When the Entente powers of W.W. I were first exposed to poisonous gas in the spring of 1915 their respective quartermasters scrambled to find a suitable counter-measure that would spare the men in the front line trenches. One of the earliest improvisations was a gauze face mask that covered both mouth and nose, often drenched in urine. The commercial illustration attached herein was torn from the margins of the French news magazine, L'ILLUSTRATION and depicts one of these earlier attempts.
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