Chaos and death ensued after the Germans released tons of chlorine gas in the Ypres Salient, April 1915. Gaps appeared in the front line and plans were made to plug them, but men were caught in the open and the list of casualties grew.

As darkness fell on the night of April 22, 1915, three German divisions, advancing behind clouds of poisonous chlorine gas, had torn a five-kilometre gap in the defences of the Ypres Salient. Two French divisions had been forced into a disorderly retreat, exposing the entire left flank of the Canadian Division.

Without warning, a yellowish-green cloud began drifting over the landscape toward the Allied front line. It was April 1915 and the first to fall to the chlorine gas were soldiers from the 45th Algerian Division. Two days later, Canadian soldiers would be clutching their throats, choking on the same asphyxiating gas. We begin a series of articles on Canada’s initial battles on the Western Front.

As 70th anniversary commemorations get underway for D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, it is important to remember that the majority of combat soldiers who fought in Northwest Europe in 1944 and 1945 only joined their units in the last eight months of the war.