Fritz XII 
ISSUANCE AND FITTING OF GAS MASKS 
by 
Captain N, H. Fritz, C.W.S. 
Training Section, Sixth Service Command 
When you get your gas mask, you will notice that this 
little clasp is open. The way you fasten both ends of 
the strap together is to insert the strap with the little 
tab on it under the smooth side of the movable cart of 
the clasp, bring it through, and then bring it around 
over the corrugated side. It is a little bit difficult 
to do, because there is very little clearance, but after 
you get that done you will notice that the strap will 
stay in the position that you want it to be in. 
After you have your mask and have the fastener all fas- 
tened, sling it so that it is on your left side in the 
manner that I have it on. Then remove the mask from 
the carrier, I think if you would all stand up you would 
have a little bit better success on this. 
Inside your facepieces you will, find the side straps, 
and also inside the facepiece there is some packing that 
holds the facepiece in shape. I think if you will just 
remove those two items there and lay them down in some 
convenient place, we will be all set to go, we have two 
sizes of mask here, a large size and the* medium. 
I note that some of you are wearing glasses this morning. 
If it is at all possible for you to go without your 
glasses, I would suggest that you remove them and put 
them in your pocket. You may wonder what these people 
who have to wear glasses are going to do. Well, they 
have what is known as gas mask spectacles, which are 
glasses having circular metal frames. The overall di- 
mensions on the glasses'are less than those of an 
ordinary glass, and those glasses are designed so that 
you get a snug fit to the face. 
The next step in the adjustment of the mask is to loosen 
all of the head harness straps. These straps you have 
in the mask are called the head harness straps. Loosen 
them down to the metal tab, raise your mask in both hands, 
place the thumb inside the facepiece, both thumbs inside 
the facepiece with the fingers extending around on to 
this side, have your thumb in the head harness, and bring 
the mask up to the point of your chin, and then place 
the mask on your face, dig your chin right into the face- 
piece and slide the head harness straps over your head 
in this manner, (illustrating.) 
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Now you will find that the mask is extremely loose on 
your face. Taking both your hands, grasp the two lowest 
head harness straps and start pulling them evenly until 
you get a snug fit. Then grasp the two center head 
harness tabs and pull them in until you get a snug fit. 
Then grasp the two top head harness tabs and pull them 
in until you get a snug fit. Now, don’t tighten these 
too tightly. All you need is a snug fit, not a tight 
fit. If you get this mask too tight on your face it will 
leave ridges and creases. I see we have several ladies 
here, and when the ladies put on their masks they will 
have to brush their hair back out of the way. 
Does everyone have his gas mask on with the head harness 
straps more or loss snug? Now, I would like to have you 
check each other on this. .ill you please come up here 
to the platform, and turn arouna, please. This man has a 
very good job. The head harness tabs, the bottom one 
should have equal lengths left over and the same for the 
center and the same for the top. This part of the head 
harness where these three pieces are sowed together should 
bo well down on the back and center of the head. The eye- 
pieces should bo directly over the eyes, and you should 
got a snug fit around the chin and around the temples and 
around the foreh ad. 
Take the palm of your hand, and put that over the bottom 
of your canister and breathe in. The facepiece should 
collapse against your face. It docs in this case. If 
it docs not collapse against your face, that indicates 
that you cither have a wrong size mask or else it is not 
adjusted properly. 
Are there any questions so far? Arc there any instances 
where an individual has a g as mask which is obviously 
much too large for him or obviously much too small for 
him? The mask after it is on the face should feel reason- 
ably comfort ■ .ble. 
To remove your mask, grasp the canister with your right 
h-nd, pull down, out, up, and slip the mask off your 
head. Grasp the canister, pull down, out and slip it off 
from your head. Take the head harness, fold it into the 
facepiece, then grasping the mask around the facepiece 
with the head harness flat inside, just slide it right 
into your carrier, and ease her down into the carrier. 
