ON April 28th the French monument commemorating the first German attack
with poison gas was unveiled at Steenstraete, in the presence of General
Gouraud, the Military Governor of Paris, and Count de Broqueville, the
Belgian Minister of Defence. It is dedicated to the Belgian and French troops who
fought at Steenstraete, and bears the following inscription in French:
THE YPRES TIMES 211
Photo by courtesy] Keystone View Co.
On April 22, 1915, the troops of the 87th Territorial Infantry Division and of
the 45th Infantry Division were poisoned by the first cloud of gas. Since then,
victims of that abominable method of warfare have died every day in peace time."
General Gouraud and Count de Broqueville expressed their regret that in
addition to the names of the French and Belgian regiments recorded on both sides
of the monument there were not also the names of the British' regiments which
took part in the same battle. A delegation of the British Legion was present at
the ceremony.Reprinted by kind permission of The Times."
