The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
The German artillerymen apparently knew the distances and topography
of the entire region and poured a leaden hail upon the allied troops.
The Indians and the British in their immediate neighborhood charged in
short rushes, losing many men in the attempt to reach the German
trenches. Before the Germans were in any danger of a hand-to-hand
struggle, they sent one of their gas clouds from their trenches and
the attack was abandoned, the British and Indians getting back to
their trenches as best they could. In this action the British gave
great praise to their comrades from India. Riddell's Brigade was
stopped in its attack on St. Julien by wire entanglements; and, though
the outlaying sections of St. Julien were captured, the brigade was
unable to hold them; and the Germans continued to hold the woods west
of the village. Nevertheless the British front had been pushed forward
from 600 to 700 yards in some places.
By that night, the night of April 26, 1915, the allied front extended
from the north of Zonnebeke to the eastern boundary of the
Grafenstafel ridge; thence southwest along the southern side of the
Haanabeek to a point a half mile east of St. Julien; thence, bending
around that village, it ran to Vamhuele--called the "shell trap"--farm
on the Ypres-Poelcappelle road. Next it proceeded to Boesinghe and
crossed the Yperlee Canal, passing northward of Lizerne after which
were the French and the Belgians.
The work of the allied aviators on April 26, 1915, deserves more than
passing consideration in the record of that day's fighting. They
dropped bombs on the stations of Courtrai, Roubaix, Thielt, and
Staden. They discovered near Langemarck an armored train with the
result that it was shelled and thus forced to return. And they forced
a German aviator to the ground at Roulers.
The Lahore Division with the French on their left attacked the Germans
on April 27, 1915, but they met with little success because of the gas
which the Teutons sent into the ranks of the attacking party. But the
German troops had lost so heavily that they did not seem to be
inclined to follow up their apparent advantage. Incidentally the
Allies needed a rest as well. Hence there was little fighting the next
two days. On April 30, 1915, however, General Putz attacked the
Germans with so much force that they were hurled back an appreciable
distance near Pilkem. Seven machine guns and 200 prisoners were taken,
and the 214th, 215th, and 216th German regiments lost more than 1,000
men. On the same day the London Rifle Brigade, further east, drove
back a German forward movement from St. Julien.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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