[lynx42]

Part of the agreement between the winning parties of WW1 at the signing of the Armistice Agreement in Versailles in 1919 was that there would never be chemical warfare used ever again. This was because of the terrible suffering caused to those survivors of the gassing etc. during WW1.

I have a pair of 4.2" Mortar bombs, still in their original box, along with the fuze wrappings,rope carrying handles and packing slips. These are clearly marked for mustard gas and have CHEM-42 stamped into them. These came to me recently from a visitor to my collection who did not know what to do with them. I had to have them checked out by the bomb squad from Canberra before I was able to keep them.

My brother was part of an army bomb disposal team about 20 years ago who had the job of disposing of hundreds of mustard 4.2" mortar bombs up in the Northern Territory.

There was plenty of experiments carried out on soldiers in the NT during WW2, to see what effects the mustard gas had on them. These are well documented. The poor buggers were badly burnt and suffered on until there died many years later.

I find it interesting that both Canada and Australia, parties to the Agreement through the British Empire in 1919, produced and were prepared to use chemical warfare during WW2.