Bleach Bath question

There are some pictures of one of the decontamination blocks at Upwood not too long after the complete abandonment - there are still a few tins of bleach powder on the shelves of one of the stores.

Am I right in thinking that this stuff is similar/identical to Vim or Ajax? Can you still buy these?

I understand that all of the uniforms of troops used in the invasion of Europe were treated with antiverm, a treatment which diminished the effect of mustard gas.

Ossington_2008;44262 wrote:

... Vim or Ajax? Can you still buy these?

Yes apparently, from here

Don't know if it's the same as WW2 Bleaching Powder (chloride of lime - calcium hypochlorite) which was mixed with two parts of water to make 'bleach paste' to decontaminate the skin.

Colin - Antiverm is 'Ointment, Anti-Gas No.3' - particularly good against Lewisite contamination.
No.1 Ointment was withdrawn from service by 1937, and replaced by No.2 which was a vanishing cream effective against Mustard and Lewisite.

Clothing was usually decontaminated by boiling or steam treatment. Fresh water was best but sea water could be used. Under certain circumstances washing soda could be added, but never bleaching powder.

Source: AP 1510: RAF Manual - Defence Against Gas, 1937

Yes I know that there were decontamination centres and everyone had a gas mask, but was there really that much "fuss" shall I say about gas in wwii? I certainly havent seen pictures of troops taking part in d-day carry respirators.

canberra;44269 wrote:

... but was there really that much "fuss" shall I say about gas in wwii? I certainly haven't seen pictures of troops taking part in d-day carry respirators.

There was certainly an enormous effort put into war gases - both for attack and defence. Surprisingly neither side used it. The Allies were (erroneously) confident that they were much better equipped than their enemies. Certainly enemy troops on UK beaches in 1940 would have been attacked with mustard. Churchill was keen to drench the Ruhr in 1944 with mustard and phosgene in retaliation against the 'V' weapon attacks, and Roosevelt intervened when plans were developed to soak Iwo Jima with gas the same year.

Intelligence and a lot of luck allowed Montgomery to instruct his troops to leave behing their anti-gas equipment (including masks) on D-Day. Bradley stated that he was very relieved when the Day was over with 'not a whiff of gas'. He stated, 'even a light sprinkling on Omaha would have cost us dearly' At the time he was unaware of what a dosing of Tabun would have done.

Often described as 'the poor man's nuke!' a small first-strike by one side could easily result in a situation which would make Dresden pale into insignificance.

Most of above info from Jeremy Paxman (and Robert Harris's) A Higher Form of Killing.

Graham

Just after the landings in Italy Bari harbour started to fill with ships. It was noticed that there was no real air defence and with that a high flying German reconnaissance plane flew over. Later a large fleet of bombers plastered the area and casualties started to come it. The medical staff were overwhelmed with burns, luckily an ex WW1 doctor noticed that they were mustard gas burns and treatment could get under way. Churchill had ordered mustered gas be sent to Italy (Mediterranean) are just In case Hitler decided to use gas first.

I am sure the Americans had all new uniforms that were impregnated with anti gas material and carried gas masks on landing. After that I am not too sure but I think they were discarded. I don't know about the British.

I have a picture of the sign in the County Tyrone - Cookstown section of my website.

Its a lovely website. My father was stationed in NI after Dunkirk, loved the place. He re visited it when my sister was living there in the troubles and tried to find where he stayed but I don't think he managed too. All he said to us was that he was in a castle. Well there cannot be that many in Ireland can there?

If you have the name of a local town it would be helpful as quite a few large houses and castles were requisitioned for use by the military - some of which are illustrated on the site.