A. M., in face of repeated attacks, our infantry fell back from a part
of the Grafenstafel Ridge, northwest of Zonnebeke, and the line then ran
for some distance along the south bank of the little Haanebeek stream.
The situation along the Yperlee Canal remained practically unchanged.
[Sidenote: Line pierced at Broodseinde.]
When the morning of the 26th dawned the Germans, who had been seen
massing in St. Julien, and to the east of the village on the previous
evening, made several assaults, which grew more and more fierce as the
hours passed, but reinforcements were sent up and the position was
secured. Further east, however, our line was pierced near Broodseinde,
and a small body of the enemy established themselves in a portion of our
trenches. In the afternoon a strong, combined counter-attack was
delivered by the French and British along the whole front from
Steenstraate to the east of St. Julien, accompanied by a violent
bombardment. This moment, so far as can be judged at present, marked the
turning point of the battle, for, although it effected no great change
in the situation, it caused a definite check to the enemy's offensive,
relieved the pressure, and gained a certain amount of ground.
[Sidenote: Attack near St. Julien.]
During this counter-attack the guns concentrated by both sides on this
comparatively narrow front poured in a great volume of fire. From the
right came the roar of the British batteries, from the left the rolling
thunder of the _soixante-quinze_, and every now and then above the
turmoil rose a dull boom as a huge howitzer shell burst in the vicinity
of Ypres. On the right our infantry stormed the German trenches close to
St. Julien, and in the evening gained the southern outskirts of the
village. In the centre they captured the trenches a little to the south
of the Bois des Cuisinirs, west of St. Julien, and still further west
more trenches were taken. This represented an advance of some 600 or 700
yards, but the gain in ground could not at all points be maintained.
Opposite St. Julien we fell back from the village to a position just
south of the place, and in front of the Bois des Cuisinirs and on the
left of the line a similar retirement took place, the enemy making
extensive use of his gas cylinders and of machine guns placed in farms
or at other points of vantage. None the less, the situation at nightfall
was more satisfactory than it had been. We were holding our own well all
along the line and had made progress at some points. On the right the
enemy's attacks on the front of the Grafenstafel Ridge had all been
repulsed.
[Sidenote: Enemy lines.]
In the meantime the French had achieved some success, having retaken
Lizerne and also the trenches round Het Sast, captured some 250
prisoners, and made progress all along the west bank of the canal. Heavy
as our losses were during the day, there is little doubt that the enemy
suffered terribly. Both sides were attacking at different points, the
fighting was conducted very largely in the open, and the close
formations of the Germans on several occasions presented excellent
targets to our artillery, which did not fail to seize its opportunities.
Nothing in particular occurred during the night.
[Sidenote: The new battle lines.]
The morning of the 27th found our troops occupying the following
positions; North of Zonnebeke the right of the line still held the
eastern end of the Grafenstafel Ridge, but from here it bent
southwestward behind the Haanebeek stream, which it followed to a point
about half a mile east of St. Julien. Thence it curved back again to the
Vamheule Farm, on the Ypres-Poelcappelle road, running from here in a
slight southerly curve to a point a little west of the Ypres-Langemarck
road, where it joined the French. In the last mentioned quarter of the
field it followed generally the line of a low ridge running from west to
east. On the French front the Germans had been cleared from the west
bank of the canal, except at one point, Steenstraate, where they
continued to hold the bridgehead.
About 1 P. M. a counter-attack was made by us all along the line
between the canal and the Ypres-Poelcappelle road, and for about an hour
we continued to make progress. Then the right and centre were checked. A
little later the left was also held up, and the situation remained very
much as it had been on the previous day. The Germans were doubtless much
encouraged by their initial success, and their previous boldness in
attack was now matched by the stubborn manner in which they clung on to
their positions. In the evening the French stormed some trenches east of
the canal, but were again checked by the enemy's gas cylinders.
[Sidenote: German exhaustion.]
