2nd Ypres

Ninety-three years ago today marked the start of the Second battle of Ypres in the Great War. It was one of the most significant moments in the Great War for a number of reasons. Perhaps the main reason was it marked the first large scale use of poisonous gas (not the first use, as it is usually reported. The French experimented with poisonous rifle cartridges and the Germans had used gas shells on the Russian front prior to this). It marked a major shift in war to the modern "Total War". And as much as our side makes much of the gas attack it didn’t take long before we made liberal use of it as well. The battle also marked the first major battle that the Canadians took part in, and they suffered thousands of casualties.  It also marked a significant battle in my Grandfather’s regiment, albeit before he had joined the war, a counter attack that has been called one of the greatest counter attacks in the History of the Great War.

Early in the Great War both sides fought each other to a standstill, and in the constant attempts to out flank each other ended up establishing a system of trenches that stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland. The war became a static affair, one of attrition. In theory one could walk all the way from the Channel to Switzerland in a ditch, without ever sticking your head above ground. Ypres Belgium was a city that formed part of the small bit of Belgium that was still uncaptured by the Germans, and holding it became a symbolic necessity for the allies. It was also at the base of a Salient (called the Ypres Salient) or bulge in the Trench system. This meant that inside the Salient the allies literally had enemies on three sides of them.

The afternoon of the 22nd of April German artillery began heavily shelling Ypres, which still had a significant civilian population and a large number of refugees. As a result many people were fleeing and the roads that the soldiers would need to use to get to the battle were congested. 

At exactly 5 pm, German engineers opened the valves of hundreds of cylinders of Chlorine gas, which drifted on the wind directly towards French Algerian and Territorial troops.  Those that weren’t killed (suffocated by their own blood and fluid in their lungs) fled the line, opening up a huge gap in the line. Fifteen minutes later the gas was followed by thousands of German infantry, with no or little opposition before them the way to Ypres was completely open for them.

It was on the right flank of the Algerians that the 13th Battalion, the Black Watch or Royal Canadian Highlanders, found themselves.  They were not hit by the gas but watched the yellowish green Chlorine cloud drift towards the Algerians, heard and saw the shooting from their lines rise to a crescendo and then drop off, and watched as the Algerians that were left tried to flee the gas.  The Canadians had been in France only for a couple of months, and although they had experienced the static, day to day warfare that was life in the trenches they had yet to be involved in a major battle. Now the 13th was faced with a situation unprecedented in the war, and their left flank had no one in it and German infantry were pouring through the gap in the line.

The 13th gathered men, and rallied the Algerians that were still at the Front and threw up a defense flank, firing on the Germans who then turned to attack them.  They suffered many casualties but their actions prevented the Canadian lines from be outflanked and overrun. Other elements of Canadian Forces, such as the 7th and the 14th Battalions began to try and fill in the gaps in the line. French Zouaves moved to defend critical crossings of the Yser Canal. French, British and Canadian artillery moved to shell the advancing Germans, who had moved some 4 kilometres in a war that usually saw advances measured in hundreds of metres, if at all.

By about 8pm, Reserves of British, Belgium, and French had been rushed forward to stem the advance, and to counter attack. Canadian Reserves had also been moved up however there were still three large gaps in the line that were unprotected and offered little or nothing that would stop the continued advance. In Kitchener’s Wood the German advance had captured four heavy guns of the British. By around 8:30 pm the German’s stopped their advance in order to consolidate their positions, move up artillery and reserves and wait for daylight to renew their attack.

All of this story so far is by way of background to bring you to what I wanted to talk about, the counter-attack by the 16th and 10th Battalions on Kitchener’s Wood.

To be continued…