OK, let's try this again. If I didn't know better I'd guess this was Peteblight being funny -
The agent is a solid - diphenylchloroarsine , diphenylcyanoarise, adamsite, etc. Clark I and Clark II to the Germans, all part of the same family of arsenical sternatory agents, intended to cause sneezing and/or vomiting. The agent is released as a solid particulant - typically in smoke. In the blue cross shells it was vaporised by the heat of the explosion, then distributed with the smoke of the explosion. The glass bottle was there to keep the temperature down, so that the agent wasn't totally destroyed - otherwise the material could be directly mixed into the explosive, the same as the Soviets did.
The Germans, US, Japanese etc continued to load this type of agent in WWII. If you check you will find German blauring projectiles and bombs, each which use a burning effect to disseminate the agent. The US loaded it into burning candles, similar to smoke candles. The Japanese were the only ones to use a solvent to dissolve the material and load it as a liquid in annular type projectiles. They also used it in its solid form with burning candles as well.
Of all of the German projectiles I have examined, WWI and WWII, the Germans used glass bottles only in the WWI blue cross projectiles, in sizes to 10.5cm. They had larger blue cross rounds, but glass was a problem in the larger sizes so they went to ceramic materials.
In the early years of the war Germany was playing with experimental agents which were highly corrosive. For these they initially used lead inserts to protect the body of the shell. France did a similar thing to prevent corrosion, first with lead containers into shrapnel bodies, then by blowing glass directly into the shell (HE bodies) to protect it. As Germany (and others) standardised their fills this was dropped as unnecessary, and only the blue cross shells remained, the only agent loaded into bottles.
Any EOD guys want to back me up? (Feel free to challenge as well.)