.NFGHON: Once you have those straps adjusted, would 
you have to loosen the straps the next time? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: No. 
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Now, let’s go through the gas mask drill for a moment. 
Question? 
QUESTION: Some of them seem to be too large. 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: All right. Those whoso masks are obvious- 
ly too large better turn them in and get a medium size 
mask. Those of you who are reasonably adjusted can go 
through the gas mask drill. 
Your carrier should now be buttoned up, slung so it hangs 
on the left side. Me will assume that we detect gas. 
The first thing you ao is hole your breath, "while we 
are working slowly, obviously we can’t hole: our breaths 
for several minutes, wo will assume that we hold our 
breath. Then removing glasses or caps, if you are dressed 
that way, you stow those away in a safe place. Then with 
your loft hand you reach over towards the top of your 
carrier and open it, run your loft hand down to the bottom 
of the carrier, right inside of your carrier; with your 
right hand grasp the mask and pull it out, and with a flip 
throw the head harness out. Placing your thumbs inside 
the facepiece ana underneath the head harness, fingers 
extended and joined on the outside, bring the mask up to 
the point of your chin, stick, out your chin. The next 
stop in the operation is to dig your chin into the face- 
piece, slip the head harness over your head, and at that 
same time take and run your hands up the facepiece and 
smooth out any wrinkles, work your facepiece back on to 
your face to a snug fit around the chin and around the 
forehead and a round the temples, then run your hands back 
and see that your head harness is all smooth and reason- 
ably tight. 
ho will assume again that wo arc in a gaseous atmosphere, 
and in this particular instance some of the gas got in- 
side the frccpieco. The next thing to do is to clear 
the facepiece out. To do that, you put the palm of your 
hand over the outlet valve and exhale vigorously. You 
will notice that any air that you. exhale escapes outside 
and around the edges of your gas mask. That is known 
as clearing the facepiece. After heaving cleared the 
facepiece, you should chock your mask again by putting 
tho palm of the hand over the inlet valve and inhaling. 
At that point the facepiece should collapse against your 
face. If it aoos, you have a good fit. If the facepiece 
does net collapse against your face you have a leak 
somewhere, your mask is not tho right size, or it is not 
properly adjusted. Arc there any questions so far? 
QUESTION: Repeat that last tost, please. 
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M-7226 Fritz XII 
CAPTAIN 71(1 TZ; The last tost was to place the palm of 
your hand ovor the bottom of the canister (i.c, close 
inlet valve) and inhale. At that point when you inhale, 
the facepiece should collapse against your face. In 
other words, you should not bo able to breathe in when 
you have the opening in the bottom of the canister scaled 
up. If your facepiece does not collapse against your 
face, either you have a mask that does not fit you or 
your mask is not properly adjusted. Any questions? 
QUESTION: When you exhale, does the air go out around 
your ears? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: Yes, it docs. The air escapes all 
around the edges of the facepiece 'when you put your hand 
over the canister. 
All right, remove and replace masks. Grasp the canister 
with your right hand, pull downward, outward and upward. 
You don’t have to grasp the head harness at all. Then 
put your head harness inside your facepiece, bring it 
over to the carrier, out it in the carrier and slide her 
homo, 
Now, lot us have a word about the construction of this 
gas mask, .’c were talking about the facepiece and the 
head tabs and the carrier and so forth. After you have 
your gas masks in the carrier, you might as well sit 
down for a minute. 
In this little set of instructions that came with your 
mask, on page 3 there is a diagram of your mask. Now, 
with your mask in your left hand, wo will go over the 
various parts. 
This metal container which I have in my right hand is 
known as the canister. Tin t is the portion of the mask 
which contains the chemicals and filters that purify 
the air. At the bottom of the canister you will find 
a little valve with a little rubber disk in it. You can 
push your fingers in there and see that the little rubber 
disk is very flexible and pliable. This disk is really 
a valve. It permits the air to go into the canister, 
but it does not permit the air to go back out of the 
canister, and it is arranged in such a way that all the 
air which you inhale must go through the canister and 
is purified by the time it roaches your face. 
