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Note: Some significant unpublished documents have come to light since I first posted this article. This new material has put a different perspective to a couple of statements that I have made below, so I am therefore starting to revise this article and will post it as soon as possible. The text below, however, remains as it was originally written for now, but I have retrospectively designated this article a draft version.

Why did I post this article just one week before I uncovered new material that leads me to draw different conclusions from those I've written? Well, I didn't know I was going to find more information and of such a high calibre - I uncovered it in a file that I didn't really expect to contain such information.

The file in question was PRO WO 142/195 which was catalogued on PROCAT (see the Archive Research pages) as "Russian Offensive Reports 1917-18". The reports had been catagorized as 'offensive' by the War Department at the time, which was why they are still listed as such today. From the catalogue entry I assumed that the file contained information about Russian offensive operations, developments and techniques - which it did - but it also contained some very interesting paragraphs on Russian respirator development.

A brief list of points to be considered include:

• The Russians acknowledged that gas had been used at Bolimov, but did not recognise it as the first gas attack against them
• Russian defensive measures were therefore probably not as immediate as I have made them out to be below
• Zelinsky's role in respirator design remained prominent for several years following 1916
• The Russians (with some British help) attempted to develop the Zelinsky-Kumant (Z-K) mask in 1917
• The widespread lack of discipline and morale in the Russian army played a large part in the perceived failure of the Z-K mask
• The Russian army was never fully issued with box respirators even into the 1920's
• A. Kumant developed his own respirator containers aside from designing the hood used with the Z-K mask

Introduction

It was on January 31, 1915, that the first noticable gas attack of the First World War was launched. German 15cm artillery shells charged with xylyl bromide, a lachrymator, began landing on the positions of the Russian Second Army near Bolimov in Poland in preparation for an assault by the German Ninth Army. However, the effect on the unprotected Russians was nothing compared to the catastrophe that was to befall the French and Canadian troops at Ypres the following April. The xylyl bromide, which was in liquid form and designed to be liberated as a fine mist, froze in the cold conditions and so was rendered ineffective and the German offensive faltered. For the attack, the Germans had been issued with a simple facepad moistened with a solution. Russian respirator development begun immediately after this episode, the German pad was probably copied and used alongside improvised means such as bandages.[1]

The Russians quickly found that their early attempts of respiratory protection were inadequate, and after receiving some French M2 masks and 'P' (Phenate) Helmets from the British, managed to improve the latter by impregnating them with hexamine, thus creating the 'PH' (Phenate-Hexamine) Helmet.[2]

However, Russian development of their own designs was not so successful, and although a filter mask with mouthpiece and noseclip (known as 'the Mining Academy Gas Mask') was found to be effective in low gas concentrations something better was clearly required, and it was in the summer of 1916 that the Zelinsky-Kumant gas mask was introduced.[3]

The Zelinsky-Kumant Gas Mask

The Zelinsky-Kumant Gas Mask

The Zelinsky-Kumant Gas Mask was an important milestone; consisting of a tight-fitting hood made of red para rubber with a directly-attached metal container in the snout position, the device set Russian respirator development along a path that was rarely departed from throughout the next seven decades.

The role of A. Kumant in the development of the mask is often overshadowed by that of Zelinsky to the extent that the latter is often credited with the entire design - somewhat ironic seeing as Kumant's influence on future design was much the greater. Responsible for the rubber hood which influenced Russian respirator design right up until the 1980's, little is recorded about Kumant, aside from the fact that he was an engineer.[4] Zelinsky was responsible for the filter, drawing on his expertise of catalysis. (See panel below).

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Zelinsky (1861-1953) Born in 1861 in Tiraspol, Nikolai Zelinsky was a world-famous organic chemist and a founder of organic catalysis in petroleum chemistry. Graduating from Odessa Universty in 1884, Zelinsky became a professor at Moscow University from 1893 until his resignation in 1911 in protest against the policies of the Tsarist minister of public information. Author of key works on catalysis, and a founder of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Zelinsky was made a Hero of Socialist Work in 1945.[6]

Zelinsky and his personal assistant, S. Stepanov, were invited by Prince Oldenburgsky (who was investigating the issue of gas masks) to travel in his train to Minsk, where the appliance was to be evaluated. After familiarising himself with the Zelinksy-Kumant mask, Stepanov was ordered to enter a railway carriage full of gas. Instructors from the Institute of Mining accompanied him, presumably wearing the 'Mining Academy mask' referred to above.

After a while, the miners began leaving one by one, but Stepanov remained until he was physically removed from the carriage. Having endured the gas for the longest period, Zelinsky received orders from the Minister of War the following day that "the entire army must be equipped with Zelinsky-Kumant gas masks as quickly as possible."[5]

Although Zelinksy's container proved to be the better type in the test, it was still far from perfect; the lime wood charcoal did not adsorb gases as rapidly as the activated charcoals used by Germany and the other Allied powers, and fast, heavy breathing could draw air through the filter before it had been purified. High gas concentrations had the same effect. The charcoal was also prone to crumbling, allowing fine dust to enter the wearer's respiratory tract, causing an unbearable cough.[7] Two container designs were produced; a rectangular box and a slightly larger type of oval section. The former was manufactured in Petrograd (the Russian capital until 1918), while the latter was produced in Moscow. The oval box appears to have been the better; it was swaged, thereby reducing the chances of gas avoiding the charcoal by flowing straight up the inner surface of the box, and gave better protection.

