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Second Battle of Ypres



After the war, Second Ypres and St. Julien were granted as Battle Honours, but to the dismay of the units that fought there, Kitcheners' Wood was not.

The commanding officer of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) which perpetuate the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) CEF, organized a lobby to have a dress distinction awarded for the part the 10th and 16th Battalions played at Kitcheners' Wood, which was never recognized with a Battle Honour. In the 1930s a distinctive brass shoulder title was awarded. In the case of the Canadian Scottish, the title consisted of a brass acorn and oak leaf over a red felt backing surrounded by the title CANADIAN SCOTTISH. The Calgary Highlanders and Winnipeg Light Infantry, both of whom perpetuated the 10th Battalion (Canadians) CEF, were also awarded distinctive shoulder badges, though their pattern consisted only of a brass badge with the initials of the regiment directly on the oakleaf. The WLI were absorbed into the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in 1955 and the WLI badge fell out of use. The acorn and oak leaf are symbolic of the heavy oak trees of Kitcheners' Wood which were a significant obstacle to infantrymen in 1915. Photos taken two years later showed that the forest was eventually obliterated during the fighting. Tradition in the Canadian Army has been that metal shoulder badges consist only of letters or numerals, with only a few exceptions. The use of honorary distinctions is common, however, in the British Army, such as the addition of the Sphinx to regimental badges.

It was during the Second Battle of Ypres that Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae M.D. of Guelph, Ontario, Canada wrote the memorable poem In Flanders Fields in the voice of those who perished in the war. Published in Punch Magazine 8 December 1918, it is still recited today, especially on Remembrance Day and Memorial Day. [18][19]

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See also

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Notes

  1. ^ General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien commanded II Corps, British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of the battle. He was replaced by Lieutenant-General Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer (officially) on 6 May 1915.[1]
  2. ^ Général Putz commanded the Détachement d'Armée de Belgique (formerly the French 8th Army).[2]
  3. ^ Général-Major Armand-Léopold-Théodore de Ceuninck commanded the 6th Division, Belgian Army. [3] [4]
  4. ^ General-Oberst Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph of Württemberg commanded the 4th German Army.[5]
  5. ^ 2 French divisions and 6 British, Canadian, and Newfoundland divisions.
  6. ^ Order of battle
  7. ^ Love, 1996.
  8. ^ Hobbes, Nicholas (2003). Essential Militaria. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1843542292. 
  9. ^ Chlorine gas forms hydrochloric (muriatic) acid when combined with water, destroying moist tissues such as lungs and eyes. See here for reaction of chlorine with water.
  10. ^ No one blamed the French and Algerian survivors for abandoning their trenches. Field Marshal Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, wrote:

    ...I wish particularly to repudiate any idea of attaching the least blame to the French Division for this unfortunate incident. After all the examples our gallant Allies have shown of dogged and tenacious courage in the many trying situations in which they have been placed throughout the course of this campaign it is quite superfluous for me to dwell on this aspect of the incident, and I would only express my firm conviction that, if any troops in the world had been able to hold their trenches in the face of such a treacherous and altogether unexpected onslaught, the French Division would have stood firm.

    (Extract from The London Gazette, No. 29225, 10th July 1915, as reported here and here .)
  11. ^ General von Falkenhayn, Chief of German General Staff, apparently classified the attack as localised, and ordered the German 4th Army not to take distant objectives. (From the German Army Official History of the War (Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Sommer und Herbst 1915, 8. Band, p. 41), as cited here.
  12. ^ VAC Canada
  13. ^ It remains unclear who passed the order to urinate on the handkerchiefs. The order is attributed to [Capt. F.A.C. Scrimger], a medical officer by one modern source, Legion Magazine published by the Royal Canadian Legion. However, memoirs of two individuals at the battle do not recount this episode (see Nasmith, 1917, and Scott, 1922)
  14. ^ Whoever passed the order, the chemistry was valid. The urea in urine would react with chlorine, forming dichlorourea and effectively neutralizing it. See Chattaway (1908).
  15. ^ Howell, 1938, p. 280.
  16. ^ (Legion Magazine online)
  17. ^ [http://www.4thbnnf.com/22_150426_150429_stjulien.html 4th Territorial Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers]
  18. ^ John McCrae (from Historica)
  19. ^ John McCrae (from the Canadian Encyclopedia)

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References

  • Chattaway, F.D. (1908). The Action of Chlorine upon Urea Whereby a Dichloro Urea is Produced. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Ser. A, 81:381-388.[6]
  • Howell, W.B. (1938). Colonel F.A.C. Scrimger, V.C. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 38: 279–281.[8]
  • Legion Magazine online.[9]
  • Love, D. (1996). The Second Battle of Ypres, Apr-1915. Sabretasche (Vol 26, No 4).[10]
  • Nasmith, G.G. (1917). On the Fringe of the Great Fight. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Toronto.[11]
  • Scott, F.G. (1922). The Great War as I Saw It. Goodchild Publishers, Toronto.[12]

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External links




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