Dear Diary,
I was fighting at the second battle of Ypres in Belgium, and I had the most life-threatening experience in the past two days, but I am proud of myself, and other Canadian soldiers. We held on to the line and we saved the Battle of Ypres!
Yesterday, on April 22nd at the battle of Gravenstafel, those sly Germans tried poisoning all of us! They released 5700 cylinders of chlorine gas where the French soldiers received the wost of the gas and it left a hole in the lines over four miles wide. I was horrified. Over 6000 french men died within the first few minutes. This was an extremely effective technique for those evil Germans to use.
I had to fill in the gap. The Canadian soldiers were required to fill this gap, and we did. We decided to use a surprise attack without any backup. How brave are we! And I only used my rifle! The Germans were caught by surprise! Today, we saved the Battle of Ypres! This is the first major action we, Canadians saw, and we were very successful compared to the French.
There was one embarrassing and dirty action I had to take. But it was my only way to survive. In order to survive through the German’s gas attack, I had to urinate on my shirt and cover my face. Yuk! But better than dying from burning lungs after inhaling chlorine gas I guess.
Soldiers wearing masks
Citation:
The Charge Of The 4th Canadian Battalion At Ypres, From 'The Year 1915: A Record Of Notable Achievements And Events', 1915. Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 7 Dec 2010
British Soldiers Wearing Gas Masks, 1917.. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 8 Dec 2010.Link:
http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?hid=11&sid=0b61db3b-3bf4-4534-a00d-f131586f5138%40sessionmgr10&vid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#AN0039041071-3
See A. Farrar-Hockley, Death of an Army (1967); E. N. Gladden, Ypres, 1917 (1967).
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