THE WESTERN THEATRE. BRITISH USE GAS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8273, 19 October 1915, Page 5

THE WESTERN THEATRE.

BRITISH USE GAS.

LONDON* October 18. Mr Phillip Gibbs gives a vivid description of the British gas attack south-west of Hulluch. It was a clear day, and it was possible to see the whole battle-ground when the British bombardment reached its climax. The.j artillery fire lifted and the onlookers saw now clouds arise and spread a dense curtain of a' fleecy texture. Tliose were from our smoke-shells, which wt're the cover of the infantry attack. Other waves of thin, white vapour followed and curled forward'to the enemy's lines. Onlookers held their breath, though the gas caught their own throats. Directly after they; saw little black things scurrying forward in scattered groups. Some toll and, others disappeared in the drifting clouds.' These were British infantry,'ed by bombers. Th-3 enemy tried- to stop the attackors with poison-shells, and- all the chemistry of death was poured out on both sides. Our men, with the fiercest valour, swept up to Hohenzollem Redoubt,' but the German machine-guns were too many, and Germans held their trenches with desperate courage. The British showed superb enduranoe,and only the most resolute valour enabled them to hold somo of the ground r-ained with the loss of so many lives.