DAYS OF STRUGGLE AND ANXIETY.--I.
I have told you in the form of a continuous story how the Canadians
saved the day. In doing so I have had to keep your attention fixed on
that part of the British line extending from Grafenstafel to the little
wood where the Canadians made their midnight charge in order to recover
the lost guns. We have now to learn what took place on the left and
right of the Canadian position, and to follow the fortunes of the
long-drawn-out battle to its close.
You already know that when the poison gas rolled down on the French
trenches and drove the panic-stricken Turcos in headlong flight, a great
breach of four miles yawned in the Allied line. By swinging back their
left the Canadians barred a portion of this gap, but only a portion.
From the little wood on which their left rested to the line of the Yser
Canal there was still an undefended gap of at least two and a half
miles. Had the Germans been prompt they could have marched through this
gap into Ypres, almost without firing a shot. Strange to say, they were
slow in moving, and did not push their advantage. As in the First Battle
of Ypres, they broke our line, but could do nothing in the breach.
Not until the small hours of Friday morning did the first British
reinforcements arrive in the gap. They had been drawn chiefly from the
28th Division, which was holding the line from Grafenstafel to Polygon
Wood. All the battalions that could be spared from the 28th Division
were hurried across the salient, and it was a strange mixture of units
that held the pass between the Canadian left and the canal. As the
fighting proceeded, this force, which was commanded by Colonel Geddes,
altered its character from day to day and almost from hour to hour. A
grenade company of the Northumberland Fusiliers, consisting of two
officers and 120 men, was added to it by accident. They had been
fighting at Hill 60, and had been eight days in the trenches. On the way
back to join the 28th Division, to which they belonged, these grimy,
weary, and hungry warriors fell in with Geddes's force, and promptly
took their places in his firing line. That night they lived up to the
fame of the old "Fighting Fifth."
[Illustration: Second Battle of Ypres.
Position on the morning of Friday, April 23, 1915.]
By the morning of Friday the Germans had crossed the canal south of
Steenstraate, and were threatening that village, which was held by the
French. Allenby's three divisions of cavalry, along with two Indian
divisions, were being hurried up with all speed to help the French, who
were struggling on the west of the canal. Meanwhile all along the line
from Polygon Wood to the canal the big guns of the enemy were heavily
shelling our lines. The fighting, as we already know, was heaviest
against the Canadian 3rd Brigade, which had suffered great losses both
from gas and from artillery fire. There were gaps all along our front,
and in one place the machine guns of the enemy were behind our trenches.
While the Canadians between the little wood and Grafenstafel were
holding on, British battalions were being hurried up as rapidly as
possible. You will see from the map on page 208 that the 13th Brigade
filled the gap between the canal and the Pilkem road, and that they were
supported by Territorials of the York and Durham Brigade, who had
arrived in France only three days before. Between Geddes's detachment
and the little wood lay the 10th Brigade, consisting of Territorials,
the 1st Warwicks, 2nd Seaforths, 1st Irish Fusiliers, 2nd Dublin
Fusiliers, and 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Durhams and
the 1st Hants were holding the gap between the Canadians and the 28th
Division. Such was the condition of the northern side of the salient on
Saturday evening when the 3rd Canadian Brigade was retired. The
Northumbrian Division took its place.
About 4.30 on Sunday morning the 10th Brigade and two battalions of the
York and Durham Brigade made a great attempt to recapture St. Julien.
The men reached the cottages at the end of the village, but were brought
to a standstill by German machine guns. They lost very heavily in the
advance, but for the rest of the day they hung on to the blood and gas
stained position. Further east, at Grafenstafel, the Durhams were
assailed by shells filled with gases that choked and stupefied them, and
at two o'clock in the afternoon, before they could breathe freely again,
the Germans charged down upon them. From two o'clock until seven the
Durhams hurled back attack after attack, but as the evening wore on the
pressure proved too great, and they were forced to retire with heavy
losses to the little village of Fortuin. A similar attempt was made on
the 28th Division, but without success. When night fell, our front was
unbroken on the east as far north as Grafenstafel. That Sunday night,
you will remember, the Canadian 2nd Brigade was retired only to be
called up again the next day. Its place was taken by the Lahore Division
of Indians.
Monday, 26th April, was a day of furious fighting and constant anxiety.
The salient was greatly narrowed now, and our men were shelled on three
sides. The Germans were making a curtain of fire behind our lines in
order that no reinforcements could be brought up. Another fierce attack
was made on the Durhams, who were compelled to fall back behind a little
stream to the south of Fortuin, where they stood fast until the end of
the day. Shortly after ten in the morning the Northumbrians and the
Indians made another desperate attempt to recapture St. Julien. It fared
ill. The Northumbrians were held up by wire, and were shot down in
droves. The Brigadier was killed; 42 officers and some 1,900 men fell.
Neither the Northumbrians nor the Indians could pierce the curtain of
fire. The 40th Pathans, known in India as the "Forty Thieves," lost
their colonel and nearly all their British officers. The famous 57th
Wilde's Rifles made a most heroic advance, and though shells of all
kinds fell thick and fast amongst them and their numbers were greatly
reduced, the survivors managed to get within eighty yards of the German
trenches, where they dug themselves in. When Captain Banks fell, his
Sikh orderly, though weak from loss of blood, picked up his body and
staggered with it to the rear until he fell exhausted.
[Illustration: Second Battle of Ypres.
The position on the evening of Saturday, April 24, 1915.]