As General Mercer said to me
afterwards, it was, according to the book, probably as crazy a bit of
military tactics as could possibly have been tried, but the very
daring of the attempt proved its success. The Germans, believing that
such a counter attack must be backed up by much stronger forces,
hesitated to come on and the day was saved, for while they hesitated
and made sure of their ground, troops were hurried up from other parts
of the line and the Huns had missed their chance. That first night if
the Germans had simply walked ahead they would have found nothing to
stop them, but they were too much dazed with their own success to
realize the situation and take advantage of it.
Naturally we were thrilled with pride at the success of the division;
we had been present at its birth; we had watched it through the
various vicissitudes of its eventful career; and now its great
opportunity had come. Now its name had been indelibly written on the
scroll of fame. It had saved the situation in one of the most critical
happenings of the whole war.
The next day the General of the fourth corps, accompanied by his
staff, paid a visit to our laboratory, and the General told us that
the Germans had tried their gases on the Belgians the very day after
they had gassed the French and Canadian colonial troops. But the
Belgians breathed through wet handkerchiefs till the gas had passed
over, and when the Germans came on, full of confidence in the efficacy
of their deadly new weapon, the Belgians gave them a severe punishing.
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