Current Information:

Age-48

16, Lincoln House, Basil Street, Knightsbridge

Ypres Reservoir Cemetery

The Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge (22–23 April 1915)

In the late afternoon of 22nd April an unfamiliar green cloud was seen to rise from the German trenches on the northern part of the Ypres salient, held by two French divisions. The Germans had used poison gas on the Western Front for the first time. It was chlorine gas and this destroys moist tissues such as lungs and eyes. The French troops in the path of the gas cloud suffered 6,000 casualties, many of whom died within ten minutes. Many others were blinded. Not surprisingly the French line broke leaving a four mile gap into which the German soldiers advanced. Desperate defending by Canadian troops prevented a complete German breakthrough but nevertheless a lot of ground was lost including Langemarck and Pilckem and the Ypres salient became even smaller. Two British divisions, the 27th and the 28th  were holding the line nearby and they sent their reserves to try to stem the German tide. Although this action was given the name of the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge, it was actually fought further to the west in the region of Koorslaere and to the west of St Julien.   

When the first German gas attack went in on 22nd April, 1915, Augustus Geddes, commanding officer of 2nd East Kent (Buffs) was put in charge of all the units in the St. Julien area of the Ypres salient where his leadership was recognised as being one of the factors in the attack not turning into a rout. By 28th April he was back in charge of 2nd East Kent at Verlorenhoek when a shell entered the room in which he was sitting and killed him.  He had joined the Buffs in 1887 and had been severely wounded in the Boer War.