The table below contains some figures that show that each individual container probably gave different results. Hanslian gives a breathing resistance of just 4-5mm for the Zelinsky container,[8] which is lower than Porton's results, but the latter were tested a number of years after the war, and may not even have been of wartime manufacture.

Performance of Zelinsky containers tested at Porton Down
Container:	Oval (Moscow) Box	Oval (Moscow) Box	Rectangular (Petrograd) Box
Test Date:	9 July 1925	3 May 1927	3 May 1927
Breathing Resistance:	19mm	15mm	21mm
Endurance in concentration of 1/500 Chloropicrin:	7 minutes	9 Minutes	Nil
Endurance in concentration of 1/100 Phosgene:	2½ minutes	4½ minutes	2 minutes
Source: Porton Down (27 January 1928) Russian Respirators PRO WO 188/776

The Zelinsky-Kumant Gas Mask in use. The relaxed nature of the soldier at left and the fact that the medic is covering the casualty's eyes suggests this is a training exercise with tear gas. [10]

The charcoal "only gave sufficient protection when newly-issued"[9], so in order to prolong the life of the charcoal and help keep it dry, a cork was placed in the container inlet. The cork obviously had to be removed before using the mask, but in the confusion of a gas alarm being given, this could easily be overlooked. Those forgetting to remove the cork found they could not breathe, and would rip the mask off in an effort to get air, thereby falling victim to the gas. The container was not easily changed, making replacement difficult.

Another failure of the Zelinsky container was the lack of a particulate filter. Particulates included respiratory irritants (sternutators), that weren't normally lethal but caused coughing, sneezing and in some cases, vomiting and extreme discomfort. Because they were dispersed as solids, the particles were not adsorbed by ordinary charcoal-filled containers and could penetrate them, the aim being to force soldiers to take their masks off. German blue cross was deployed with a mixture of lung irritant (green cross) gases, the latter to create serious casualties among those who had been forced to remove their masks.

It was in September 1917 that the Germans first employed blue and green cross gases on a large scale by engaging Russian artillery positions on the Dvina River with counter-battery fire. The Russian batteries began to fall silent as the gases dispersed amongst the guns.[11] The British had already fitted mechanical filter pads into their containers to protect against particulate smokes so that when the Germans later used blue cross on the western front, it proved ineffective. The Russians, however, inexplicably did not include a particulate filter in the Zelinsky box until long after the war was over.

The other major drawback to the Zelinsky-Kumant mask was the lack of an outlet valve. This meant that the wearer had to exhale through the container, with the possible result that moisture from the breath would further affect the efficiency of the charcoal. The 'dead space' of the mask was also greatly increased, resulting in a build-up of carbon dioxide that caused deeper breathing, and possibly unconciousness if the respirator was worn for long periods. Problems such as these brought out the gallows humour of the Russian soldier: "If the German gas does not kill us, the Russian gas mask surely will."[12]

Despite these dangerous drawbacks, the Zelinsky-Kumant mask was a very important piece of equipment that did provide a level of protection that surpassed that of what was previously afforded - and its service life was by no means over despite the introduction of an improved model, known as the Avalov mask.

The Avalov Gas Mask

The Avalov Respirator (reconstruction) and container diagram

As an attempt to cure some of the shortcomings of the Zelinsky-Kumant mask, an outlet valve system designed by Josef Fürst Avalov was introduced into the design. Issued from spring 1917, about 3 million Avalov masks were issued before the November Revolution, with the Artillery receiving most of them.[13]

The Avalov system is illustrated at left; the basic Zelinsky box has been widened to acommodate an extra compartment which allowed exhaled air to exit through an outlet valve. A better birch charcoal was used, which not only gave better adsorption of gases, but was also more resistant to the abrasion that produced dust. However, the quality of the general construction was still relatively poor; the extra compartment was also filled with charcoal (not illustrated at right for clarity) in order to reduce the effect of gas entering should the outlet valve fail. As with the Zelinsky container, there was no protection against particulates.

The Avalov container was manufactured in a number of variants; some were of the design illustrated (possibly made in Petrograd as were the rectangular Zelinsky boxes) while the Muscovite (oval) box was probably also utilised. Hanslian illustrates a swaged rectangular box with an extra cover over the inlet and outlet tubes. This cover had a single tube, which permitted both inlet and outlet to be plugged by a single cork.

Despite its improvement over the Zelinsky-Kumant respirator, the Avalov does not seem to have been accorded much importance after the end of the war; while British intelligence documents make numerous mentions of the Zelinsky-Kumant mask, Avalov's is rarely mentioned.

---

 

To follow in Part 2 of Russian Military Respirator Development 1916-30:

Part 2 of this article will trace the development of the Zelinsky-Kumant mask in the years following the First World War and a brief examination will be made of the following topics:

• Russian gas casualties during the First World War
• The British influence on Russian design
• An early Russian dog respirator
• Supplies of masks from Germany
• The arrival of particulate protection in Russian respirators
• Противогаза БН
• A gas mask factory built near Moscow by the Americans?
• Gas masks made of fishskin and dog dung!

Footnote References

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