



Produced by Al Haines








  CANADA IN FLANDERS
  BY LORD BEAVERBROOK

  THE OFFICIAL STORY OF THE
  CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

  VOLUME II




  CANADA IN
  FLANDERS

  By Lord Beaverbrook



  VOLUME II



  _WITH MAPS AND APPENDIX_



  HODDER AND STOUGHTON
  LONDON TORONTO NEW YORK
  MCMXVII




PREFACE


The narrative of the Second Battle of Ypres was written on the spot and
immediately after the action.  It was not until long afterwards that it
was possible to collect and collate the whole of the battalion diaries.
The story, therefore, could only be compiled from the personal reports
of the officers commanding units, and in some cases these were not
available, and certain regiments did not therefore receive the
prominence which was their due.  These regiments will, I am sure,
readily understand that the omission was not intentional, but due to
the impossibility of making sure of all the details of a great and
confused action until months after the event.  Although the material
has become available, I have decided not to attempt to rewrite the
story.  It is, in its main features, absolutely accurate, and has the
advantage which must belong to any narrative written within sound of
the guns, and while the impressions of the battlefield are still vivid
to the mind.  I am, in fact, afraid that any attempt on my part to
reconstruct the narrative would spoil whatever merit it may possess.

In the first place, it is necessary, however, to make good some
mistakes in the first volume which have been pointed out by persons who
were engaged in various actions.

The majority of errors occur in the matter of names, which, in about a
dozen cases, have been given inexactly.  In some cases it has been
possible to make the requisite corrections of initials, rank, or
spelling in succeeding editions.  I particularly regret the confusion
between the two brothers, Sergt. L. G. Newell and Sergt. F. C. C.
Newell, both of whom took part in the charge at Langemarke.  The
first-named, the older brother, died of his wounds after that attack,
while the second and younger recovered, returned to the trenches, and
won the D.C.M. at Givenchy.  With reference to the names of regiments
concerned in the Second Battle of Ypres, the King's Own Royal Leinsters
have been named by a misprint instead of the King's Own Royal
Lancashires, as part of Colonel Geddes' command, on page 56.  King
Edward's Horse should have the prefix 2nd throughout.  I offer my very
sincere apologies to both regiments.

As to the position of various units, it is stated on page 74 of Vol. I.
that Lieut.-Col. Watson, of the 2nd, was employed with his regiment on
a dangerous digging operation to connect a weak point in the line on
the night of April 28th, 1915.  It should