{"id":302,"date":"2016-11-10T17:35:14","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T17:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/greatwar\/?page_id=302"},"modified":"2016-11-10T21:56:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T21:56:18","slug":"the-second-battle-of-ypres","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/greatwar\/the-second-battle-of-ypres\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Battle of Ypres"},"content":{"rendered":"

April and May 1915 saw 121 Lancastrians killed, making them the worst two months of the War for the town. Most of these deaths were associated with the Second Battle of Ypres (22nd<\/sup> April to 25th<\/sup> May) and 90 of the deaths were from the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> Battalion of the King\u2019s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. The Gallipoli Campaign also started in April 1915, however, while Gallipoli features prominently in popular memory of the War it only killed four Lancastrians in this period. This makes for a stark contrast with Second Ypres, which is all but forgotten by most history books.<\/p>\n

\"dates-graph\"<\/p>\n

The graph above shows the number of Lancastrians killed by day over April and May (KORL stands for King\u2019s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment). The deaths fall into five main periods as described below. The locations of the events are shown on the map below. The quotes are taken from Hodgkinson\u2019s history of the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> and are frequently from the diary of the battalion’s commanding officer, Colonel Lord Richard Cavendish.<\/p>\n

\"ypres_map_small\"Phase 1: 13-18th April. 14 Lancastrians killed in 6 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the lead-up to the battle, and unaware of what was to follow, the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup>\u00a0took over trenches in the Zonnebeke\/Polygon Wood area. These trenches had previously been occupied by the French and, it is claimed that they needed considerable improvement. As the German lines were between 10 and 200 yards away and they were under heavy shell-fire for much of the time this resulted in heavy casualties. \u201c17th\u2014Relived by 3rd Monmouths. Returned to billets\u2014Lunatic Asylum, Ypres. Our total casualties for the four days were 14 killed or died of wounds and 44 wounded. Three men\u2019s nerves went and George (Medical Officer) fears that two may be permanently mad. The men are very cheerful\u2026\u201d Of the 14 Lancastrians killed in this period, 13 were with the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup>, the other, Richard Smith<\/a> of 5 Bank Road, Skerton, was killed nearby with the Duke of Wellington\u2019s Regiment. His brother Jack was with the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> and was wounded around this time.<\/p>\n

Phase 2: 22-27th<\/sup> April. 40 Lancastrians killed in 6 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The battle began with a German gas attack near Langemark. The 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> was somewhere north of St. Jean when \u201cWe then realised that something quite serious had happened as one or two French soldiers and Zouvaves [French colonial troops] came straggling back, obviously panic stricken, not wounded, but suffering terribly and quite incoherent.\u201d On the 23rd<\/sup> the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> was involved in a hastily organised counter-attack. This failed but resulted in the deaths of three officers and 23 men, with a further four officers and 99 men wounded. Thirteen of the dead were Lancastrians. \u201cI was pleased with the way our fellows went ahead continually meeting a stream of wounded going to the rear and the ground littered with dead. \u2026 For 600 yards it was simply damnable, and it was a wonder anybody got though at all. There was one field with heaps of manure in rows. A lot of fellows thought that they could take shelter behind them. They are, of course not bullet-proof, and there was hardly a heap without a dead or wounded man beside it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were then relieved but spent several days near Potijze under shell-fire. Another counter-attack was planned for the 27th<\/sup> but did not materialise, however, \u201cWe were just taking up our position when one of the large shells exploded bang in the middle of a platoon of \u2018B\u2019 Company, killing eight, two of whom were blown to atoms and wounding two more. \u2026 April 29th<\/sup> \u2026 The big shell which burst in the middle of \u2018B\u2019 Company was much worse than we thought, and we found five bodies making thirteen in all. They were blown over a hedge.\u201d Fifteen Lancastrians died on the 27th<\/sup>, one of the worst days of the whole War. Many of them would have been killed by that one shell.<\/p>\n

By the time the battalion was moved back to Valmertinghe (2.5 miles west of Ypres) on the 29th<\/sup> they had lost 380 of the 1,020 men they had come from England with.<\/p>\n

Phase 3: 3-7th<\/sup> May. 24 Lancastrians killed in 5 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 2nd<\/sup> May the 1st<\/sup>\/5th<\/sup> moved back into the Ypres Salient to reserve trenches at Frezenberg. A tactical withdrawal on the 4th<\/sup> May led to these trenches becoming the front line. The tone used in the colonel\u2019s diary reveals how grim these days were:<\/p>\n