The war to end all wars only led to new conflict

One hundred years ago this week chemical weapons were used for the first time, opening up a new chapter in conflict. Ann Cahill talks to some of the troops still cleaning them up    

It was to be the war that ended all wars. Instead it was the opening chapter in a new kind of war, one that could annihilate people and place, replace manpower with metal and for the first time employ chemical weapons.

A hundred years ago this week, the German army opened 6,000 canisters of chlorine gas after days of waiting for the wind to blow adequately and in the right direction, suffocating thousands of bewildered French and British troops.