Second Ypres (April 22nd - May 25th)

At Second Ypres, the German High Command's goal still was to break the Ypres salient. Von Falckenhayn still thought that Ypres was the key in reaching the ports on the canal. Conditions were favourable as the British Expeditionary Force had lost nearly 90% of it's men at First Ypres and was therefore nearly decimated.

British capture of Hill 60
During the German High Command's preparations the British launched an offensive. At the 17th of April 1915 the man made hill called Hill 60, near Zillebeke was mined and the mine was detonated. On the hill everything was destroyed. Hundreds of German soldiers on and around Hill 60 were instantly killed, buried by the dirt of crushed by debris. The British advanced and were able to capture Hill 60 with around 3000 casualties. Hill 60 could be of great strategic importance to the British artillery observers. The British were not able to hold Hill 60 for a very long time though as the Germans captured it for the second time during the start of May.

German soldiers in a trench near Hill 60 in 1915

The first gas attack on the Western Front.
Although losing Hill 60 to the British came as a surprise the Germans were not distracted and continued working on the preparations for a new offensive. This offensive would see the use of a new weapon: gas. Gas would be used on the Western Front for the first time by the Germans. In march of 1915, the Germans started to bury 5730 cylinders each containing 40 kg compressed chlorine. The attack took place at the northern section of the salient near the villages of Steenstraat and Langemarck. Allied forces facing the Germans consisted out of French colonial and Canadian troops. The gas was to be released in the early morning of the 22nd of April 1915 but was postponed due to a lack of wind. Around 17:30 after heavy shelling the cylinders were opened and a, 6 kilometre by 900 meter, brown and yellow cloud slowly drifted towards the French lines. The 45th Algerian division was badly hit. Without gasmask and completely surprised they tried to flee towards Boezinghe. They left a 6 kilometre gap in the line of the defenders. Algerian troops encountered heavy losses, exact numbers are not known but estimates speak of 5000 dead and 15000 cases of severe injuries due to the gas. German troops advanced and met no major resistance. They only faced dead and wounded French troops. This success was not anticipated by the German High Command. Therefore there were not enough back up troops available to support the advance and break through the lines. This gave a relatively small number of Canadian, French and English soldiers the opportunity to block the road towards Ypres. The Germans had met their goal in capturing the ridge near Pilckem but another opportunity to capture Ypres was lost.

Gas again
After the initial German gas attack the capture of Steenstraat, 'Het Sas' and Pilckem proved to be only a small gain. German High Command realized too late that the road towards Ypres had been open. The initial gap in the line was closed by Canadian troops. These Canadian troops launched an offensive and despite heavy losses were able to gain large peaces of the terrain previously lost by the German attacks. April 23rd was filled with heavy fighting without Ypres falling into German hands. The following day the Germans again used gas on their enemies, this time the place was 'Sint Juliaan'. Here also, the gas inflicted heavy blows on the Canadian defence. Despite thousands of dead and wounded soldiers the Canadians were able to hold their positions with primitive means (handkerchiefs drenched in urine). On the 27th and 30th the German again launched gas attacks although this time they were unsuccessful.

German recapture of Hill 60
Near Hill 60 the Germans again used gas on the British enemy on the 5th of may which led to the swift and easy capture of the lower lines of the Hill occupied by British defenders. The Germans were facing little resistance. Another deployment of gas on Hill 60 brought the success the Germans wanted. Hill 60 was taken again. Despite trying very hard the British were not able to capture Hill 60 again but the fighting claimed thousands of lives. German forces would occupy the Hill until the summer of 1917. The salient was still in British hands, it however was 7 kilometres smaller than before.