Antique Hotchkiss 1896 ammunition belt, late 1800s French meerschaum reliquary, 1940s Barclay Manoil toy lead soldier with gas mask, vintage WW2 airplane, 1930s Italian nativity creche sheep, vintage farmhouse wood corbels.

16” x 18”

On April 22, 1915, a wave of asphyxiating gas released from cylinders embedded in the ground by German specialist troops smothered the Allied line at Ypres. This was the first use of chlorine gas on the Western Front and the debut of Germany’s newest weapon in its chemical arsenal.

A British officer described the effect of the gas on the French colonial soldiers:

“A panic-stricken rabble of Turcos and Zouaves with gray faces and protruding eyeballs, clutching their throats and choking as they ran, many of them dropping in their tracks and lying on the sodden earth with limbs convulsed and features distorted in death.”