, has still not been duplicated today. 

Early warriors devised complex flamethrowers that spit chemically coated feathers that stuck to their targets and burned. One account from Alexander the Great’s army tells of burning sand launched at them. The sand was very equivalent to white phosphorus, which we use today.

Recalling personal experience from getting a blank discharged cartridge caught in my own uniform, I can personally emphasize how awful this must’ve been. The flaming sand would work its way into armor and make an unpleasant job even worse.