UK's Shocking Use Of Chemical Weapons

The use of chemical weapons in Syria 

has outraged the world. But it is easy to forget that Britain has used them – and that Winston Churchill was a powerful advocate for them

A staggering 50,000 M Devices were shipped to Russia: British aerial attacks using them began on 27 August 1919, targeting the village of Emtsa, 120 miles south of Archangel. Bolshevik soldiers were seen fleeing in panic as the green chemical gas drifted towards them. Those caught in the cloud vomited blood, then collapsed unconscious.

The attacks continued throughout September on many Bolshevik-held villages: Chunova, Vikhtova, Pocha, Chorga, Tavoigor and Zapolki. But the weapons proved less effective than Churchill had hoped, partly because of the damp autumn weather. By September, the attacks were halted then stopped. Two weeks later the remaining weapons were dumped in the White Sea. They remain on the seabed to this day in 40 fathoms of water.

“The Right Medicine for the Bolshevist”: British air-dropped chemical weapons in North Russia, 1919,’ Imperial War Museum Review, No. 12, 1999.