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trenches to see anything; so they were withdrawn temporarily; but the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. T