Army under von Biilow, and from the east, von Hausen’s Third Army. French hopes of launching an offensive to the northeast in accordance with Plan XVII were forestalled on August 21 when Billow’s forces gained footholds across the Sambre. Next day, French counterattacks failed and Billow, without waiting for Hausen’s support, drove the French back some 5 miles (8km) from the Sambre. On August 23 the French I Corps, under Gen Franchet d’Esperey, had to cancel a thrust against Billow’s left to deal instead with Hausen’s crossing of the Meuse to the south. That night Lanrezac ordered a withdrawal, thereby saving the French Fifth Army from destruction. PJS.
Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) see chemcial weapons and
BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS.
Chemical weapons. Weapons which use chemically synthesized poisons to kill or disable the enemy or (defoliants) to destroy plants useful to the enemy for food or as cover. The main lethal chemical agents today are nerve gases such as tabun, sarin and the V-agents that attack the central nervous system. Older agents include blood gases such as cyanide that prevent the bloodstream carrying oxygen, blistering agents such as mustard gas that attack all exposed surfaces and choking agents that affect the lungs such as phosgene. Some agents are persistent, others rapidly disappear. They can be released from cylinders, by aircraft sprays, or by shells, rockets, bombs or mines. Chemical weapons were first used in modern times in World War I, first by the Germans on the Eastern and then the Western Fronts and then by the Allies. They achieved some significant local surprise effect, but countermeasures - protective masks and “gas capes” - were soon developed, and chemical weapons had no decisive effect on the outcome of the war. Although less lethal than other types of weapon, the long-lasting effects of chemical weapons spread popular revulsion against this form of war and first use of chemical weapons was banned by the Geneva protocol of 1925, which was only ratified by the USA 50 years later. Chemical weapons were used with some effect against unprotected opponents by Spain in Morocco in 1925, by the Russians in China in 1934, by the Italians in Ethiopia in 1935-36 and by both sides in the Sino-Soviet War of 1937-45, but they were not generally used in World War II, despite fears of widespread strategic bombing with chemical bombs and sprays. Germany, who had a monopoly of the then new nerve agents, feared retaliation and Hitler, who had been gassed in the Great War, disliked chemical warfare. Since World War II, lethal chemical weapons have been used in the Yemen Civil War, and in the Gulf War between Iraq and Iran. Defoliants, notably the infamous “Agent Orange”, were used widely by the Americans in Vietnam, causing long-term ecological damage and injury to personnel. Vietnam also saw the use of non-lethal harassing agents (“tear gas”) commonly used for riot control. Negotiations progress at Geneva in the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (cd) for a worldwide ban, and an international conference in Paris at the beginning of 1989 reaffirmed the Geneva protocol on no first use. Chemical weapons are stockpiled by the USSR (which possesses the world’s most extensive cw infrastructure), the USA and France but not by the UK. The USA is about to replace its older weapons with binary munitions containing two nonlethal toxic chemicals which are mixed to form lethal nerve agent GB2 before impact. Chemical weapons proliferation is an important problem; Syria, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Libya all manufacture chemical weapons. Protection against chemical weapons can be provided by special masks and suits, although wearing such equipment itself degrades the combat capability of personnel. A major aim of chemical attack may well be to exploit this effect; for example, to slow down the sortie rate of an enemy airfield. Hallucinogenic drugs such as those based on LSD have also been tested as a means of disorientating an enemy. EJG.
Chemin des Dames. This ridge, between the Aisne and Ailette in France, takes its name from the
Malmaison-Craonne road built along its crest to allow Louis XV’s daughters easier access to the Chateau de la Bove. The summit was reached by the bee in September 1914 but lost by the French the following winter. A fiercely contested feature, it was a principal objective of the Nivelle offensive in April 1917 and was wholly recovered in November, after Petain’s Malmaison attack. Overrun again in the German “Bliicher” offensive of May 1918, it was finally secured for the Allies in October 1918 by the French Fifth and Tenth Armies. PJS.
Chengtu. The capital of Szechwan province, China, was selected in
1944 as the main base for B-29 raids against the Japanese home islands. A massive construction programme built four bomber bases in rapid time, but in January
1945 the proximity of Japanese forces led to the abandonment of the airfields.
Chennault, Maj Gen Claire Lee
(1898-1958). US. In 1937, forced by deafness to retire as head of US Army Air Corps fighter training, Chennault became military aviation adviser to the Chinese government. Early in 1941, Chinese resources proving insufficient to combat Japanese aggression, he recruited the American Volunteer Group (“Flying Tigers”) which he trained - advocating diving attacks in the sturdy P-40 Warhawk against the faster, more agile, but less well-armoured Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” - to become the most effective air unit in the China-Burma-India Theatre in early 1942. Recalled to regular service with the China Air Task Force in mid-1942, from March 1943 he commanded US Fourteenth Air Force. His demands for the limited Allied resources in China to be devoted to air rather than ground power led to repeated clashes with Stilwell, who appeared to be proved right when the Japanese “Ichi-go” offensive of 1944-45 resulted in the loss of many Fourteenth Air Force bases. Refusing to preside over the disbanding of the Sino-American wing of the Chinese air service as the Pacific war neared its end, Chennault resigned his command in July 1945. RO’N.
World History
