Battle Studies
The
Second Battle of Ypres 1915
|
Battle Studies
The
Second Battle of Ypres 1915
|
 |
 |
 |
| 21 April 1915 |
Prelude
to the Battle
|
German 4th Army
is urged to make the gas attackOn 21 April General von Falkenhayn met with the German 4th Army commander, Duke Albrecht, at the Army headquarters in Tielt. The purpose of the meeting was that General von Falkenhayn wanted to press Duke Albrecht to carry out the gas trial in an attack as soon as possible.
In
the light of General von Falkenhayn's aims for the attack on
the Ypres battle front, that is, to test the new weapon as
soon as possible and to cloak the preparations for his planned attack on the
Russian front, he insisted that the 4th Army should not to
give itself too great an objective for this attack. It must, he insisted,
make the attack at the earliest opportunity.
As
a result of favourable weather reports from the meteorologists attached to the
special pioneer units, the order to carry out the attack was subsequently given
by Duke Albrecht for the next day, Thursday 22 April. The gas
was to be released in the early hours of the morning at 05.45am (British
time).
Acknowledgements
Der Weltkrieg: Sommer und Herbst 1915, 8. Band
Copyright Joanna Legg & Graham Parker © 2002 All rights reserved
|
|
|