THE YPRES TIMES
176
going to full cock and a few well-chosen words of abuse learnt on a Pomeranian barrack
square, quickly got them to work and meanwhile our gunners were safely under cover
and able to have breakfast.
We then limbered up to make our next jump of about 2,000 yards forward, moving
chiefly along tracks deep in mud, and covered with new craters. A trestle bridge on
our route gave way at one side, letting the leading gun fall half into the stream, which
caused delay and much heaving We were the last battery to advance, and all
the previous batteries had to pass over our future position to reach theirs, so when we
reached Potijze Chateau we found the narrow strip of ground (our position) a solid
block of vehicles, with horses down everywhere, and a good deal of hostile shelling all
around. It was useless waiting until they cleared off our position, so we managed to
get the guns up one by one across the shell holes.
By John Stafford Gowdand.
Author ol War is like that."
THE thunder of guns had continued steadily for forty-eight hours, and at night
we could see the lurid flashes away to the North. "Ell of a do" on, up at that
there perishin' Wipers agen," quoth Johnnie, our uncrushable cockney.
It was April, 1915 and we were blissfully ignorant of the fact that the Canadians
had for the first time been faced with that new and terrible weapon, gas. How splen
didly they stood their ground, totally unprepared for that horrible ordeal we all know.
In an extraordinarily short time after that dreadful affair, the first gas masks made
their appearance and the subsequent evolution of that vital piece of equipment
caused a number of humorous incidents. It is with this lighter side of a very unplea
sant business that I partly propose to deqd.
There are, alas, comparatively few of us left who remember the first gas masks.
They arrived one day with the rations little rubberized pouches resembling an ordi
nary tobacco pouch, but rather larger. These contained a pad of absorbent stuff sewn
into a long strip of muslin which was doubled. In fact these 'gags were suspiciously
like an ordinary field dressing steeped in the vilest tasting concoction imaginable.
In the event of a gas attack, this contraption was to be tied tightly over the nose and
mouth, as our friend, Johnnie, expressed it after trying one on:If this 'ere h'asphix-
iation gas tystes worse'n this 'ere, it aint 'uman." But had Jerry decided to give
us a taste of his gas, I have no doubt this first crude contrivance would have been
a thousand times better than nothing at all anyway they gave us a certain amount
ot confidence for which we were sincerely grateful to those who organized the manufac
ture and distribution of the gags with such amazing rapidity.
Gas mask No. 2 soon arrived. This was contained in a larger pouch with a strap
for carrying across the shoulders and was known as gas bag '—for a bag it was made
of flannel, having two mica eye-pieces sewn in, and about where the eyes should come
when the bag was pulled over the head providing of course that one did not place it
back to front. These gas bags were saturated with the same poignantly flavoured
chemical, and the open end was to be tucked in the collar of our tunics which were
then buttoned and our caps perched on top of the ensemble. It was possible to breathe
with difficulty, but the eye-holes became misty immediately and seeing was quite
out of the question. But with all its faults, the gas bag greatly minimised our fear
of gas and the morale of the troops rose accordingly.
