Swedish soldiers of the German Corps of Scandinavian Fishermen, picture from 1915-1916. The action of the so-called German Scandinavian Fishermen Corps (Skandinavisches Fischerkorps), deployed on the Western Front in 1916, is one of the somewhat forgotten chapters in the history of the "Great War." By 1915, the Western Front had been stuck at a dead-spot in the trench war, with neither side being able to change course. To break the stagnation, the Germans began developing poisonous gases for use in combat. On April 25, 1915, the Germans first deployed chlorine gas through cylinders in French and Canadian positions, marking the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres. While the gas strike was a success, the Germans acknowledged how dependent the gas cylinders were on wind direction. Instead, it was decided to use gas grenades, which would be placed on fishing rods and thrown through no man's land from German trenches directly to Allied lines. This task required experience,...