It seems I repeat myself. I begin many of these episodes by talking about new introductions
to the war- a new front, a new weapon, a new strategy- but impossibly, the war, with a
death toll in the millions, still grows larger day by day, as this week Canadian troops really
show their skills for the first time, and the Germans begin the regular use of poison gas.
I’m Indy Neidell; this is the Great War.
Last week the war in the air had grown with both sides bombing each other by Zeppelin
and airplane. The Russians were still unable to force the Austro-Hungarian army, now reinforced
by German troops, back in the Carpathians. Italy was considering joining the Allies,
and the British held their ground in Mesopotamia.
It’s interesting that the war in the air was a hot topic last week, because this week
now saw the war underground develop at the Battle of Hill 60.
This battle lasted from the 17th of April to the 22nd and it was launched when the British
set off an explosion of mines underneath the German positions on the relatively high ground
of Hill 60, southeast of Ypres. This was actually the first time the British Army had laid mines
beneath an enemy position to blow them out of their defenses. The fighting was pretty
fierce, but the British managed to capture the hill.
Now, on April 19th, British Commander in Chief John French denied a rumor that the British
had used poison gas at Hill 60. This is interesting because his opponents, the Germans, most definitely
did use poison gas in the first large scale successful gas attack of the war a few days
later on April 22nd, as they attacked the Allies to begin the Second Battle of Ypres.
The first attack came at around five PM against French Algerian and territorial troops. 168
tons of chlorine gas was released by the Germans along a front nearly 7 km wide, and a greenish-yellow
mist rolled across the land from toward the French positions. The gas struck with devastating
effect. Within minutes, the French colonials had suffered some 6,000 casualties, either
dying of asphyxiation or tissue damage to the lungs, or being blinded, since the chlorine
destroys soft tissue like lungs and eyes. Now, the gas was heavier than air, so it settled
into the French positions and anyone escaping the gas was in the line of fire, so this first
attack was incredibly effective and soldiers were forced to run for their lives, opening
a hole over a kilometer long in the line.
But the Germans didn’t really exploit their sudden and striking success, partly because
it had been an experimental attack and they weren’t prepared for it to work so well,
and they hadn’t planned on taking the whole Ypres salient, which they may well have been
able to, but many of their reserves had been transported to the Eastern Front to fight
the Russians. Still, though, the German advance slowly came on.
Canadian troops came up to defend the flank of the break in the lines, taking heavy casualties
by being attacked on three sides but holding on, and then at Kitchener’s Wood another
Canadian battalion counter-attacked just before midnight. They used makeshift respirators
like cloths covered in urine to protect their faces, and advancing without reconnaissance
and eventually charging with bayonets, managed to drive the Germans from their positions,
but at a casualty rate reported as high as 75%. Although Canadian troops had fought at
Neuve Chapelle weeks earlier, this was the first major engagement by Canadian troops
in the war, and they fought exceptionally well, especially considering the terror of
the poison gas. Actually, years later, Ferdinand Foch, at this time a French General, would
remark that the Canadian charge on Kitchener’s Wood was the greatest act of the entire war.
At dawn on the 24th, the Germans attacked again, with another cloud rolling ahead, this
time toward the Canadians at St. Julien. Though better prepared for the gas this time, it
was still another horror story, and though again they fought impressively, they were
pushed back all along their line. In just 48 hours, the Canadians took total casualties
of one man in every three.
Actually, there were troops from all over the world fighting the Second Battle of Ypres.
On the 25th, 15,000 British and Indian troops went into action, with yellow flags flying-
they were to show their position to the British artillery, but they also showed it to the
Germans. The day earlier, General Smith-Darrien had asked Commander French not to order any
further attacks because of a disastrous attempt across no-mans land where his men were just
chopped to pieces, but no dice. The attack went ahead, and when the Germans released
gas again, it went haywire, with some French colonial troops shooting their own officers
for trying to make them advance into the gas.
However, the Germans also experienced big problems combining an infantry attack with
the gas- there was the issues with winds dispersing or blowing back the gas toward their own lines
(gilbert p. 145), and of course now that everyone could at least have a makeshift respirator,
it’s effectiveness was not nearly what it had been during the initial attack and the immediate danger was over.
Actually, there were other troops from the far flung corners of the British Empire gathering
this week, expecting to soon see action further to the southeast, where throughout March and
April, Australian and New Zealander forces, ANZACs, were being assembled for an assault on Gallipoli.
However, the Turks were also busy there. Labor battalions had been frantically rebuilding
the forts and the defenses of the peninsula, with the aid of 500 German officers and troops.
Actually, only four of the Ottoman divisions on the peninsula were Ottoman led, the other
two had German commanders. Barbed wire was laid where landings might take place; machine
gun nests were installed; when an allied landing finally happened, it would be no picnic.
The Turks weren’t the only ones worried about an invasion, though; throughout the
month Austro-Hungarian army Chief of staff Conrad von Hotzendorf was worried about what Italy was going to do.
The Italians, who’d had an alliance with Austria and Germany before the war, were now
demanding huge chunks of Austrian territory to remain neutral, and were even considering
joining the Allies in the struggle. If they did, what would Conrad do, given that as many
troops as possible were desperately needed to keep the Russians at bay in the Carpathian
Mountains, and the troops he proposed to deploy to a theoretical Italian front would most
likely not be enough to hold back an Italian army hundreds of thousands strong. Conrad
insisted that only a new combined Austro-German offensive against the Russians could relieve
the pressure and allow him to consider the Italian question; Conrad believing that Italian
military intervention could decide the war. German army Chief of staff Falkenhayn, to
Conrad’s surprise, agreed and began transferring German troops to the east to prepare for a massive assault.
And a smaller assault was underway this week in Eastern Anatolia, where Turkish forces
surrounded and set siege to the city of Van. Within the city were 1300 armed Armenian fighters
and 30,000 civilians. Also at this time, tens of thousands of Armenians were being deported
from Erzerum over the mountains into Mesopotamia, and further south, by April 20th the deportation
of 25,000 Armenians from Zeitun was complete.
Almost every continent on earth was involved actively in the war this week, and there was
even a fair amount of fighting in Africa.
Union forces under Colonel Van Deventer advanced in German Southwest Africa, occupying Seeheim
April 18th and taking Keetmanshoop on the 20th. Further to the north, Anglo-French troops took Mandera in Cameroon.
So that’s where we stand at the end of the week; the British attacking the Germans beneath
the ground, the Germans effectively using poison gas, and the Canadians gamely taking
them on. Both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires concerned with being invaded, the
Germans losing more and more territory in Africa, but preparing to try and make it up with Russian territory.
And the war grows larger and larger as troops from all over the world begin to make their
appearances- the Canadians this week surprising everybody with their unexpected skill and
perseverance. But, you know, we’ve seen troops from every warring nation exhibiting
enormous courage, even, or especially, when their leaders led them straight into disaster,
and that would continue, and whether victorious or not, whether routing the enemy or facing
catastrophe, whether facing a wall of machine guns or clouds of poison gas, the great sadness
is that the best of the men, the bravest and best of the soldiers, those with hearts of
lions from whatever nation, would be the first to die and would die in the greatest of numbers.
In early 1915 this sacrifice was especially gruesome. Both in the Carpathians in the Caucasus
men were dying sent to death in the thousands by leaders not in touch with reality. Check out our episode from Week 24 of the war.
For more stories of world war 1, follow us on Facebook and if you like our show, tell
your friends all about us and subscribe. See you next time!