The night passed quietly, and was spent by us in reorganizing and
consolidating our positions. The enemy did not interfere. This is not
surprising, in view of the fact that by Tuesday evening they had been
fighting for over five days. Their state of exhaustion is confirmed by
the statements of the prisoners captured by the French, who also
reported that the German losses had been very heavy.
On Wednesday, the 28th, there was a complete lull on this sector of our
line, and the shelling was less severe. Some fighting, however, occurred
along the canal, the French taking over 100 prisoners.
[Sidenote: Air battles.]
Nothing of any importance has occurred on other parts of the front. On
the 27th at the Railway Triangle opposite Guinchy, the south side of the
embankment held by the Germans was blown up by our miners. On the 28th a
hostile aeroplane was forced to descend by our anti-aircraft guns. On
coming down in rear of the German lines, it was at once fired upon and
destroyed by our field artillery. Another hostile machine was brought
down by rifle fire near Zonnebeke.
Splendid work has been done during the past few days by our airmen, who
have kept all the area behind the hostile lines under close
observation. On the 26th they bombed the stations of Staden, Thielt,
Courtrai, Roubaix, and other places, and located an armored train near
Langemarck, which was subsequently shelled and forced to retire. There
have been several successful conflicts in the air, on one occasion a
pilot in a single seater chasing a German machine to Roulers, and
forcing it to land.
[Sidenote: Raid on Courtrai].
The raid on Courtrai unfortunately cost the nation a very gallant life,
but it will live as one of the most heroic episodes of the war. The
airman started on the enterprise alone in a biplane. On arrival at
Courtrai he glided down to a height of 300 feet and dropped a large bomb
on the railway junction. While he did this he was the target of hundreds
of rifles, of machine guns, and of anti-aircraft armament, and was
severely wounded in the thigh. Though he might have saved his life by at
once coming down in the enemy's lines, he decided to save his machine at
all costs, and made for the British lines. Descending to a height of
only 100 feet in order to increase his speed, he continued to fly and
was again wounded, this time mortally. He still flew on, however, and
without coming down at the nearest of our aerodromes went all the way
back to his own base, where he executed a perfect landing and made his
report. He died in hospital not long afterward.
[Sidenote: Steadiness of the Canadians.]
The outstanding feature of the action of the past week has been the
steadiness of our troops on the extreme left; but of the deeds of
individual gallantry and devotion which have been performed it would be
impossible to narrate one-hundredth part. At one place in this quarter a
machine gun was stationed in the angle of a trench when the German rush
took place. One man after another of the detachment was shot, but the
gun still continued in action, through five bodies lay around it. When
the sixth man took the place of his fallen comrades, of whom one was his
brother, the Germans were still pressing on. He waited until they were
only a few yards away, and then poured a stream of bullets on to the
advancing ranks, which broke and fell back, leaving rows of dead. He was
then wounded himself.
[Sidenote: Telephone wires cut.]
Under the hot fire to which our batteries were subjected in the early
part of the engagement telephone wires were repeatedly cut. The wire
connecting one battery with its observing officer was severed on nine
separate occasions, and on each occasion repaired by a Sergeant, who did
the work out in the open under a perfect hail of shells.
About 5 P. M. a dense cloud of suffocating vapors was launched from
their trenches along the whole front held by the French right and by our
left from the Ypres-Langemarck road to a considerable distance east of
St. Julien. The fumes did not carry much beyond our front trenches. But
these were to a great extent rendered untenable, and a retirement from
them was ordered.
[Sidenote: Strange appearance of gas battle.]
No sooner had this started than the enemy opened a violent bombardment
with asphyxiating shells and shrapnel on our trenches and on our
infantry as they were withdrawing. Meanwhile our guns had not been idle.
From a distance, perhaps owing to some peculiarity of the light, the gas
on this occasion looked like a great reddish cloud, and the moment it
was seen our batteries poured a concentrated fire on the German
trenches.
