Second Battle of Ypres | |||||||
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Part of the Western Front of World War I | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Belgium | German Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Horace Smith-Dorrien (replaced by) Herbert Plumer (6 May 1915~) Arthur Currie Henri Gabriel Putz Théophile Figeys Armand De Ceuninck |
Albrecht of Württemberg | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 French and 6 British divisions | 7 divisions | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
87,223 killed, wounded or missing. | 35,000 killed, wounded or missing. |
During World War I, the Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915 for control of the strategic Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium after the First Battle of Ypres the previous autumn. It was the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front. For the first time, a former colonial force (the 1st Canadian Division) defeated a European power (the German Empire) on European soil (in the battles of St. Julien and Kitcheners' Wood, engagements during the battle).
The battle consisted of six engagements:
The Ypres salient followed the canal, bulging eastward around the town. North of the salient, the Belgian army held the line of the Yser, and the northern end of the salient was held by two French divisions. The eastern part of the salient was defended by one Canadian and two British divisions. The II Corps and V Corps of the Second Army comprised the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Divisions and the 4th, 27th, 28th, Northumbrian, Lahore and 1st Canadian Divisions.