Yellow Cross (Gelbkreuz) is a World War I chemical warfare agent usually based on sulfur mustard (HS, Yperite, Lost).
The original Gelbkreuz was a composition of 80-90% of sulfur mustard and 10-20% of tetrachloromethane or chlorobenzene as a solvent which lowered its viscosity and acted as an antifreeze, or, alternatively, 80% sulfur mustard, 10% bis(chloromethyl) ether, and 10% tetrachloromethane. A later formulation, Gelbkreuz 1, was a mixture of 40% ethyldichloroarsine, 40% ethyldibromoarsine, and 20% of bis(chloromethyl) ether. In some cases nitrobenzene was used to mask the material's characteristic odor. French "ypérite no.20" was a similar mixture of 80% sulfur mustard and 20% tetrachloromethane.
Yellow Cross is also a generic World War I German marking for artillery shells with chemical payload affecting exposed surfaces of the body.
Famous quotes containing the words yellow and/or cross:
“The twelve-thousand-day honeymoon
is over.
Hands crumble like clay,
the mouth, its bewildered tongue,
turns yellow with pain....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“In ancient times—’twas no great loss—
They hung the thief upon the cross:
But now, alas!—I say’t with grief—
They hang the cross upon the thief.”
—Anonymous. “On a Nomination to the Legion of Honour,” from Aubrey Stewart’s English Epigrams and Epitaphs (1897)