Then looking inside your mask you will sec that in the 
canister there is a little round hole. That is where 
the air after having passed through the canister comes 
4-1186-P?-KOBU-COS-WP Fritz XII 
into the facepiece. The air that you breathe in goes 
into your lungs purified, and the air that you exhale 
comes out of the mask through the outlet valve which 
is on the side of the facepiece. These outlet valves 
all have a plastic guard over the top of them, and the 
plastic guard is sealed in, so two won't be able to 
remove them. However, I will explain to you just how 
that outlet valve works. It is made in such a way that 
when the air is exhaled it allows the air to shoot out, 
and when you inhale that closes the valve and docs not 
permit the air to come into the valve. Therefore when 
you breathe in all the a.ir must go through the canister 
first, and when you exhale all the air must come out 
through the valve on the side. 
This mask lias plastic eye lenses which arc sowed in, 
and these straps are called the head harness straps. 
Are there any questions so far? 
QUESTION: when I exhale, a lot of air goes out on the 
side. 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: That indicates that your outlet valve 
is blocked up in some way. You may have to got in there 
and loosen that valve a little bit, 
QUESTION; In clearing the facepiece, isn't it necessary 
to put your hand over this outlet valve rather than the 
bottom of the canister? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: You are right. 
QUESTION: The t is the first thing you do, isn't it? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: Yes, you are right on that. That .ns 
my error. I am used to working with a military mask 
where you have the outlet valve right in front of your 
face, he will go through that drill again and correct 
the error that I made. 
In clearing the facepiece of a mask, you have to hold 
your hand over the outlet valve so that the air that you 
exhale must come out around the side of the mask rather 
than through the outlet valve. That was my error, and ■ 
I am sorry 1 made that mistake, I am more or loss used 
to working with military masks where you have the outlet 
valve right here in front of the face, 
QUESTION: ,.hy do you do that? 
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V- Fritz XII 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: The reason is to clear the facepiece 
of any gases that wight be inside, 
QUESTION: They would conic out through there anyway, 
wouldn’t they, instead of, blowing all over your face? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ; That is right, but suppose you had some 
tear gas in there? 
QUESTION: Wouldn't it be better to have it coming out 
of here than pushing it back along over your ears? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: I will let you use your own judgment 
on. that when you actually get in the gas chamber. I 
know that with the military mask you wouldn't get all 
of the gas cleared rapidly enough. 
All right, gentlemen, if yqu will stand up again, slide 
the mask back in the carrier and the carriers all buttoned 
up. ho will assume that we detect the presence of gas. 
Ordinarily the first thing we would do is to stop breath- 
ing, hold cur breaths, then remove our hat or our glasses 
and having done that, wc reach down with the left hand, 
pull open the flap with the right hand, reach inside the 
carrier, then holding the bottom of the carrier pull out 
the mask, flip out the head straps, place the thumbs in- 
side the facepiece and fingers extended and joined outside, 
stick out your chin, and then slide on the mask. While 
your hands are right up there, you smooth back the face- 
pieep, smoothing out any wrinkles, run your hand back over 
the back of your head to see that the head harness straps 
arc all right, and then placing the palm of your hand 
over the outlet valve, which is on the loft side of your 
facepiece, you exhale vigorously. The air should pass 
around the edges of your mask. 
Now the next thing wc want to do is to check our mask, 
to see that wo haven't any leaks. Placing the palm of 
the hand over the inlet valve on the bottom of your 
canister, you inhale. At this point the mask should 
collapse against your face, indicating* that you rrvo no 
leaks around the sides of the mask. 
Are there any questions so far? 
Our next step will- bo to remove and replace masks. Grasp- 
ing the canister with the left hand you pull down, out, 
up, and slip the mask off over the head. 