Curious situations then arose between us and the enemy. The poison belt,
the upper part shredding into thick wreaths of vapor as it was shaken by
the wind, and the lower and denser part sinking into all inequalities of
the ground, rolled slowly down the trenches. Shells would rend it for a
moment, but it only settled down again as thickly as before.
Nevertheless, the German infantry faced it, and they faced a hail of
shrapnel as well. In some cases where the gas had not reached our lines
our troops held firm and shot through the cloud at the advancing
Germans. In other cases the men holding the front line managed to move
to the flank, where they were more or less beyond the affected area.
Here they waited until the enemy came on and then bayoneted them when
they reached our trenches.
[Sidenote: A charge through the gas.]
On the extreme left our supports waited until the vapor reached our
trenches, when they charged through it and met the advancing Germans
with the bayonet as they swarmed over the parapets.
South of St. Julien the denseness of the vapor compelled us to evacuate
trenches, but reinforcements arrived who charged the enemy before they
could establish themselves in position. In every case the assaults
failed completely. Large numbers were mown down by our artillery. Men
were seen falling and others scattering and running back to their own
lines. Many who reached the gas cloud could not make their way through
it, and in all probability a great number of the wounded perished from
the fumes.
It is to that extent, from a military standpoint, a sign of weakness.
Another sign of weakness is the adoption of illegal methods of fighting,
such as spreading poisonous gas. It is a confession by the Germans that
they have lost their former great superiority in artillery and are, at
any cost, seeking another technical advantage over their enemy as a
substitute.
[Sidenote: The enemy sticks at nothing.]
Nevertheless, this spirit, this determination on the part of our enemies
to stick at nothing must not be underestimated. Though it may not pay
the Germans in the long run, it renders it all the more obvious that
they are a foe that can be overcome only by the force of overwhelming
numbers of men and guns.
Further to the east a similar attack was made about 7 P. M. which seems
to have been attended with even less success, and the assaulting
infantry was at once beaten back by our artillery fire.
It was not long before all our trenches were reoccupied and the whole
line reestablished in its original position. The attack on the French
met with the same result.
Prisoners captured in the recent fighting, the narrative continues,
stated that one German corps lost 80 per cent. of its men in the first
week; that the losses from our artillery fire, even during days when no
attacks were taking place, had been very heavy and that many of their
own men had suffered from the effects of the gas.
[Sidenote: German gains due to poison gas.]
In regard to the recent fighting on our left, the German offensive,
effected in the first instance by surprise, resulted in a considerable
gain of ground for the enemy. Between all the earlier German efforts,
the only difference was that on this latest occasion the attempt was
carried out with the aid of poisonous gases.
There is no reason why we should not expect similar tactics in the
future. They do not mean that the Allies have lost the initiative in the
Western theatre, nor that they are likely to lose it. They do mean,
however, and the fact has been repeatedly pointed out, that the enemy's
defensive is an active one, that his confidence is still unshaken and
that he still is able to strike in some strength where he sees the
chance or where mere local advantage can be secured.
The true idea of the meaning of the operations of the Allies can be
gained only by bearing in mind that it is their primary object to bring
about the exhaustion of the enemy's resources in men.
In the form now assumed by this struggle--a war of attrition--the
Germans are bound ultimately to lose, and it is the consciousness of
this fact that inspires their present policy. This is to achieve as
early as possible some success of sufficient magnitude to influence the
neutrals, to discourage the Allies, to make them weary of the struggle
and to induce the belief among the people ignorant of war that nothing
has been gained by the past efforts of the Allies because the Germans
have not yet been driven back. It is being undertaken with a political
rather than a strategical object.
[Sidenote: Violent artillery fire.]
The calm that prevailed Thursday and Friday proved to be only the lull
before the storm. Early Saturday morning it became apparent that the
Germans were preparing an attack in strength against our line running
east and northeast from Ypres, for they were concentrating under cover
of a violent artillery fire, and at about 10 o'clock the battle began in
earnest.
