ressure at the section where the break had been made in
the line that troops were taken from wherever available, so that
the units in the gap varied from day to day. For the men had to be
returned to their original positions, such as remained available,
as soon as possible. This composite body of troops has been called
Geddes's Detachment.

The Germans had captured Lizerne and Het Sas, and Steenstraate was
threatened by them. They bombarded with heavy artillery, located
on the Passchendaele ridge, the front held by the Canadians, the
Twenty-eighth Division, and Geddes's Detachment, on April 23, 1915.
The severest fighting was on that part of the front held by the
Third Brigade of Canadians. Many men had been killed or wounded in
this brigade, and those who survived were ill from the effects of
the gas. Furthermore, no food could be taken to them for twenty-four
hours. Moreover, they were subjected to a fire from three sides,
with the result that they were forced to a new position on a line
running through St. Julien. Finally the Germans forced their way
around to the left of the Third Brigade, establishing their machine
guns behind it.

A terrific artillery attack was started by the Germans on the morning
of April 24, 1915, and this was followed by a second rush of gas
from their trenches. It rose in a cloud seven feet high and was
making its attack on the British in two minutes after it started.
It was thickest near the ground, being pumped from cylinders. And
it worked with the same deadly effect. The Third Brigade, receiving
its second attack of this sort before it had recovered from the
first, retreated to the southwest of St. Julien, but soon after
regained most of their lost position. The Second Brigade had to
bend its left south. Colonel Lipsett's Eighth Battalion, however,
held fast on the Grafenstafel ridge, remaining in their position
two days in spite of the gas of which they got a plentiful supply.

By noon of April 24, 1915, the Germans made an attack on the village
of St. Julien and that part of the allied front to the east of the
village. Thereupon the Third Brigade retreated about 700 yards to
a new front south of the village and north of the hamlet of Fortuin.
But what remained of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Battalions was
forced by circumstances to remain in the St. Julien line until
late that night. Colonel Lipsett's Eighth Battalion at Grafenstafel,
in spite of its left being unsupported, held