THE STRUGGLE RENEWED
The Germans had only stopped the struggle for a breathing spell. On
the following morning, Monday, May 3, they made an attempt to force
the allied position back again. This attempt was made on the British
left, west of the Bois des Cuisenirs, between Pilkem and St. Julien.
The Germans cut their wire entanglements and, leaving their trenches
and lying down in front of those protecting places, they were ready to
advance; but, before they could start forward, the artillery of their
enemy did such effective work that the Teutons returned to their
trenches, and gave up an attack at that point. But they made an
assault against the northern side of the salient which had by this
time become very narrow. A German bomb wrecked a section of the
British trenches, and the defenders of that part of the line had to go
back of a wood that was a little to the northwest of Grafenstafel,
where they were able to stop the German onrush.
The Belgians were bombarded with asphyxiating gas bombs beyond the
French lines south of Dixmude. The Germans charged the Belgian
trenches only to be cut down by machine-gun fire. That night, the
night of May 3, 1915, an attack was made on the British front; but it
was stopped by the artillery.
Sir Herbert Plumer in the meantime had been executing the order he had
received from Sir John French, and shortened his lines so they were
three miles less in length than before starting the movement. The new
line extended from the French position west of the Ypres-Langemarck
Road and proceeded through "shell-trap" farm to the Haanebeek and the
eastern part of the Frezenberg ridge where it turned south, covering
Bellewaarde Lake and Hooge and bent around Hill 60. This resulted in
leaving to the Germans the Veldhoek, Bosche, and Polygon Woods, and
Fortuin and Zonnebeke. This new front protected all of the roads to
Ypres, and, at the same time, it was not necessary to employ as many
soldiers to hold this line. Moreover the defenders of it could not be
fired upon from three sides as long as they held it. In some places
the British and German trenches had been no more than ten yards apart,
but the difficulty of evacuating the British position was completed in
safety on the night of May 3, 1915. The work included the taking with
them 780 wounded. Sharpshooters were left in the trenches, however,
and they maintained such an appearance of activity and alertness that
the Germans kept on shelling the trenches all of the following day.
The attempt of General Putz to force the Germans back across the
Yperlee Canal on May 4, 1915, was stopped by a combination of machine
guns, asphyxiating gas and fog. Then the French spent the next ten
days in tunneling to Steenstraate. Their tunnels toward their
objective point were through that territory between Boesinghe and
Lizerne. On May 5, 1915 the Germans made a careful advance on the
British front under the cover of fog and a heavy bombardment, to find
only that the British position had been changed. But they intrenched
opposite the new alignment, and brought up their big guns. Then they
used poisonous gas again with the result that the British retreated
and the Teutons followed, in spite of the many men who fell because of
the accurate work of the British artillery. The greater part of this
action took place around Hill 60, and some of the British trenches to
the north of the hill were captured by the Germans. They then
penetrated toward Zillebeke to the supporting line. Up to midnight the
Germans seemed to be victorious; then, however, the British drove them
from the hill only to be driven away in turn by the use of
asphyxiating gas. On the following day the Teutons held Hill 60 and
some of the trenches north of it.
Asphyxiating gas also had been used in an attempt to break the British
front on the left, on both the north and south sides of the
Ypres-Roulers railroad. Though this attack failed, the Teutons were
ready to make as near superhuman efforts as possible because they knew
that the French were getting ready for a decisive action in the Arras
territory, which would have the aid of a British attack south of the
Lys. Hence it was to the advantage of the Germans to force Sir John
French and General Foch to retain most of the British and French
soldiers north of the Lys. On May 8, 1915, they turned their artillery
on that part of the British front that was near Frezenberg. It
destroyed the trenches and killed or wounded hundreds of the
defenders. After three hours of this, the Germans commenced an attack
on that part of the British front between the Ypres-Menin and the
Ypres-Poelcappelle highways, the greatest pressure being brought to
bear along both sides of the Ypres-Roulers railroad.
The British fought bravely, but it was impossible for them to hold out
against the avalanche of lead. First the right of a brigade went to
pieces and then its center and the left of another brigade south of it
were forced back. Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry held
fast. The Second Essex Regiment also made some little success for
their side by annihilating a small detachment of Germans; but that was
more than offset by the breaking of the center of another brigade,
after which the First Suffolks were surrounded and put out of the
fight. Finally the Germans pushed their way on to Frezenberg. Sir
Herbert Plumer realized by the middle of the afternoon that a
counterattack was necessary. He had held two battalions in reserve
along the Ypres-Menin Road. He also had five battalions with him and
reenforcements in the form of a brigade of infantry had arrived at
Vlamertinghe Chateau, back of Ypres. He sent the First Royal
Warwickshires, the Second Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Second Surreys,
the Third Middlesex, and the First York and Lancaster Regiments into
the break in the line with the result that Frezenberg was retaken.
