Battle Studies The Second Battle of Ypres 1915

Diary Entry by General Sir Douglas Haig

Ironically, on 8 April, General Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British First Army, made an entry in his diary about the relevance of wind conditions and the use of gas to aid an attack:

"Lord Dundonald arrived from England. He is studying the conditions of War in hopes of being able to apply to modern conditions an invention of his great-grandfather for driving a garrison out of a fort by using sulphur fumes. I asked him how he arranged to have a favourable wind!" (1)

Exactly two weeks later the conditions of a favourable wind would bring with it a disastrous surprise for the Allies in the Ypres Salient.

Acknowledgements

(1) Gas! The Battle for Ypres 1915

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