This blow aroused the Germans to retali ate. On 14 March they assembled a great many cannon under cover of mists opposite Saint Eloi, a position just north of the Mes sines Ridge, at the inner point of the salient the Germans had driven into the line south east of Ypres during the first battle at that place. If the position was talon, the entire British line in this sector would be in danger. The bombardment they opened on the British trenches at 5 P.M. is described as etremen dous,D showing that they also had vrofited by the lesson of Neuve Chapelle, and it was re inforced by the explosions of two mines under the British defenses. Then the infantry at tacked in heavy masses, forcing their oppo nents out of the .crurnbling trenches at .many places. By bringing up light artillery they then enfiladed the position to which the de fenders still clung, and by nightfall the village was in their hands. Under cover of darkness, however, the British organized a strong coun terattack, which, delivered at 2 A.M., retook all the positions lost that were deemed of impor tance. In this battle the first of the Canadian regiments came under fire, the Princess Pa tricia's Light Infantry, with such good results that the spirits of both Canada and Britain were raised to an enthusiastic pitch.
One blow provoked another in this ding dong fighting on the western front. Saint Eloi was a German offensive and the British reply to it was an attack, opened on 17 April against Hill 60, an important elevation in the flat coun try north of Klein Zillebeke. To take it would push back the German lines at a point where they were within three miles of Ypres. The position was seized by the British on the 17th, the Germans counterattacked on the 18th aW, desperate fighting followed on the hill itself until the 21st, when the Germans were driven off and the British remained in possession, with heavy losses on each side.
It was while this affair was in progress that the second battle of Ypres began, the German reply to the attac.k on Hill 60. The first steP was a heavy bombardmeut of the town of Ypres with 42-centimetre shells. The object was to blocic the streets and interrupt the bringing up of reinforcements by the roads that led through the town. As these roads led to the northeast of Ypres and Hill 60 was on the southeast, it indicated to the British that the scene of attack was about to be shifted. Their forecast was confirmed on the evening of the 22d in a most gruesonre way. The time was five o'clock and there was a steady wind from the northeast. Artillery observers no ticed a bank of greenish vapor moving from the front of the German lines toward the Allied trenches. It came on along a from of snore than four miles, part of it held by soldiers of the Ninth French Army and part, on their right, held by the third and second brigades of the Canadian division. The vapor rolled along by the breeze was asphyxiating gas. The Germans had prepared to use it, and in order to break the shocic of horror to the minds of their own people had previously circulated the false story that the Entente Allies were using it. The French and Canadians knew not what
it was until it was on them. Says General French: gIt was at first impossible for any one to realize vrhat had actually happened. The smoke and fumes hid everything from sight and hundreds of men were thrown into a comatose or dying condition, and within an hour the whole position had to be abandoned, together with about 50 guns? In the Canadian trenches the fumes were less severe, .and the men stood their ground, though many of then: suffered greatly. To their left a gaP had opened in the line four miles wide, leav ing their flank exposed, forcing them to bend back their line and to hurry forward their brigade reserves. Fortunately the Germans did not advance hastily, probably because of fear of their own gas. The approaching dark ness was some relief, also, and by the next morning General French had sent for,vard five battalions, which with the two reserve bat talions of the Canadians had to repel the Ger man attempts to penetrate the gap during the 23d. It was not until late on the 24th that effective reinforcements arrived, and by that tirne the losses in the lines were so heavy that the reinforcements did not restore security. The retiring French had abandoned their ar tillery and the reinforcements had no means of keeping down the artillery fire that raked the field over which they had to fight The Germans continued to employ gas and the Canadians had a second encounter with it on the 24th; but they had learned that to fix a wet handlcerchief over the face gave much relief and by sticking to their posts they ob served that the gas quickly passed by, whereas those who ran were longer within its grasp.
The week of sheer slaughter that followed has no redeeming feature other than the cour age of the men who met it. The Germans threw themselves with special vigor on the two Canadian brigades who carried themselves, as General French said in his report, ((with a magnificent display of tenacity and courage.) If there had been a break where they stood the enenty would have turned the whole east ern front of the Ypres salient out of its posi tion, and the result would have been disaster. Ott I May General French ordered the troops on the east to be drawn into positions nearer the town. His lines of communication in the salient were tmder hostile fire frcrm the heights north and south of the trenches, and thus les sened the difficulty of supplying die troops while he shortened his lines by three miles and gave opportunity to the occupants to take longer rest periods. The retirement was effected quickly and without the knowledge of the Ger mans, who continued to shell the trendies after they were abandoned. Hard fighting continued until 13 May, when the Germans ceased to at tacit. They had been fighting for no territorial gains. To take Ypres at the expense of the British, to shatter their morale and to waste the strength of the British army was all they had in mind. They had not succeeded in the first of these objects nor in the second; but they had taken heavy toll of their adversaries.