Hellfire boys : the birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the race for the world's deadliest weapons / Theo Emery.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 443-519) and index.

Introduction: January 5, 1993 -- Prologue -- Part I. Catalyst. Holy week ; An American University ; Diabolical instruments ; Technical men ; Amos and Goliath ; "Fiendish work" -- Part II. Flash point. "A hotter fire" ; Over there ; "A constant menace" ; "Science and horror" ; "He who gasses last, gasses best" -- Part III. Retort. First gas and flame ; The Meuse and the mousetrap ; "All to the mustard" ; "War to the knife" ; "Fight the devil" ; "The devil's perfume"

Traces the actions of the "Hellfire Battalion," a group of American engineers who were trained in gas warfare and were sent to the front lines in France to launch multiple assaults against the Germans.

In 1915, when German forces executed the first successful gas attack of World War I, the boundaries of warfare were forever changed. In 1917 the development of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service, along with the burgeoning Bureau of Mines, assembled research and military units devoted solely to chemical weaponry, outfitting regiments with hastily made gas-resistant uniforms and recruiting scientists and engineers from around the world into the fight. Emery shows how World War I quickly spiraled into a chemists' war, one led by the companies of young American engineers-turned-soldiers who would soon become known as the "Hellfire Boys."