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Second Battle Of Ypres Essay

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I am a Buck Private stationed in St. Julien writing you from the Second Battle of Ypres or to be specific the end of the second battle which was at a stalemate. The battle started from 22 April 1915 for control of the town of Ypres in western Belgium. The battle I must say was dreadful, and was nothing like I imagined, I feel foolish wanting to enlist for the hopes of adventure. However, I am glad to say that the 1st Canadian Division defeated the German Empire in the battles of St. Julien and Kitcheners' Wood which I took part in. The village of St. Julien was behind the 1st Canadian Division until the poison-gas attacks and it became the front line. The trenches we were in were shallow and lacked the proper wooden and earth parapets to protect …show more content…

In the battle, some of the first fights consisted of lance corporal Frederick Fisher of the 13th Battalion CEF's machine-gun detachment. Fisher went out twice with a few men and a Colt machine gun, and pushed back advancing German troops from passing through St. Julien from the back of the Canadian front line, but he was sadly killed the day after. The worst part, however, was when they released the chlorine gas, which was an enormous green-yellow gas cloud that went towards the French lines and had an odour, resembling pineapples and pepper. When it was over their positions, I could do nothing but watch the French troops either suffocate or flee, with their eyes and throats burning from the chlorine. Most of the gas missed us, but the French retreat had exposed our left flank and threatened the destruction of our position. I was part of the Canadian 2nd Battalion that was hurried to fill the abandoned positions, but the German gas attack had torn a huge gap, in the Allied line. We fought tremendously to defend this exposed area. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked, and on the morning of 24 April, the Germans released a gas cloud towards

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