Charles Howard Foulkes
Charles Howard Foulkes (born February 1, 1875 in Bangalore , India , † May 6, 1969 in Hampshire ) was head of the chemical service of the British Army from the First World War .
Life
Early military career
In 1894, Foulkes joined the Pioneers of the British Army ( Royal Engineers ) as a Second Lieutenant . From 1897 to 1899, Foulkes was stationed in Sierra Leone . From 1899 to 1900, Foulkes took part in the second Boer War. From 1902 to 1904 he was deputy head of the British-French border commission in northern Nigeria . In 1903, Foulkes took part in the Kano-Sokoto expedition in Nigeria to map the course of the border. 1904 Foulkes was promoted to captain ( captain ) and married. From 1904 to 1909, Foulkes headed the Ordnance Survey of Scotland . From 1909 to 1912, Foulkes headed the 31st fortress company on what was then Ceylon . In 1913, Foulkes became the commander of the Chatham (Kent) arsenal light engineering company . In 1914, Foulkes was promoted to major.
First World War
From 1914 to 1918, Foulkes was on the Western Front. In 1914 at the first battle of Ypres , Foulkes was in command of the 11th field company. After Hugo Stoltzenberg, under the guidance of Fritz Haber , had turned on the chlorine gas taps on April 22, 1915 at the second Battle of Ypres , the chemical warfare escalated . 5,730 chlorine gas bottles were opened and 180 tons of gas were released. The consequences of the gas attack were devastating. The lungs of many French and Algerian soldiers were burned and died slow deaths. Before dawn on April 24, 1915, German chlorine chemists opened the valves to a Canadian position with similarly devastating consequences. On the Allied side, around 5,000 people died in the two days of the gas attack and 10,000 had damage to their health, with around half of those affected having permanent damage. The Germans repeated the gas attacks until May 24, 1915. The Allied troops only had primitive funnel filter masks that were soaked in soda solution and tied around the face, but were ineffective as expected. As a result, the wind saved from further German attacks. In October 1915 there were two more chlorine gas attacks from the German side. Then the wind and Fritz Haber turned to the eastern front. From June 1915, 2,500,000 hypo helmets were distributed, cloth sacks with viewing windows that were soaked in glycerine and sodium thiosulphate.
After the experience of the Battle of Flanders, Foulkes was appointed gas expert in mid-1915. At the beginning of autumn the first two companies of the later Special Brigade were ready for action, their base was in Helfaut, northern France .
On September 25, 1915, the British launched their first gas attack at the Battle of Loos , using 5,500 chlorine gas cylinders, in support of a large ground offensive. The gas attack partially failed because some of the gas forced back into the positions of the Allies; this and other problems also resulted in thousands of casualties among Allied forces. The Allies overcame the first German lines and were stopped at the second line, killing about 50,000. On December 9, 1915, the wind blew chlorine gas and phosgene released by the Germans , the lethal dose of which is 18 times less than that of chlorine gas, westward against the British near Ypres.
Over the summer of 1915, the dangers that would arise from the use of phosgene had been recognized and head protection had been improved with the P-helmet. The issuance of nine million P Helmets from December 1915 onwards somewhat limited the number of victims.
In June 1916, during the Battle of the Somme , the British Army also used phosgene mixed with chlorine gas. 57 of Foulkes' men were killed by their own gas. In 1915 both sides were still experimenting with poison gas, while in 1916 it was already a standard mass weapon. In the Salisbury Plain was in Porton Down extensive research and development facility built for chemical weapons.
After some protection against respiratory toxins had been given by gas masks, Fritz Haber developed mustard gas , which also works through the skin.
In 1917 he was given command of the Special Brigade with the rank of Colonel and became Assistant Director of Gas Services , his superior was Brigadier-General Henry Fleetwood Thuillier . In 1918 he became chairman of the Chemical Warfare Committee .
Mustard gas for Afghanistan
From 1919 to 1920 Foulkes was stationed in the Northwest Province . In 1919, Foulkes took part in the third Anglo-Afghan war against Amanullah Khan . After the First World War, like Stoltzenberg and Max Bauer , Foulkes developed tactics for aero-chemical warfare. From the end of 1922 onwards, Stoltzenberg had developed a strategy of contamination to suppress the Rifkabylen . Foulkes oriented his tactics on the third Anglo-Afghan war of 1919 and to suppress revolts in Waziristan in 1920.
"A lack of training and discipline, ignorance and a lack of protective measures on the part of Afghans and nomads will certainly increase the effectiveness of mustard gas in causing losses in the border fight."
“In this country, the heat of the sun clearly favors its use, as evaporation from the ground is much faster and toxic concentrations would arise. Thus the inflammations would be more dangerous and occur sooner; the increased perspiration would encourage blistering, and skin damage would tend to cause complications. "
Ireland
In 1921, Foulkes was promoted to Lieutenant Commander of the Fermoy Pioneers and Director of the Irish Propaganda Department. In 1922, Foulkes became the commander of the Northumbria Pioneers . In 1924, Foulkes was promoted to colonel and deputy chief of engineers in Southern Command. From 1926 to 1930, Foulkes had the high command of the pioneers, the Aldershot Command. In 1928, Foulkes became aide-de-camp of King George V. In 1930, Foulkes was promoted to major general. In 1930, Foulkes was retired.
Second World War
From 1937 to 1945, Foulkes was reactivated as Colonel Commandant of the Pioneers. In 1964 he was awarded the Pioneers' Gold Medal .
Fonts
- Gas! The Story of the Special Brigade. 1934.
- Commonsense and ARP, a practical guide for householders and business managers. 1939.
See also
Web links
- FOULKES, Maj Gen Charles Howard (1875–1969) in the Liddell Hart Military Archives , King's College London
- Charles Howard Foulkes in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Individual evidence
- ^ The Royal Engineers Journal 83. The Institution of Royal Engineers, 1969. p. 235.
- ^ Military scientists tested mustard gas on Indians , The Guardian , September 1, 2007.
- ↑ Robert Harris, Jererny Paxman: A higher form of killing. The secret history of B and C weapons. Düsseldorf, Vienna 1983, p. 61.
- ↑ Robert Harris, Jererny Paxman, 1983, p 277, n. 17,.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Foulkes, Charles Howard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Head of the British Army's Chemical Service |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 1, 1875 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bangalore , India |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 6, 1969 |
| Place of death | Hampshire |