This victory was short-lived, however; for the German machine-gun fire
was too fierce for the men to withstand. The British retired to a new
front which ran north and south through Verlorenhoek. The Twelfth
London Regiment, on the left, though it lost many men, managed to get
to the original line of trenches. Next the British were menaced from
the north and east. Great bodies of Teutons rushed from the woods
south of the Menin highway, when others rushed down the Poelcappelle
Road and took Wieltje, which is only about two miles from Ypres.
The fighting continued all night, but shortly after midnight the
British charged with the bayonet and retook Wieltje as well as most of
that section to the north of it which they had lost. Early on May 9,
1915, the fighting was continued, and, in the afternoon, the Germans
charged from the woods in a vain attempt to take Ypres after a severe
bombardment of the British trenches. An attacking party of five
hundred was slain north of the town. On the eastern side of the
salient there were five distinct attacks. An attempt to capture the
Chateau Hooge was made early in the evening, only to result in heaping
the ground with German dead. The day closed with 150 yards of British
trenches in the hands of the Germans; but they had been taken at a
fearful cost to the kaiser's men.
The Germans began the next day, May 10, 1915, by shelling the British
north and south of the Ypres-Menin road. They followed the cannonade
with a cloud of asphyxiating gas. They then started for the opposing
trenches. Many of them, the British allege, wore British uniforms. The
British had by now been equipped with proper respirators and could
withstand a gas attack with comparative ease. When the Germans were in
close range they received a rifle and machine-gun fire that mowed them
down almost instantly. Those who had not been shot fell to the ground
to escape the leaden hail. But escape was not for them. Shrapnel was
poured upon them, and nearly all of the attacking troops perished.
Another gas attack was made between the Ypres-Menin road and the
Ypres-Comines canal. There two batteries of gas cylinders sent forth
their deadly fumes for more than a half hour. The cloud that resulted
became so dense that it was impossible for the British in the opposite
trenches to see anything; so they were withdrawn temporarily; but the
troops to the left and right kept the Germans from following up this
advantage and the trenches were saved to the British. When the gas had
passed away the men returned to their former position. North of the
Menin road, however, the Germans were successful in driving the Fourth
Rifle Brigade and the Third King's Royal Rifles to a new position, the
trenches which the British occupied having been battered by shell fire
to such an extent that some of the occupants were buried alive. Hence
the British here retreated to a new line of trenches west of the
Bellewaarde Wood where the trees had been shelled until they were part
of a hopeless entanglement rather than a forest.
The next day, May 11, 1915, was started by the Germans hurling
hundreds of incendiary shells into the already ruined town of Ypres.
They also fired almost countless high-explosive shells into the
British trenches. The British big guns replied with considerable
effect. One of the German cannon was rendered useless by the fire of
the Thirty-first Heavy Battery, and several howitzers were damaged by
the North Midland Heavy Battery. The German cannonade was especially
effective near the Ypres-St. Julien road. The Teutons, however, did
not confine their work to the artillery, for they made three assaults
on the British trenches south of the Menin road. This part of the line
was held by Scottish regiments, who, though they were forced out of
their trenches, regained them with the aid of other Scots who were
supporting them.
By now it was apparent to the British commanding officers that they
must still further lessen the projection of their salient. So on May
12, 1915, the Twenty-eighth Division was sent to the reserve. It had
experienced continuous fighting since April 22, 1915, and had
suffered severe losses. It had only one lieutenant colonel. Captains
were in command of most of its battalions. The First and Third Cavalry
Divisions took its place. They were under the command of General De
Lisle. From left to right the new line was held as follows: The men of
the Twelfth Brigade, the Eleventh Brigade, and a battalion of the
Tenth Brigade of the Fourth Division guarded the new front to a point
northeast of Verlorenhoek. Next came the First Cavalry which held the
line to the Roulers railroad. From the railroad to Bellewaarde Lake
the Third Division held the line. From the lake to Hill 60 the
Twenty-seventh Division had its position. The British admitted that
this new position was not strong, because it lacked natural
advantages, and the trenches were more or less of hasty construction.
The Germans started a heavy bombardment of the cavalry on May 13,
1915, when the rain was pouring in torrents and a north wind was
adding to the discomforts of the British. The fiercest part of this
attack was on the Third Division. Some idea of the fierceness of the
bombardment can be gained when it is known that in a comparatively
short space of time more than eight hundred shells were hurled on a
part of the British line which was not more than a mile in length. In
places the British were buried alive. In spite of the destructive
fire, the North Somerset Yeomanry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Glyn, charged the Germans who were advancing on their trenches under
cover of the bombardment. The charge was effective, and the Teutons
were driven headlong toward their own trenches. But the German
artillery had the range of the Seventh Brigade on the right, and
poured upon it such a fire that it retreated several hundred yards,
leaving the right of the Sixth Brigade exposed. As soon as possible
the British made an attempt to remedy the defect in their line, and
found it necessary to make a counterattack. In this counterattack very
satisfactory results were obtained by the use of the Duke of
Westminster's armored motor cars. The British regained the lost
ground, but they found it impossible to retain it, for the Teuton's
heavy artillery had the range of the position so accurately that no
man could live there. The result of the day's fighting was a farther
pushing back of the line of the British so that it bent backward from
Verlorenhoek and Bellewaarde Lake. In addition to being forced back,
the British suffered a large loss of men, especially officers.
