The Spectator at war: Deadly Gases

From ‘News of the Week‘, The Spectator, 1 May 1915:

SINCE our last issue the western extremity of the western theatre of the war has been the scene of furious fighting in which the French, Belgians, and British have been engaged. The special feature of this second battle of Ypres, one of the greatest of the war, was the use by the Germans of asphyxiating gases contrary to the most solemn pledges made by them at the Hague Conferences. These deadly gases were not a by-product of the high explosives used in shells, such, for example, stele the gas generated by our Lyddite, but were employed with the deliberate object of poisoning. They were for the greater part manufactured in huge retorts in the German trenches and were then blown by the wind on to the lines of the Allies.