er."

The belief in the supposed superiority of the German artillery
was so shaken in the minds of the General Staff as a result of
the fighting on the Neuve Chapelle front that they shortly after
issued an order to try a series of experiments on animals with
asphyxiating gases.

* * * * *

CHAPTER III

OPERATIONS FOLLOWING NEUVE CHAPELLE

There was very little activity on the western front after the fighting
at Neuve Chapelle and St. Eloi until the beginning of a renewal
of the campaign between La Bassee and the sea. The importance of
success in this region was appreciated by both sides. The Germans
north of the Lys planned to cross the Comines-Ypres, Yperlee, and Yser
Canals, capture Ypres, take all of the ridge of the Mont-des-Cats,
and then continue west and take Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. The
Allies in their plan included an advance south of the Lys on two
sides of Lille, the taking of the Aubers Ridge, and the turning from
the north the German salient at La Bassee. This much of the Allies'
plan was to be executed by the British. The work of the French was
to drive the Germans from the vicinity of Lens and threaten La
Bassee from the south and west. The reasons for making these plans
are obvious. The German salient was a source of much danger to the
joining of the British and French armies, and the possibility of the
Germans forcing their way through to Boulogne meant a possibility
of a cutting off of the entire British army and the French and
Belgian forces between Ypres and the sea near Nieuport. However, if
La Bassee was isolated and the Aubers Ridge taken by the British,
the chances that the Germans could retain Lille were materially
lessened; and if the British got Lille they might start to drive
their enemy from Belgium.

During the lull in the fighting on land, to which reference has
been made, there was much activity in the air. Reconnaissances and
raids were of almost daily occurrence. A Zeppelin dropped twenty
bombs on Calais, slaying seven workmen at the railroad station on
March 18, 1915. Three days later another, or possibly the same
Zeppelin, flew over the town, but this time it was driven away
before it could do any harm. "Taubes" bombarded the railroad junction
of St. Omer and made a similar attack on Estaires on March 23.
Four days after another attack was made on Estaires, and on the
same day, March 27, the German airmen did some damage to Sailly,
Cal