AEF Gasmasks & Respirators 1917 to 1919

[world war I nerd]

Duke, no problem. As long as the images and information is relevant, post as much as you'd like. The more information we can gather on gas-masks as used by the AEF in one place, the better.

 

Speaking of gas-masks and respirators, here's a photo of, from left to right. a French M2 mask, an American corrected English (CE) mask, a French 1917 ARS mask and a 1917 German Lederschutzenmaske worn by American ambulance personnel.

[A Gustaf B]

Photo No. 149: Although they were primarily used as messengers, pigeons carrying small cameras were sometimes put to use as aerial photographers. Before launching, a timer was set on the camera, which snapped the camera’s shutter at predetermined intervals while the pigeon flew over enemy territory.

 

Having seen a number of the photos with pigeons with cameras strapped to them, I seriously doubt that they were ever used during WWI. I do know that a photo was taken from a pigeon before airplanes were around, but the chance that a photo would be of any value from such a device is slight, and this type of camera could only take a single photo, as there was no auto winding mechanism. But the biggest problem I see with the cameras show is negative effect they would have on CG, with that much weight so far forward, it is unlikely the bird could fly at all.

Having said that, this is an outstanding thread on gas masks!

[DukeNougat3d]

Been a while since I've posted here, seems like the site formatting has updated quite a bit to include larger sized files! Thought I'd share this Kops-Tissot that I was able to pick up last April. 

Not much to say about my example that cannot be said for others - the facepiece is as rigid as they typically are and the hose, tissot deflector, and flutter valve are all petrified/chipped off. No visible date stamps on the mask, but the carrier is dated October 1918, so I'm willing to bet that the mask was made around then as well. The Eyepieces and Flutter Valve Guard are the last/third pattern, which is the most common to find.

Many thanks to the two people who pointed this example out and sold it to me, you know who you are.

[DukeNougat3d]

Also, fun fact, it seems that the A.T. and K.T. masks exceeded long past their service lifespan, being used as training masks well into the 1930's!

Source: Technical Regulations 1120-35 (1930)

 

Also here we can see a group of Akron-Tissot Type B Masks being used as training masks in the 1920's. I had originally purchased this photograph, but the seller lost it in a fire immediately after it was purchased (so they claimed).

[RustyCanteen]

Nice mask, yes some of the obsolete patterns were retained for training purposes only. That was the ultimate fate of the earliest US masks, and many of the earliest US carriers were marked with 'For Training Purposes Only' in red ink, a bunch of those were declared surplus after WWI (since their use for even a training mask was obsolete by then) and can be seen IIRC in 'The Big Parade' (the silent film of 1925). 

[DukeNougat3d]

Hello all again, I haven't been studying much WWI stuff as of late, but I picked up something not long ago that's worth sharing here. Here we have one of the few surviving examples of an original Model of 1919 (Later MI) Felt Service Canister. These, as most of you may recollect, were issued with the Kops-Tissot-Monro (KTM) Mask beginning October 1918 and continued service into the 1920's, where it was quickly phased out of service with subsequent models throughout the interwar period as the requirements for smoke protection kept increasing.

This particular example is from the former collection of Bart Wilkus, which can be seen on "USA: Page 1" with mask specimen "US-012". This example resided in the hands of Spanish Sculptor Viktor Ferrando for many years when he bought off a majority of Bart's collection in 2014-2015 or so. He has been recently reselling a lot of masks, and so I was luckily able to acquire this. It came with a postwar MSA Burrell 'Kops-Type' Industrial Facepiece as displayed on Bart's website, which is remarkably similar to the wartime KTM in many ways, but has several subtle differences in material and construction, so I will not post it and only show the canister to avoid confusion.

[Dr_rambow]

I see something new every time I read this thread!

 

I figured I would share an anomaly I found recently. It is fairly ordinary except the fact that it doesn't appear to have ever been fitted with a flutter valve guard. It has the metal eyepieces and yellow filter indicating that isn't a training mask, but the valve is rather odd looking. 

 

Any thoughts? 

[Cote_1918]

Did differant color canisters mean differant things or no.

[Jcoll84]

Reviving this topic to try and find an answer and reconcile some of the information in this thread. 
was there ever a point in which soldiers at the front carried two SBRs or CEMs, or a combination of the two? There are three pieces of information I'm working with to try and find an answer to this. 
1. we have a standing order that men at the front were to have one gas mask in the alert position, and a reserve mask at the hip. This reserve mask would have been the M2 at the time 

2. the M2 was found to be unsatisfactory and removed from front line use. After this point, was the reserve mask concept completely dropped at the front, or was it replaced by a second CEM or SBR?

3. The supply of SBRs was so tight that rotating units had to turn in their SBRs to new units headed to the front. There are cases where trainloads of SBRs "disappeared" or were "Tactically Acquired" by another unit. It was a court martial offense to not have your gas mask.

 

the sum of this information seems to suggest that despite the standing order to carry 2 masks at the front (was this order ever rescinded or superseded?), soldiers only carried one with them after the banning of the M2 mask due to supply issues in getting enough SBRs and CEMs to the front. 
 

right now I own two CEMs and I'm working on my mannequin, and I'm wondering if it's appropriate to have one at the hip and one at the alert position, or to only display it with one at the alert position. I'm going for a late war display.

[AustinO]

I would only display one SBR/CEM at the ready, and think that your supposition in #2 to be correct.   I would suspect that by mid 1918 very few Americans still carried an M2.

 

Depending on the unit you're portraying, that would also dictate the mask carried (Divisions like the 27th and 30th were issued British masks initially, many were then replaced at war's end with US made masks).  

[solcarlus]

 

 

Quote

right now I own two CEMs and I'm working on my mannequin, and I'm wondering if it's appropriate to have one at the hip and one at the alert position, or to only display it with one at the alert position. I'm going for a late war display.

 

Bonjour.

 

I took part in an exhibition for November 11, in my village. Village located south of the Saint Mihiel salient.
The model is very simple.

 

 

 

[atb]

On 1/13/2025 at 2:56 PM, AustinO said:

I would only display one SBR/CEM at the ready, and think that your supposition in #2 to be correct.   I would suspect that by mid 1918 very few Americans still carried an M2.

 

Depending on the unit you're portraying, that would also dictate the mask carried (Divisions like the 27th and 30th were issued British masks initially, many were then replaced at war's end with US made masks).  

I believe M2 masks were still used for wounded soldiers when a head wound made use of the SBR/CEM mask unfeasable. More than likely they were supplied by medical personnel when needed,

[RustyCanteen]

There was a directive regarding it, but I don't have it handy. Usually the rule of thumb I use for any display, if your display is based on a specific unit or battle/campaign, let the original photos be your guide. 

[Jcoll84]

On 1/20/2025 at 9:10 PM, RustyCanteen said:

There was a directive regarding it, but I don't have it handy. Usually the rule of thumb I use for any display, if your display is based on a specific unit or battle/campaign, let the original photos be your guide. 

If you end up finding that directive, please do share!