e quickly felt. Before the
French attack could mature, however, the second battle of Ypres was
developing.

The Germans began shelling Ypres on April 20, 1915, to prevent
reenforcements from entering the salient, and in the evening of April
22, 1915, they made their first attack with poisonous gas. A French
division lying between the canal and the Pilken road had the first
experience of this new horror added to the methods of warfare. Much
has been written in condemnation of employing poisonous gas, and the
practice has been widely discussed from the "moral" and "humane" point
of view. The Germans claim that the French used it first--a contention
not supported by evidence. "On the general moral question," says Mr.
John Buchan, the well-known English writer on military subjects, "it
is foolish to dogmatize." He points out that all war is barbarous in
essence, and that a man who died in torture from the effects of poison
gas might have suffered equal agony from a shrapnel wound. Hence he
draws the conclusion that the German innovation, if not particularly
more barbarous than other weapons, was at least impolitic, since its
employment raised a storm of indignation and exasperated the feelings
of Germany's enemies. Be that as it may, the poison clouds proved very
effective at Ypres during April and May, 1915. The French line was
driven in and the left brigade of the Canadians on their right was
forced back in a sharp angle. For the first five days the northern
side of the salient was steadily pressed in by gas and artillery
attacks. This, the second battle of Ypres, ended about May 24, 1915;
it had lasted practically as long as the first battle, though the
fighting had been less continuous. The Germans were meanwhile striving
desperately to force a decision in Galicia and Poland, simultaneously
fighting a long-range holding battle in the west with fewer men and
more guns.

On May 10, 1915, began the great attack by the French in the Artois,
aimed at securing Lens and the communications of the Scheldt valley.
After violent artillery-fire preparations, the French center south of
Carency was pushed forward a distance of three miles. In a few days
they took the towns of Albain, Carency, Neuville St. Vaast, and most
of Souchez, besides the whole plateau of Lorette. But the Germans had
prepared a number of fortins, which had to be captured before any
general advance could be made. This mode of warfare enables a
numerically inf