The bodies of the French soldiers who died of poison gas is entangled in a French army trench in Ypres, near Flanders, during the Second Battle of Ypres from April 22 to May 25, 1915, during World War I. The body of a French soldier who died in a trench after a German attack of about 171 tons of chlorine gas in the village of Langemarck, Flanders, western Belgium, in 1915 during World War I. Because chlorine gas is heavier than air, it sank into Allied trenches and positions. The French soldiers who died of poison gas belonged to the British Expeditionary Force commanded by Sir John French. After the defeats at Mons and Le Cateau, the British commanders retreated toward the Channel.
On April 22, 1915, the Germans attempted to capture the Ypres Gorge, the Allied positions surrounding the Belgian town of Ypres. The Germans used poison gas for the first time to break the stalemate. The release of chlorine gas opened a hole in the battle line about 7 km wide. The effects were devastating, and stunned Allied troops fled in panic toward Ypres, where more than 10,000 men were gassed and about half were killed that day. The Germans underestimated the effectiveness of the poison gas in opening the breach. They were unable to secure reserve troops to exploit the gap created by the gas cloud or to support the infantry units that followed the gas cloud. The Germans, who had advanced about 2 km, were checked by a hasty Allied counteroffensive operation. The fighting at Ypres continued until May 27, 1915, when poison gas was repeatedly used. The Germans reduced the size of the Allied trenches. The battle resulted in 70,000 Allied casualties and 35,000 German casualties.
During World War I, it was almost taboo to describe soldiers killed in action. The exception was photographs of the corpses of enemy soldiers of the Allied Forces who had died in battle. These photographs were sent to the German home country as motifs for postcards.
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