The infantry on the left had been fiercely attacked on this same day;
but it managed to keep from being driven from its position. One of the
defenders of this part of the line was a territorial battalion, the
London Rifle Brigade. There were only 278 men in the battalion at the
beginning of the day, it having suffered severe losses previously. By
night ninety-one more had been lost. Four survivors, under command of
Sergeant Douglas Belcher, and two hussars whom the sergeant had added
to his squad, held that part of the line in the face of repeated
attacks. These plucky men not only made the Germans think the front
was strongly defended there by using quick-firing methods, but they
undoubtedly saved the right of the Fourth Division. Another especially
gallant piece of work on the part of the British was done by the
Second Essex, the reserve battalion of the Twelfth Brigade. With a
bayonet charge they drove the Germans from Shelltrap Farm, which was
between the Langemarck and Poelcappelle highways, and, though it was
held by first one side and then the other, the British had it at the
close of the day in spite of the bombardment it received.
[Illustration: Gas Battle of Ypres.]
The French met with better success on the British left. Under the
command of General Putz they made an attack on Het Sase and
Steenstraate. The sharpshooters of the Zouaves and Algerians took a
trench in front of the latter place and entered the village. They
fought on to the canal by the end of that day, which was May 15, 1915.
More than six hundred Teuton dead were counted after that engagement.
At the same time the Zouaves captured Het Sase with great ease,
because the artillery had rendered its defenders useless for more
fighting. The Germans, however, were not inclined to give up the town
so easily. They bombarded Het Sase that night, using asphyxiating
shells. Nothing daunted, the Zouaves put on their respirators and
drove off with hand grenades and rifle fire the Germans who followed
in the wake of the poisonous shells. On the following day it was
said that the only Germans left alive on the left side of the
Yperlee Canal were either wounded or prisoners. The French had
destroyed three German regiments, taken three redoubts, and captured
four fortified lines and three villages. In this connection it may not
be amiss to note that the French reported that, on May 15, 1915, the
German Marine Fusiliers who were attempting to hold the Yperlee Canal
concluded it was the better part of valor to surrender. Before the
Germans could relinquish their places they were shot down by their
comrades in the rear.
Fighting along the line of the salient continued with more or less
vigor for nearly ten days, but, until May 24, 1915, there were no
engagements that had much out of the ordinary. On that date, however,
the entire front from Bellewaarde Lake to Shelltrap, a line three
miles in length, was bombarded with asphyxiating shells. This was
followed by a gas cloud that was sent against the same extent of
trenches. The wind sent the cloud in a southwesterly direction, so
that the deadly fumes got in their work along nearly five miles of the
front. It is asserted that the cloud was 40 feet in height, and that
the Germans continued to renew the supply of gas for four and a half
hours. It had little effect wherever the British used their
respirators, for they managed to stay in their positions without undue
inconvenience. Those who suffered the most from the gas cloud were the
infantry of the Fourth Division on the left. The cloud which had
followed the asphyxiating shells was in turn followed by a severe
bombardment from three sides--the east, northeast, and north. The
principal attacks were made in the neighborhood of Shelltrap, the
British front along the Roulers railroad, and along the Menin road in
the vicinity of Bellewaarde Lake. In those places the British were
pushed back at least temporarily; but counterattacks were delivered
before nightfall, and the greater part of the lost ground regained.
Thus, to the disappointment of the Germans, their extra effort, with
all the means of warfare at their disposal, had resulted only in
reducing the salient at an enormous cost in lives on both sides, but
the gain had been for the most part temporary.
Before leaving the consideration of the second battle of Ypres it may
be well to estimate what has been gained and lost by both sides. In
the attempt to wear down their opponents one side had inflicted as
much of a blow as the other, to all intents and purposes, for there
had been an almost prodigal waste of human life and ammunition. The
distinct advantage that Germany had gained was in pushing back and
almost flattening out the prow of the British salient, and they had
demonstrated the superiority of their artillery. Britain, on the other
hand, had lost no strategical advantage by the change of her line. The
knowledge that Germany had a superior artillery acted as a stimulant
in making the British provide a better equipment of big guns. But the
British had demonstrated the great superiority of their infantry over
that of Germany. In fact there was comfort to be derived by the
friends of each side as a result of the second battle of Ypres. The
fighting had to stop, as far as being a general engagement was
concerned. There were other parts of the front in western Europe which
were becoming by far too active for either the Germans or the British
to neglect them. Hence it is necessary to leave Ypres and the brave
men who fell there, and consider what was being done elsewhere.