There was one interesting point, some of the men became 
a. bit short of broeth after they had worn this mask a 
little bit. That'is a normal reaction, gentlemen. The 
1+-U86-P11-NOBU-COS-WP Fritz XII 
breathing resistance through a mask like this is somewhat 
greater than without the mask, and you have to build up 
your chest muscles and strengthen those chest muscles so 
that you can overcome the additional resistance, vie have 
had men train in gas masks after they have gotten used to 
them and after having worn the mask for a while they were 
able to do strenuous exercises in the mask. Vie have even 
had men play baseball games with the mask, so if your 
lungs arc used to the additional resistance you arc all 
right. 
There is one little additional matter, and that is the 
test for gas. New, here is "test for gas." You stoop 
down without touching anything to tho ground except your 
feet, of course, then placing the first two fingers of 
your right hand between the cheek and the mask you make 
a little opening there and then holding your head down 
as close to the ground as possible you sniff. You will 
find that when you open up a little place between your 
chock and the mask that the air will enter there and you 
will be able to get tho air from the outside right in 
the facepiece of the mask without having it go through 
the canister. The purpose of that is to find out 
whether or not it is safe to remove your mask. If, when 
you sniff, you smell gas, you keep it on. If not, you 
arc safe in taking it off. 
QUESTION: How long is this mask good for? 
CAPTAIN FPITZ: According to the instructions in the 
booklet, the civilian type of mask is good for four hours 
of continuous wear. 
QUESTION; Does it wear out if you don't use it in gas? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ; I didn't think it did, but according to 
the table you arc supposed to keep track of the time 
you actually wear the mask. Military masks are good 
for AO hours use in ordinary field concentrations of 
toxic gases, whereas this one will be good for four hours 
use in field concentrations of gas. You are supposed 
to keep track cf the actual number of minutes of time 
that you have worn the mask. However, unless you arc- 
in a very humid moist atmosphere wearing of the mask in 
pure air isn't going to harm it any. Docs that answer 
your question? 
QUESTION; Do the chemicals in the mask deteriorate just 
on standing? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ; The question is do the materials in the 
canister deteriorate just on standing. I will answer 
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that one by telling you what is in there. The only 
substance in tho canister is charcoal. Activated char- 
coal will net deteriorate on standing. Charcoal will 
lose its efficiency in a moist, humid atmosphere so the 
answer is yes and no, depending in the main on tho piece . 
you keep your mask stored. 
Ac have some very interesting exhibits here. On the 
front table we have a suit of impregnated clothing. 
This suit of impregnated clothing is just the regular 
ordinary cloth clothing that the soldiers wear. It 
consists of a suit of underwear of the long sleeve 
variety of cotton or wool underwear, and the long 
drawers* That underwear is impregnated with chemicals 
which make it gas resistant. Here is a set of impreg- 
nated coveralls. I think I had better pass this thing 
around, or maybe I had bettor take the pair of socks. 
I want you to smell these socks. You will note tho 
chlorine there. That is the material which makes this 
cloth resistant to gases. This hooa is designed in such 
a manner that it will button on to tho top of the cover- 
alls, or if the shirt is worn and it is impregnated 
there arc two buttons on tho back of the shirt and there 
arc buttonholes on the back of this hood so that you can 
button those right on to your coveralls or your cuter 
garment. Those gloves arc regular knitted gloves with 
long gauntlets, and they are also impregnated. Those 
gloves arc worn underneath rubber gloves. These shoos 
are regularly ordinary G,I, shoos. These shoes arc just 
brand new and they have not been worked ever yet. How- 
ever, this material in this can is called shoe impregnito. 
