THE SECOND CHAPTER XII CAMPAIGN OF 1916 WEST FRONT In 1916, when the Germans had found after their first year of fighting that they could not break through the western front and BATTLE OF YPRES take Calais by straight old-fashioned fighting, they determined to use new means. They began the second battle of Ypres in April by releasing great billows of poisonous gases, which were carried by the breeze into the trenches occupied by the French-Colonial troops west of the Canadian position. The French soldiers, unable to withstand the deadly gas, retreated in disorder, leaving a gap through which the Germans poured. But the dauntless Canadian troops extended their line to close up the gap and stopped the German advance. With remarkable courage they held the position for three days and three nights until reinforcements arrived. They were greatly outnumbered and met with great loss, but fought with such determination and courage that the story of their valor will live in Canadian history forever. This was the first use of poisonous gas known to warfare, and it took the Allies entirely by surprise. When the great clouds were seen bearing down upon them, some one laughingly said: "What are they trying to do now, smoke us out?" But the question was answered when they saw their comrades falling about them and caught whiffs of the suffocating fumes. Its action was most deadly, killing its victims in five or six minutes. One quick-witted Canadian officer saved many of his men by shouting to them to wet their handkerchiefs from their canteens and put them over their faces. BATTLE OF In February, 1916, began a ten months' conflict known as the Battle of Verdun, which will take its place in history as one of the greatest battles of the world war. It was a supreme effort of Germany to crush France by a thunderbolt and end the war. It employed more soldiers and cost a larger number of dead and wounded and endured longer than any engagement on a single point in this or any other war. The German Crown Prince was in command of the wing of the German army and it is thought he wanted to win a great battle in order to please his people and seal his chance of following his father on the throne. Verdun has been noted in history as a great fortified center. To capture it would greatly encourage the people of the Central Powers and be a master blow to the Allies. The Germans wanted to say to the world: "We can conquer the most strongly fortified position of the enemy and wipe out the army which defends it." When the attack was made at Verdun the French were at first surprised, but they hung on most firmly, retreating slowly and making the effort cost the Germans as much as possible. The Germans had cut off all the French railroads but one leading to the fortress. But General Petain put in motion 40,000 motor trucks, all traveling on schedule time, to supply the French army with food and shells. At first it was the plan to let the Germans have Verdun if they were willing to sacrifice enough men to its capture, but on second thought the French saw that the moral influence of such a victory would redound too much to the honor of the Germans, so they refused to let the enemy have their great fortress. So terrible was the fighting that certain positions were taken and lost several times in one day. In the latter part of June the Germans had reached a position northeast of Verdun within the inner circle of its fortifications, but they could go no further. The English then began an offensive at the Somme which brought German failure by forcing them to send troops to that battle front. In the autumn the French set out to regain their lost ground at Verdun. They made an attack in THE FRENCH October and advanced two miles over RECOVER ALL a four-mile front and recaptured the fort and village of Douaumont. A few days later they took the fort at Vaux and re-occupied the village. In December they again advanced two miles on the seven-mile front and took 11,000 prisoners and many cannon and machine guns. And so the tide had turned and the Germans had failed at Verdun with a loss of 500,000 men. The German Crown Prince had failed to win his spurs at Verdun, although he hammered away at the fortress from February until July. The valor shown by the men on both sides was most marvelous. Thousands of French and Germans laid down their lives at every point of the conflict. The French under General Petain made the Germans pay dearly for every inch of ground gained and in the end regained the most of it in very short order and with little loss. The Germans said the "French army was being bled to death" at Verdun, but their own losses probably exceeded those of the French. It was a terrible defeat for Germany, second only to that of the Marne. BATTLE OF At Neuve Chapelle, we remember, the English paid a tremendous price for a mile of gain which they could not extend. The French THE SOMME (1916) attack at Champagne in 1915 captured 25,000 prisoners and made a gain of only two miles at most because they could not stand the losses. However, in July, 1916, the Allies were in a position to match gun for gun with the Germans. Up to this time the German troops had had every advantage due to their superb preparation, their mammoth artillery and their supply of munitions. The Allies were now even better equipped than the enemy with instruments for trench warfare. At this battle of the Somme some new factors were disclosed. The British soon showed that they ALLIES SUPERIOR outweighed the Germans in guns IN MEN AND GUNS and ammunition. It was said that in the bombardment the British used 500,000 shells a day. Mountains of shells were fired to clear the way for the infantry. They drove a bulge into the German front 20 miles in breadth and 9 miles deep at the deepest point. They captured scores of villages and fortified positions and conquered the ridge overlooking Baupaume. The German loss was estimated at about 700,000 men including 95,000 prisoners, 135 heavy guns, 180 field-pieces and 1400 machine guns. The Germans claimed that the Allies lost between 800,000 and 900,000 men. Now the winter rainy season set in and stopped the Allied operations, but the British army had proven that they had mastered the new methods of warfare and they looked forward to spring. An incident of this year, and a most dramatic one, was the coming of Russian soldiers to France. They were greeted everywhere with much enthusiasm and after a few weeks of drilling were sent to the front to fight. The men were sent by the Czar as a token of the firmness of his friendship for the Allies. ITALIAN AND TURKISH FRONTS THE BAGDAD One result of the failure of the Allies at the Dardanelles was to release the Turkish army of something like 200,000 men to be used CAMPAIGN (1916) elsewhere. The Turks at once planned a campaign against Egypt to take possession of the Suez Canal and cut off England from her direct route to India and Australia. The difficulties of an attack against the Suez Canal were enormous. The attacking forces must drag their artillery and carry their pontoon bridges more than a hundred miles through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. At the end of their long, hard journey the Turks would find the Canal guarded by warships and by a large force of Colonial and Egyptian troops. SUEZ In January 1916 the Turkish commander with an army of thirty or forty thousand men crossed the Sinai Peninsula. The main Turkish colATTACKED umns reached the Canal in the nights of February 2 and 3. Dragging their pontoons, the Turks ran to the water's edge and began to build a bridge across the Canal. They were discovered by the British troops on the west side and the battle began in earnest. Under the murderous fire of the English guns the Turks attempted to cross the Canal in boats and rafts. One boatload actually reached the western banks and attacked the British from the rear. But with torpedo boats and gunboats the Brit |