Distribution of the respirator in the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) began in February 1916 and was discontinued in June of that year. The eyes were protected by a separate pair of gas goggles. The respirator consisted of a large filter canister connected to a rubberized facepiece, which covered only the chin, mouth and nose, by means of a flexible rubber hose. In early 1916, the British developed a two piece gasmask that was known as the Tar Box or Large Box Respirator. turned to buying British made gas masks and converting them to U.S. The new American made gas mask were still being put to the test and had not been produced in large enough numbers. had been producing a new gasmask to be used by the AEF. This was because they had been informed that the U.S. Surprisingly, the English reply stated that the British gas masks would not be forthcoming. With no British Short Box Respirators in hand and with the December 1st deadline rapidly approaching, a telegram was dispatched to England inquiring when the British gas masks would be delivered. In October of 1918 the initial order was expanded to 300,000 masks. That date was selected because it was the date projected date when the first contingent of Doughboys would enter the line. Army Quartermaster Corp Chief Quartermaster placed an order for 100,000 British SBRs, with a minimum of 75,000 masks to be delivered no later than December 1, 1918. entering the war in 1917 the need for gas mask that worked well with all of the infantryman standard issue equipment was required for every soldier going overseas to France. Most of the American made mask ended up back in the U.S. The American Small Box Respirator was quickly scrapped in favor of the British Small Box Respirators. The type A filter was made of soda-lime granules layered between charcoal lining that clumped up when exposed to chemical agents. The mask itself was not resistant to most gases used by the Germans and the filter would easily clog up and made it hard to draw air through. The mouth piece was too big and stiff causing cramping in the users jaw muscles.

The British and French immediately rejected the gas masks and declared them a complete failure. The American Small Box Respirator was designed off the British examples but had a few design changes. The respirator was quickly rushed into production by the beginning of July and by August 20,000 units made it overseas to be tested by the British and French cadre. It took the English two years to design and field the small box respirator the American’s compressed that to just 21 days. 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”.

Ww1 gas mask satchel