At that hour the Germans attacked our line from the Ypres-Poelcappelle
road to within a short distance of the Menin highroad, it being
evidently their intention while engaging us closely on the whole of this
sector to break our front in the vicinity of the Ypres-Roulers Railway,
to the north and to the south of which their strongest and most
determined assaults were delivered.
Under this pressure our front was penetrated at some points around
Frezenberg, and at 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon we made a
counter-attack between the Zonnebeke road and the railway in order to
recover the lost ground. Our offensive was conducted most gallantly, but
was checked before long by the fire of machine guns.
[Sidenote: Enemy attacks near Menin road.]
Meanwhile, the enemy launched another attack through the woods south of
the Menin road, and at the same time threatened our left to the north of
Ypres with fresh masses. Most desperate fighting ensued, the German
infantry coming on again and again and gradually forcing our troops
back, though only for a short distance, in spite of repeated
counter-attacks.
[Sidenote: On the Poelcappelle road.]
During the night the fighting continued to rage with ever-increasing
fury. It is impossible to say at exactly what hour our line was broken
at different points, but it is certain that at one time the enemy's
infantry poured through along the Poelcappelle road, and even got as far
as Wieltje at 9 P. M.
There was also a considerable gap in our front about Frezenberg, where
hostile detachments had penetrated. At both points counter-attacks were
organized without delay. To the east of the salient the Germans first
were driven back to Frezenberg, but there they made a firm stand, and
under pressure of fresh reinforcements we fell back again toward
Verlorenhoek.
[Sidenote: Canadian counter-attack.]
Northeast of the salient a counter-attack carried out by us about 1 A.
M. was more successful. Our troops swept the enemy out of Wieltje at the
bayonet's point, leaving the village strewn with German dead and,
pushing on, regained most of the ground to the north of that point. And
so the fight surged to and fro throughout the night. All around the
scene of the conflict the sky was lit up by the flashes of the guns and
the light of blazing villages and farms, while against this background
of smoke and flame, looking out in the murky light over the crumbling
ruins of the old town, rose the battered wreck of the cathedral town and
the spires of Cloth Hall.
[Sidenote: German assaults on the east.]
When Sunday dawned there came a short respite, and the firing for a time
died down. The comparative lull enabled us to reorganize and
consolidate our position on the new line we had taken up and to obtain
some rest after the fatigue and strain of the night. It did not last
long, however, and in the afternoon the climax of the battle was
reached, for, under the cover of intense artillery fire, the Germans
launched no less than five separate assaults against the east of the
salient.
To the north and northeast their attacks were not at first pressed so
hard as on the south of the Menin road, where the fighting was
especially fierce. In the latter direction masses of infantry were
hurled on with absolute desperation and were beaten off with
corresponding slaughter.
At one point, north of the town, 500 of the enemy advanced from the
wood, and it is affirmed by those present that not a single man of them
escaped.
[Sidenote: German losses at Chateau Hooge.]
On the eastern face, at 6:30 P. M., an endeavor was made to storm the
grounds of the Chateau Hooge, a little north of the Menin road, but the
force attempting it broke and fell back under the hail of shrapnel
poured upon them by our guns. It was on this side, where they had to
face the concentrated fire of guns, Maxims and rifles again and again in
their efforts to break their way through, that the Germans incurred
their heaviest losses, and the ground was literally heaped with dead.
They evidently, for the time being at least, were unable to renew their
efforts, and as night came on the fury of their offensive gradually
slackened, the hours of darkness passing in quietness.
During the day our troops saw some of the enemy busily employed in
stripping the British dead in our abandoned trenches, east of the Hooge
Chateau, and several Germans afterward were noticed dressed in khaki.
[Sidenote: A successful day.]
So far as the Ypres region is concerned, this for us was a most
successful day. Our line, which on the northeast of the salient had,
after the previous day's fighting, been reconstituted a short distance
behind the original front, remained intact. Our losses were
comparatively slight, and, owing to the targets presented by the enemy,
the action resolved itself on our part into pure killing.
