Three companies from the 226 th infantry division were wiped out and only around 100 soldiers from the fourth company survived. Most of the barracks, dugouts and fortified posts lacked artificial ventilation and were not even fitted with any kind of oxygen generators. There were no plans in place, no resources to collectively and individually protect the garrison and the gas masks sent to them were of little use,” Khmelkov wrote. 'The fortress was not prepared at all to withstand a gas attack. Sergey Khmelkov, one of the fortress defenders who survived the gas attack, recalled: “Any living person stood outside on the bridgehead of the fortress was poisoned to death…the grass turned black, there were flower petals scattered everywhere…meat, butter, lard, vegetables were poisoned and deemed unsuitable for consumption.' (link in Russian) Disaster On August 6th, 1915 they released chlorine gas over the fortress. Following their unsuccessful attempt to seize the Russian stronghold, the Germans turned to more extreme measures.

The Osowiec fortress, located near the Polish town of Bialystok, was a 'bone in the throat' of the Germans as it forced them to keep troops tied up at the salient in northeast Poland.įirst targeted in September 1914, the fortress withstood all enemy attacks through extensive use of planes and artillery. This attack has gone down in history as the “attack of the dead”. The Russians, clothed in bloody rags, coughing up blood and on their last legs, launched an attack on the shocked Germans. Instead of finding piles of corpses, the Germans ran into enemy soldiers who were very much alive, but strongly resembled the dead. However, the German infantry’s advance - or rather pleasant stroll - towards the well-defended fortress turned into a real nightmare. The Russian troops, whose gas masks were as good as useless, seemed doomed to die. When the German launched a deadly poison gas attack on Russia's Russian Osowiec fortress on August 6th, 1915, it seemed certain that the Russian garrison would not survive.

German gas mask ww1