Green Cross

German green cross grenade from the First World War

Green Cross grenades were pulmonary agent carrying grenades that in World War I were used to bring unerringly to poison gas over long distances for use.

The term green cross grenade comes from the fact that the German grenades were marked with green color. The cap of the detonator was painted green and there was a green cross on the bottom of the cartridge.

Phosgene , diphosgene and chloropicrin were used as warfare agents for green cross grenades . Later lung warfare agents were generally designated with the green cross.

It was used for the first time on May 31, 1915, when German troops attacked French units near Ypres . It was used in a mixture of 95% chlorine gas and 5% phosgene. Soon there was a move to the more effective, pure phosgene.

See also

• Gas war during the First World War
• Colored shooting
  • Blue cross, see nose and throat warfare agent
  • Mustard , mustard , mustards
  • Yellow cross 3 or red cross, see nettle fabric
  • White cross, see eye warfare agent
• List of chemical warfare agents

Individual evidence

1. ↑ EB Spear, Some problems of Gas Warfare in Scientific Monthly 8 , 275-283 (1919).
2. ↑ Lohs, Karlheinz: Synthetic poisons . 2nd edition, Deutscher Militärverlag, Berlin (East), 1963.