The reason for this very determined effort to crush our left on the part
of the Germans is not far to seek. It is probable that for some days
previously they had been in possession of information which led them to
suppose that we intended to apply pressure on the right of our line, and
that their great attack upon Ypres on the 7th, 8th, and 9th was
undertaken with a view to diverting us from our purpose.
In this the Germans were true to their principles, for they rightly hold
that the best manner of meeting an expected hostile offensive is to
forestall it by attacking in some other quarter. In this instance their
leaders acted with the utmost determination and energy and their
soldiers fought with the greatest courage.
[Sidenote: The enemy held in check.]
The failure of their effort was due to the splendid endurance of our
troops, who held the line around the salient under a fire which again
and again blotted out whole lengths of the defenses and killed the
defenders by scores. Time after time along those parts of the front
selected for assault were parapets destroyed, and time after time did
the thinning band of survivors build them up again and await the next
onset as steadily as before.
Here, in May, in defense of the same historic town, have our
incomparable infantry repeated the great deeds their comrades performed
half a year ago and beaten back most desperate onslaughts of hostile
hordes backed by terrific artillery support.
The services rendered by our troops in this quarter cannot at present
be estimated, for their full significance will only be realized in the
light of future events. But so far their devotion has indirectly
contributed in no small measure to the striking success already achieved
by our allies.
Further south, in the meantime, on Sunday another struggle had been in
progress on that portion of the front covered by the right of our line
and the left of the French, for when the firing around Ypres was
temporarily subsiding during the early hours of the morning another and
even more tremendous cannonade was suddenly started by the artillery of
the Allies some twenty miles to the south.
The morning was calm, bright, and clear, and opposite our right, as the
sun rose, the scene in front of our line was the most peaceful
imaginable. Away to the right were Guinchy, with its brickfields and the
ruins of Givenchy. To the north of them lay low ground, where, hidden by
trees and hedgerows, ran the opposing lines that were about to become
the scene of the conflict, and beyond, in the distance, rose the long
ridge of Aubers, the villages crowning it standing out clear cut against
the sky.
[Sidenote: Bombardment of Guinchy.]
At 5 o'clock the bombardment began, slowly at first and then growing in
volume until the whole air quivered with the rush of the larger shells
and the earth shook with the concussion of guns. In a few minutes the
whole distant landscape disappeared in smoke and dust, which hung for a
while in the still air and then drifted slowly across the line of
battle.
[Sidenote: The battle near Festubert.]
Shortly before 6 o'clock our infantry advanced along our front between
the Bois Grenier and Festubert. On the left, north of Fromelles, we
stormed the German first line trenches. Hand-to-hand fighting went on
for some time with bayonet, rifle, and hand grenade, but we continued to
hold on to this position throughout the day and caused the enemy very
heavy loss, for not only were many Germans killed in the bombardment,
but their repeated efforts to drive us from the captured positions
proved most costly.
On the right, to the north of Festubert, our advance met with
considerable opposition and was not pressed.
[Sidenote: A French victory.]
Meanwhile, the French, after a prolonged bombardment, had taken the
German positions north of Arras on a front of nearly five miles, and had
pushed forward from two to three miles, capturing 2,000 prisoners and
six guns. This remarkable success was gained by our allies in the course
of a few hours.
As may be supposed from the nature of the fighting which has been in
progress, our losses have been heavy. On other parts of the front our
action was confined to that of the artillery, but this proved most
effective later, all the communications of the enemy being subjected to
so heavy and accurate a fire that in some quarters all movement by
daylight within range of our lines was rendered impracticable. At one
place opposite our centre a convoy of ammunition was hit by a shell,
which knocked out six motor lorries and caused two to blow up. Opposite
our centre we fired two mines, which did considerable damage to the
enemy's defenses.
[Sidenote: Air fighting.]