Much to the opposite of its name, mustard gas was a liquid. Its purpose was to blister the skin and the inside of your respiratory system (mainly your bronchi) to make it almost impossible and very painful to breath. It was mainly packed into an artillery shell and fired at the enemy. When it hit the ground it would launch a spray of liquid all over the enemy. Mustard gas symptoms were not all immediate. The blistering was immediate on contact but the lungs filling with blood from the blisters and other bodily fluids came a few weeks later. There were no sure fire cures for mustard gas. For the blisters on the skin they just put salve and ointment to heal it. The lungs and nose were a bit harder to heal. The only way to some what help was to us a menthol solution soaked into gauze administered through a metal breathing mask. This wasn't actually made to heal it, it was just supposed to heal the dry cough, but it did not heal the bronchi. Mustard gas eventually became near to useless with the invention of gas masks and respirators. Only 2% of the people who wore gas masks and respirators compared to 50% who did not. So all in all mustard gas had 500,000 troops injured, 30,000 died, including 2,000 Americans.
Here is what the effects of mustard gas look like.
This is what a mustard gas canister looked like.
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