2nd Battle of Ypres

The Four Battles

The Battle of Gravenstafel: Thursday 22 April – Friday 23 April 1915

The Battle of St Julien: Saturday 24 April – 4 May 1915.

The Battle of Frezenberg: 8–13 May 1915

The Battle of Bellewaarde: 24–25 May 1915

The Battle of Gravenstafel

The Battle of Gravenstafel

Aftermath: "He was sitting on the bed, fighting for breath, his lips plum coloured. He was a magnificent young Canadian past all hope in the asphyxia of chlorine. I shall never forget the look in his eyes as he turned to me and gasped: I can’t die! Is it possible that nothing can be done for me?" It was a horrible death, but as hard as they tried, doctors were unable to find a way of successfully treating chlorine gas poisoning.

St. Julien forest

“After the war,Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Supreme Commander, remarked that the "greatest act of the war" had been the assault on Kitcheners' Wood by the 10th and 16th Battalions.”- Dancocks, Daniel G. Gallant Canadians: The Story of the 10th Canadian Infantry Battalion 1914-1919.”

St. Julien

At approximately 8:00 A.M. on April 24th 1915,

Germans sent out their second chlorine gas

attack after the 22nd; however this attack was

targeted towards the unsuspecting Canadians

just west of Saint Julien.

Most Canadians were unprepared for the gas

attack, and were forced to urinate any piece of

fabric they could find to protect themselves from

the fatal gas. The ammonia found in urine was

able to neutralize the chlorine. To protect their

eyes, soldiers were issued with gas goggles.

Canadians in the trenches surrounding Saint

Julien fought desperately through the morning

trying to hold off the advancing Feldgrauen. At 1:00 P.M., the Canadians troops were forced

to retreat, allowing the Germans to successfully

capture the village.

The Northumberland Fusiliers twice tried to take back the village, succeeding on the 2nd try, but unfortunately losing it again shortly after.

In their efforts, the division did Succeed in creating a new line close to the village.

On May 3rd, the Canadians finally received British reinforcements

During this battle, the Canadians suffered 5975 casualties and over 1000 fatalities.

Captain Francis Scrimger, MD (below) was rewarded the Victorian Cross for his courage in removing wounded soldiers from a dressing station on the front line. He is also thought to have put out the order to use urine to protect oneself from the German Chlorine gas

In 1920, the St. Julien Memorial was created to honour the soldiers that gave their lives during The Second Battle of Ypres.

What caused the Battle of Frezenberg?

At 5:30 am, the battle began on May 8 with an artillery bombardment that disrupted the 83rd Brigade holding trenches on the forward side of the ridge

However the first and second assaults by German infantry were defended by the survivors

Although the 84th brigade stopped a german attack, the 80th brigade was almost completely destroyed, leaving an open line in the British defense

“In Flanders Fields”

Written in the a French rondeau

A rondeauis a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes

“most popular poem” during that time period

“In Flanders Fields”In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,   That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, fly   Scarce heard amid the guns below.

   We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,   Loved, and were loved, and now we lie         In Flanders fields.

   Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throw   The torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who die   We shall not sleep, though poppies grow         In Flanders fields.

“In Flanders Fields” – we remember the ones who have died for us

The Battle of Bellewaarde: 24–25

May 1915On 24 May the Germans released a gas attack on a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) front. British troops were able to defend against initial German attacks but eventually they were forced to retreat to the north and south. Failed British counterattacks forced a British retreat 1000 yards northwards. Upon the end of the battle the Ypres salient was 3 miles (4.8 km) deep.

Campaign Map

But the British defense rallied and the attackers were repelled by small arms fire – except in the north, where Mouse Trap farm was immediately overrun, and in the south where (by 10am) German infantry broke into the British line north and south of Bellewaarde Lake. The centre of the line between these gaps held fast all day.

Heroic efforts were made to retrieve the situation at Mouse Trap Farm before it was decided, that evening, to withdraw to a more defensible line. The German break-in around Bellewaarde Lake prompted the commitment of Corps reserve troops – but their arrival took time and the depleted front line battalions had to wait until the early evening before the weakened 84th Brigade was able to attack and turn the enemy out of Witte Poort Farm.

Aftermath

By the end of the battle the size of the Ypres Salient had been reduced such that Ypres itself was closer to the line. In time it would be reduced by shelling until virtually nothing would remain standing.

2nd Battle of Ypres

Shane Mullen

Cameron Howie

Phillip Pennell

Calvin Chow =)