, reflect adversely on the
brigade and other staffs, who did all that was humanly possible with the
information that was at hand. Even at this date there are questions
about the action that cannot be cleared up until it will be permissible
to reproduce the whole of the war diaries of the various units that took
part.

On the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Brigades fell the brunt of the fighting in
which the Canadians took part, as the 1st Brigade was in rest billets in
reserve.

But, without detracting from their work, it must be admitted that the
account by the official "Eye Witness" does not give the 1st Brigade the
credit it deserves. This, however, is inevitable. In a modern battle
one sees nothing but what happens in the immediate vicinity of the
observer, and we must therefore depend largely on the accounts furnished
by others of what occurred in other parts of the field.

It will do no harm, however, to quote from the description by an
officer, since killed, of the action of one of the battalions of this
brigade, which from respect for the censor must remain nameless.

It would, however, serve no purpose to conceal the true names of those
officers and men whom he thought fit to mention, for the majority of
them have also laid down their lives in the field.

"During the latter part of the evening of April 22nd French and Algerian
troops in large numbers began retreating through _Vlamertinghe_ in the
utmost confusion, throwing away their arms and crying 'Asphyxie!
Asphyxie!!' Empty limbers and gun teams without their guns dashed down
the road, already thick with refugees and fugitive soldiers. Captain
Culling therefore ordered the company to stand to arms and be ready to
move off as soon as orders were received.

"Orders came about 9 p.m., and we moved off to the battalion rendezvous
at the junction of the _Brielen_ road, where we found the rest of the
battalion formed up. From here we continued north easterly up the
_Brielen_ road, across the canal toward _St. Julien_.

"A short distance past the canal the battalion deployed from the road,
No. 3 Company being on our (No. 2 Company's) left and continued to
advance.

"Moving forward in this formation was very difficult owing to the thick
darkness and the ground being so cut up by hedges, but Captain Culling
got in touch with the battalion on our left, which turned out to be the
_Canadian Scottish_ under Lieutenant-Colonel Leckie, at about the
farmhouse that afterwar