The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 2 - Baptism of fire and deadly stealth
At Ypres, in April 1915, the Canadians faced a terrifying new weapon: deadly chlorine gas. This was not a war of quick advances and dashing cavalry charges. Machine guns and barbed wire slowed everything down and combat became a deadly cat and mouse game fought in a maze of trenches.
At Ypres, the Canadians' baptism of fire was not just by machine gun and cannon. There would be something even more terrifying. The German high command decided to test their newest weapon. On April 22nd 1915, after a heavy artillery pounding, the Germans released 6000 cylinders of chorine gas. French colonial troops from Algeria were the first to feel the effect of the gas.
By 1915 gains of territory became smaller as the fighting bogged down. The same trenches and strategic pieces of high ground were fought over again and again – and both sides took huge casualties in a murderous series of attacks and counter attacks. This deadly stalemate was not good for morale and to whip up the men's "fighting spirit" - and to try to restore a sense of 'dash and movement' - officers would often lead their men on daring but dangerous night time raids.
Many soldiers began to feel that the entire war – not just the night time raids - was a kind of deadly cat and mouse game – and that they were living – and dying - in a vast "world or stealth".
About the series:
In 1964 – to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of world war one, a CBC radio team interviewed over 200 men who fought in the war and lived to tell the tale. From this huge body of eye witness testimony came a 17-hour series called Flanders Fields. The programmes were broadcast once and then stored in the CBC archives. In the summer of 2014 – to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war - CBC producer Steve Wadhams opened up this remarkable archive to make ten half-hour documentaries called The Bugle and The Passing Bell.
The bugle is a call to action. The passing bell calls us to a funeral.
The interviews with the World War 1 Canadian veterans were recorded by a team led by legendary CBC broadcaster J. Frank Willis. Find the list of soldiers names interviewed in the series here.
The documents and letters in this episode were read by Bill Knott, Graham Wright, Lynda Shorten, Chris Berube, Mitch Potter, Daniel Guiellemette and Vanessa Greco.
The poem was read by Pedro Mendes. It was an excerpt from Strange Meeting by British poet Wilfred Owen - who was killed in action in 1918.
Listen to other episodes in the series:
The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 1 - Canada answers the call
The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 2 - Baptism of fire and Deadly Stealth
The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 3 - Siege warfare and Newfoundland's day of the dead
The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 4 - The war in the air/Vimy Ridge & Passchendaele
The Bugle and the Passing Bell, Part 5 - Pushing on the Victory