It is kind of a shoe polish. Its purpose is not to put 
a gloss or a shine on tho shoe, but when you work this 
material into the leather of the shoe it makes the 
leather resistant to mustard gas and Lewisite or other 
vesicants. 
when a soldier has his gasproof garments on here is what 
he looks like. He has on shoes that are impervious, 
they are rubber shoes or the leather shoes which have 
been treated with impregnito. Then he also wears impreg- 
nated leggins. Then he has on the suit of clothing 
which covers all his body, and in the case Of the garments 
you have there they arc impregnated with chemicals which 
make them resistant to vesicant gases. He has cloth in 
his gloves which are impregnated and over them he wears 
these heavy rubber gloves. The hood protects the back 
of his head and neck and the portions of his face which 
would ordinarily be exposed, and the gas mask protects 
his eyes and face and lungs so that trie air he breathes 
is sufficiently purified. 
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This gentleman on our loft has on the impervious type 
of clothing. This type of clothing is made of material 
which is very similar to the ordinary raincoat slickers. 
It is impervious not only to moisture but also to toxic 
gases, or let me say it is impervious to toxic gases 
and it also is impervious to moisture, and the result 
is that this man in this suit can wear it only about a 
half an hour, because the moisture exuding from his body 
cannot escape and he is soon swimming in his own mosturc. 
This type of clothing is worn only when absolutely neces- 
sary, namely when there arc large amounts of vesicant 
agents around. The permeable type of clothing is worn 
for most ordinary occasions. You can walk into spots 
where you have got mustard gas around and you will be 
fully protected. However, this permeable type of cloth- 
ing will not protect you where you have large splashes 
of liquid, mustard coming at you, whereas the other type 
of clothing will. 
Arc there any questions? 
QUESTION: Arc those garments inflammable? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: I don't know. I presume it is. That 
is, it would not be dangerously inflammable like nitrate 
film, but Iimagine if you got that stuff hot enough it 
would burn, 
QUESTION: that is in the can there? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: The material in the can is called shoe 
impregnito, which is what is used for making shoes re- 
sistant to vesicant agents. 
QUESTION; Is there anyone whose skin is sensitive to 
this impregnated material? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: I can't answer that one. I don't know, 
I think there arc some people who would bo more or less 
sensitive to the chlorine which is liberated in small 
amounts from this impregnated, material, and you notice 
the chlorine odor on it. I presume that anyone who is 
sensitive to chlorine or hypochlorites or material of 
similar nature would be sensitive to this material. 
QUESTION: chat is the period of life of the impregnation? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: The period of life of the impregnation 
depends a lot on the atmospheric conditions. Under 
tropical conditions where there is a lot of moisture 
being given off the body, that moisture in coming from 
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the body to the outside tends to wash away the impregnating 
material. However, those suits are good for several weeks, 
I think, or even months of wear before they are considered 
unfit for use, and there arc certain ways of testing the 
clothing to determine whether or not it is still good. 
QUESTION: How is this clothing cleaned? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: This clothing can be laundered if you 
use cold or cool water. You can wash it with cold water 
and soap and launder it. However if you have hot water 
the hot water will dissolve rway the impregnating material 
on the cloth, 
QUESTION: Does it have to be re-impregnated then? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: Yes, it can be re-impregnated then, pro- 
vided it is not worn out. 
QUESTION: This shoe material has to be rubbed in the 
soles, too? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: Yes, the shoe impregnite must be rubbed 
into all the material of the shoes and also in the laces 
of the shoes. You can Define this impregnating- material 
as a layer of chemical on a filter paper. You have a 
certain amount of the impregnating material there and if 
you put a definite amount of your agent on that it will 
neutralize so and so much. If you put more than that on 
and you use up all your impregnating material the agent 
is going to penetrate. In other words, we have a 
definite amount of material on this cloth which will 
neutralize mustard gas, and when you use that up the 
mustard gas will keep right on going through. 
QUESTION: That about the care of the mask itself after 
you have been through a gas attack, if the mask itself 
is contaminated with the gas? 
CAPTAIN FRITZ: If contaminated with non-persistant 
agents, all you have to do is to air it out for a while. 
If you got mustard gas splashed on it, you will have to 
decontaminate your mask. 
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