The retirement of the Third Brigade had exposed the flank of General Currie's Second Brigade. To meet the situation, he flung his left flank round south, holding his line of trenches from the afternoon of April 22, 1915, to the afternoon of April 25, 1915. On the last date he withdrew his undefeated troops. His trenches had been wiped out by artillery fire, and his fortifications in the field had been demolished; only the spirit of the troops remained unbroken.
Mention should be made here of the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), Lieutenant Colonel Lipsett commanding, which held the extreme left of the brigade position and held on through a most critical period. Early in the morning of April 23, 1915, this battalion had been driven from the trenches by a violent gas attack, but in less than an hour counterattacked and recaptured the trenches, bayoneting the enemy. Colonel Lipsett held the position after the forced retirement of the Third Brigade, his left "in the air," until the night of the 24th, when two British regiments arrived and filled the gap.
Two companies of the 8th Battalion were relieved by Durham Light Infantry on the morning of the 25th and retired to reserve trenches. The Durhams were so badly hammered by the enemy during the day that a company of the 8th Canadian Battalion replaced them on the extreme left of the Canadian line. The Germans were in position to the rear of this company, while their guns on the left flank enfiladed it. The Canadians were ordered to retire, and the movement was carried out with a loss of 45 per cent of their strength. The platoon covering the retirement had all its officers and men either killed or taken prisoners.
The Germans had captured the village of St.-Julien in the morning of April 25, 1915, and the situation demanded an offensive movement to check their further progress. General Alderson, commanding the Canadians and also the reenforcements, directed the advance of the Tenth Brigade under General Hull and the Northumberland Brigade through the Canadian left and center. As we are dealing with the story of the Canadian contingent, it is only necessary to say that the British troops succeeded in arresting the German advance.
The Second and Third Brigades and the reenforcements had retired, fighting all the way, to a line which ran roughly from Fortuin south of St.-Julien toward Passchendaele, where they were relieved by two British brigades.
The Canadians were out of the firing line on April 26, 1915, but, owing to the force of the enemy's attacks, General Currie's Second Brigade, reduced to a quarter of its strength, was compelled to return to the firing line. Throughout the 26th they held the apex of the line, and not until two days later were they relieved and sent to billets in the rear. During the struggle Lieutenant Colonel Kemis-Betty, Brigade Major, and Major Mersereau, Staff Captain, were both wounded by a shell. Colonel Kemis-Betty continued, despite his serious wounds, to discharge his duties throughout April 26, 1915. Major Mersereau, who was very badly injured, was removed to General Currie's dugout and remained there until night as no ambulance was available. He was finally removed under shell fire by Colonel Mitchell of the Headquarters Staff as far as Fortuin, and afterward invalided home to Canada.
The principal achievements of the Canadians at Ypres having now been described in outline, there remains to be recorded an operation carried out by Lieutenant Colonel Watson. In the night of April 28, 1915, Colonel Watson was commanded to carry out a dangerous and difficult task. This was to advance with his battalion and dig a line of trenches which would link up with the French on the left and the Rifle Brigade on the right. Proceeding north toward St.-Julien he was held up for an hour by a storm of shrapnel, but moved on again at 8 o'clock. After crossing the bridge over the Ypres Canal great precautions were taken to conceal the movements of the battalion from the enemy. The newly arrived officers and men who had joined the battalion that morning received a terrible baptism of fire in this their first experience at the front. The Germans, believing that some important movement was under way, filled the air with high explosives, and their shells rained down on every hedgerow and clump of trees that the battalion passed. It was a long and terrifying journey, and considering conditions the casualties were few. The battalion finally arrived behind the first-line trench, which was held at the time by a battalion of the King's Own Borderers. Reaching the place where the trenches were to be dug, Colonel Watson led out two companies, while two others acted as covers for the diggers. Through the night the work went on while enemy guns and rifles from the neighboring ridge were active. Though star shells and flares were numerous, and the Germans must have been aware of the work that was going on, all their bullets passed fortunately over the heads of the trench diggers, who worked steadily at their task. It was 2 o'clock in the morning when the battalion completed its work. The officers and men were so exhausted that many slept on the march back to the billets.
In the afternoon of May 2, 1915, the First Canadian Infantry Brigade was moved to the support of the Tenth and Twelfth Infantry Brigades (British) because of the gas which flooded the entire front. The poisonous fumes had disabled the troops of the Twelfth Brigade, and they were forced to fall back, but the Tenth Brigade stood fast.
During the night of May 3, 1915, and the morning of the 4th, the First Canadian Infantry Brigade withdrew from the line and went into billets at Bailleul. General Alderson in the night of May 4 handed over the command of the section to the general officer commanding the Fourth Division, withdrawing the Third Infantry Brigade on that date and the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade on the following day.
The second phase of the Second Battle of Ypres dates from the time that the British line was readjusted. An account of the noble part played by the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry in subsequent operations must be recorded. The regiment from April, 1915, occupied trenches south and west of those held by the Canadian Division, where they were constantly under shell fire. The "Princess Pats" were eager to take part in the battle to the north, where their brothers in arms were engaged in a desperate struggle, but not until May 4 were they afforded an opportunity.