The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used chemical weapons on a large scale on the Western front in the First World War. The Second battle of Ypres actually consisted of four separated battles:
- The Battle of Gravenstafel – April 22 to 23, 1915
- The Battle of St. Julien – April 24 to May 4, 1915
- The Battle of Frezenberg – May 8 to 13, 1915
- The Battle of Bellewaarde – May 24 to May 25, 1915
The Second Battle of Ypres opened when 168 tons of chlorine gas were released by the Germans at 5:00 pm on April 22nd over a four mile front, following a heavy bombardment that had started at 4:00 pm The gas affected the lungs and the eyes causing respiration problems and blindness. Being denser than air, it flowed downwards, forcing French troops of the 45th and 78th Divisions to abandon their positions en masse, leaving a 4,000 yard wide gap in the front line.
Kitcheners’ Wood
The name of this oak plantation derived from the Frnech name, Bois-de-Cuisineres, a reference to the fact that French soldiers housed their field kitchens there. The 10th Battalion was assembled and ready to go at 11:00 pm.
The leading waves of the 10th covered half the distance from the start line to the Wood, running into a strong hedge interlaced with wire. No reconnaissance had been done prior and the battalion was forced to break through the obstacle with rifle butts, bringing down fire from alerted German machine gunners about 200 yards distant. Both battalions charged the last 200 yards to the wood, but the commanding officer of the 10th, Lieutenant Colonel Boyle, was mortally wounded in the opening moments of the firefight, being hit five times in the groin by a German machine gun.
By midnight, it was over, fifteen minutes after it had begun. A German prisoner paid the 10th the ultimate compliment, acknowledging to his guard: “You fellows fight like hell” as he was marched to the rear.
After the war, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Supreme commander, remarked that the “great act of the war” had been the assault on Kitcheners’ Wood by the 10th and 16th Battalions.
“The Glorious Memory of the 22nd of April 1915.”
The old City Hall in Calgary (from where about 60% of the original 10th Battalion men were recruited) bears a plaque dedicated to Lieutenant Colonel Russ Boyle and the men of the 10th Battalion who made the charge at Kitcheners’ Wood. The regiment commemorates the battle annually on the weekend closest to April 22nd. ”St. Julien’s Day” as it is known, usually involves an all-ranks reunion dinner, an officers’ mess function, a freedom of the city parade, and a church service at the Cathedral of the Redeemer.
