At daybreak on June 16, 1915, the artillery on both sides resumed firing on a large scale. Suddenly, in the afternoon, the British fire increased preparatory to another charge. This time the British commander had selected a smaller section for his attack. This was at Rue d'Ouvert, and the men who had been selected to make the charge were the Territorials and the Liverpool Irish. They got into the first line of German trenches which the Teutons shelled to such an extent that the remnant of the attacking force had to retreat. Then the Second Gordon Highlanders and other Scotch soldiers made a gallant charge at the same place, Rue d'Ouvert, on June 18, 1915, but were forced to retire to their own trenches. These attacks on this part of the German front resulted in repulses for those who made them; but, at the same time, they helped the Allies win victories elsewhere by keeping the German troops on that part of the line from going to reenforce those who were being hard pressed by the French. In this manner the British and Canadians, who fought so valiantly and with so little apparent success at Stony Mountain and Rue d'Ouvert, were in a measure responsible for the French victories at Angres, Souchez, and the Labyrinth. The Crown Prince of Bavaria could not hold out against both the French and British, but he believed it was more important for him to check the British, because a victory for them would threaten Lille to a greater extent. CHAPTER XXIII OPERATIONS AROUND HOOGE The next action of importance on the British front occurred at the Chateau of Hooge on the Menin road about three miles east of Ypres. Here had been the headquarters of Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig at the first battle of Ypres. From the Chateau Sir John French had seen the British line break at Gheluvelt, thereby opening the road for the Germans to Calais. That opening, however, had been closed by the Worcesters. After the Germans began to use their deadly gas in the spring of 1915 they again took possession of Hooge, and used the Menin road for a forward movement which threatened what was left of Ypres. The Duke of Wuerttemberg was in command of that part of the line opposed to the British, and his forces extended from near Pilkem in the north to near Hill 60 in the south, in the form of a crescent. He made use of the asphyxiating gas cloud and gas bombs so frequently on this part of the front that the British soldiers became expert in donning their hoodlike masks and in using respirators. Moreover, the British were constantly on the alert for the appearance of the poison gas. So that this method of attack was much less effective. Before the Germans discovered how well the British had prepared themselves against the gas, they met with disaster twice when using it. On both occasions they had followed their gas cloud expecting to find their foes writhing on the ground in choking agony--an easy prey for an attack.